Rule of Life Part 1 (Introduction).

Welcome to this short series where we're walking through a rule of life. We're going to talk about what a rule of life is, how you can practice one, and ultimately how this can help you better learn how to be with Jesus and create his culture.

So this Sunday we introduced a rule of life, and for the next few weeks I thought it would be cool if we just took a few minutes to kind of break down what is a rule of life, how do we develop one, and how do we practice it.

What is a Rule of Life

So a rule of life is a shared set of practices and rhythms that shape us. And as a church, we introduced this idea ultimately so that we could have a shared rule of life that would shape us and help us to create space to be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and continue to create his culture here in Madison and really everywhere we go from this.

I want to start by just kind of talking about the word rule, because I think the second you throw in that word, everybody has all sorts of different reactions. I think some people see rule as either something that you follow and you're a rule follower, or you hear the word rule and you're like: great, that's something to be broken. Maybe you're like me though, and you're kind of in the in-between where it's like, sometimes you're a rule follower, sometimes you break them and you don't even understand why.

But for me, I can remember one specific moment when I was 21. I'm an RA in college. We're on this RA retreat and our leader at the time, so the person who does have authority over me, is like: hey, in the morning, we're going to wake up. We have this big surprise. And honestly, and she said: bring your swimsuits. Now it's cold. It's March. I'm thinking: oh, are we going somewhere with a hot tub? Like what's it going to be?

Well, it ended up being a team bonding polar plunge. Now, I was not thrilled about this when I'm standing there cold in my swimsuit on the frozen beach in Minnesota, and I'm cold. Cold, really, really cold. So I did not participate in this group bonding experience. I stood there on the beach. I threw a pity party. I was the only one that did not go in the water because I thought it was stupid, it was dumb, and I was not about to follow.

Now, this rule obviously was not something super strict at the time. It was more like something my leader was asking me of. But either way, as I recall that situation, I'm like: I don't know if it was because I didn't want to follow the rules or I just didn't want to be told what to do. That was definitely the motivating factor for me. Was one, being cold and also just not wanting to be told what to do.

So I don't know where you kind of fall in that. If you're someone that likes to follow rules or if you're someone who likes to break them. But whatever you are, this word rule. When we define it in our English definitions, it means control or something that has dominion over you. It means to exercise ultimate power or authority. And sometimes those are not things that we want anyone to have power or authority over us.

But the reality is we are all submitted to some sort of rules or authorities. We all have things that rule over us. For me honestly, some days it's my phone. It's media. It's the things that I can stop scrolling from that rule over my life. Sometimes it's people's voices. Sometimes it's listening to the wrong friends and the wrong conversations that then I end up making decisions and going: how did I get here? Well, it's because I let other things rule over my life.

So first, just want us all to take a deep breath and realize that this word rule shouldn't be so scary. And if it is, I'm sorry, but you probably already have things that rule over your life. But when it comes to a rule of life and our church's new shared rule of life, it is going to be a set of practices that we are committing and submitting as a church to say: we want to try and follow these so that we can create space to be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what he did.

This isn't something that our church has started. It's not new. Pretty much every church tradition kind of has its own rule of life, but you may not always call it that.

The Latin Definition: Trellis

But I did want to also talk about the word rule when it's traced back to the Latin translation here. So in Latin, the word rule was originally translated from the word trellis, like a vineyard. So when we hear rule now today, we think like something that has dominion, power over us. But in Latin, when you hear the word rule, it is like a trellis.

So in the same way that a vine needs a trellis to lift itself up off the ground so it can bear the maximum amount of fruit. We too need some sort of framework in our lives to support us, to lift us up off the ground, and to help us to grow in the right direction.

Another thing that you see a trellis does is it keeps animals, predators away, right? How many times are we trying to live our best lives and do our thing, but it feels like we're constantly getting attacked? A trellis, this framework structure, helps the seeds grow in the right direction and protects it as it grows.

And kind of this idea of a real life is also centered around this scripture that I'm going to read for us again today out of John 15. John 15:5 says:

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 into the fire, and burn. 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.

John 15:5-8

Okay, do you read that there? Apart from Jesus, the vine, we can do nothing. And I don't know about you, but I want to be a disciple that bears much fruit. I want to be a disciple that makes disciples, who makes disciples. And I know that I'm going to need some sort of framework in my life to help me do that. I'm gonna need a trellis, something that can help the seeds that I'm planting grow in the right direction.

Learning From Others

So this idea of a rule of life, I first heard a couple years ago. A friend had me read Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Pete Scazzaro. Highly recommend if you haven't read it. And he talks about at the end of his book, developing a personal rule of life.

I later also read about it from Ruth Haley Barton in Sacred Rhythms. And John Mark Comer talks about this in some of his books and also his teachings at practicingtheway.org.

And when I first heard this, I was kind of like: oh, that's a nice idea. And slowly I started to implement some of this in my daily rhythms and my daily life.

And another way that I've heard it put is it's almost like an anchor. And you know, you never really feel the full weight worth of an anchor until you hit the storm. And when you're in the middle of a storm, you need that anchor to keep you anchored. And I have felt that so many times in my life.

Of when I am just going around sporadically hearing sermons, doing things, doing all the church stuff, sometimes it seems like my life is so scattered. But when I have set rhythms and practices, they can truly keep me anchored. So in moments where maybe I'm struggling to have faith, but I'm still waking up and spending time in scripture, it keeps me anchored. And it keeps me living not based off my feelings, but off of these shared practices that other people can also speak into and keep me accountable.

So that's kind of why, leading into why, I felt like the Holy Spirit was inviting us into a shared rule of life as a church.

Building a Culture of Discipleship

It's because my heart is not that we're just going to be a group of people that gather once a week on Sundays and for a few moments are in close proximity and talk about the weather. I want us to be more than that. I want us to be a community that truly is radically centering our lives around being with Jesus so we can create his culture.

And I think that's going to take radical recentering of our lives and radical accountability. So this idea of us having a shared role of life and this shared kind of framework of practices that are going to keep us centered and growing in the right direction is going to give us space to even speak into each other's lives in a more real, powerful way.

I love Dallas Willard when he talks about it. He says:

The disciplines which we build into our rhythm of life help us to shed off the old self and allow our new self in Christ to be formed. Spiritual disciplines are means by grace by which God can nourish us.

Dallas Willard

Ultimately, a rule of life should help you to love God more. So if it becomes a legalistic way of earning points with God or impressing others, it should be scraped. If the traditional ancient term rule concerns you because it sounds legalistic, think of rule as a rhythm of life or as a curriculum for Christlikeness.

Now, I love that because obviously he's even saying like: hey, if that word concerns you, it shows you that we're probably not the first ones who immediately hear rule of life and are like: oh, no, what did I get myself into? But again, we decided to do this as a church because we want to be disciples who make disciples. We want to be people who really know Jesus and know how to spend time in his presence because we're going to be spending an eternity with him.

So why not start getting to know him now? And we want to be intentional and proactive about the direction that we're going and not just have all this wishful thinking and hope that we end up in the right place eventually.

How to Start

So final reminders as we talk about the rule of life is that they're practices. It's a set of practices and it's going to take time. For some of you it might come quickly. For some of you it might take a while. And one of my favorite things is when you think about a trellis, although yes they're all a framework, there's different types of trellises.

So you can even think some are going to be made out of metal. Some are going to be made out of wood. Some are going to have different shapes and forms, but they all serve the same purpose.

So when we're talking about our rule of life, think about it like that. We have a shared rule of life as a church, but it doesn't mean that we're all going to have them look exactly the same.

So what is our shared rule of life then? Our shared rule of life, we have daily practices and weekly and monthly. And so over the next few months, we're really going to be focusing on the daily. How are we daily starting our day in prayer and scripture, taking breaks throughout our day to be with Jesus, and ending the day in gratitude and examine?

And we just kind of set out those three basic things that we're going to be talking about for the next few weeks and want us to focus in. But remember that my day starting in prayer and scripture might look very different than yours. And the goal is not time. The goal is not to check it off, but the goal is to spend time with Jesus.

So whether you have five minutes, 15 minutes, 50 minutes, like just do it. It's the same with taking breaks throughout the day. It's going to look different for all of us. And then the weekly and monthly. Keep the Sabbath. Fast. Worship on Sunday. Devote yourself to community. Contribute to the community. Seek renewal for our city.

All of these are just different ways that we can continue to practice becoming like Jesus and doing what he did. We see Jesus as having a culture of prayer and scripture and gratitude and honor and all of those things, which is why we put them in here.

But I, again, want you to remind you that every rule of life is going to look different. So as you start to develop one and practice it, start small, be specific. Think about who you are, your personality, your stage of life, right?

I'm single with no kids. So my rule of life is going to look very different than those of you who are married with children. Those of you who are retired and have grandkids. It's all going to look so different.

So start small, start specific. And remember, like this is a working document. This isn't just a new thing that we want to become white noise in our life or something that we just do to check it off. But we truly want a rule of life to be a set of practices that shape us and form us into the likeness of Jesus.

Invitation to Begin

So I hope that this was helpful in kind of breaking it down and just understanding that a rule of life, it should not be scary. And hopefully you feel the warmth of the Holy Spirit just inviting us into this new way to live, to be so intentional with setting up this anchor so that when the storms come, we're not rattled.

To have this trellis that helps everything that we are planting in our lives and the things that God is speaking, that we will continue to grow in the right direction.

And ultimately, this is gonna help us become better disciples of Jesus and to bear much fruit.