The Secret to Growth | Trinity Sermons

and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity

Sermons. This week we are continuing our sermon

series called This is the Way, where we're learning

about some of the practices and tools that help

us as we learn to follow Jesus. And today we're

going to be talking all about rules. But before

you turn this off, don't worry, we're not talking

about the do's and the don'ts, the rules that

other people enforce on you with rigid structures.

We're talking about a rule of life. A framework

that can really help us to do the things that

we actually want to do and to stay away from

things that we actually don't want to do. But

what is this rule of life and how does it work?

That's what Rob is going to unpack for us in

today's sermon. Today's reading is from the Gospel

of John, chapter 15, verses 1 to 8. I am the

John 15:1–8

true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He

cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,

while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes

so that it will be even more fruitful. You are

already clean because of the word I have spoken

to you. Remain in me so that I also remain in

you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must

remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit

unless you remain in me. 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 in the fire,

and burned. 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. The word of the Lord. So

the year is about 500 AD. We're talking about

Italy. And around that time, the Roman Empire

has crumbled. Barbarian tribes are kind of sweeping

in. There's violence. There is conflict. There's

a lot of uncertainty. There's corruption. There's

competing religious ideas. There is a church,

but it's quite a weakened church. And into that

place of corruption and compromise, a young man

is born. His name is... Benedict. He's born to

a Christian family, a fairly wealthy family.

And when he grows up, they send Benedict off

to Rome to go to school. Like Benedict's going

to study theology, you know, learn more about

Jesus, learn more about the Christian faith.

But when he gets to Rome and he looks around,

he's very, very disillusioned. He seems to have

very little in common with these masses and masses

of people. And then when it actually gets down

to his schooling, he seems to have even less

in common with his fellow students. You know,

half of them are just so focused on status and

success and power. And the other half are focused

on partying and drinking. And so Benedict, he

looks around at his country. He looks around

at his city. He looks around at his school. And

he is so, so frustrated. You know, this corrupt.

culture, this compromised and weak church. And

at some point, Benedict says, you know, that's

it. I've had enough. I'm out of here. And what

Benedict decides to do is he walks about 30 miles

to the east of Rome. He finds a cave and he literally

goes down and he lives in this cave. And it wasn't

much of a cave, mind you. It was actually more

of like a crevice in the ground, about 10 feet

deep. And it was the kind of place where if he

wanted food, he had to have a friend kind of

come and lower it down in a basket to him in

this cave. And in that cave, you know, Benedict

is trying to make sense of what's going on. on

around him. And you might say, oh, what a coward.

Here is a guy who's running away from the world.

He's running away from all his problems. But

that's not what Benedict is doing in this cave.

In this cave, Benedict is not sitting there praying,

saying, God, help me to escape from this world.

What he's praying to God is he's saying, God,

show me how to live in this world. without being

changed by it. God, show me how to follow Jesus

in a world that feels like it is falling apart.

And in that cave, Benedict devotes his entire

life to God through prayer and fasting and scripture

reading and meditation and, of course, solitude.

He just centers his whole being on God in that

cave. Three years he was in that cave. And you

know what? He heard from God. God spoke to Benedict

in that cave. And as God spoke to him, Benedict

began to write down what God was communicating

and write it down and write it down. And as he

wrote it down and sorted through it, it became

clear to him that what God was giving him was

best described as a plan. God was giving him

this pattern of life. This rule of life, if you

will, and this rule of life was a way of living

one's life in this crazy world and not being

changed by that world. And he wrote it, wrote

it down. Now people in the surrounding countryside

and the surrounding area, they were like very

curious about this guy who's living down in a

cave. And they'd be like, what are you doing

down there in a cave? And pretty soon he had

gathered a little following of people, maybe

a large following of people as he wrestled with.

God down in that cave. And eventually the time

came, Benedict says, it's time for me to go back

up. And so he went back up out of that cave and

he gathered some of those followers and they

went up to a mountain. It was called Mount Casino.

And there they built a monastery. Now, again,

what was the point of the monastery? Was the

monastery just like the cave, a place where they

could go and escape from the world? No. The point

of the monastery was to help people learn to

get together as a community. and learn together

how it is we can live in this world, follow Jesus

in this world, without being changed by this

world. And the framework for the spiritual life

that the people in that monastery, and there

were other communities that came after. It grew

and grew. It became a real movement. But the

framework was something that became known as

the Rule of St. Benedict. And the Rule of St.

Benedict is still one of the most influential

guides for Christian formation in history. Now,

a lot has changed in 1 ,500 years, but maybe

not as much as you might think, because we still

live in a world that's full of violence, still

live in a world that's full of corruption, still

a lot of confusion, competing ideas, competing

religions, and a church that has also been sidelined

in many regards in our world. Add to that all

of the pressures of modern life, things like

distractions and digital overload and busyness

and shallow relationships. anxieties, and all

those kind of things. You know, the question

that Benedict was asking in that cave is still

the same question that we are asking today. How

do we live? How do we live as followers of Jesus

in this world? And the good news is there's an

answer. Benedict has an answer. God has an answer.

And it doesn't mean you have to move to Italy.

And it doesn't mean you have to go live in a

cave. But it might mean you have to adopt a rule

or a pattern to govern your life. So we are in

the middle, right in the middle of this teaching

series we're calling This is the Way. And that's

exactly the question that we're asking. How do

we, as followers of Jesus here in 2026 in the

GTA in Mississauga, how do we follow Jesus in

our own world? And the answer... that we're going

to be talking about today has a lot to do with

this thing called a rule of life and i just want

to say that you've heard me talk about this before

and some of you might be kind of sick of hearing

about a rule of life and you may be like i don't

i'm not really interested in a rule of life and

fair you know but i just want to say you might

be a stronger person than saint benedict uh you

know and following jesus might be really easy

for you oh distractions or busyness or temptations

i got this no no problem i'm good i'm good but

far more likely is that that you're a lot like.

saint benedict and you actually do need help

in living your life in making a plan for how

to live your life i would say more than ever

not just do you need that plan and not just do

i need that plan but the world needs people who

are willing to adopt some kind of a plan to live

their lives differently to witness to the world

that there is a different way to live one's life

so the question i guess i'm really trying to

ask you i want you to consider this morning Is

there a monk in you? Is there a monk in me? Somewhere

deep within us, is there a monk there? Because

the heart of the monastic movement was not about,

you know, living in a monastery or taking a vow

of celibacy or wearing these, you know, wool

robes that must have been incredibly itchy. That's

not what the point of monastic life was. The

heart of the monastic movement was we're a community

of people. who are intentionally trying to order

our lives around Jesus, living their lives by

a rule of life. Now, let's talk about that word

rule, because a lot of people turned off by the

word rule. A lot of negative connotations when

it comes to the word rule. When I first think

about a rule, I always think of my elementary

school principal, Mr. Martindale. Mr. Martindale

was like six feet four. He was built. He was

a big, big guy. He had a glass eye. And Mr. Martindale

carried a strap. Now, for some of the younger

people here, I got to tell you, you may not know

this, but it wasn't that long ago that principals

had a strap. It's like a leather. piece of fabric

or whatever. And if you got in trouble, you would

go to the principal's office. He would say, stick

out your hand, and he would whack you with that.

Like, I'm not even, how many people here got

the strap at one point in their life? Yes, I

see some people who got the strap. It was a thing.

It was a real thing. It happened. And people

were scared to death of Mr. Martindale. And so,

yes, you did not run in the halls, and you did

not talk in class. You did not break the rules.

And that's what we think of when we hear the

word rule. We think of a punishment. We think

of boundaries. We think of someone trying to

prevent us from doing something. But that's not

what we're talking about when we talk about a

rule of life. Totally different meaning to the

word. A rule of life is actually, best understood,

is simply a plan that you have to follow Jesus.

It's just a plan, a set of practices and habits

that you have adopted to enable you to become

the kind of person that you want to be and the

kind of person the world needs you to be. Now,

the best way to maybe help you understand the

difference is to understand that the word rule

comes from an ancient word which means trellis.

A trellis. Another person said it this way. You've

probably heard of a ruler. Like in elementary

school, you had a wooden ruler. Why are they

called a ruler? Because it was a kind of a straight

piece of wood. This trellis is a rule. Why? Because

it's made of straight. pieces of wood and what

does a trellis do if i planted a grapevine here

what does a trellis do it guides and directs

the growth of the plant the grapevine can grow

up it can grow out to receive sunlight gives

a space for air to flow between its branches

ultimately so that it produces a whole lot of

really really good fruit so listen a rule of

life is basically just a trellis it works the

same way it means a trellis okay Jesus said it

this way. He said, no branch can bear fruit by

itself. It must remain in the vine. And neither

can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I

am the vine. and you are the branches. A rule

of life is a trellis that gives us life, it gives

us structure, helps us stay connected to the

vine of Jesus and produce spiritual fruit. Now,

if you do not have a trellis, if you do not have

a rule of life to govern your life, what happens?

Well, your life runs wild. Just like a grapevine,

it has no trellis. What is it going to do? It's

just going to run all over the place. It's going

to be stepped on. It's going to be prone to disease.

It's not going to produce very good fruit at

all. And the same is true if we don't have some

kind of a rule, a trellis in our lives to guide

our lives. We're going to be pulled in a hundred

different directions. We'll spend our time, you

know, scrolling social media, checking our phones,

answering emails, watching one more episode,

watching one more episode. watching just one

more episode, reading the news, you know, adding

one more thing to the calendar. And when we do

that, you know what happens? Our days just start

to slip away. And when our days start to slip

away, our lives start to slip away. That's what

Annie Dillard said. She said, how we spend our

days is, of course, how we end up spending our

lives. So without an intentional structure, a

rule in your life, our lives run wild and we

slowly become As John Mark Comer says, we become

wildly unlike Jesus. So that's one option, no

rule. But that's not really the greatest danger.

The greater danger is not that you don't have

a rule of life, but it's that you have the wrong

rule of life. You have some other kind of trellis

system that actually is taking you and moving

you in the wrong directions. You're drifting

in the wrong direction. If you were to see a

grapevine in the wild, far more likely than it

running all over the ground, it would find something

to hold on to. It would find a tree trunk and

it would climb up that. It would find a rock

and it would climb up that. And that is because

naturally grapevines, like human beings, are

seeking a structure for their lives. And the

same, therefore, is true for us. If we do not...

purposely choose a rule to live by then something

else will just swoop in and become the rule that

we live by you will develop some kind of structure

but it could be a structure around your phone

could be around your work could be around your

bad habits could be around your busy schedule

you're just going to fall into a pattern a pattern

of what you do in the morning a pattern of what

you do in your relationships a pattern of how

you spend your money a pattern of how you deal

with technology you're just gonna you're gonna

start clinging to these things they're gonna

be the pattern and the rule of your life whether

you realize it or not Dallas Willard said your

system is perfectly designed to produce the results

that you are already getting you've got a system

I've got a system. We've all got a system. We

have a pattern. We have a rule of life. The question

is not, do you have a rule of life? The question

is, is your rule of life what you want it to

be? Is it making you into the person that you

want to be? Are you happy with who you are becoming?

Okay, your rule is doing that to you. But what

would it look like if instead of not having one

or letting anything become it, what if we actually

purposely chose the right rule for our lives?

A rule that was shaped by the life of Jesus.

Well, then our lives would produce good, good,

good fruit. And why is that? The answer is because

first, a rule is going to help you actually do

what you want to do. You see, As human beings,

we want to do all sorts of things. We just have

a hard time doing it, right? You want to pray

more. You want to make more time for family.

You want to exercise. You want to be patient.

You want to be generous. But we just can't figure

out how to make those things happen. It's kind

of like the Apostle Paul said. He said, I do

not understand what I do. For what I want to

do, I do not do. But what I hate, that's what

I end up doing. But you see, here's what a rule

of life does. A rule of life will close the gap

between our intentions and our actions. All those...

vague desires of things that we wanted to do,

all of a sudden in a rule become concrete steps

that we write down, that we organize our life

around, specific times for prayer, specific times

for exercise or for rest or for family time.

And that means now you don't got to get overwhelmed

by all the decision fatigue, trying to figure

out, oh, what am I going to do now? What am I

going to do now? Or how am I going to live today?

Right? You've already decided. You've already

created a spiritual rule for your life. That

rule tells you what matters most to you and what

you want to spend your time doing. You've got

a plan to live by. So that's the great first

thing about a rule of life is it enables you

to do the things that you actually want to do.

The flip side of that, though, is a rule of life

then also enables you to avoid what you don't

want to do. A rule of life protects us sometimes

from those. patterns that we know are unhealthy.

And so it's like, it's like when you have a rule

of life, it's like a filter. It enables you to

say yes to these things. Yes, yes, yes. But it

also enables you to say no to other things in

your life, the less important things, the things

that aren't your priorities, your stated priorities

in life. If you look at what Jesus said to us

this morning, the scriptures, he talked about.

god being this gardener and god will cut off

branches that bear no fruit this is you know

a common horticulture if you've got a branch

that's not doing much good you cut it off and

a rule of life Enables us to cut off things that

aren't working. A rule of life is not just about

adding more things to your life. Sometimes it's

about subtracting things from your life, right?

You may want to grow certain things in your life,

but there's other things in your life that frankly

just need to die. And a rule of life helps both

of those to happen. And so if you start doing

the things you actually want to do, and you start

avoiding the things that you actually don't want

to do, then ultimately a rule of life helps you

become the person that you want to be, the person

God wants you to be, the person that the world

needs you to be. And then all sorts of good fruit

is getting grown and developed in your life.

Fruit, like Paul says, the fruit of the Spirit.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,

faithfulness, gentleness, and self -control.

If your trellis is all shaped by distraction

and busyness, it is going to grow something,

but it's probably not going to be any of this

stuff, right? But if your trellis is shaped by

the way of Jesus, intentional decisions to...

live your life following Jesus, then this is

what will grow in your life. So that's what we

all need. We need a rule. We need a trellis in

our lives. But let me end by answering this question.

Well, how do we then build that into our lives?

I want to just pause here and remind us. This

is exactly the thing we've been trying to do

all Lent so far is build our own little personal

rule of life. We handed out for the last three

weeks now, these little pocket guides that are

there to help you build. practice by practice

by practice, a rule for living your own spiritual

life. And if you don't have one of these, please

grab one on the way out because week by week,

we're adding to this until we've got a rule of

life that's going to work for you. But I would

say before you get too deep into this, before

you get too far into this, let me offer you kind

of five hot tips that will be really, really

helpful. And here's the first hot tip. Start

simply. I think a very common mistake people

make when they're trying to create a rule of

life is that they try to do too much too quickly.

Instead of trying to overhaul your whole life

overnight, just begin with something simple.

Think about starting your day with five minutes

of silence just to be in God's presence. Or think

about, you know, setting your watch for noon

and at noon you just stop for five minutes and

you read a piece of scripture. Or at the end

of your day, just before you turn off the light,

when you reach for the light, you stop and you

call to mind one thing that you are grateful

for in that day, right? Lasting change almost

always begins with just very simple, small practices.

Okay, Dallas Willard said that the secret of

the spiritual life is not like heroic effort.

You don't have to go live in a cave, right? But

just steady. Practice. Steady practice. So that's

the first thing to do. Just start simply. Secondly,

though, related to this is build slowly. Some

of us, we get really excited about doing this

spiritual... growth thing and immediately we

try to build our trellis all at once we want

to put all the sticks there all at once well

i'm going to do prayer and i'm going to do fasting

and i'm going to do solitude i'm going to do

generosity i'm going to do sabbath and i'm going

to take a retreat and i'm going to do this and

do that it's like you're trying to build like

way too much way too fast i would just say remember

a rule of life It's not a place for you to try

to impress God with all the amazing things that

you're doing. It's just about creating rhythms

that you can actually sustain. Eugene Peterson

once described the Christian life as a long obedience

in the same direction. Just play the long game

with this. Begin with one or two practices. Let

them become part of your life. And then, yeah,

add another. Maybe add another, okay? Thirdly,

here's the third hot tip. prune regularly. Now,

this may surprise people, but a rule of life

is, again, not primarily about adding more and

more and more and more to your life. In fact,

it's also about removing things that may be getting

in the way of your spiritual transformation.

Again, we already heard that God will cut off

branches that are bad or not producing any fruit,

but check this one out. Even the branches that

are bearing good fruit, bearing good stuff, doing

the good stuff, he prunes them so they will be

even more fruitful i mean why would he prune

a vine that's producing fruit it's because a

vine that's got too much fruit on it actually

starts to its energy gets all sapped and spread

too thin the fruit becomes small and weak but

if you prune away some of those things then more

energy can go into what is there And so one idea

I would say that is if you're going to add something

new to your own spiritual rule of life, also

consider taking something away at the same time.

Because often in the spiritual life, you have

to start with less before it becomes more. Here's

a fourth hot tip, and that is to stay... Stay

flexible. Okay? St. Benedict's rule was actually

really well known because it was so flexible.

In fact, Benedict himself said, and I quote,

that his rule has just a little strictness to

it. Just a little strictness. Which means it

has a lot of flexibility to it. And that's good

because you know life changes. When you've got

kids running around the house. might be hard

to keep up with your rule let's say you're looking

after aging parents life changes let's say especially

busy season at work life changes let's say that

you know you're going through an illness or something

like that right now we need to be able to adjust

and flex our rule of life rather than break it

all together or break ourselves trying to keep

up with it right that's why benedict said he

said that we don't exist for the rule the rule

exists for us And yes, the trellis is there to

provide some structure, but the plant can weave

in and out of those firm sticks. And the plant

is not a slave to the trellis, and we're not

slaves to the rule. Which brings me to the very

last thing to remember, and that is the rule

is meant to be lived in community. It's true,

Benedict began his journey alone in a cave, but

that's not where it ultimately really got going.

The movement got going when he came out of that

cave and he gathered people together into community.

That's when the transformation happened. That's

when they lived out this rule together. And I

would dare say that it's nearly impossible for

spiritual transformation to happen in people's

lives in isolation. We grow best when we are

surrounded by people, people to encourage us,

people to challenge us, people to pray for us,

to walk alongside of us. That is why it is so,

so important to have a few close spiritual friendships.

It's so important here at Trinity to be part

of something like a life group. It's so important

just to be part of a church community. When Jesus

said, hey, remain in me, As I remain in you,

that you is plural. He's talking to a group of

people because we grow best when we grow together.

So I would say, if you're working on your rule,

share that rule with a close friend. Take it

to your life group and say, hey guys, this is

kind of what I'm working on. What do you guys

think? What are you guys doing? Pray for me.

I really want to live this out. Or find a mentor.

Someone who can walk with you as you seek to

grow in this way. So what are the five hot tips,

right? Start simply, build slowly, prune regularly,

stay flexible, and include community. Let me

just end where we kind of started by saying,

why are we doing this? It is not to escape the

world, but rather just be able to live in the

world. We don't want to be changed by the world,

but we want to be change agents out there in

the world. And that's exactly what you need to

know about Benedict's monks and really all monks

is that there is a sense in which they exist

not to hide away in those monasteries, but instead

it's a movement of people that go out into the

world, men and women, living differently, praying

and working and serving. welcoming strangers,

loving their neighbors, extending hospitality.

Is there a monk in you? Is there? Is there a

monk in me? No caves, no monasteries, no shaved

heads required, but a rule, just a rule to live

your life by to keep you connected to the vine.

Because what happens is when ordinary people

begin ordering their lives around Jesus, something

beautiful grows. And as it grows, lives get changed.

Families get changed. Churches get changed. And

even the whole world can be changed. The thanks

be to God. Amen. Thanks for tuning in to this

week's episode of Trinity Sermons. This sermon

was recorded at Trinity Church Streetsville in

Mississauga, Ontario on March 15th, 2026.