“Connected: Playing by the Rules”
Is. 30:15-22; Daniel 6:1-16; Matt. 11:28-30
If I had told you last Sunday that this morning we would focus on spiritual disciplines, I doubt I would have seen many of you doing cartwheels or standing and applauding. The concept just doesn’t have great appeal nor does it set our spines to tingling with excitement. In fact, the topic can sound downright boring. Yet have you ever been tired, worn out, ready to give up, in need of rest? Then some words about spiritual disciplines might just be the right prescription for you.
So let me begin with some EXPERIENCES OF DISCIPLINE. Putting flesh on the concept helps us understand it better. First, I want to share my PERSONAL ILLUSTRATION. When you and the Consistory graciously offered me a Sabbatical earlier this year, I immediately knew that one of my goals was to take some steps back towards renewal and refreshment. I wanted to re-establish a structure to my life that would, regardless of my circumstances or situations, allow the Holy Spirit to flow into and through me. This was, in fact, a major goal for the month of April. During that time I wanted to establish what is called A RULE OF LIFE. In the words of Peter Scazzero, “It is a call to order our entire life in such a way that the love of Christ comes before all else…The word rule comes from the Greek for 'trellis.' A trellis is a tool that enables a grapevine to get off the ground and grow upward, becoming more fruitful and productive. In the same way, a Rule of Life is a trellis that helps us abide in Christ and become more fruitful spiritually. A Rule of life, very simply, is an intentional, conscious plan to keep God at the center of everything we do...The starting point and foundation of any Rule is a desire to be with God and to love him.” (1)
So during the month of April I worked at setting up a routine of disciplines and actions that would serve as my trellis. It was then that Is. 30:15 captured me: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.” In returning to God and resting in Jesus one finds wholeness; that enables a quiet confidence and trust that produces greater strength to walk through the circumstances and situations of life. It is in returning, rest, quietness, and trust that we can affirm our stability in life – in the words of the Heidelberg Catechism (Q&A 28), “We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing will separate us from his love. All creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will they can neither move nor be moved.”
When my Sabbatical ended, I was refreshed and rested, and ready to return to the challenges and activities of ministry. I was confident that my newly built trellis would continue to support my ongoing growth. Little did I know then all the changes that would occur in staffing and programming during these last few months. Little did I know then what personal and family circumstances and situations would call for my attention. Little did I know then that many of my ambitious post-Sabbatical plans would be put on hold because of all these circumstances and situations. Little did I know how hard it would be to keep the trellis in place – and I confess that my rules and structures have at times been shaky. But I affirm today that the trellis works. “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.”
I’m not alone. I share just two of many BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. We just read from DANIEL. Daniel’s Rule of Life included daily times of prayer to God. The Babylonians knew this was the source of his integrity, wisdom, and power; they also knew the only way to bring him down was to stop him from praying. So they tricked the king into passing an edict making such prayer illegal, punishable by death in the lions’ den. When the edict was passed, Daniel did what he always did – he prayed. He followed his Rule of Life. It led him straight into the lions’ den where God shut the mouths of the lions and preserved his life. As someone has said, the lions couldn’t eat Daniel because he was all backbone! “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.”
JESUS also lived by a Rule of Life. He often went apart to rest and pray. It was so evident that this was the source of His power and strength that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. As Bruce and Kathy Epperly state, “(Jesus) invited them to move from anxiety about many things to experiencing peace in all things by following the one God in the many adventures of life. To harried followers then and now, Jesus suggested an alternative way of life, grounded in trusting God's presence and seeking God's realm in every situation.” (2) “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.” It might just be the prescription for you.
So for my purpose this morning, I want to offer not an exhaustive or detailed list of what a Rule of Life could look like, but rather share a couple of basic concepts about ESTABLISHING A DISCIPLINE for your life. The principle is stated in Galatians 6:8 – “Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” God has given us the Disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of receiving his grace. The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us. (3) I offer two suggestions for starting to build your trellis. First, ESTABLISH REGULAR TIMES EACH DAY. Set aside even just 5 minutes 3-4 times a day to shut out the voices and noises of the world and tune back into the frequency of the Holy Spirit. Get up 5 minutes earlier; cut lunch or coffee break 5 minutes short; sit in the car 5 minutes before driving home from work; go to bed 5 minutes later. There’s not one of us who cannot find 5 minutes here and there throughout the day to retune. This is the reasoning behind the Jews mandatory prayer times each day. Yes, there will be days when, in spite of your best efforts, you fail to take the time. It’s okay – get up the next day and keep at it. Missing a set or convenient time is not like breaking one of the Ten Commandments; you haven’t sinned. Don’t beat yourself up and don’t quit. As John Ortberg wrote, “…the Spirit of God is tenacious. All that is needed in any moment is a sincere desire to be submitted to the Spirit’s leading. We need not worry about God’s response; a sincere heart never needs to fear God is mad.” (4)
Second, TURN YOUR MIND AND HEART TOWARDS CHRIST. As Paul wrote (Col. 3:2-3) “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” “Set” – an active verb. You can fill the minutes with prayer, or with Scripture reading, or with focusing on a devotional that speaks to you. The possibilities are endless. What you do will be different than what I do – and it should be. As Ortberg points out, “What would grow an orchid would drown a cactus. What would feed a mouse would starve an elephant.” (5) God grows us each differently. Experiment until you find what works for you. But make the decision to start.
These suggestions come with a guarantee: if followed, they will enable you to be more alive to the Spirit of God – they will create space for Jesus in your circumstances and situations. In fact, if you build a trellis for your life you can have great EXPECTATIONS FOR YOUR DISCIPLINES. Number one: they will FRAME YOUR DAYS AND LIFE. A frame sets something in place and helps give a proper perspective. I have here a little jar filled with rice and a walnut. The walnut in this jar represents the time we spend with God. The rice represents the time we spend doing other things. If we pour the rice into the empty jar first, then try to insert the walnut, it will not fit. The rice takes up too much space. If we put the walnut into the empty jar first, then pour the rice around it, there is sufficient room for everything. Likewise, if we spend time doing other things first, we never will find time to spend with God. If we spend time with God first, there always will be time for everything else. (6) The moments frame our days.
I discovered, after carrying around the jar of rice with the walnut, that the walnut moved from the edge of the bottle – where you could see it – to the center. What a picture of putting Jesus first and having everything move around Him. The moments frame our days also in serving as reminders that Jesus wants to be involved in every moment of our day and give Him the chance to do so. As the Epperlys put it, “...our attentiveness to God, even in the smallest details of daily life, transforms our world from a series of unrelated events to a unified, albeit open-ended, holy adventure in which God guides and inspires every encounter.” (7) If we give God space throughout our days, we will discover we are part of a great, holy adventure. The Rule of Life, the trellis, keeps us grounded in Jesus.
Expectation number two: you will DEVELOP SPIRITUAL MUSCLE. Taking time to spend with Jesus is like plugging an appliance into the socket and receiving power. A Rule of Life connects us with a reality deeper and more powerful than ourselves; it connects us to Jesus and the life that flows only from Him. Physical exercise develops flesh muscles – spiritual exercises develop spiritual muscles.
In an issue of Meat & Poultry magazine, the editors reported on a device used by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to test the strength of windshields on airplanes. The device launches a dead chicken at a plane's windshield at approximately the speed the planes fly. This indicates if the windshield could withstand a real collision with a bird during flight. The British railway authorities were so impressed they borrowed the FAA's chicken launcher to test the windshield of one of their new high-speed train engines. In their test, however, the chicken not only went through the windshield but also the engineer's chair and embedded itself in the back wall of the engine cab. Stunned, the British asked the FAA to recheck everything to see if they had done anything wrong. After thoroughly checking it out, the FAA had one recommendation: "Next time, don't use a frozen chicken." (8) A Rule of Life, building a trellis, establishing daily disciplines develop spiritual muscles that enable us to withstand even the frozen chickens that are launched our way.
A third expectation you can have is DIRECTION AND GUIDANCE FOR LIVING. Even just a few moments set aside each day gives God the opportunity to be your GPS for your days’ journey. In Isaiah 30:21-22 we read, “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!”” God will
speak and we can act.
Robert Smith’s recollection puts a helpful spin on this guidance. He wrote, “When I meditated on the word Guidance, I kept seeing "dance" at the end of the word. I remember reading that doing God's will is a lot like dancing. When two people try to lead, nothing feels right. The movement doesn't flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky. When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music. One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back or by pressing lightly in one direction or another. It's as if two become one body, moving beautifully. The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness from one person, and gentle guidance and skill from the other. My eyes drew back to the word Guidance. When I saw "G: I thought of God, followed by "u" and "i". "God, "u" and "i" dance." God, you, and I dance. As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust that I would get guidance about my life. Once again, I became willing to let God lead.” (9)
Expectation number four: You will find REST AND PEACE. Again, from our Isaiah passage (verses 18-19): “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you.” John Ortberg once asked the late Dallas Willard, one of greatest coaches and mentors of Spiritual Disciplines, how he monitored the condition of his soul. He replied that he regularly asked himself two questions: “Am I growing more or less irritated these days? Am I growing more or less easily discouraged these days?” (10) The Psalmist understood it. (Ps. 92:12-14) "The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age; they will stay fresh and green.”
The fifth expectation from living by a Rule of Life, the fifth benefit of building your trellis, is that you will be LOVING AND HONORING GOD. If we love someone, we give them gifts. A husband, for example, gives flowers to his wife. Taking time throughout the day is bringing fresh flowers of love to God. It lets Him know we are thinking of Him and love Him. That honors Him. I‘ve seen this in a recent television ad. The ad features a dad teaching his son to throw a baseball. As the camera focuses on the dad, we see that he is actually throwing awkwardly off the wrong foot, which his son, of course, mimics. The point of the ad, I believe, is to commend the dad for spending time with his son. Dad may not have everything decent and in order but his son knows he’s loved because dad is spending time with him. Our daily disciplines are not so much a matter of doing everything right and on time all the time as they are an expression of love for Jesus as we spend some time with Him. He is honored by our efforts. A rule of Life expresses love and brings honor to God.
Let’s go back to the verse that has come to mean so much to me: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.” Notice the very next words: “…but you would have none of it.” We have a choice – reject God’s Rule for Life and struggle through our circumstances and situations, or build a trellis and have salvation and strength for our circumstances and situations. The choice is up to each of us. I just want you to know – either choice is dangerous. To reject God’s Rule is to distance yourself from Him and miss all the benefits He offers; to build the trellis will leave you wanting to spend even more time with Him. Which danger would you rather face?
(1)“Emotionally Healthy Spirituality”, Peter Scazzero, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, TN., © 2006 by Peter Scazzero, p. 195-196
(2)“Tending to the Holy – The Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry”, Bruce G. Epperly and Katherine Gould Epperly, The Alban Institute, © The Alban Institute 2009
(3)“Celebration of Discipline”, Richard Foster, Harper-San Francisco, Revised Edition, © 1988 by Richard Foster, p. 7
(4)John Ortberg, ‘Your Spiritual Growth Plan’, Leadership Journal, Winter 2010, p.80
(5)Ibid, p. 82
(6)From Tom Barnard’s Friday Evening newsletter, with reference to author Fay Angus; barnard22@cox.net
(7)Epperly, p. 6
(8)Woodrow Kroll, Lessons on Living, Is. 30:15
(9)From Preaching magazine, Vol 23, No. 6 – excerpted from Doctrine That Dances” by Robert Smith: B&H Books, 2008.
(10)Orberg, p. 81
