Sacred Rhythms - Cultivating a Heart of Dependency, Part 1

Are the rhythms of your life producing the kind of person you really want to become gift not stay with this working to learn sacred rhythms actually allow the life of Christ be formed. That's today welcome to this Friday edition of Living on the Edge with Living on the Edge features the Bible to on this daily discipleship program. Today we continue our series.

Sacred rhythms cultivating a lifestyle that makes room for God. We all live life works patterns we naturally follow. Question is the patterns you're living it resulted in you becoming the person you want to be Jeff's team teaching with her son Ryan is a pastor in his own right, vibrant young church in the Bay Area.

So today Ryan brings us our message cultivating a heart of dependency is been a little bit of an odd year for me in January I had a large shelf on me got cash in most of you know that. Then about a month ago is playing basketball broke my nose and then I had all the concussion stuff come again and so it's been having a head injury where I can't do the normal rhythms that I'm accustomed to.

I can run at the same pace that I've always been running at it. In fact, there was one week that I spent a good three days just sitting in a dark room in silence by myself, man is that hard.

And as my rhythms of life got interrupted and I was no longer able to run at the same pace that is accustomed to. I began to wrestle with a few questions in that dark room first question on the rhythms of my life producing the kind of person I long to be you ever have time to stop long enough to not just be caught up in your rhythms, not just be going along with life but to actually ask what are the rhythms in my life, producing are the rhythms of my life producing the kind of person I long to be in 10 years, 15 years, 20 years of the kind of person I want to be asked this question are the rhythms of my life producing the life of Christ in me.

Are they actually shaping me into becoming more like him. Like the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

I'm might got all of them for the first time in my entire life like don't you want to be that kind of person does the life of Christ filled with joy overflowing with love like supernatural kindness in the face of hate.

Don't you want to be that kind of person and are the rhythms of my life producing the life of Christ in me to the truth as our lives are not a product of our dreams and desires and ambitions, our lives are a product of the rhythms or habits. We have embraced James clear in his New York Times best-selling book atomic habits writes this habits are the compound interest of self-improvement the same way that money multiplies through compound interest. The effects of your habits. Multiply as you repeat them. They seem to make a little difference on any given day, and yet the impact they deliver over the months and years can be enormous is only when looking back to five or perhaps 10 years later that the value of good habits and the cost of bad ones becomes strikingly apparent. So let me ask you as we start this morning are the rhythms of your life producing the kind of person you want to be or the rhythms of your life producing the kind of friends you want to be are the rhythms of your life producing the kind a spouse you want to be the kind apparent you want to be the rhythms of your life producing the life of Christ.

The challenge and the problem with some of these questions is our world has an inherent rhythm to it a repetition.

The constant beat up pace that we get caught up and in a set of thoughtfully engaging with our rhythms.

What happens our tendency is we just get caught up into the rhythm of the world around us.

I will do what ever it takes work as many hours as a take neglect my family to be successful. In fact we do with our kids as well.

I will do what ever it takes for my kids to have as many experiences get into the right school yes all live there.

No, I won't live there because of the school or the sport and the problem is its success at the expense of significance and then the rhythm because success is our core idle busyness than is worn as a badge of honor.

Put what happens when what is your knee-jerk response when somebody asked how you doing busy and if you want to Christianize it. You do this busy but good by somehow that made it better not busy but is busy not bad busy and we run insane hectic lives from one thing to the next and it outpaces our souls and what happens is we end up overworked and under filled doesn't. When you stop and you allow your soul to catch up. Isn't it true that there's this aching, this longing for more.

In fact, many of us don't want to stop because we don't want to feel and so we stay busy.

We don't want to face reality at the end of the rainbow. The pot of gold at the heart of the rhythms is financial freedom is the goal we want to be able to do whatever we want whenever we want. We we want to be able to have this financial independence and so I'm going to embrace a rhythm. I would never choose in hopes of one day being free to do whatever I choose with happens as we have more money we have more stuff we have more and yet fundamentally less peace parents.

By the way, we by this logic, I'm going I want to provide my kids a better life that I had. I want to provide them things that I never had and so I'm going to work in insane amount of time on what to neglect them during their formative years so I can be present when they don't even care whether I'm present or not. There's a reason they're called formative years is the years that your child and my children are being formed, and if you're not around form them who is what is the rhythms of your life producing the kind of person you fundamentally long to be. Jesus said this, the thief comes to kill still and destroy, but I have come that you might have life and life to the full life abundantly life overflowing like the purpose of the Christian life. The purpose of Jesus is coming here is not to be this Debbie downer, but he wants to give you life you we want you to flourish in ways that you have never yet imagined.

See the life of Christ in you and me is the forcing life is the abundant life is the overflowing life and could be what's still in your life, killing your joy like destroying the flourishing and you is the rhythms that you've embraced at the heart. I believe the question we must ask isn't are the rhythms of my life producing the life of Christ in me, but what are the rhythms.

What are the rhythms that will produce the life of Christ in me. What are the rhythms that will produce the kind of person I fundamentally long to be and this is precisely where Jesus has us in the sermon on the Mount, and he paints a picture of those who are truly flourishing under the not necessarily who you think, and many many moves on and talks about like flourishing blast life to the full type people have an impact like they lived the significant life there there like light, like a city set on a hill they they make this incredible impact there like salt and light and then you begin to ask: what does salt and light really look like. What is it look like to live this life of impact and it's actually a counterintuitive countercultural way of living life where where flourishing or able to bless those who persecute them there able to love their enemies there able to stand up in the face of injustice like there's this incredible way that they're able to live and to walk into love. Where others trying to take and to keep but how do you do when Jesus ended this way right. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you how. Have you ever wondered how the life of Christ is actually formed that is not just you pray a prayer and hope everything just magically changes in Jesus is going to invite us to embrace some sacred rhythms that form the life of Christ in us. In fact, let me give you little definition for sacred rhythm, a sacred rhythm, our spiritual practices. Some of you would know them as spiritual disciplines I shy away from that, simply because discipline has such a negative connotation, but it's actually very helpful spiritual practices that help cultivate notice cultivation is a process over course of time, a habit that where you you start here and you keep doing it, keep doing it and when looking back over two years three years four years. You see that your life has been transformed and changed over the course of the process and we treat the spiritual life like a magic pill.

I take this and I wake up and I'll be I read my Bible and grandma.

Nothing changed. I prayed months. Sacred rhythms are spiritual practices that help cultivate over the course of time the life of Christ and the follower of Jesus. Dallas Willard would say this way, the path of spiritual growth and the riches of Christ is not a passive one.

Grace is not opposed effort as opposed to earning effort is action earning his attitude you've never seen people more active than those who have been set on fire by the grace of God. The disciplines of the spiritual life are simply practices that proved to be effectual in enabling us to increase the grace of God in our lives. And so Jesus shifts his attention on the sermon on the Mount to sacred Reddit rhythms for us that will produce the life of Christ in us. He opens up this way in Matthew chapter 6, verse one. If you got your Bibles you can open up there if not follow along in your notes. He says this. Be careful, do not practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do you'll have no reward from your father in heaven. He starts out about sacred rhythms with a warning. Be careful.

Watch out alert warning. Here's the reason why Jesus understand something about the spiritual practices that are that we naturally in our human tendency will fall into it is easy to shift the focus on these is he saying there is a way to do these that will produce the life of Christ in you, and there's a way to go about these that will produce a religious hypocrite. Watch out that my old drum instructor. I grew up as a drummer and since I had a drum instructor that makes sense. Thank you very much, Denis explained that right thank you. He used to tell me this Ryan practice does not make perfect perfect practice makes perfect. Anyone who's coached kids knows this your form and technique matters right.

I mean if you're shooting a ball like this you can do it all day long form and technique matters tremendously. And here's what you say and watch your form. So what are we to watch out for not to practice.

There's our word put into practice discipline your righteousness your this sacred rhythms. How in front of others to be seen by them. Here's what you say why you do something is just as important as what you do know why the heart motive is so important, don't do spiritual sacred rhythm so other people think well of you do them, for your heavenly father to the danger sacred rhythms as they can turn into a form of religious piety to show everyone else just how spiritual you are never been a part of a small group or someone when they pray it doesn't sound like they're talking to God, but they're trying to impress people. He says secrecy is a safeguard for hypocrisy, secrecy and keeping something that is beautiful between you and the father is an antidote for hypocrisy and to keep your heart tender towards him, to keep your motives pure some of your gonna like Ingram you just talk about what what about this whole let your light shine before men business right then Jesus just earlier say let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds on mice will do everything in secret. Not just finish the verse and glorify your Father in heaven. The issue isn't whether in secret or private. Finish the verse here it says do not practice your righteousness. How in front of others to be seen by them.

You have to wrestle with the question, why am I doing this like why am I helping this homeless personnel is because I want other people to think well of me or I just want to make God really big in this moment to the issue is not public or private. The issue is heart motivation and heart motivation is always going to get back to God. And if you're doing something in public is him to get the glory alone, not you. And anytime there's a hint of like man that could. I could admit motivation. I'm just going to do in secret. I'm just gonna do it in private so that is just before my father in fact it makes so much more sense with Jesus same. When we finished it I says if you do, you will have no reward from your father in heaven. Sacred rhythms or transformational when you move them from religious piety to relational intimacy sermon on the Mount introduces the theme as God's father it in the next section you're going to see nine different times. Jesus refers to God as father, as your heavenly father. This is in a distant like God somehow to be appeased. It's an invitation into an intimate personal relationship with your heavenly father loves you. And when we turn sacred rhythms spiritual disciplines and just to religious forms and checklist. It strips it of his transformational power and when you go okay I just want to get into God's word to know you got. I just wanted I wanted I want to know you more.

I want to become more like you. I want to be more like my heavenly father Joseph you're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, Chip Bevis on rioting room will be back in just a minute to talk more about today's message more serious sacred rhythms cultivating a lifestyle that makes room for God. If the burdens of life or pressing it and you need to make some changes.

Sacred rhythms will help you do that in sacred rhythms. You learn how to develop a few of the key spiritual practices that unlock a deeper, more satisfying relationship with God to order your copy of sacred rhythms or to send a set to a friend. Just visit us online at http://livingontheedge.org you'll find that the CDs are discounted and the MP3s are absolutely free. Or if you prefer to order over the phone. Just give us a call at 1-888-333-6003 will chip as I listened to Ryan today.

I'm really glad you asked them to bring this message on tithing go for some this is going to be a brand-new practice, but it also makes me wonder if are people who already have this practice in place we have anything that'll help them take a next step will Dave as a matter of fact we had Living on the Edge are absolutely committed to not only helping new Christians in their journey, but people that maybe then in the Bible for quite a while were people that are saying I want more.

I'm reading devotional.

He bit you know there's a difference between reading the Bible and hearing God's voice right and so I created an online video course. It's a brief one very accessible called how to hear God's voice in Scripture, and what we do in this little online course is help people literally open their Bible read it for themselves. And we give you some tools where you go through a process where you learn a skill, not just to understand what the text says not just merely what it means. But what it actually means to you.

You know, I am so grateful that after years as a Christian I went to seminary and a man name Howard Hendricks taught me not just how to be disciplined, but he taught me how to hear God's voice in Scripture and I learned some tools that transformed my entire life and we want to put that in your hands. It's absolutely free. We want to help you grow and Dave once again some information about how to get it sure will. This online video course how to hear God's voice in Scripture really is a great resource. No matter how long you've been reading the Bible, which chip shares will take your ability to discern God's voice and take your faith to a whole new level. You can do these five video sessions on your own time at your own pace as your relationship with God deepens your confidence will increase and you'll actually begin to look forward to spending time with them. Just go online to LivingontheEdge.org and take your next step toward hearing God speak to you through his word. Now, here are Chip and Ryan with the final application as we close today's program. Ryan, first of all, thanks for being with us and you said something that really struck me.

You said we naturally fall into the rhythms of the world around us. What you mean by that. Yeah there is a rhythm. There's a pace to our culture to our world to our country. That is, it's unseen but it's all around us and if were not aware, we just get caught up into that rhythm, and what's the challenge is the reason this such a big deal is. We never drift into a better version of ourselves we never drift into a place where were you know becoming more like Christ.

It doesn't just happen automatically, and that's a lie. We tend to believe in and it takes intentionality, awareness of the rhythms of my life and are they producing their life and the life of Christ in me that I long for them to produce, so we have to actually be aware of our rhythms and break some old ones and then start some new ones, which is what this whole series is about maybe personally before we talk about how to help others. What are some rhythms either you had to break or start in order to see Christ formed in you yeah well I think one of the rhythms in my life is back to your first sermon of spending time with Jesus in his word and I remember all the way back as a college student, I began this rhythm of before I study before I you know I had to study every single day. So I would spend time with Jesus and that rhythm has set up a foundation of getting to know God and his word and in developing that intimacy in my life. Why can't wait for our listeners to hear very specific ways, not only with their time there money there patterns maybe even getting off our phones little bit more, but there are rhythms that we can change that. This desire to know God actually can be experienced. In fact, after the series I got to visit your church and a young gal came up to me and she was so excited and she stopped me and your mom and she said you know when you and Ryan top that on the sacred rhythms I started getting in the Bible every morning just for 15 minutes it's change my whole life, so thanks so much Ryan and look forward to the days ahead.

Absolutely would enjoy Living on the Edge were happy to let you know about a new way to listen to our extended teaching podcast here chip any time on Amazon's Alexa echo and echo.simply say Alexa enabled the Chip Ingram podcast once Alexis enabled with that skill.

All you need to say is Alexa played the Chip Ingram podcast you'll hear that these extended teaching any time you want will be sure to join us again on Monday as we continue our series sacred rhythms. Until then, this is Dave really saying thanks for joining us for this division of living on the