I am not sure if the above reply answers the question completely. Therefore, some addtional remarks:
1.) Each lowpass filter has a pass region, a transition region and an attenuation region. The transition region of a third order filter is smaller than for a first order filter because the slope of the filter transfer function is steeper. That means, an attenuation region which is rather close to the end of the pass band requires a higher order transfer function.
2.) It is not possible to fix an upper limit for the order of a filter. There are many, many aspects which influence the decision regarding filter order (topology of the filter, cost, complexity, delay aspects, time response, exactness, power consumption...)