Sunday Service | Rule of Life: November 8, 2020
April opened our service with a challenge to ask ourselves this question: Where have you seen God show up in your life?
Diane shared an encouraging word with us that even in the midst of uncertainty we can "stay the course," and trust God is taking care of us like a well-tended garden. Not one ounce of our effort in our growth is wasted.
And this week concludes our time going through the book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, by talking now about developing a “rule of life.”
A few disclaimers about making this rule of life, which will serve us in growing and maturing:
First, the pinnacle of our faith is love: loving God and loving others. This is not easy; this is a choice we daily make. It is easier to hate and choose to devalue others. But love must be first and must come before all else.
Second, our worth is not at stake here. But we love what we value, so our worth of God and others is what’s at stake. “Where your treasure is, there your heart is.”
The bottom line in seeking to love is this: we can be transformed into a gift of love for others, but we need a rule, a plan of action that moves our intentions to actions.
What is a rule of life?
“Rule” comes from the Greek word for “trellis.” A trellis provides a way of growth, a system of support that allows growth to happen. A rule of life helps us abide in Christ, be fruitful, and mature in our love. It is a guideline to remember God, and includes our unique talents and tools that we’ve been given.
What is the starting point?
Simply a desire to be with God and build our relationship with him. This is meant to be beautiful, not burdensome or overwhelming.
The question for you is: What is your conscious plan for developing your spiritual life?
Are you intentional, or functional? It is hard to slow down and spend time with Jesus, so our spiritual life becomes functional, based off others, or only a sliver of our lives (ie, Sunday mornings). Busyness can cause this. Our faith becomes an accessory instead of the meaning of our lives. Because the truth is, we already have a rule of life, such as going to church or listening to worship music or reading the bible, but if it is not intentionally focused on loving God and others, we become unfocused and lost. We look to others to fill our spiritual needs. We draw off their experiences, instead of seeking to experience God for ourselves.
In 2020, socially distancing has taken away our ability to have the kind of connection where we typically will fill our spiritual cups from, so we need a rule of life for taking our own growth in hand and intentionally cultivating it.
We need a trellis. We need a plan. We see this kind of planning in the Bible with the story of Daniel. He was an Israelite exile in Babylon, and they tried to assimilate him into their culture, to take away his identity in God, and to make him like everyone else. A lot of people see this as also true in our own culture.
So what did Daniel do? How did he resist?
He had a plan:
He renounced their activities (ie refused their food that was contrary to Jewish law)
He created a prayer routine
He fed himself spiritually
Jesus did this too:
He let go of many religious activities
He cherished his alone time with God
A rule of life is a plan to grow, even in the midst of the demands of every day life.
How do we do this?
The main answer is to keep the focus on this fact: developing and acting upon this rule of life is meant to cultivate relationship. Not to prove ourselves. This will look different according to our unique gifts, relationships, locations, seasons. It is an ongoing journey and can be taken in small steps in loose categories like the one described below. We can individualize and personalize this--but that is not an excuse to not to do hard things!
Where do we start?
There are 13 elements in developing a rule of life, set under 4 major categories:
1: Prayer
Scripture
Silence and solitude (letting go of trying to control and fix things)
Daily office (see last week’s sermon)
Study (taking it deeper)
2: Rest
Sabbath (that we work to build up to 24 hours)
Simplicity (don’t overbook yourself)
Play & Recreation (life-giving activities)
3: Work & Activity
Service and mission
Care for the physical body
4: Relationships
Emotionally healthy
Family
Community/companions for the journey (who is your crew?)
We must be intentional in growing our love for God, ourselves, and others. This intentionality and plan allows us to be authentic, allows us to grow in freedom. Even the early church had one, as seen in Acts 2.42-47:
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Last note: don’t do this alone. Don’t keep it private. Make a list of a few small steps, one or two things this week, and tell someone about your plan. Let them into the process. Let’s grow together.