Luke 2:52 - Life Rhythms

Welcome to midweek! I’m so glad you’re hanging out here tonight. By the way, permission is granted to grab some street tacos and bring them in. I know Andrew had a burrito earlier that was about the size of a body pillow, so if you want to grab food before you come in, you are more than welcome to do that. We have even been known at midweek to have pizzas delivered, so if you want to play with that, go for it.

The Direction of Our Lives

Tonight, I want to talk a little bit about a way of life. We all have a way of life—those normal routines, the things you do on a Saturday, what you stand for, what you’re committed to, and what you want to get involved with. These things dictate the normal ebb and flow of our schedules. The reality is that these ways of life are leading us somewhere. The question is: where?

In the normal way you do life, what direction is it taking you? Is there a purpose behind it? The great theologian Jim Sweeney used to say, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always be what you’ve always been.” If you don’t like the way things are going, you have to change the way you do things.

However, if we make a bunch of changes to our lives and forget God, then we have forgotten the most important factor. As we spoke about last week, unless the Lord is the one building, our labor is essentially empty.

Psalms 127:1-2 (NASB)

A Song of Ascents, of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved [even in his] sleep.

Whatever changes we want to make—whatever “X” is for you in 2023—if we do it without the Lord, we’ve missed the most important component. Colossians tells us that everything we do should be done in His name.

Colossians 3:17 (NASB)

Whatever you do in word or deed, [do] all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

How do we intentionally order our lives to that end? How do we ensure that whatever we do, in word or deed, we do it all for the glory of the Lord?

The Trellis of a Holy Life

Thankfully, this question has been asked for centuries. People of faith have always wondered how to create a normal way of life that fits within the Scriptures and the Kingdom of God. They sought to live holy in an unholy world by creating structures that kept them away from the currents of sin and allowed them to pursue Christ above all.

Many of these people are called “saints.” I use that term not as something to be revered, but to describe men and women of God who went before us and left breadcrumbs on the trail. As early as the fourth century, we see these “ways of life” captured by people like Augustine of Hippo, Basil the Great, Benedict of Nursia, and Francis of Assisi. They developed specific guidelines and directives that became known in church history as a Rule of Life.

That word “rule” feels a little abrasive to us today because we lose the nuance. It sounds like regulation, but it actually comes from a Latin word meaning “an arrangement.” It’s a way to structure your life. The Greek concept behind it is that of a trellis—a structure that the organic nature of your life climbs on. It doesn’t define the vine; it just helps create structure.

Think about the Central Valley. You see grapevines everywhere. They are all well-manicured and trained up on a trellis. Why? Because an untrained vine grows wild. It sprawls everywhere, grabbing onto anything it can, which isn’t always to its benefit. An untrained vine is prone to disease and its fruit-bearing potential is hindered. To help, vineyard farmers create a “rule” for their grapes—a trellis.

Much like a vine, an untrained life grows wild. It sprawls out and can lead us into places of destruction and chaos, even with good intentions. It is wise for us to create a trellis for our lives that reflects our values and mirrors the priorities of God. Author Pete Scazzero says that a Rule of Life is simply an intentional, conscious plan to keep God at the center of everything we do. Without intentionality, we eventually become unfocused, distracted, and adrift spiritually.

The Pattern of Jesus

I want to see if we can uncover a Rule of Life from the life of Christ. We know Jesus was fully God and fully man. We don’t have much in the Bible about His early life, but we get a snapshot of Him as a 12-year-old confounding religious teachers with His questions and conversation. We assume He went to school like others in His culture, likely mastering the Torah and the rest of the Scriptures. When He was tempted in the wilderness, He quoted Deuteronomy off the top of His head. He didn’t follow an earthly rabbi; He was taught by the Father.

Luke 2:52 (NASB)

And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

The text says He “kept increasing.” This is an imperfect active verb, meaning He never stopped increasing in these things. If we’re going to build a Rule of Life, we can find four broad categories here that Jesus focused on.

1. Increasing in Wisdom

Wisdom, or Sophia, is the capacity to know, understand, and act accordingly. It’s not just knowledge; it’s the ability to process knowledge and do something applicable with it. For Jesus, this started with an understanding of God’s Word.

What would it look like for you to create a trellis of growing in wisdom? This means spending time in your Bible—not just a podcast or an email from someone else, but you and your Bible. It means memorizing Scripture. People often say they can’t memorize, but we can all remember the lyrics to terrible 80s songs. We can do it; we just have to put our minds to it. Start small. Even if it’s just “Jesus wept,” that’s a start!

It also means meditating on the Word and discussing it in a Life Group. It means being intellectually curious about God’s creation. When Jesus taught, He spoke as an expert in farming, fishing, construction, and government. He brought all of creation into His teaching. Growing in wisdom means exploring God’s world—whether that’s through travel, art, or nature—and thanking Him for how incredible it is.

2. Increasing in Stature

This refers to age and height, but also maturity. Jesus navigated a complex family structure with a stepfather, siblings who didn’t initially believe in Him, and a mother who was sometimes overbearing. He was hardworking, known as a carpenter’s son, and He learned how to persevere through fatigue and difficulty.

For us, growing in stature involves our physical and emotional health. Let’s talk about the physical: how we eat, move, and sleep. God made your body to move. You don’t have to be a CrossFit athlete, but movement increases serotonin and lowers anxiety. I’ve started doing “old man walks”—just walking and noticing the breeze and the sun. It’s a simple addition to a Rule of Life.

And then there is sleep. God created your body to power down. In our culture of glowing screens and late-night TV, we’ve lost the rhythm of rest. I finally moved my alarm to the other side of the room so I wouldn’t wake up and immediately scroll Instagram for an hour.

Growing in stature also means growing in emotional intelligence. This might mean finding a therapist or going through a program like Regeneration to understand why you are the way you are. I once told a therapist I was just an “intense guy.” He told me, “No, that’s who you became. Let’s talk about why you needed that intensity.” That kind of growth is part of the trellis.

3. Increasing in Favor with God

Jesus lived a life completely open to the Father. His prayer life was so distinct that the disciples asked Him, “Teach us to do that.” It was also His custom to participate in the faith community at the synagogue.

Luke 4:16 (NASB)

And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.

Crucially, we do not build a Rule of Life to earn God’s favor. We build it because we already have His favor. We don’t do this so God will love us; we do it because He already does. In response to that love, we participate in church, we give, and we serve.

4. Increasing in Favor with Men

Jesus was a good friend. He ate meals with His disciples, shared inside jokes, went fishing, and attended celebrations. Even on the cross, He was concerned with the care of His mother.

What does it look like for you to be intentional with your family? If you are married, invest in that relationship. If you have kids or grandkids, invest in them. One way to do this is by recapturing the dinner table. Conversations around a dinner table are much more productive than conversations in a drive-thru.

Coaching Points for Your Rule

As you think about building your own trellis, keep these things in mind:

First, build it based on your personality. If you need it to be one simple thing, great. If you want a robust document, that’s fine too. The scope and scale are irrelevant; what matters is that it works for you.

Second, live in grace. A Rule of Life can become legalistic very quickly. If you miss a day of reading your Bible, you aren’t a loser. Treat all setbacks as temporary. Get back on the wagon the next day. This is a living document that will ebb and flow as your life changes.

Third, play the long game. Eugene Peterson called it “long obedience in the same direction.” Change is often slow and incremental. Use “habit triggers.” For example, when my feet hit the floor in the morning, that’s a trigger for a prayer of intention. When I turn on the coffee, that leads to my time in the Word. If you’re a student, let the act of unpacking your backpack at your desk be a trigger to ask God to help you stay engaged in the lecture.

Ultimately, a Rule of Life helps you live on purpose. It helps you align your day-to-day life—your Monday morning at 8:30 AM—with your values. It helps you honor God one client at a time, or one neighbor at a time. I make it a point to wave at my neighbors like I’m the mayor, even if I don’t know them. I want them to know I’m friendly so that if life ever gets hard, they know they can come to my door.

It may seem daunting, but every journey begins with the first step. Commit your way to Him.

Proverbs 16:3 (NASB)

Commit your works to the LORD And your plans will be established.

What would a Rule of Life look like for you? I encourage you to play with this. Together, let’s align our hearts to Christ in this new year.

Closing Prayer

God, thank you for the example of Jesus. Help us to live out the life You’ve given us in a way that keeps Christ first. May our rhythms be gifts and never burdens as we seek to honor You. We pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.