WEBVTT 00:00:05.740 --> 00:00:07.639 and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity 00:00:07.639 --> 00:00:10.660 Sermons. This week we are continuing our sermon 00:00:10.660 --> 00:00:13.500 series called This is the Way, where we're learning 00:00:13.500 --> 00:00:15.880 about some of the practices and tools that help 00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:19.239 us as we learn to follow Jesus. And today we're 00:00:19.239 --> 00:00:21.579 going to be talking all about rules. But before 00:00:21.579 --> 00:00:24.519 you turn this off, don't worry, we're not talking 00:00:24.519 --> 00:00:27.079 about the do's and the don'ts, the rules that 00:00:27.079 --> 00:00:29.679 other people enforce on you with rigid structures. 00:00:30.039 --> 00:00:33.729 We're talking about a rule of life. A framework 00:00:33.729 --> 00:00:36.509 that can really help us to do the things that 00:00:36.509 --> 00:00:39.149 we actually want to do and to stay away from 00:00:39.149 --> 00:00:42.009 things that we actually don't want to do. But 00:00:42.009 --> 00:00:44.329 what is this rule of life and how does it work? 00:00:44.530 --> 00:00:46.729 That's what Rob is going to unpack for us in 00:00:46.729 --> 00:00:54.170 today's sermon. Today's reading is from the Gospel 00:00:54.170 --> 00:01:01.520 of John, chapter 15, verses 1 to 8. I am the 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:06.200 true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He 00:01:06.200 --> 00:01:09.340 cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:13.959 while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes 00:01:13.959 --> 00:01:19.219 so that it will be even more fruitful. You are 00:01:19.219 --> 00:01:22.159 already clean because of the word I have spoken 00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:27.620 to you. Remain in me so that I also remain in 00:01:27.620 --> 00:01:32.469 you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must 00:01:32.469 --> 00:01:36.709 remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit 00:01:36.709 --> 00:01:44.069 unless you remain in me. I am the vine. You are 00:01:44.069 --> 00:01:47.790 the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, 00:01:47.950 --> 00:01:52.769 you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you 00:01:52.769 --> 00:01:57.540 can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, You 00:01:57.540 --> 00:02:00.579 are like a branch that is thrown away and withers. 00:02:01.540 --> 00:02:06.040 Such branches are picked up, thrown in the fire, 00:02:06.140 --> 00:02:11.659 and burned. If you remain in me and my words 00:02:11.659 --> 00:02:16.300 remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it 00:02:16.300 --> 00:02:20.860 will be done for you. This is to my Father's 00:02:20.860 --> 00:02:24.979 glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves. 00:02:25.629 --> 00:02:32.270 to be my disciples. The word of the Lord. So 00:02:32.270 --> 00:02:35.310 the year is about 500 AD. We're talking about 00:02:35.310 --> 00:02:38.930 Italy. And around that time, the Roman Empire 00:02:38.930 --> 00:02:42.849 has crumbled. Barbarian tribes are kind of sweeping 00:02:42.849 --> 00:02:46.349 in. There's violence. There is conflict. There's 00:02:46.349 --> 00:02:50.250 a lot of uncertainty. There's corruption. There's 00:02:50.250 --> 00:02:53.229 competing religious ideas. There is a church, 00:02:53.270 --> 00:02:57.469 but it's quite a weakened church. And into that 00:02:57.469 --> 00:03:00.849 place of corruption and compromise, a young man 00:03:00.849 --> 00:03:03.750 is born. His name is... Benedict. He's born to 00:03:03.750 --> 00:03:06.090 a Christian family, a fairly wealthy family. 00:03:06.370 --> 00:03:09.229 And when he grows up, they send Benedict off 00:03:09.229 --> 00:03:12.509 to Rome to go to school. Like Benedict's going 00:03:12.509 --> 00:03:15.849 to study theology, you know, learn more about 00:03:15.849 --> 00:03:17.669 Jesus, learn more about the Christian faith. 00:03:17.849 --> 00:03:20.750 But when he gets to Rome and he looks around, 00:03:20.930 --> 00:03:23.659 he's very, very disillusioned. He seems to have 00:03:23.659 --> 00:03:27.919 very little in common with these masses and masses 00:03:27.919 --> 00:03:29.719 of people. And then when it actually gets down 00:03:29.719 --> 00:03:32.180 to his schooling, he seems to have even less 00:03:32.180 --> 00:03:34.280 in common with his fellow students. You know, 00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:36.659 half of them are just so focused on status and 00:03:36.659 --> 00:03:39.319 success and power. And the other half are focused 00:03:39.319 --> 00:03:42.840 on partying and drinking. And so Benedict, he 00:03:42.840 --> 00:03:45.139 looks around at his country. He looks around 00:03:45.139 --> 00:03:47.979 at his city. He looks around at his school. And 00:03:47.979 --> 00:03:51.599 he is so, so frustrated. You know, this corrupt. 00:03:51.879 --> 00:03:55.639 culture, this compromised and weak church. And 00:03:55.639 --> 00:03:57.719 at some point, Benedict says, you know, that's 00:03:57.719 --> 00:04:01.139 it. I've had enough. I'm out of here. And what 00:04:01.139 --> 00:04:04.199 Benedict decides to do is he walks about 30 miles 00:04:04.199 --> 00:04:08.340 to the east of Rome. He finds a cave and he literally 00:04:08.340 --> 00:04:10.719 goes down and he lives in this cave. And it wasn't 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:12.580 much of a cave, mind you. It was actually more 00:04:12.580 --> 00:04:15.860 of like a crevice in the ground, about 10 feet 00:04:15.860 --> 00:04:18.579 deep. And it was the kind of place where if he 00:04:18.579 --> 00:04:20.500 wanted food, he had to have a friend kind of 00:04:20.500 --> 00:04:23.800 come and lower it down in a basket to him in 00:04:23.800 --> 00:04:28.100 this cave. And in that cave, you know, Benedict 00:04:28.100 --> 00:04:30.120 is trying to make sense of what's going on. on 00:04:30.120 --> 00:04:32.639 around him. And you might say, oh, what a coward. 00:04:32.899 --> 00:04:35.160 Here is a guy who's running away from the world. 00:04:35.199 --> 00:04:38.100 He's running away from all his problems. But 00:04:38.100 --> 00:04:41.160 that's not what Benedict is doing in this cave. 00:04:41.259 --> 00:04:44.120 In this cave, Benedict is not sitting there praying, 00:04:44.339 --> 00:04:48.699 saying, God, help me to escape from this world. 00:04:49.079 --> 00:04:51.660 What he's praying to God is he's saying, God, 00:04:51.879 --> 00:04:55.819 show me how to live in this world. without being 00:04:55.819 --> 00:04:59.360 changed by it. God, show me how to follow Jesus 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:04.819 in a world that feels like it is falling apart. 00:05:05.220 --> 00:05:09.040 And in that cave, Benedict devotes his entire 00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:13.199 life to God through prayer and fasting and scripture 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:17.040 reading and meditation and, of course, solitude. 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:20.439 He just centers his whole being on God in that 00:05:20.439 --> 00:05:24.180 cave. Three years he was in that cave. And you 00:05:24.180 --> 00:05:26.939 know what? He heard from God. God spoke to Benedict 00:05:26.939 --> 00:05:30.819 in that cave. And as God spoke to him, Benedict 00:05:30.819 --> 00:05:33.779 began to write down what God was communicating 00:05:33.779 --> 00:05:35.939 and write it down and write it down. And as he 00:05:35.939 --> 00:05:38.339 wrote it down and sorted through it, it became 00:05:38.339 --> 00:05:41.040 clear to him that what God was giving him was 00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:44.800 best described as a plan. God was giving him 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:50.120 this pattern of life. This rule of life, if you 00:05:50.120 --> 00:05:53.259 will, and this rule of life was a way of living 00:05:53.259 --> 00:05:56.160 one's life in this crazy world and not being 00:05:56.160 --> 00:06:00.240 changed by that world. And he wrote it, wrote 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:03.240 it down. Now people in the surrounding countryside 00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:05.839 and the surrounding area, they were like very 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:07.740 curious about this guy who's living down in a 00:06:07.740 --> 00:06:08.939 cave. And they'd be like, what are you doing 00:06:08.939 --> 00:06:11.180 down there in a cave? And pretty soon he had 00:06:11.180 --> 00:06:13.740 gathered a little following of people, maybe 00:06:13.740 --> 00:06:17.600 a large following of people as he wrestled with. 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:19.579 God down in that cave. And eventually the time 00:06:19.579 --> 00:06:22.300 came, Benedict says, it's time for me to go back 00:06:22.300 --> 00:06:24.920 up. And so he went back up out of that cave and 00:06:24.920 --> 00:06:27.160 he gathered some of those followers and they 00:06:27.160 --> 00:06:31.000 went up to a mountain. It was called Mount Casino. 00:06:31.100 --> 00:06:36.079 And there they built a monastery. Now, again, 00:06:36.199 --> 00:06:38.019 what was the point of the monastery? Was the 00:06:38.019 --> 00:06:40.100 monastery just like the cave, a place where they 00:06:40.100 --> 00:06:42.680 could go and escape from the world? No. The point 00:06:42.680 --> 00:06:45.879 of the monastery was to help people learn to 00:06:45.879 --> 00:06:47.810 get together as a community. and learn together 00:06:47.810 --> 00:06:51.550 how it is we can live in this world, follow Jesus 00:06:51.550 --> 00:06:55.490 in this world, without being changed by this 00:06:55.490 --> 00:06:58.750 world. And the framework for the spiritual life 00:06:58.750 --> 00:07:01.069 that the people in that monastery, and there 00:07:01.069 --> 00:07:02.850 were other communities that came after. It grew 00:07:02.850 --> 00:07:04.689 and grew. It became a real movement. But the 00:07:04.689 --> 00:07:07.110 framework was something that became known as 00:07:07.110 --> 00:07:10.430 the Rule of St. Benedict. And the Rule of St. 00:07:10.509 --> 00:07:12.149 Benedict is still one of the most influential 00:07:12.149 --> 00:07:16.689 guides for Christian formation in history. Now, 00:07:16.790 --> 00:07:19.870 a lot has changed in 1 ,500 years, but maybe 00:07:19.870 --> 00:07:22.949 not as much as you might think, because we still 00:07:22.949 --> 00:07:25.029 live in a world that's full of violence, still 00:07:25.029 --> 00:07:27.170 live in a world that's full of corruption, still 00:07:27.170 --> 00:07:29.209 a lot of confusion, competing ideas, competing 00:07:29.209 --> 00:07:34.329 religions, and a church that has also been sidelined 00:07:34.329 --> 00:07:38.649 in many regards in our world. Add to that all 00:07:38.649 --> 00:07:41.269 of the pressures of modern life, things like 00:07:41.269 --> 00:07:43.610 distractions and digital overload and busyness 00:07:43.610 --> 00:07:46.490 and shallow relationships. anxieties, and all 00:07:46.490 --> 00:07:48.810 those kind of things. You know, the question 00:07:48.810 --> 00:07:52.230 that Benedict was asking in that cave is still 00:07:52.230 --> 00:07:55.149 the same question that we are asking today. How 00:07:55.149 --> 00:07:58.490 do we live? How do we live as followers of Jesus 00:07:58.490 --> 00:08:01.389 in this world? And the good news is there's an 00:08:01.389 --> 00:08:04.250 answer. Benedict has an answer. God has an answer. 00:08:04.329 --> 00:08:06.189 And it doesn't mean you have to move to Italy. 00:08:06.329 --> 00:08:08.050 And it doesn't mean you have to go live in a 00:08:08.050 --> 00:08:11.050 cave. But it might mean you have to adopt a rule 00:08:11.050 --> 00:08:16.790 or a pattern to govern your life. So we are in 00:08:16.790 --> 00:08:18.910 the middle, right in the middle of this teaching 00:08:18.910 --> 00:08:21.149 series we're calling This is the Way. And that's 00:08:21.149 --> 00:08:23.350 exactly the question that we're asking. How do 00:08:23.350 --> 00:08:25.930 we, as followers of Jesus here in 2026 in the 00:08:25.930 --> 00:08:30.230 GTA in Mississauga, how do we follow Jesus in 00:08:30.230 --> 00:08:35.279 our own world? And the answer... that we're going 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:37.080 to be talking about today has a lot to do with 00:08:37.080 --> 00:08:40.740 this thing called a rule of life and i just want 00:08:40.740 --> 00:08:42.659 to say that you've heard me talk about this before 00:08:42.659 --> 00:08:44.139 and some of you might be kind of sick of hearing 00:08:44.139 --> 00:08:46.100 about a rule of life and you may be like i don't 00:08:46.100 --> 00:08:48.539 i'm not really interested in a rule of life and 00:08:48.539 --> 00:08:51.100 fair you know but i just want to say you might 00:08:51.100 --> 00:08:54.799 be a stronger person than saint benedict uh you 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:56.580 know and following jesus might be really easy 00:08:56.580 --> 00:08:59.259 for you oh distractions or busyness or temptations 00:08:59.259 --> 00:09:02.639 i got this no no problem i'm good i'm good but 00:09:02.639 --> 00:09:05.470 far more likely is that that you're a lot like. 00:09:05.960 --> 00:09:08.759 saint benedict and you actually do need help 00:09:08.759 --> 00:09:12.580 in living your life in making a plan for how 00:09:12.580 --> 00:09:14.759 to live your life i would say more than ever 00:09:14.759 --> 00:09:17.759 not just do you need that plan and not just do 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:20.720 i need that plan but the world needs people who 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:24.059 are willing to adopt some kind of a plan to live 00:09:24.059 --> 00:09:26.940 their lives differently to witness to the world 00:09:26.940 --> 00:09:31.080 that there is a different way to live one's life 00:09:31.080 --> 00:09:33.299 so the question i guess i'm really trying to 00:09:33.299 --> 00:09:35.379 ask you i want you to consider this morning Is 00:09:35.379 --> 00:09:41.659 there a monk in you? Is there a monk in me? Somewhere 00:09:41.659 --> 00:09:44.600 deep within us, is there a monk there? Because 00:09:44.600 --> 00:09:47.919 the heart of the monastic movement was not about, 00:09:47.940 --> 00:09:51.480 you know, living in a monastery or taking a vow 00:09:51.480 --> 00:09:54.000 of celibacy or wearing these, you know, wool 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:56.399 robes that must have been incredibly itchy. That's 00:09:56.399 --> 00:09:59.320 not what the point of monastic life was. The 00:09:59.320 --> 00:10:02.059 heart of the monastic movement was we're a community 00:10:02.059 --> 00:10:05.159 of people. who are intentionally trying to order 00:10:05.159 --> 00:10:10.519 our lives around Jesus, living their lives by 00:10:10.519 --> 00:10:13.799 a rule of life. Now, let's talk about that word 00:10:13.799 --> 00:10:15.879 rule, because a lot of people turned off by the 00:10:15.879 --> 00:10:18.100 word rule. A lot of negative connotations when 00:10:18.100 --> 00:10:20.519 it comes to the word rule. When I first think 00:10:20.519 --> 00:10:23.000 about a rule, I always think of my elementary 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:26.659 school principal, Mr. Martindale. Mr. Martindale 00:10:26.659 --> 00:10:29.519 was like six feet four. He was built. He was 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:33.779 a big, big guy. He had a glass eye. And Mr. Martindale 00:10:33.779 --> 00:10:35.940 carried a strap. Now, for some of the younger 00:10:35.940 --> 00:10:37.759 people here, I got to tell you, you may not know 00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:40.480 this, but it wasn't that long ago that principals 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:44.129 had a strap. It's like a leather. piece of fabric 00:10:44.129 --> 00:10:46.889 or whatever. And if you got in trouble, you would 00:10:46.889 --> 00:10:48.669 go to the principal's office. He would say, stick 00:10:48.669 --> 00:10:51.330 out your hand, and he would whack you with that. 00:10:51.750 --> 00:10:53.389 Like, I'm not even, how many people here got 00:10:53.389 --> 00:10:55.610 the strap at one point in their life? Yes, I 00:10:55.610 --> 00:10:57.789 see some people who got the strap. It was a thing. 00:10:57.990 --> 00:11:00.370 It was a real thing. It happened. And people 00:11:00.370 --> 00:11:02.809 were scared to death of Mr. Martindale. And so, 00:11:02.830 --> 00:11:04.769 yes, you did not run in the halls, and you did 00:11:04.769 --> 00:11:08.549 not talk in class. You did not break the rules. 00:11:09.990 --> 00:11:11.549 And that's what we think of when we hear the 00:11:11.549 --> 00:11:14.220 word rule. We think of a punishment. We think 00:11:14.220 --> 00:11:16.179 of boundaries. We think of someone trying to 00:11:16.179 --> 00:11:18.519 prevent us from doing something. But that's not 00:11:18.519 --> 00:11:20.559 what we're talking about when we talk about a 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:23.080 rule of life. Totally different meaning to the 00:11:23.080 --> 00:11:27.049 word. A rule of life is actually, best understood, 00:11:27.190 --> 00:11:31.350 is simply a plan that you have to follow Jesus. 00:11:31.549 --> 00:11:34.669 It's just a plan, a set of practices and habits 00:11:34.669 --> 00:11:38.509 that you have adopted to enable you to become 00:11:38.509 --> 00:11:40.450 the kind of person that you want to be and the 00:11:40.450 --> 00:11:43.830 kind of person the world needs you to be. Now, 00:11:43.850 --> 00:11:45.610 the best way to maybe help you understand the 00:11:45.610 --> 00:11:48.149 difference is to understand that the word rule 00:11:48.149 --> 00:11:52.809 comes from an ancient word which means trellis. 00:11:53.470 --> 00:11:57.509 A trellis. Another person said it this way. You've 00:11:57.509 --> 00:11:59.389 probably heard of a ruler. Like in elementary 00:11:59.389 --> 00:12:01.690 school, you had a wooden ruler. Why are they 00:12:01.690 --> 00:12:03.929 called a ruler? Because it was a kind of a straight 00:12:03.929 --> 00:12:07.629 piece of wood. This trellis is a rule. Why? Because 00:12:07.629 --> 00:12:11.240 it's made of straight. pieces of wood and what 00:12:11.240 --> 00:12:14.179 does a trellis do if i planted a grapevine here 00:12:14.179 --> 00:12:17.519 what does a trellis do it guides and directs 00:12:17.519 --> 00:12:20.080 the growth of the plant the grapevine can grow 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:22.480 up it can grow out to receive sunlight gives 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:25.519 a space for air to flow between its branches 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:28.519 ultimately so that it produces a whole lot of 00:12:28.519 --> 00:12:32.759 really really good fruit so listen a rule of 00:12:32.759 --> 00:12:35.399 life is basically just a trellis it works the 00:12:35.399 --> 00:12:39.559 same way it means a trellis okay Jesus said it 00:12:39.559 --> 00:12:44.019 this way. He said, no branch can bear fruit by 00:12:44.019 --> 00:12:46.779 itself. It must remain in the vine. And neither 00:12:46.779 --> 00:12:49.059 can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I 00:12:49.059 --> 00:12:52.620 am the vine. and you are the branches. A rule 00:12:52.620 --> 00:12:56.100 of life is a trellis that gives us life, it gives 00:12:56.100 --> 00:12:58.460 us structure, helps us stay connected to the 00:12:58.460 --> 00:13:02.620 vine of Jesus and produce spiritual fruit. Now, 00:13:02.620 --> 00:13:07.200 if you do not have a trellis, if you do not have 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:10.639 a rule of life to govern your life, what happens? 00:13:10.740 --> 00:13:15.009 Well, your life runs wild. Just like a grapevine, 00:13:15.149 --> 00:13:17.190 it has no trellis. What is it going to do? It's 00:13:17.190 --> 00:13:20.070 just going to run all over the place. It's going 00:13:20.070 --> 00:13:22.210 to be stepped on. It's going to be prone to disease. 00:13:22.370 --> 00:13:25.289 It's not going to produce very good fruit at 00:13:25.289 --> 00:13:28.529 all. And the same is true if we don't have some 00:13:28.529 --> 00:13:31.169 kind of a rule, a trellis in our lives to guide 00:13:31.169 --> 00:13:33.850 our lives. We're going to be pulled in a hundred 00:13:33.850 --> 00:13:36.850 different directions. We'll spend our time, you 00:13:36.850 --> 00:13:38.970 know, scrolling social media, checking our phones, 00:13:39.049 --> 00:13:41.230 answering emails, watching one more episode, 00:13:41.289 --> 00:13:43.889 watching one more episode. watching just one 00:13:43.889 --> 00:13:47.350 more episode, reading the news, you know, adding 00:13:47.350 --> 00:13:49.789 one more thing to the calendar. And when we do 00:13:49.789 --> 00:13:52.210 that, you know what happens? Our days just start 00:13:52.210 --> 00:13:54.769 to slip away. And when our days start to slip 00:13:54.769 --> 00:13:57.929 away, our lives start to slip away. That's what 00:13:57.929 --> 00:14:00.289 Annie Dillard said. She said, how we spend our 00:14:00.289 --> 00:14:03.429 days is, of course, how we end up spending our 00:14:03.429 --> 00:14:07.149 lives. So without an intentional structure, a 00:14:07.149 --> 00:14:10.789 rule in your life, our lives run wild and we 00:14:10.789 --> 00:14:14.379 slowly become As John Mark Comer says, we become 00:14:14.379 --> 00:14:19.840 wildly unlike Jesus. So that's one option, no 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:22.539 rule. But that's not really the greatest danger. 00:14:22.659 --> 00:14:25.080 The greater danger is not that you don't have 00:14:25.080 --> 00:14:27.460 a rule of life, but it's that you have the wrong 00:14:27.460 --> 00:14:30.740 rule of life. You have some other kind of trellis 00:14:30.740 --> 00:14:33.899 system that actually is taking you and moving 00:14:33.899 --> 00:14:36.779 you in the wrong directions. You're drifting 00:14:36.779 --> 00:14:40.559 in the wrong direction. If you were to see a 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:44.299 grapevine in the wild, far more likely than it 00:14:44.299 --> 00:14:46.759 running all over the ground, it would find something 00:14:46.759 --> 00:14:49.299 to hold on to. It would find a tree trunk and 00:14:49.299 --> 00:14:51.379 it would climb up that. It would find a rock 00:14:51.379 --> 00:14:55.100 and it would climb up that. And that is because 00:14:55.100 --> 00:14:59.200 naturally grapevines, like human beings, are 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:03.539 seeking a structure for their lives. And the 00:15:03.539 --> 00:15:06.500 same, therefore, is true for us. If we do not... 00:15:07.249 --> 00:15:11.509 purposely choose a rule to live by then something 00:15:11.509 --> 00:15:14.289 else will just swoop in and become the rule that 00:15:14.289 --> 00:15:17.690 we live by you will develop some kind of structure 00:15:17.690 --> 00:15:19.490 but it could be a structure around your phone 00:15:19.490 --> 00:15:21.690 could be around your work could be around your 00:15:21.690 --> 00:15:23.649 bad habits could be around your busy schedule 00:15:23.649 --> 00:15:26.669 you're just going to fall into a pattern a pattern 00:15:26.669 --> 00:15:28.490 of what you do in the morning a pattern of what 00:15:28.490 --> 00:15:30.190 you do in your relationships a pattern of how 00:15:30.190 --> 00:15:32.149 you spend your money a pattern of how you deal 00:15:32.149 --> 00:15:34.070 with technology you're just gonna you're gonna 00:15:34.070 --> 00:15:36.149 start clinging to these things they're gonna 00:15:36.149 --> 00:15:39.740 be the pattern and the rule of your life whether 00:15:39.740 --> 00:15:46.360 you realize it or not Dallas Willard said your 00:15:46.360 --> 00:15:50.179 system is perfectly designed to produce the results 00:15:50.179 --> 00:15:53.700 that you are already getting you've got a system 00:15:54.200 --> 00:15:56.039 I've got a system. We've all got a system. We 00:15:56.039 --> 00:15:58.120 have a pattern. We have a rule of life. The question 00:15:58.120 --> 00:16:00.620 is not, do you have a rule of life? The question 00:16:00.620 --> 00:16:02.820 is, is your rule of life what you want it to 00:16:02.820 --> 00:16:05.159 be? Is it making you into the person that you 00:16:05.159 --> 00:16:09.080 want to be? Are you happy with who you are becoming? 00:16:09.639 --> 00:16:14.330 Okay, your rule is doing that to you. But what 00:16:14.330 --> 00:16:16.990 would it look like if instead of not having one 00:16:16.990 --> 00:16:19.690 or letting anything become it, what if we actually 00:16:19.690 --> 00:16:23.389 purposely chose the right rule for our lives? 00:16:23.509 --> 00:16:26.129 A rule that was shaped by the life of Jesus. 00:16:26.669 --> 00:16:31.090 Well, then our lives would produce good, good, 00:16:31.129 --> 00:16:35.409 good fruit. And why is that? The answer is because 00:16:35.409 --> 00:16:38.450 first, a rule is going to help you actually do 00:16:38.450 --> 00:16:42.840 what you want to do. You see, As human beings, 00:16:42.899 --> 00:16:45.759 we want to do all sorts of things. We just have 00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:48.820 a hard time doing it, right? You want to pray 00:16:48.820 --> 00:16:51.120 more. You want to make more time for family. 00:16:51.299 --> 00:16:53.639 You want to exercise. You want to be patient. 00:16:53.740 --> 00:16:57.759 You want to be generous. But we just can't figure 00:16:57.759 --> 00:17:01.200 out how to make those things happen. It's kind 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:03.879 of like the Apostle Paul said. He said, I do 00:17:03.879 --> 00:17:06.980 not understand what I do. For what I want to 00:17:06.980 --> 00:17:11.740 do, I do not do. But what I hate, that's what 00:17:11.740 --> 00:17:14.480 I end up doing. But you see, here's what a rule 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:17.460 of life does. A rule of life will close the gap 00:17:17.460 --> 00:17:23.160 between our intentions and our actions. All those... 00:17:23.470 --> 00:17:25.809 vague desires of things that we wanted to do, 00:17:25.869 --> 00:17:29.150 all of a sudden in a rule become concrete steps 00:17:29.150 --> 00:17:32.029 that we write down, that we organize our life 00:17:32.029 --> 00:17:34.190 around, specific times for prayer, specific times 00:17:34.190 --> 00:17:37.490 for exercise or for rest or for family time. 00:17:37.650 --> 00:17:40.089 And that means now you don't got to get overwhelmed 00:17:40.089 --> 00:17:43.269 by all the decision fatigue, trying to figure 00:17:43.269 --> 00:17:44.869 out, oh, what am I going to do now? What am I 00:17:44.869 --> 00:17:46.569 going to do now? Or how am I going to live today? 00:17:46.710 --> 00:17:48.930 Right? You've already decided. You've already 00:17:48.930 --> 00:17:52.809 created a spiritual rule for your life. That 00:17:52.809 --> 00:17:57.069 rule tells you what matters most to you and what 00:17:57.069 --> 00:17:58.910 you want to spend your time doing. You've got 00:17:58.910 --> 00:18:02.970 a plan to live by. So that's the great first 00:18:02.970 --> 00:18:05.309 thing about a rule of life is it enables you 00:18:05.309 --> 00:18:07.349 to do the things that you actually want to do. 00:18:07.470 --> 00:18:10.009 The flip side of that, though, is a rule of life 00:18:10.009 --> 00:18:14.230 then also enables you to avoid what you don't 00:18:14.230 --> 00:18:19.289 want to do. A rule of life protects us sometimes 00:18:19.289 --> 00:18:23.140 from those. patterns that we know are unhealthy. 00:18:23.579 --> 00:18:26.380 And so it's like, it's like when you have a rule 00:18:26.380 --> 00:18:28.599 of life, it's like a filter. It enables you to 00:18:28.599 --> 00:18:31.420 say yes to these things. Yes, yes, yes. But it 00:18:31.420 --> 00:18:34.619 also enables you to say no to other things in 00:18:34.619 --> 00:18:36.799 your life, the less important things, the things 00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:39.279 that aren't your priorities, your stated priorities 00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:43.140 in life. If you look at what Jesus said to us 00:18:43.140 --> 00:18:45.079 this morning, the scriptures, he talked about. 00:18:45.740 --> 00:18:49.099 god being this gardener and god will cut off 00:18:49.099 --> 00:18:52.559 branches that bear no fruit this is you know 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:55.279 a common horticulture if you've got a branch 00:18:55.279 --> 00:18:59.599 that's not doing much good you cut it off and 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:03.089 a rule of life Enables us to cut off things that 00:19:03.089 --> 00:19:05.849 aren't working. A rule of life is not just about 00:19:05.849 --> 00:19:08.089 adding more things to your life. Sometimes it's 00:19:08.089 --> 00:19:11.309 about subtracting things from your life, right? 00:19:11.410 --> 00:19:15.329 You may want to grow certain things in your life, 00:19:15.410 --> 00:19:18.029 but there's other things in your life that frankly 00:19:18.029 --> 00:19:22.049 just need to die. And a rule of life helps both 00:19:22.049 --> 00:19:24.569 of those to happen. And so if you start doing 00:19:24.569 --> 00:19:26.109 the things you actually want to do, and you start 00:19:26.109 --> 00:19:27.970 avoiding the things that you actually don't want 00:19:27.970 --> 00:19:30.470 to do, then ultimately a rule of life helps you 00:19:30.470 --> 00:19:33.990 become the person that you want to be, the person 00:19:33.990 --> 00:19:36.450 God wants you to be, the person that the world 00:19:36.450 --> 00:19:42.000 needs you to be. And then all sorts of good fruit 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:44.240 is getting grown and developed in your life. 00:19:44.339 --> 00:19:46.579 Fruit, like Paul says, the fruit of the Spirit. 00:19:46.700 --> 00:19:49.960 Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, 00:19:50.180 --> 00:19:53.299 faithfulness, gentleness, and self -control. 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:56.779 If your trellis is all shaped by distraction 00:19:56.779 --> 00:19:59.920 and busyness, it is going to grow something, 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:01.680 but it's probably not going to be any of this 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:04.680 stuff, right? But if your trellis is shaped by 00:20:04.680 --> 00:20:08.559 the way of Jesus, intentional decisions to... 00:20:08.779 --> 00:20:11.400 live your life following Jesus, then this is 00:20:11.400 --> 00:20:16.019 what will grow in your life. So that's what we 00:20:16.019 --> 00:20:19.119 all need. We need a rule. We need a trellis in 00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:22.019 our lives. But let me end by answering this question. 00:20:22.099 --> 00:20:26.000 Well, how do we then build that into our lives? 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:29.309 I want to just pause here and remind us. This 00:20:29.309 --> 00:20:30.970 is exactly the thing we've been trying to do 00:20:30.970 --> 00:20:33.849 all Lent so far is build our own little personal 00:20:33.849 --> 00:20:36.650 rule of life. We handed out for the last three 00:20:36.650 --> 00:20:39.289 weeks now, these little pocket guides that are 00:20:39.289 --> 00:20:43.460 there to help you build. practice by practice 00:20:43.460 --> 00:20:46.779 by practice, a rule for living your own spiritual 00:20:46.779 --> 00:20:48.420 life. And if you don't have one of these, please 00:20:48.420 --> 00:20:50.420 grab one on the way out because week by week, 00:20:50.500 --> 00:20:53.819 we're adding to this until we've got a rule of 00:20:53.819 --> 00:20:55.779 life that's going to work for you. But I would 00:20:55.779 --> 00:20:57.500 say before you get too deep into this, before 00:20:57.500 --> 00:21:00.160 you get too far into this, let me offer you kind 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:03.119 of five hot tips that will be really, really 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:05.859 helpful. And here's the first hot tip. Start 00:21:05.859 --> 00:21:09.400 simply. I think a very common mistake people 00:21:09.400 --> 00:21:11.180 make when they're trying to create a rule of 00:21:11.180 --> 00:21:14.359 life is that they try to do too much too quickly. 00:21:15.299 --> 00:21:17.599 Instead of trying to overhaul your whole life 00:21:17.599 --> 00:21:20.019 overnight, just begin with something simple. 00:21:20.359 --> 00:21:23.500 Think about starting your day with five minutes 00:21:23.500 --> 00:21:27.359 of silence just to be in God's presence. Or think 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:29.480 about, you know, setting your watch for noon 00:21:29.480 --> 00:21:31.640 and at noon you just stop for five minutes and 00:21:31.640 --> 00:21:34.180 you read a piece of scripture. Or at the end 00:21:34.180 --> 00:21:35.700 of your day, just before you turn off the light, 00:21:35.720 --> 00:21:37.819 when you reach for the light, you stop and you 00:21:37.819 --> 00:21:39.720 call to mind one thing that you are grateful 00:21:39.720 --> 00:21:45.380 for in that day, right? Lasting change almost 00:21:45.380 --> 00:21:50.400 always begins with just very simple, small practices. 00:21:50.920 --> 00:21:53.160 Okay, Dallas Willard said that the secret of 00:21:53.160 --> 00:21:55.920 the spiritual life is not like heroic effort. 00:21:56.039 --> 00:21:58.660 You don't have to go live in a cave, right? But 00:21:58.660 --> 00:22:03.950 just steady. Practice. Steady practice. So that's 00:22:03.950 --> 00:22:07.690 the first thing to do. Just start simply. Secondly, 00:22:07.730 --> 00:22:11.450 though, related to this is build slowly. Some 00:22:11.450 --> 00:22:14.710 of us, we get really excited about doing this 00:22:14.710 --> 00:22:17.819 spiritual... growth thing and immediately we 00:22:17.819 --> 00:22:20.700 try to build our trellis all at once we want 00:22:20.700 --> 00:22:22.779 to put all the sticks there all at once well 00:22:22.779 --> 00:22:24.960 i'm going to do prayer and i'm going to do fasting 00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:26.559 and i'm going to do solitude i'm going to do 00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:28.640 generosity i'm going to do sabbath and i'm going 00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:31.299 to take a retreat and i'm going to do this and 00:22:31.299 --> 00:22:34.259 do that it's like you're trying to build like 00:22:34.259 --> 00:22:38.579 way too much way too fast i would just say remember 00:22:38.579 --> 00:22:41.789 a rule of life It's not a place for you to try 00:22:41.789 --> 00:22:43.589 to impress God with all the amazing things that 00:22:43.589 --> 00:22:45.470 you're doing. It's just about creating rhythms 00:22:45.470 --> 00:22:50.529 that you can actually sustain. Eugene Peterson 00:22:50.529 --> 00:22:54.710 once described the Christian life as a long obedience 00:22:54.710 --> 00:22:59.069 in the same direction. Just play the long game 00:22:59.069 --> 00:23:01.390 with this. Begin with one or two practices. Let 00:23:01.390 --> 00:23:03.990 them become part of your life. And then, yeah, 00:23:04.089 --> 00:23:08.009 add another. Maybe add another, okay? Thirdly, 00:23:08.009 --> 00:23:12.359 here's the third hot tip. prune regularly. Now, 00:23:12.420 --> 00:23:15.160 this may surprise people, but a rule of life 00:23:15.160 --> 00:23:18.559 is, again, not primarily about adding more and 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:20.799 more and more and more to your life. In fact, 00:23:20.819 --> 00:23:23.480 it's also about removing things that may be getting 00:23:23.480 --> 00:23:25.000 in the way of your spiritual transformation. 00:23:25.319 --> 00:23:28.519 Again, we already heard that God will cut off 00:23:28.519 --> 00:23:31.299 branches that are bad or not producing any fruit, 00:23:31.359 --> 00:23:33.859 but check this one out. Even the branches that 00:23:33.859 --> 00:23:37.180 are bearing good fruit, bearing good stuff, doing 00:23:37.180 --> 00:23:40.829 the good stuff, he prunes them so they will be 00:23:40.829 --> 00:23:46.150 even more fruitful i mean why would he prune 00:23:46.150 --> 00:23:48.410 a vine that's producing fruit it's because a 00:23:48.410 --> 00:23:51.049 vine that's got too much fruit on it actually 00:23:51.049 --> 00:23:54.230 starts to its energy gets all sapped and spread 00:23:54.230 --> 00:23:57.349 too thin the fruit becomes small and weak but 00:23:57.349 --> 00:24:00.990 if you prune away some of those things then more 00:24:00.990 --> 00:24:05.519 energy can go into what is there And so one idea 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:07.579 I would say that is if you're going to add something 00:24:07.579 --> 00:24:10.519 new to your own spiritual rule of life, also 00:24:10.519 --> 00:24:15.660 consider taking something away at the same time. 00:24:15.700 --> 00:24:18.420 Because often in the spiritual life, you have 00:24:18.420 --> 00:24:23.539 to start with less before it becomes more. Here's 00:24:23.539 --> 00:24:27.299 a fourth hot tip, and that is to stay... Stay 00:24:27.299 --> 00:24:30.240 flexible. Okay? St. Benedict's rule was actually 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:33.500 really well known because it was so flexible. 00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:35.460 In fact, Benedict himself said, and I quote, 00:24:35.559 --> 00:24:38.200 that his rule has just a little strictness to 00:24:38.200 --> 00:24:40.660 it. Just a little strictness. Which means it 00:24:40.660 --> 00:24:43.660 has a lot of flexibility to it. And that's good 00:24:43.660 --> 00:24:45.940 because you know life changes. When you've got 00:24:45.940 --> 00:24:48.230 kids running around the house. might be hard 00:24:48.230 --> 00:24:50.410 to keep up with your rule let's say you're looking 00:24:50.410 --> 00:24:53.210 after aging parents life changes let's say especially 00:24:53.210 --> 00:24:56.289 busy season at work life changes let's say that 00:24:56.289 --> 00:24:58.390 you know you're going through an illness or something 00:24:58.390 --> 00:25:01.789 like that right now we need to be able to adjust 00:25:01.789 --> 00:25:05.230 and flex our rule of life rather than break it 00:25:05.230 --> 00:25:08.049 all together or break ourselves trying to keep 00:25:08.049 --> 00:25:10.690 up with it right that's why benedict said he 00:25:10.690 --> 00:25:13.890 said that we don't exist for the rule the rule 00:25:13.890 --> 00:25:18.759 exists for us And yes, the trellis is there to 00:25:18.759 --> 00:25:23.400 provide some structure, but the plant can weave 00:25:23.400 --> 00:25:27.640 in and out of those firm sticks. And the plant 00:25:27.640 --> 00:25:31.460 is not a slave to the trellis, and we're not 00:25:31.460 --> 00:25:34.259 slaves to the rule. Which brings me to the very 00:25:34.259 --> 00:25:37.240 last thing to remember, and that is the rule 00:25:37.240 --> 00:25:41.559 is meant to be lived in community. It's true, 00:25:41.619 --> 00:25:45.259 Benedict began his journey alone in a cave, but 00:25:45.259 --> 00:25:47.460 that's not where it ultimately really got going. 00:25:47.539 --> 00:25:49.279 The movement got going when he came out of that 00:25:49.279 --> 00:25:51.599 cave and he gathered people together into community. 00:25:52.019 --> 00:25:53.980 That's when the transformation happened. That's 00:25:53.980 --> 00:25:56.119 when they lived out this rule together. And I 00:25:56.119 --> 00:25:58.599 would dare say that it's nearly impossible for 00:25:58.599 --> 00:26:01.099 spiritual transformation to happen in people's 00:26:01.099 --> 00:26:06.029 lives in isolation. We grow best when we are 00:26:06.029 --> 00:26:08.690 surrounded by people, people to encourage us, 00:26:08.730 --> 00:26:12.470 people to challenge us, people to pray for us, 00:26:12.549 --> 00:26:16.529 to walk alongside of us. That is why it is so, 00:26:16.730 --> 00:26:19.349 so important to have a few close spiritual friendships. 00:26:19.630 --> 00:26:21.589 It's so important here at Trinity to be part 00:26:21.589 --> 00:26:24.430 of something like a life group. It's so important 00:26:24.430 --> 00:26:28.670 just to be part of a church community. When Jesus 00:26:28.670 --> 00:26:32.529 said, hey, remain in me, As I remain in you, 00:26:32.750 --> 00:26:36.730 that you is plural. He's talking to a group of 00:26:36.730 --> 00:26:41.630 people because we grow best when we grow together. 00:26:42.849 --> 00:26:45.450 So I would say, if you're working on your rule, 00:26:45.569 --> 00:26:48.170 share that rule with a close friend. Take it 00:26:48.170 --> 00:26:49.789 to your life group and say, hey guys, this is 00:26:49.789 --> 00:26:51.529 kind of what I'm working on. What do you guys 00:26:51.529 --> 00:26:53.950 think? What are you guys doing? Pray for me. 00:26:53.990 --> 00:26:57.809 I really want to live this out. Or find a mentor. 00:26:58.799 --> 00:27:01.799 Someone who can walk with you as you seek to 00:27:01.799 --> 00:27:05.859 grow in this way. So what are the five hot tips, 00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:10.000 right? Start simply, build slowly, prune regularly, 00:27:10.220 --> 00:27:14.400 stay flexible, and include community. Let me 00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:16.579 just end where we kind of started by saying, 00:27:16.660 --> 00:27:20.420 why are we doing this? It is not to escape the 00:27:20.420 --> 00:27:23.920 world, but rather just be able to live in the 00:27:23.920 --> 00:27:28.029 world. We don't want to be changed by the world, 00:27:28.069 --> 00:27:31.990 but we want to be change agents out there in 00:27:31.990 --> 00:27:34.609 the world. And that's exactly what you need to 00:27:34.609 --> 00:27:37.630 know about Benedict's monks and really all monks 00:27:37.630 --> 00:27:39.890 is that there is a sense in which they exist 00:27:39.890 --> 00:27:43.930 not to hide away in those monasteries, but instead 00:27:43.930 --> 00:27:46.890 it's a movement of people that go out into the 00:27:46.890 --> 00:27:50.650 world, men and women, living differently, praying 00:27:50.650 --> 00:27:54.609 and working and serving. welcoming strangers, 00:27:54.990 --> 00:27:58.430 loving their neighbors, extending hospitality. 00:27:59.509 --> 00:28:03.089 Is there a monk in you? Is there? Is there a 00:28:03.089 --> 00:28:07.589 monk in me? No caves, no monasteries, no shaved 00:28:07.589 --> 00:28:12.170 heads required, but a rule, just a rule to live 00:28:12.170 --> 00:28:15.750 your life by to keep you connected to the vine. 00:28:16.390 --> 00:28:18.589 Because what happens is when ordinary people 00:28:18.589 --> 00:28:21.009 begin ordering their lives around Jesus, something 00:28:21.009 --> 00:28:25.200 beautiful grows. And as it grows, lives get changed. 00:28:25.880 --> 00:28:29.400 Families get changed. Churches get changed. And 00:28:29.400 --> 00:28:33.940 even the whole world can be changed. The thanks 00:28:33.940 --> 00:28:39.400 be to God. Amen. Thanks for tuning in to this 00:28:39.400 --> 00:28:42.059 week's episode of Trinity Sermons. This sermon 00:28:42.059 --> 00:28:44.460 was recorded at Trinity Church Streetsville in 00:28:44.460 --> 00:28:48.140 Mississauga, Ontario on March 15th, 2026.