and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity
Sermons. This week we are continuing our sermon
series called This is the Way, where we're learning
about some of the practices and tools that help
us as we learn to follow Jesus. And today we're
going to be talking all about rules. But before
you turn this off, don't worry, we're not talking
about the do's and the don'ts, the rules that
other people enforce on you with rigid structures.
We're talking about a rule of life. A framework
that can really help us to do the things that
we actually want to do and to stay away from
things that we actually don't want to do. But
what is this rule of life and how does it work?
That's what Rob is going to unpack for us in
today's sermon. Today's reading is from the Gospel
of John, chapter 15, verses 1 to 8. I am the
true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He
cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,
while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes
so that it will be even more fruitful. You are
already clean because of the word I have spoken
to you. Remain in me so that I also remain in
you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must
remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit
unless you remain in me. I am the vine. You are
the branches. If you remain in me and I in you,
you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you
can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, You
are like a branch that is thrown away and withers.
Such branches are picked up, thrown in the fire,
and burned. If you remain in me and my words
remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it
will be done for you. This is to my Father's
glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves.
to be my disciples. The word of the Lord. So
the year is about 500 AD. We're talking about
Italy. And around that time, the Roman Empire
has crumbled. Barbarian tribes are kind of sweeping
in. There's violence. There is conflict. There's
a lot of uncertainty. There's corruption. There's
competing religious ideas. There is a church,
but it's quite a weakened church. And into that
place of corruption and compromise, a young man
is born. His name is... Benedict. He's born to
a Christian family, a fairly wealthy family.
And when he grows up, they send Benedict off
to Rome to go to school. Like Benedict's going
to study theology, you know, learn more about
Jesus, learn more about the Christian faith.
But when he gets to Rome and he looks around,
he's very, very disillusioned. He seems to have
very little in common with these masses and masses
of people. And then when it actually gets down
to his schooling, he seems to have even less
in common with his fellow students. You know,
half of them are just so focused on status and
success and power. And the other half are focused
on partying and drinking. And so Benedict, he
looks around at his country. He looks around
at his city. He looks around at his school. And
he is so, so frustrated. You know, this corrupt.
culture, this compromised and weak church. And
at some point, Benedict says, you know, that's
it. I've had enough. I'm out of here. And what
Benedict decides to do is he walks about 30 miles
to the east of Rome. He finds a cave and he literally
goes down and he lives in this cave. And it wasn't
much of a cave, mind you. It was actually more
of like a crevice in the ground, about 10 feet
deep. And it was the kind of place where if he
wanted food, he had to have a friend kind of
come and lower it down in a basket to him in
this cave. And in that cave, you know, Benedict
is trying to make sense of what's going on. on
around him. And you might say, oh, what a coward.
Here is a guy who's running away from the world.
He's running away from all his problems. But
that's not what Benedict is doing in this cave.
In this cave, Benedict is not sitting there praying,
saying, God, help me to escape from this world.
What he's praying to God is he's saying, God,
show me how to live in this world. without being
changed by it. God, show me how to follow Jesus
in a world that feels like it is falling apart.
And in that cave, Benedict devotes his entire
life to God through prayer and fasting and scripture
reading and meditation and, of course, solitude.
He just centers his whole being on God in that
cave. Three years he was in that cave. And you
know what? He heard from God. God spoke to Benedict
in that cave. And as God spoke to him, Benedict
began to write down what God was communicating
and write it down and write it down. And as he
wrote it down and sorted through it, it became
clear to him that what God was giving him was
best described as a plan. God was giving him
this pattern of life. This rule of life, if you
will, and this rule of life was a way of living
one's life in this crazy world and not being
changed by that world. And he wrote it, wrote
it down. Now people in the surrounding countryside
and the surrounding area, they were like very
curious about this guy who's living down in a
cave. And they'd be like, what are you doing
down there in a cave? And pretty soon he had
gathered a little following of people, maybe
a large following of people as he wrestled with.
God down in that cave. And eventually the time
came, Benedict says, it's time for me to go back
up. And so he went back up out of that cave and
he gathered some of those followers and they
went up to a mountain. It was called Mount Casino.
And there they built a monastery. Now, again,
what was the point of the monastery? Was the
monastery just like the cave, a place where they
could go and escape from the world? No. The point
of the monastery was to help people learn to
get together as a community. and learn together
how it is we can live in this world, follow Jesus
in this world, without being changed by this
world. And the framework for the spiritual life
that the people in that monastery, and there
were other communities that came after. It grew
and grew. It became a real movement. But the
framework was something that became known as
the Rule of St. Benedict. And the Rule of St.
Benedict is still one of the most influential
guides for Christian formation in history. Now,
a lot has changed in 1 ,500 years, but maybe
not as much as you might think, because we still
live in a world that's full of violence, still
live in a world that's full of corruption, still
a lot of confusion, competing ideas, competing
religions, and a church that has also been sidelined
in many regards in our world. Add to that all
of the pressures of modern life, things like
distractions and digital overload and busyness
and shallow relationships. anxieties, and all
those kind of things. You know, the question
that Benedict was asking in that cave is still
the same question that we are asking today. How
do we live? How do we live as followers of Jesus
in this world? And the good news is there's an
answer. Benedict has an answer. God has an answer.
And it doesn't mean you have to move to Italy.
And it doesn't mean you have to go live in a
cave. But it might mean you have to adopt a rule
or a pattern to govern your life. So we are in
the middle, right in the middle of this teaching
series we're calling This is the Way. And that's
exactly the question that we're asking. How do
we, as followers of Jesus here in 2026 in the
GTA in Mississauga, how do we follow Jesus in
our own world? And the answer... that we're going
to be talking about today has a lot to do with
this thing called a rule of life and i just want
to say that you've heard me talk about this before
and some of you might be kind of sick of hearing
about a rule of life and you may be like i don't
i'm not really interested in a rule of life and
fair you know but i just want to say you might
be a stronger person than saint benedict uh you
know and following jesus might be really easy
for you oh distractions or busyness or temptations
i got this no no problem i'm good i'm good but
far more likely is that that you're a lot like.
saint benedict and you actually do need help
in living your life in making a plan for how
to live your life i would say more than ever
not just do you need that plan and not just do
i need that plan but the world needs people who
are willing to adopt some kind of a plan to live
their lives differently to witness to the world
that there is a different way to live one's life
so the question i guess i'm really trying to
ask you i want you to consider this morning Is
there a monk in you? Is there a monk in me? Somewhere
deep within us, is there a monk there? Because
the heart of the monastic movement was not about,
you know, living in a monastery or taking a vow
of celibacy or wearing these, you know, wool
robes that must have been incredibly itchy. That's
not what the point of monastic life was. The
heart of the monastic movement was we're a community
of people. who are intentionally trying to order
our lives around Jesus, living their lives by
a rule of life. Now, let's talk about that word
rule, because a lot of people turned off by the
word rule. A lot of negative connotations when
it comes to the word rule. When I first think
about a rule, I always think of my elementary
school principal, Mr. Martindale. Mr. Martindale
was like six feet four. He was built. He was
a big, big guy. He had a glass eye. And Mr. Martindale
carried a strap. Now, for some of the younger
people here, I got to tell you, you may not know
this, but it wasn't that long ago that principals
had a strap. It's like a leather. piece of fabric
or whatever. And if you got in trouble, you would
go to the principal's office. He would say, stick
out your hand, and he would whack you with that.
Like, I'm not even, how many people here got
the strap at one point in their life? Yes, I
see some people who got the strap. It was a thing.
It was a real thing. It happened. And people
were scared to death of Mr. Martindale. And so,
yes, you did not run in the halls, and you did
not talk in class. You did not break the rules.
And that's what we think of when we hear the
word rule. We think of a punishment. We think
of boundaries. We think of someone trying to
prevent us from doing something. But that's not
what we're talking about when we talk about a
rule of life. Totally different meaning to the
word. A rule of life is actually, best understood,
is simply a plan that you have to follow Jesus.
It's just a plan, a set of practices and habits
that you have adopted to enable you to become
the kind of person that you want to be and the
kind of person the world needs you to be. Now,
the best way to maybe help you understand the
difference is to understand that the word rule
comes from an ancient word which means trellis.
A trellis. Another person said it this way. You've
probably heard of a ruler. Like in elementary
school, you had a wooden ruler. Why are they
called a ruler? Because it was a kind of a straight
piece of wood. This trellis is a rule. Why? Because
it's made of straight. pieces of wood and what
does a trellis do if i planted a grapevine here
what does a trellis do it guides and directs
the growth of the plant the grapevine can grow
up it can grow out to receive sunlight gives
a space for air to flow between its branches
ultimately so that it produces a whole lot of
really really good fruit so listen a rule of
life is basically just a trellis it works the
same way it means a trellis okay Jesus said it
this way. He said, no branch can bear fruit by
itself. It must remain in the vine. And neither
can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I
am the vine. and you are the branches. A rule
of life is a trellis that gives us life, it gives
us structure, helps us stay connected to the
vine of Jesus and produce spiritual fruit. Now,
if you do not have a trellis, if you do not have
a rule of life to govern your life, what happens?
Well, your life runs wild. Just like a grapevine,
it has no trellis. What is it going to do? It's
just going to run all over the place. It's going
to be stepped on. It's going to be prone to disease.
It's not going to produce very good fruit at
all. And the same is true if we don't have some
kind of a rule, a trellis in our lives to guide
our lives. We're going to be pulled in a hundred
different directions. We'll spend our time, you
know, scrolling social media, checking our phones,
answering emails, watching one more episode,
watching one more episode. watching just one
more episode, reading the news, you know, adding
one more thing to the calendar. And when we do
that, you know what happens? Our days just start
to slip away. And when our days start to slip
away, our lives start to slip away. That's what
Annie Dillard said. She said, how we spend our
days is, of course, how we end up spending our
lives. So without an intentional structure, a
rule in your life, our lives run wild and we
slowly become As John Mark Comer says, we become
wildly unlike Jesus. So that's one option, no
rule. But that's not really the greatest danger.
The greater danger is not that you don't have
a rule of life, but it's that you have the wrong
rule of life. You have some other kind of trellis
system that actually is taking you and moving
you in the wrong directions. You're drifting
in the wrong direction. If you were to see a
grapevine in the wild, far more likely than it
running all over the ground, it would find something
to hold on to. It would find a tree trunk and
it would climb up that. It would find a rock
and it would climb up that. And that is because
naturally grapevines, like human beings, are
seeking a structure for their lives. And the
same, therefore, is true for us. If we do not...
purposely choose a rule to live by then something
else will just swoop in and become the rule that
we live by you will develop some kind of structure
but it could be a structure around your phone
could be around your work could be around your
bad habits could be around your busy schedule
you're just going to fall into a pattern a pattern
of what you do in the morning a pattern of what
you do in your relationships a pattern of how
you spend your money a pattern of how you deal
with technology you're just gonna you're gonna
start clinging to these things they're gonna
be the pattern and the rule of your life whether
you realize it or not Dallas Willard said your
system is perfectly designed to produce the results
that you are already getting you've got a system
I've got a system. We've all got a system. We
have a pattern. We have a rule of life. The question
is not, do you have a rule of life? The question
is, is your rule of life what you want it to
be? Is it making you into the person that you
want to be? Are you happy with who you are becoming?
Okay, your rule is doing that to you. But what
would it look like if instead of not having one
or letting anything become it, what if we actually
purposely chose the right rule for our lives?
A rule that was shaped by the life of Jesus.
Well, then our lives would produce good, good,
good fruit. And why is that? The answer is because
first, a rule is going to help you actually do
what you want to do. You see, As human beings,
we want to do all sorts of things. We just have
a hard time doing it, right? You want to pray
more. You want to make more time for family.
You want to exercise. You want to be patient.
You want to be generous. But we just can't figure
out how to make those things happen. It's kind
of like the Apostle Paul said. He said, I do
not understand what I do. For what I want to
do, I do not do. But what I hate, that's what
I end up doing. But you see, here's what a rule
of life does. A rule of life will close the gap
between our intentions and our actions. All those...
vague desires of things that we wanted to do,
all of a sudden in a rule become concrete steps
that we write down, that we organize our life
around, specific times for prayer, specific times
for exercise or for rest or for family time.
And that means now you don't got to get overwhelmed
by all the decision fatigue, trying to figure
out, oh, what am I going to do now? What am I
going to do now? Or how am I going to live today?
Right? You've already decided. You've already
created a spiritual rule for your life. That
rule tells you what matters most to you and what
you want to spend your time doing. You've got
a plan to live by. So that's the great first
thing about a rule of life is it enables you
to do the things that you actually want to do.
The flip side of that, though, is a rule of life
then also enables you to avoid what you don't
want to do. A rule of life protects us sometimes
from those. patterns that we know are unhealthy.
And so it's like, it's like when you have a rule
of life, it's like a filter. It enables you to
say yes to these things. Yes, yes, yes. But it
also enables you to say no to other things in
your life, the less important things, the things
that aren't your priorities, your stated priorities
in life. If you look at what Jesus said to us
this morning, the scriptures, he talked about.
god being this gardener and god will cut off
branches that bear no fruit this is you know
a common horticulture if you've got a branch
that's not doing much good you cut it off and
a rule of life Enables us to cut off things that
aren't working. A rule of life is not just about
adding more things to your life. Sometimes it's
about subtracting things from your life, right?
You may want to grow certain things in your life,
but there's other things in your life that frankly
just need to die. And a rule of life helps both
of those to happen. And so if you start doing
the things you actually want to do, and you start
avoiding the things that you actually don't want
to do, then ultimately a rule of life helps you
become the person that you want to be, the person
God wants you to be, the person that the world
needs you to be. And then all sorts of good fruit
is getting grown and developed in your life.
Fruit, like Paul says, the fruit of the Spirit.
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self -control.
If your trellis is all shaped by distraction
and busyness, it is going to grow something,
but it's probably not going to be any of this
stuff, right? But if your trellis is shaped by
the way of Jesus, intentional decisions to...
live your life following Jesus, then this is
what will grow in your life. So that's what we
all need. We need a rule. We need a trellis in
our lives. But let me end by answering this question.
Well, how do we then build that into our lives?
I want to just pause here and remind us. This
is exactly the thing we've been trying to do
all Lent so far is build our own little personal
rule of life. We handed out for the last three
weeks now, these little pocket guides that are
there to help you build. practice by practice
by practice, a rule for living your own spiritual
life. And if you don't have one of these, please
grab one on the way out because week by week,
we're adding to this until we've got a rule of
life that's going to work for you. But I would
say before you get too deep into this, before
you get too far into this, let me offer you kind
of five hot tips that will be really, really
helpful. And here's the first hot tip. Start
simply. I think a very common mistake people
make when they're trying to create a rule of
life is that they try to do too much too quickly.
Instead of trying to overhaul your whole life
overnight, just begin with something simple.
Think about starting your day with five minutes
of silence just to be in God's presence. Or think
about, you know, setting your watch for noon
and at noon you just stop for five minutes and
you read a piece of scripture. Or at the end
of your day, just before you turn off the light,
when you reach for the light, you stop and you
call to mind one thing that you are grateful
for in that day, right? Lasting change almost
always begins with just very simple, small practices.
Okay, Dallas Willard said that the secret of
the spiritual life is not like heroic effort.
You don't have to go live in a cave, right? But
just steady. Practice. Steady practice. So that's
the first thing to do. Just start simply. Secondly,
though, related to this is build slowly. Some
of us, we get really excited about doing this
spiritual... growth thing and immediately we
try to build our trellis all at once we want
to put all the sticks there all at once well
i'm going to do prayer and i'm going to do fasting
and i'm going to do solitude i'm going to do
generosity i'm going to do sabbath and i'm going
to take a retreat and i'm going to do this and
do that it's like you're trying to build like
way too much way too fast i would just say remember
a rule of life It's not a place for you to try
to impress God with all the amazing things that
you're doing. It's just about creating rhythms
that you can actually sustain. Eugene Peterson
once described the Christian life as a long obedience
in the same direction. Just play the long game
with this. Begin with one or two practices. Let
them become part of your life. And then, yeah,
add another. Maybe add another, okay? Thirdly,
here's the third hot tip. prune regularly. Now,
this may surprise people, but a rule of life
is, again, not primarily about adding more and
more and more and more to your life. In fact,
it's also about removing things that may be getting
in the way of your spiritual transformation.
Again, we already heard that God will cut off
branches that are bad or not producing any fruit,
but check this one out. Even the branches that
are bearing good fruit, bearing good stuff, doing
the good stuff, he prunes them so they will be
even more fruitful i mean why would he prune
a vine that's producing fruit it's because a
vine that's got too much fruit on it actually
starts to its energy gets all sapped and spread
too thin the fruit becomes small and weak but
if you prune away some of those things then more
energy can go into what is there And so one idea
I would say that is if you're going to add something
new to your own spiritual rule of life, also
consider taking something away at the same time.
Because often in the spiritual life, you have
to start with less before it becomes more. Here's
a fourth hot tip, and that is to stay... Stay
flexible. Okay? St. Benedict's rule was actually
really well known because it was so flexible.
In fact, Benedict himself said, and I quote,
that his rule has just a little strictness to
it. Just a little strictness. Which means it
has a lot of flexibility to it. And that's good
because you know life changes. When you've got
kids running around the house. might be hard
to keep up with your rule let's say you're looking
after aging parents life changes let's say especially
busy season at work life changes let's say that
you know you're going through an illness or something
like that right now we need to be able to adjust
and flex our rule of life rather than break it
all together or break ourselves trying to keep
up with it right that's why benedict said he
said that we don't exist for the rule the rule
exists for us And yes, the trellis is there to
provide some structure, but the plant can weave
in and out of those firm sticks. And the plant
is not a slave to the trellis, and we're not
slaves to the rule. Which brings me to the very
last thing to remember, and that is the rule
is meant to be lived in community. It's true,
Benedict began his journey alone in a cave, but
that's not where it ultimately really got going.
The movement got going when he came out of that
cave and he gathered people together into community.
That's when the transformation happened. That's
when they lived out this rule together. And I
would dare say that it's nearly impossible for
spiritual transformation to happen in people's
lives in isolation. We grow best when we are
surrounded by people, people to encourage us,
people to challenge us, people to pray for us,
to walk alongside of us. That is why it is so,
so important to have a few close spiritual friendships.
It's so important here at Trinity to be part
of something like a life group. It's so important
just to be part of a church community. When Jesus
said, hey, remain in me, As I remain in you,
that you is plural. He's talking to a group of
people because we grow best when we grow together.
So I would say, if you're working on your rule,
share that rule with a close friend. Take it
to your life group and say, hey guys, this is
kind of what I'm working on. What do you guys
think? What are you guys doing? Pray for me.
I really want to live this out. Or find a mentor.
Someone who can walk with you as you seek to
grow in this way. So what are the five hot tips,
right? Start simply, build slowly, prune regularly,
stay flexible, and include community. Let me
just end where we kind of started by saying,
why are we doing this? It is not to escape the
world, but rather just be able to live in the
world. We don't want to be changed by the world,
but we want to be change agents out there in
the world. And that's exactly what you need to
know about Benedict's monks and really all monks
is that there is a sense in which they exist
not to hide away in those monasteries, but instead
it's a movement of people that go out into the
world, men and women, living differently, praying
and working and serving. welcoming strangers,
loving their neighbors, extending hospitality.
Is there a monk in you? Is there? Is there a
monk in me? No caves, no monasteries, no shaved
heads required, but a rule, just a rule to live
your life by to keep you connected to the vine.
Because what happens is when ordinary people
begin ordering their lives around Jesus, something
beautiful grows. And as it grows, lives get changed.
Families get changed. Churches get changed. And
even the whole world can be changed. The thanks
be to God. Amen. Thanks for tuning in to this
week's episode of Trinity Sermons. This sermon
was recorded at Trinity Church Streetsville in
Mississauga, Ontario on March 15th, 2026.