WEBVTT 00:00:04.110 --> 00:00:06.610 Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity 00:00:06.610 --> 00:00:09.650 Sermons. This week we are continuing our teaching 00:00:09.650 --> 00:00:12.109 series called Growing Season, where we're looking 00:00:12.109 --> 00:00:15.089 at what we can learn about faith from life on 00:00:15.089 --> 00:00:17.910 the farm. What's something that you do every 00:00:17.910 --> 00:00:21.269 single day? Maybe you wake up, maybe you brush 00:00:21.269 --> 00:00:23.510 your teeth, you drink your coffee. These are 00:00:23.510 --> 00:00:26.489 the rhythms that keep us going from one day to 00:00:26.489 --> 00:00:29.030 the next. But what about in your faith? What 00:00:29.030 --> 00:00:32.039 rhythms keep you going? That's what Rob is going 00:00:32.039 --> 00:00:39.380 to unpack for us in today's sermon. Today's reading 00:00:39.380 --> 00:01:03.070 is Psalm 1. yields its fruit in season, and whose 00:01:03.070 --> 00:01:06.170 leaf does not wither, whatever they do prospers. 00:01:07.069 --> 00:01:10.329 Not so the wicked. They are like chaff that the 00:01:10.329 --> 00:01:14.230 wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not 00:01:14.230 --> 00:01:16.750 stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly 00:01:16.750 --> 00:01:20.129 of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the 00:01:20.129 --> 00:01:22.450 way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked 00:01:22.450 --> 00:01:26.049 leads to destruction. The word of the Lord. We 00:01:26.049 --> 00:01:28.129 are doing this summer teaching series, which 00:01:28.129 --> 00:01:30.810 we are calling Growing Season, and we're discovering 00:01:30.810 --> 00:01:34.170 what farming can teach us about growing spiritually. 00:01:34.349 --> 00:01:37.950 The Bible says in Psalm 95 that God is a great 00:01:37.950 --> 00:01:41.790 God and that we are the people of his pasture. 00:01:42.510 --> 00:01:44.189 We are the people of his pasture. We are the 00:01:44.189 --> 00:01:47.469 sheep of his hands. Or today I might say we are 00:01:47.469 --> 00:01:52.090 his herd. Now, I realize that when I start a 00:01:52.090 --> 00:01:54.189 sermon that way and I start referring to the 00:01:54.189 --> 00:01:57.829 congregation as livestock, right, that things 00:01:57.829 --> 00:02:01.670 can go downhill pretty quickly. But what I'm 00:02:01.670 --> 00:02:07.650 going to do is try my dairy best to explain how 00:02:07.650 --> 00:02:13.439 utterly amazing. God is by talking about how 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:15.960 God grows us. And I've given you some sermon 00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:18.699 notes to kind of follow along today. So obviously 00:02:18.699 --> 00:02:21.240 from that video, you know that I grew up on our 00:02:21.240 --> 00:02:25.639 family dairy farm and there was a rhythm around 00:02:25.639 --> 00:02:28.580 which everything else on the dairy farm revolved. 00:02:28.580 --> 00:02:30.620 And it wasn't planting time and it wasn't harvest 00:02:30.620 --> 00:02:34.800 time. It was milking time. And in fact, if anybody 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:37.259 wants to understand what life on a dairy farm 00:02:37.259 --> 00:02:39.560 is like, you just have to explain to them about 00:02:39.560 --> 00:02:42.560 the milking and that will tell them just about 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:45.979 everything that they need to know. Because dairy 00:02:45.979 --> 00:02:50.240 farming depends on a daily rhythm. Every cow 00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:52.680 will produce somewhere, I think, between like 00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:57.719 5 and 10 gallons of milk a day. But they had 00:02:57.719 --> 00:03:01.500 to be milked at least twice a day. Otherwise, 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:05.759 things could get pretty uncomfortable for the 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:09.879 cow. And so every morning, And every evening, 00:03:09.939 --> 00:03:14.740 you had an appointment that could not be canceled. 00:03:14.979 --> 00:03:17.300 And farmers knew about this appointment. The 00:03:17.300 --> 00:03:20.199 cows knew about this appointment. And it didn't 00:03:20.199 --> 00:03:24.240 really matter when. It was 365 days a year. Christmas 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:26.060 mornings, you still had to milk the cows. Easter 00:03:26.060 --> 00:03:28.520 mornings, you still had to milk the cows. You 00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:32.120 know, if you had a funeral that day, if you had 00:03:32.120 --> 00:03:34.719 another commitment that day, if you had a birthday, 00:03:34.860 --> 00:03:37.159 if there was a snowstorm, the cows did not care. 00:03:37.689 --> 00:03:40.990 the cows did not care every morning every evening 00:03:40.990 --> 00:03:44.650 you had to be there and everything else on the 00:03:44.650 --> 00:03:47.729 farm revolved around that rhythm everything else 00:03:47.729 --> 00:03:50.430 in your life revolved around that rhythm meals 00:03:50.430 --> 00:03:52.629 were planned around it sports were planned around 00:03:52.629 --> 00:03:55.650 it family gatherings were planned around it vacations 00:03:55.650 --> 00:03:58.930 were not impossible but it meant that you had 00:03:58.930 --> 00:04:01.069 to find somebody who was going to come in and 00:04:01.069 --> 00:04:03.530 do the milking for you while you were gone dad 00:04:03.530 --> 00:04:05.530 couldn't simply just lock the door and walk away 00:04:05.530 --> 00:04:07.930 and say i'm going to come back in a week the 00:04:07.930 --> 00:04:13.389 rhythm came first and everything else came second 00:04:13.389 --> 00:04:16.850 and and some people when they hear this they 00:04:16.850 --> 00:04:20.550 think oh my goodness that sounds so restrictive 00:04:20.550 --> 00:04:24.350 and i admit that sometimes it did feel that way 00:04:24.350 --> 00:04:26.250 there were certain days when i wish that the 00:04:26.250 --> 00:04:30.529 cows would just take a day off But if you talk 00:04:30.529 --> 00:04:34.769 to a retired farmer, they will usually admit 00:04:34.769 --> 00:04:38.050 that they do kind of miss it. They don't miss 00:04:38.050 --> 00:04:40.310 the hard work, as my dad said. They don't miss 00:04:40.310 --> 00:04:42.769 getting up early. They don't miss cleaning out 00:04:42.769 --> 00:04:46.720 the barn. But what they miss... is that rhythm 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:50.100 to life. Because after years and years and years 00:04:50.100 --> 00:04:52.699 of living that way, every morning, every night, 00:04:52.779 --> 00:04:55.759 every morning, every night, every morning, that 00:04:55.759 --> 00:04:59.439 rhythm does something to you. It gives structure 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:02.660 to your days. It gives shape to your weeks. And 00:05:02.660 --> 00:05:05.759 it ultimately gives you a framework for your 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:11.699 entire life. Now, the same is true in our spiritual 00:05:11.699 --> 00:05:16.970 lives. Faith grows through rhythms, not so much 00:05:16.970 --> 00:05:21.759 through moments. We love... Big, flashy moments, 00:05:21.980 --> 00:05:24.040 right? We love the breakthroughs, the life -changing 00:05:24.040 --> 00:05:26.959 experiences, the dramatic stories of transformation. 00:05:27.100 --> 00:05:29.279 We love that kind of stuff. And social media, 00:05:29.339 --> 00:05:32.779 I think, also trains us to look for the highlights, 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:35.160 to look for the milestones, the big announcements, 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:37.860 the mountaintop experiences that are in people's 00:05:37.860 --> 00:05:42.060 lives. We rarely, rarely, rarely see the ordinary 00:05:42.060 --> 00:05:48.879 routines of life. Culture prefers dramatic moments. 00:05:49.319 --> 00:05:53.699 over daily rhythms. And because of that, it begins 00:05:53.699 --> 00:05:56.740 to affect how we think about our faith. We imagine, 00:05:56.980 --> 00:05:59.459 therefore, that spiritual growth must also happen 00:05:59.459 --> 00:06:02.839 through great big dramatic events. I went to 00:06:02.839 --> 00:06:04.939 a great big conference and it changed my life. 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:07.120 I went away on a spiritual retreat and I came 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:09.759 back transformed. We had an amazing, powerful 00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:12.680 worship experience and everything's different 00:06:12.680 --> 00:06:16.939 now. Now, I'm not saying that there aren't moments 00:06:16.939 --> 00:06:18.980 in our lives that are transformative. There certainly 00:06:18.980 --> 00:06:21.100 are. And the Bible is full of transformative 00:06:21.100 --> 00:06:23.980 moments of burning bushes and mountaintops and 00:06:23.980 --> 00:06:27.779 miracles. But most of the time, most of the time, 00:06:27.800 --> 00:06:30.000 I think God operates the same way that a dairy 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:35.300 farm operates one ordinary day at a time. Every 00:06:35.300 --> 00:06:39.370 morning, every night, this rhythm. You know, 00:06:39.410 --> 00:06:43.170 Psalm 1 tells us that blessed is the one whose 00:06:43.170 --> 00:06:45.930 delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates 00:06:45.930 --> 00:06:51.389 on his law day and night, day and night, morning 00:06:51.389 --> 00:06:55.269 and evening, week in, week out, again and again. 00:06:55.389 --> 00:06:59.829 It's not a moment. It's a rhythm. It's not about 00:06:59.829 --> 00:07:05.459 intensity. It's about consistency. Nobody ever 00:07:05.459 --> 00:07:09.680 became a successful dairy farmer by milking enthusiastically 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:13.660 once a month. No farmer says, you know, today 00:07:13.660 --> 00:07:16.180 is the day. I'm going to go out and I'm going 00:07:16.180 --> 00:07:18.180 to milk the heck out of those cows. I'm going 00:07:18.180 --> 00:07:20.279 to give it everything I've got. I'm going to 00:07:20.279 --> 00:07:22.500 milk these cows once and for all. No, that's 00:07:22.500 --> 00:07:26.399 not what cows need. Cows do not need one spectacular 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:31.639 milking. They need a regular one. the herd survives 00:07:31.639 --> 00:07:35.139 because someone keeps showing up day after day 00:07:35.139 --> 00:07:37.300 again and again and again morning and evening 00:07:37.300 --> 00:07:39.560 day after day morning and evening week after 00:07:39.560 --> 00:07:42.160 week year after year healthy things grow that 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:45.060 way healthy things grow through rhythms not through 00:07:45.060 --> 00:07:49.240 occasional bursts of enthusiasm a marriage isn't 00:07:49.240 --> 00:07:53.500 built by one romantic weekend once a year a friendship 00:07:53.500 --> 00:07:55.660 is not sustained because you have one really 00:07:55.660 --> 00:07:59.870 long phone call every decade a church like ours 00:07:59.870 --> 00:08:02.829 does not become healthy because of one inspiring 00:08:02.829 --> 00:08:06.850 Sunday morning, right? No. And our faith does 00:08:06.850 --> 00:08:11.870 not mature in one kind of powerful moment. No. 00:08:11.990 --> 00:08:16.189 Spiritual growth is usually gradual. It is not 00:08:16.189 --> 00:08:19.910 sudden. It accumulates through repeated acts 00:08:19.910 --> 00:08:22.990 of returning to God again and again, saying a 00:08:22.990 --> 00:08:25.329 prayer, reading your Bible, going to worship, 00:08:25.470 --> 00:08:28.149 confessing your sins. None of those things on 00:08:28.149 --> 00:08:32.120 their own Feels dramatic at the time. But over 00:08:32.120 --> 00:08:35.539 time, over time, those repeated returns to God 00:08:35.539 --> 00:08:39.940 begin to form us. Psalm 1, again, uses the image. 00:08:40.440 --> 00:08:44.679 of this tree. Now, a tree does not flourish because 00:08:44.679 --> 00:08:47.799 it had one dramatic encounter with water a decade 00:08:47.799 --> 00:08:51.899 ago. It flourishes because its roots remain near 00:08:51.899 --> 00:08:55.840 the stream, daily drawing life from that stream. 00:08:55.960 --> 00:09:00.159 It keeps receiving nourishment, and that's a 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:03.600 picture of the blessed life. It's not about spiritual 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:06.740 fireworks. It's about a life that is shaped by 00:09:06.740 --> 00:09:11.750 a repeated return to God. And here's why. Here's 00:09:11.750 --> 00:09:17.190 why. What we do repeatedly becomes part of who 00:09:17.190 --> 00:09:21.549 we are. You see, at first, when you start a new 00:09:21.549 --> 00:09:23.309 rhythm, it just feels like something you do. 00:09:23.830 --> 00:09:26.409 But eventually, a rhythm becomes part of who 00:09:26.409 --> 00:09:30.080 you are. You know, ask my dad. My dad did not 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:32.220 sit there lying in bed every morning saying, 00:09:32.299 --> 00:09:35.399 hmm, this morning, do I feel called to get up 00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:37.980 and go and milk the cows? Is that what I'm feeling? 00:09:38.120 --> 00:09:40.879 Is that what I want to do today? No, it was part 00:09:40.879 --> 00:09:45.340 of who he was. He was a dairy farmer. It was 00:09:45.340 --> 00:09:49.299 his identity. And that's just who he was. The 00:09:49.299 --> 00:09:52.940 things that we return to shape the people that 00:09:52.940 --> 00:09:56.200 we become. If we return to bad habits, those 00:09:56.200 --> 00:09:58.860 shape us. If we return to unhealthy relationships, 00:09:59.080 --> 00:10:01.639 those shape us. If we return to destructive habits, 00:10:01.860 --> 00:10:05.740 those shape us as well. But if we repeatedly 00:10:05.740 --> 00:10:10.080 return to God, then slowly but surely, God begins 00:10:10.080 --> 00:10:12.279 to shape us and our lives begin to change. Our 00:10:12.279 --> 00:10:15.419 desires begin to change. Our character begins 00:10:15.419 --> 00:10:19.960 to change. We see this in Jesus, don't we? In 00:10:19.960 --> 00:10:23.799 Luke 5, 16, we read that Jesus often withdrew 00:10:23.799 --> 00:10:26.240 to lonely places and prayed. And that key word 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:30.360 there, often. Jesus didn't do this just once. 00:10:31.159 --> 00:10:34.019 He didn't just do it even occasionally. He didn't 00:10:34.019 --> 00:10:36.139 just do it when his life was falling apart. No, 00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:38.720 he did it often. He did it regularly. He did 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:42.700 it rhythmically. Jesus was not sustained by occasional 00:10:42.700 --> 00:10:46.299 spiritual highs. He kept returning to the Father. 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:50.559 He kept withdrawing for times of prayer. And 00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:54.039 he kept rooting his life in the presence of God. 00:10:54.360 --> 00:10:57.840 And if Jesus... was kind of governed by rhythms 00:10:57.840 --> 00:10:59.899 like this, then what would make us think that 00:10:59.899 --> 00:11:01.960 we can have a flourishing spirituality without 00:11:01.960 --> 00:11:06.799 rhythms as well? So that is the first thing I 00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:08.720 think we learn from the dairy farm, the dairy 00:11:08.720 --> 00:11:11.720 farmer, is that faith grows through rhythms, 00:11:11.879 --> 00:11:16.299 not through moments. But secondly, those rhythms 00:11:16.299 --> 00:11:21.139 need to continue through every season. Now, on 00:11:21.139 --> 00:11:24.899 a dairy farm, the rhythm of milking did not only 00:11:24.899 --> 00:11:28.110 happen, when life was convenient. It happened 00:11:28.110 --> 00:11:30.669 when the sun was shining, which is great, but 00:11:30.669 --> 00:11:32.769 it also happened when the snow was blowing in 00:11:32.769 --> 00:11:36.389 sideways. It happened whether dad felt healthy 00:11:36.389 --> 00:11:39.509 or whether he was sick or had a flu or was under 00:11:39.509 --> 00:11:42.509 the weather. There were no sick days on the farm, 00:11:42.649 --> 00:11:45.470 right? Milking happened whether it was an ordinary 00:11:45.470 --> 00:11:47.990 Tuesday or whether it was a Christmas morning. 00:11:48.110 --> 00:11:52.320 And the same is true with faith. There are seasons, 00:11:52.419 --> 00:11:54.820 I think, when faith feels oh so natural and prayer 00:11:54.820 --> 00:11:57.039 feels easy and worship feels joyful. Seasons 00:11:57.039 --> 00:11:59.779 when your heart is full and gratitude comes easy. 00:11:59.860 --> 00:12:02.419 Wonderful. Great. But there are also seasons 00:12:02.419 --> 00:12:05.799 when everything feels like a burden. Everything 00:12:05.799 --> 00:12:08.200 feels harder. When you are tired. When you are 00:12:08.200 --> 00:12:11.460 grieving. When you're disappointed. What do you 00:12:11.460 --> 00:12:13.820 do then? What do you do in those seasons? Well, 00:12:14.100 --> 00:12:19.220 healthy rhythms persist through the ups and downs 00:12:19.220 --> 00:12:22.539 of life, just like on the dairy farm, right? 00:12:22.779 --> 00:12:25.639 Keeping those spiritual habits going in difficult 00:12:25.639 --> 00:12:27.759 times doesn't mean that you're just ignoring 00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:29.700 your feelings or you're pretending you're not 00:12:29.700 --> 00:12:31.759 feeling the way you're feeling, but actually 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:34.740 a healthy rhythm gives us somewhere to bring 00:12:34.740 --> 00:12:37.080 those feelings, to bring your grief, to bring 00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:39.399 your anger, to bring your confusion or your fear. 00:12:39.960 --> 00:12:42.620 So in that way, having a spiritual rhythm to 00:12:42.620 --> 00:12:45.980 your life keeps carrying you when your feelings 00:12:45.980 --> 00:12:49.779 cannot. And the Bible, of course, look at the 00:12:49.779 --> 00:12:51.879 Bible. It's full of prayers for every season 00:12:51.879 --> 00:12:54.600 of life. The Psalms, there are Psalms of praise. 00:12:54.659 --> 00:12:57.960 There are Psalms of lament. There are songs of 00:12:57.960 --> 00:13:01.139 thanksgiving, but there are also songs of desperation, 00:13:01.320 --> 00:13:06.379 which means that prayer persists through all 00:13:06.379 --> 00:13:09.159 the different seasons. Let me give you just one 00:13:09.159 --> 00:13:11.580 example. Many of us are familiar with this particular 00:13:11.580 --> 00:13:14.279 piece of scriptures from Lamentations 3 .23. 00:13:14.519 --> 00:13:17.639 His mercies are new every morning. It's one of 00:13:17.639 --> 00:13:19.379 the most beloved pieces of scripture. People 00:13:19.379 --> 00:13:22.019 have it, you know, printed on, you know, needlework 00:13:22.019 --> 00:13:24.580 and hung in their bedrooms. But we need to remember 00:13:24.580 --> 00:13:26.539 that when this was written, it was written from 00:13:26.539 --> 00:13:29.879 the ruins. right jerusalem had just been destroyed 00:13:29.879 --> 00:13:32.480 the temple had been torn down the people were 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:36.000 grieving and the poet who wrote this is not sipping 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:38.480 coffee looking out at a bright sunny day he's 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:42.379 standing in the wreckage of his life and he's 00:13:42.379 --> 00:13:46.240 still saying his mercies are new every morning 00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:49.610 how can that be because That poet, that writer 00:13:49.610 --> 00:13:52.889 had developed a rhythm and rhythms teach us that 00:13:52.889 --> 00:13:57.330 we return to God every day, not because we feel 00:13:57.330 --> 00:13:59.929 especially spiritual, but because that is where 00:13:59.929 --> 00:14:03.929 we can go to meet with God. And here is the thing, 00:14:03.950 --> 00:14:06.029 and this is really important. And as I was thinking, 00:14:06.110 --> 00:14:07.870 this might be one of the most important things 00:14:07.870 --> 00:14:10.190 we're going to learn today. And that is that 00:14:10.190 --> 00:14:13.649 the rhythms that we establish in ordinary days 00:14:13.649 --> 00:14:18.000 are the ones that will sustain us. in the difficult 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:20.919 days. In fact, in that sense, there really are 00:14:20.919 --> 00:14:24.600 no ordinary days. An ordinary day is actually 00:14:24.600 --> 00:14:27.379 a day when your roots are just growing a little 00:14:27.379 --> 00:14:30.279 deeper, where your hearts are being formed a 00:14:30.279 --> 00:14:32.080 little more. And that is so important because 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:33.879 there's going to come a day. There's going to 00:14:33.879 --> 00:14:38.539 come a difficult day. And in that moment, You 00:14:38.539 --> 00:14:41.139 might not just rise to the occasion. Instead, 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:43.399 what we normally do when difficulties come is 00:14:43.399 --> 00:14:46.679 we fall back onto the rhythms that have already 00:14:46.679 --> 00:14:50.200 shaped us. Right? So let's take another story. 00:14:50.259 --> 00:14:54.840 Take Daniel's story. Daniel was ripped from his 00:14:54.840 --> 00:14:57.639 homeland. He was sent into an enemy culture, 00:14:57.740 --> 00:15:00.879 and he faced this new law that said you're not 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:04.519 even allowed to pray. But still we read that 00:15:04.519 --> 00:15:07.679 Daniel went home. He got down on his knees. And 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:12.080 he prayed and gave thanks to God just as he had 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:16.919 done before. And that phrase matters, just as 00:15:16.919 --> 00:15:20.659 he had done before. The crisis that Daniel was 00:15:20.659 --> 00:15:24.419 going through did not create his rhythm. It revealed 00:15:24.419 --> 00:15:29.120 the rhythm. Daniel was faithful in this extraordinary 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:32.779 moment. Because he had been formed by countless 00:15:32.779 --> 00:15:36.179 ordinary moments, ordinary rhythms for years 00:15:36.179 --> 00:15:39.340 and years and years. The ordinary moments that 00:15:39.340 --> 00:15:43.720 we spend with God matter because one day it'll 00:15:43.720 --> 00:15:48.340 be a difficult morning, right? One day, you know, 00:15:48.340 --> 00:15:51.659 the ordinary worship services, and maybe today 00:15:51.659 --> 00:15:53.419 it feels like just an ordinary worship service, 00:15:53.480 --> 00:15:55.840 it matters. Because one Sunday you're going to 00:15:55.840 --> 00:15:57.279 come to church and you're going to be grieving. 00:15:58.190 --> 00:16:01.669 And when that season comes, the rhythm is already 00:16:01.669 --> 00:16:05.470 there for you. You know, you don't prepare for 00:16:05.470 --> 00:16:07.870 the blizzard in the blizzard. You don't prepare 00:16:07.870 --> 00:16:11.909 for the harvest in the harvest, right? The rhythm 00:16:11.909 --> 00:16:15.490 is established before the time comes. And that's 00:16:15.490 --> 00:16:19.850 true on a farm, and it's true in our faith. That's 00:16:19.850 --> 00:16:21.529 the second thing. The rhythms have to sustain 00:16:21.529 --> 00:16:24.129 us through all seasons. But here's the third 00:16:24.129 --> 00:16:26.450 kind of lesson we can learn from dairy farms 00:16:26.450 --> 00:16:30.629 and farmers. And that is that the rhythm sustains 00:16:30.629 --> 00:16:35.159 our life. I have to admit that on a dairy farm, 00:16:35.240 --> 00:16:37.759 on the farm I grew up on, my siblings and I would 00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:40.179 often refer to the work that we had to do. And 00:16:40.179 --> 00:16:41.600 there was a schedule and everybody knew what 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:44.220 the schedule was. We called them chores. Whose 00:16:44.220 --> 00:16:46.100 turn is it to do chores? Rob, it's your turn 00:16:46.100 --> 00:16:48.259 to do chores. Who's doing chores? As kids, we 00:16:48.259 --> 00:16:51.039 did not like chores, right? But we all had to 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:54.500 do the chores. But I have to tell you that to 00:16:54.500 --> 00:16:58.539 my dad, I don't think milking was a chore. It 00:16:58.539 --> 00:17:03.710 was a gift in a way. Because it was the activity 00:17:03.710 --> 00:17:07.789 that sustained the life of the farm. It sustained 00:17:07.789 --> 00:17:10.529 the health of the cows. It sustained our income, 00:17:10.730 --> 00:17:13.970 right? It sustained the whole operation. If we 00:17:13.970 --> 00:17:18.569 stopped the rhythm of milking, the whole family 00:17:18.569 --> 00:17:23.410 farm would fall apart. Sometimes we get into 00:17:23.410 --> 00:17:25.309 that place where we start thinking of spiritual 00:17:25.309 --> 00:17:29.599 rhythms as chores. Maybe even this morning you've 00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:31.200 heard me say things like prayer or scripture 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:37.119 or worship or confession or communion. And we 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:39.099 start to think of them as just religious chores. 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:43.359 Things we're supposed to do. Things good Christians 00:17:43.359 --> 00:17:46.500 do. Things we feel guilty about if we don't do. 00:17:47.240 --> 00:17:51.259 But these rhythms are not chores. They're gifts 00:17:51.259 --> 00:17:56.000 that sustain our life. I think of another story 00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:59.720 in the Bible. In Exodus 16, the people of Israel, 00:17:59.799 --> 00:18:02.579 they're in the wilderness where they had no food. 00:18:02.700 --> 00:18:05.700 They had no fields, no barns, no grocery stores, 00:18:05.960 --> 00:18:10.279 no Uber Eats, no nothing. And every morning they 00:18:10.279 --> 00:18:13.680 were hungry. So what God does is God provides 00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:17.039 manna for them. It's this special bread from 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:19.440 heaven, which means that now every morning when 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:22.220 the dew lifted, there it was, this manna on the 00:18:22.220 --> 00:18:24.440 ground. And there was enough there for every... 00:18:24.460 --> 00:18:27.880 day. And at first it must have felt like an astonishing 00:18:27.880 --> 00:18:31.539 gift. They didn't plant it. All they had to do 00:18:31.539 --> 00:18:35.900 was just receive it. It was a gift. The one thing 00:18:35.900 --> 00:18:38.500 they did have to do was they had to go out and 00:18:38.500 --> 00:18:42.079 gather it every morning, again and again, day 00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:44.299 by day, week by week, year after year. That was 00:18:44.299 --> 00:18:46.799 the one thing they had to do. But eventually, 00:18:47.019 --> 00:18:49.759 eventually that started to wear on them. And 00:18:49.759 --> 00:18:53.240 that miracle started to become familiar. And 00:18:53.240 --> 00:18:56.069 the gift, started to feel like a burden. And 00:18:56.069 --> 00:18:58.390 the very thing that God had given them to sustain 00:18:58.390 --> 00:19:02.690 their lives started to feel like one more chore. 00:19:03.309 --> 00:19:05.970 And I wonder if something like that doesn't happen 00:19:05.970 --> 00:19:08.829 to us. Prayer is this wonderful gift. Scripture 00:19:08.829 --> 00:19:11.630 is a gift. Worship is a gift. Christian community 00:19:11.630 --> 00:19:16.650 is a gift that God gives us to sustain our life. 00:19:17.729 --> 00:19:20.970 Because these rhythms are repeated and sometimes 00:19:20.970 --> 00:19:22.750 they're ordinary and sometimes they're familiar, 00:19:22.950 --> 00:19:25.450 we can start to experience them as burdens. Oh, 00:19:25.490 --> 00:19:29.630 I have to go to church. I have to read my Bible. 00:19:29.750 --> 00:19:35.210 Oh, I have to pray. Whatever. Spiritual rhythms 00:19:35.210 --> 00:19:40.799 are gifts that can start. to feel like chores 00:19:40.799 --> 00:19:44.359 just like on the dairy farm so in the spiritual 00:19:44.359 --> 00:19:48.000 life the very thing god gave us to sustain us 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:51.680 begins to feel like it's imposed on us slowly 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:54.880 the language of gift gives way to this language 00:19:54.880 --> 00:20:00.490 of obligation the israelites well, okay, okay, 00:20:00.650 --> 00:20:03.029 maybe we can avoid all these daily chores and 00:20:03.029 --> 00:20:05.549 we can just stockpile the manna. We can go out 00:20:05.549 --> 00:20:07.809 and collect enough of it to last for a whole 00:20:07.809 --> 00:20:10.210 week. But God said, no, that's not how I want 00:20:10.210 --> 00:20:13.390 to sustain you. I want to sustain you through 00:20:13.390 --> 00:20:18.380 daily dependence. not through occasional abundance. 00:20:18.759 --> 00:20:21.079 Occasional abundance sounds very good to us. 00:20:21.160 --> 00:20:23.660 We would love just one dramatic encounter with 00:20:23.660 --> 00:20:25.900 God that settles all of our questions forever, 00:20:26.099 --> 00:20:29.700 right? Or one prayer that fixes everything. Thank 00:20:29.700 --> 00:20:32.019 you very much. One worship service. If I could 00:20:32.019 --> 00:20:34.420 just come to church once every six months and 00:20:34.420 --> 00:20:36.480 that would carry me for those six months, that's 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:38.859 what I want. But God says, that's not how I work. 00:20:39.559 --> 00:20:43.980 God gives daily bread, grace for today, mercy 00:20:43.980 --> 00:20:47.880 for this morning, strength for this moment, wisdom 00:20:47.880 --> 00:20:53.119 for this decision, enough for today. And tomorrow, 00:20:53.500 --> 00:20:55.839 you know what? He invites you to come again. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:58.579 Not because he's stingy. Not because he wants 00:20:58.579 --> 00:21:01.759 to create some kind of anxiety in you. But because 00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:05.099 daily dependence on God keeps our relationship 00:21:05.099 --> 00:21:10.859 with God alive. The rhythm sustains the relationship. 00:21:11.700 --> 00:21:15.619 That's why Jesus says, give us this day our daily 00:21:15.619 --> 00:21:17.579 bread. Not our yearly bread. Not our monthly 00:21:17.579 --> 00:21:21.519 bread. Daily bread. Some things you have to receive 00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:25.420 daily. You can't do tomorrow's milking today. 00:21:25.819 --> 00:21:28.539 You've got to come back again tomorrow. And the 00:21:28.539 --> 00:21:31.779 same is true with prayer. You have to come and 00:21:31.779 --> 00:21:34.180 receive again. Scripture reading, you have to 00:21:34.180 --> 00:21:36.920 come and hear again. Worship, you have to come 00:21:36.920 --> 00:21:39.960 and recenter again. Communion is you have to 00:21:39.960 --> 00:21:44.420 come and be hungry again. This rhythm keeps us 00:21:44.420 --> 00:21:47.460 coming back to the God and back to the gift, 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:50.619 but more importantly, back to the giver of the 00:21:50.619 --> 00:21:54.460 gift. Back to this God who, isn't it amazing? 00:21:54.660 --> 00:21:56.680 He doesn't just meet us every once in a while, 00:21:56.799 --> 00:22:00.500 but he meets us every morning, every evening, 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:06.599 every morning, every evening. So this morning, 00:22:06.660 --> 00:22:11.019 let's just learn from the dairy farmer. Let's 00:22:11.019 --> 00:22:14.180 learn that faith grows through rhythms, not moments. 00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:18.339 That those rhythms continue through every season 00:22:18.339 --> 00:22:22.460 and that those rhythms sustain our life because 00:22:22.460 --> 00:22:24.960 they keep bringing us back into that relationship 00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:27.920 with God. Now, some of you are probably thinking, 00:22:27.980 --> 00:22:30.980 Rob, that sounds pretty good, but I have to be 00:22:30.980 --> 00:22:34.059 honest. I struggle with rhythms. I struggle with 00:22:34.059 --> 00:22:36.500 those habits. I am not consistent. I start and 00:22:36.500 --> 00:22:39.579 I stop. I forget. I get distracted. And Rob, 00:22:39.660 --> 00:22:42.319 sometimes prayer feels dry and sometimes I don't 00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:44.480 want to go to church. And sometimes scripture 00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:50.079 feels difficult. Honestly, they do feel like 00:22:50.079 --> 00:22:55.539 chores. So is there any hope for people like 00:22:55.539 --> 00:23:00.480 us? And here's the good news. As important as 00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:03.720 rhythms are, the Christian life does not ultimately 00:23:03.720 --> 00:23:07.519 depend on your ability to keep a rhythm. It depends 00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:11.660 on Christ. The rhythm matters. The rhythm helps. 00:23:12.349 --> 00:23:15.650 But the rhythm is not the Savior. Jesus is the 00:23:15.650 --> 00:23:20.670 Savior. Think about this verse from Hebrews 10. 00:23:21.190 --> 00:23:24.470 It tells us that day after day in the Jewish 00:23:24.470 --> 00:23:27.109 temple, the priests would stand there performing 00:23:27.109 --> 00:23:30.309 their religious duties again and again and again 00:23:30.309 --> 00:23:33.809 and again. But those sacrifices, those rhythms, 00:23:33.890 --> 00:23:36.950 as wonderful as they were, they could not take 00:23:36.950 --> 00:23:43.250 away sin. But then we read that Jesus offered 00:23:43.250 --> 00:23:50.329 himself for all time as one sacrifice for sin. 00:23:51.109 --> 00:23:53.390 So we see what happened is at the cross, Jesus 00:23:53.390 --> 00:23:56.069 did what no rhythm could do, what no routine, 00:23:56.150 --> 00:23:58.410 what no religious effort on your part could ever 00:23:58.410 --> 00:24:02.289 do. He offered himself once and for all. And 00:24:02.289 --> 00:24:04.750 so, yes, we returned to God morning by morning. 00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:07.960 Day by day. And we gather here again and again. 00:24:08.299 --> 00:24:10.920 And we worship again. And we listen. And we confess 00:24:10.920 --> 00:24:12.839 again. And we come to the table again. But we 00:24:12.839 --> 00:24:14.819 don't do all these things in order to earn grace. 00:24:15.099 --> 00:24:18.920 We do them because grace has already been given 00:24:18.920 --> 00:24:23.460 to us in Jesus. It doesn't depend on us. It depends 00:24:23.460 --> 00:24:27.319 on Jesus. And maybe that's where I think the 00:24:27.319 --> 00:24:30.259 dairy farm gives us one last picture to leave 00:24:30.259 --> 00:24:34.119 today with. Every morning and every evening. 00:24:34.799 --> 00:24:38.759 The cows come back to the barn, right? And they 00:24:38.759 --> 00:24:41.319 would just show up all on their own, right? You 00:24:41.319 --> 00:24:42.859 didn't even have to necessarily go get them. 00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:45.160 And it's not because the barn was particularly 00:24:45.160 --> 00:24:47.599 exciting. It's not because the milking was going 00:24:47.599 --> 00:24:50.920 to be particularly dramatic. They just came because 00:24:50.920 --> 00:24:54.839 they knew that's where life was sustained. And 00:24:54.839 --> 00:24:58.559 we too are called back again and again to Christ, 00:24:58.700 --> 00:25:02.180 back to the place where mercy is found, back 00:25:02.180 --> 00:25:05.599 to the place where grace is given. Back to the 00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:08.799 one who has already done for us what we could 00:25:08.799 --> 00:25:13.119 never do for ourselves. So the invitation to 00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:17.599 you this morning is not try harder. The invitation 00:25:17.599 --> 00:25:22.059 is come back. Morning by morning, evening by 00:25:22.059 --> 00:25:26.359 evening, day by day. Come back to the God whose 00:25:26.359 --> 00:25:31.920 mercies are new every morning. Thanks be to God. 00:25:32.519 --> 00:25:37.579 Amen. Thanks for tuning in to this week's episode 00:25:37.579 --> 00:25:40.079 of Trinity Sermons. This sermon was recorded 00:25:40.079 --> 00:25:42.480 at Trinity Church Streetsville in Mississauga, 00:25:42.539 --> 00:25:45.980 Ontario on June 28th, 2026.