{"id":3955,"date":"2022-07-05T22:22:47","date_gmt":"2022-07-06T02:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/?p=3955"},"modified":"2025-11-24T10:46:00","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T15:46:00","slug":"kept-day-and-night-even-when-we-feel-unprotected-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3-2-3-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/?p=3955","title":{"rendered":"Discipleship Rhythms: Rules Don’t Rule Us (Republished in The Everlasting Way)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why Relationship must Proceed Rules.<\/h2>\n

At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat.<\/span>\u00a0<\/sup>But when the Pharisees saw\u00a0this, they said to Him, \u201cLook, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/sup>But He said to them,\u00a0\u201cHave you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions,<\/span><\/span> how he entered the house of God, and they ate the\u00a0consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone?<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/sup>Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent?<\/span><\/span> But I say to you that something\u00a0greater than the temple is here.<\/span><\/span> But if you had known what this means, \u2018I\u00a0desire<\/span> compassion, and not a sacrifice<\/span>,\u2019 you would not have condemned the innocent. <\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/sup>For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>(Matthew 12:1-8<\/strong>\u00a0NASB)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

We’ve heard about it in parenting. Rules without relationship leads to rebellion. Life and joy flow from relational connection. Without it, the heart groans.<\/p>\n

Story<\/h3>\n

In the south, we tend to all call ourselves Christian, without really knowing what it means.\u00a0 Growing up, I was no different. On Sunday mornings, my sister, brother and I\u00a0 would cut the volume way down on our 4 channel, rabbit ear bearing television. The plan was to stay quiet enough not to wake Mom. If we made it until Rocky and Bullwinkle came on, we were safe. There wouldn’t be enough time to get dressed and ready for church. Mom didn’t like to be late.<\/p>\n

My dislike of church wasn’t helped by the fact that we lived very close to a fundamental Christian college. Some of the kids who lived there attended my elementary school. I judged them for the way they looked and acted. They dressed so prim and proper.\u00a0 And, because they didn’t join in our mischievous ideas of fun, they seemed stuffy and joyless. I felt judged by them. But looking back, I was the one who was doing the judging.<\/p>\n

In my eyes, they were a “born again,”\u00a0 “holier than thou” brand of Christianity I wanted no part of. Besides, I\u00a0 “believed” in Jesus. I’d tried to live a good live. I hadn’t murdered anyone or robbed a bank. I figured my slot in heaven was secure, since my good deeds surely outweighed the bad. At least that was my thinking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While in college, I became convinced that my pursuit of joy in earthly treasures would always leave me empty. My best friend talked to me about giving my life to Jesus. But I didn’t understand why Christ would accept me because of my party lifestyle.\u00a0 My friend said He would. He asked me if I took a shower before I took a bath. He said I didn’t need to clean my life up to come to Jesus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This kind of grace seemed so foreign. Nevertheless, in 1977, I bent the knee and surrendered, best I knew how, to Jesus Christ as my Lord. I understood that at that point He took up resident in my heart by His Holy Spirit [1], but my life didn’t change for some time.<\/p>\n

I believe my conversion to be genuine, but I really had no idea how to follow Jesus as His disciple. What I saw around me was much like the kids I’d avoided in elementary school; folks trying hard to follow rules they read about in the Bible. If we struggled, we read more scripture and kept striving. I’m sure most of us felt exhausted, but nobody let on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 1985, things began to change. Susan and Louis Sutton, a couple in our church, asked my wife and I to be a part of a fellowship group. For about three years, before they began their missionary work in Chad, we did life together with them. During that time, I began to understand how completely different Christianity is from how I was living it.<\/p>\n

I’d let following the rules become the most important thing and I’d missed the relationship with Jesus.<\/p>\n

Though it took years for the truth to become a heart reality, the Suttons showed us that Christianity, at it’s essence, is about a relationship with Jesus, not following rules. The other stuff, the loving, the holy living, the following Jesus, would flow out of my relationship with Him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Putting the Cart Before the Horse<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We’ve heard the saying putting the cart before the horse. Picture it a moment. The cart is first and the horse is behind it. How are we supposed to get anywhere? Does the horse push the cart?<\/p>\n

As ridiculous as this sounds, putting following the rules before our relationship with Jesus is just as ridiculous.\u00a0 Though I knew the truth in my heart, my life long tendency to earn my value by what I did, translated into my Christian life. After all, I had to accomplish good grades to pass in school. I had to perform well in the tryouts to make the little league team. I had to pass the required skills in scouts to move to the next class, etc. Though I knew Jesus’ record of perfection and His substitution for me on the cross is what brought me into God’s Kingdom, I had a hard time truly believing my efforts did not secure my status with God.<\/p>\n

This was my experience before we met the Suttons and my perspective began to change.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rules can never pull the horse. The horse (our relationship with God, paid for by Jesus Christ) empowers our ability to follow Jesus as His disciples.<\/p>\n

Righteousness is not because of anything we’ve done, but all because of Christ’s work on our behalf.<\/p>\n

As we focus on our relationship with Jesus, not on keeping rules for Him, we begin to follow, out of love for Him, empowered by His Spirit.<\/p>\n

Practice the Rhythm<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Paul warned the Galatians about adopting a gospel of trying harder.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you\u00a0by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;<\/span>\u00a0<\/sup>which is\u00a0really\u00a0not another; only there are some who are\u00a0disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.<\/span> (Galatians 1:6-7<\/strong> NASB)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Galatians 2:21 speaks of how ridiculous it is to try and keep the law to earn our righteousness.<\/p>\n

I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly (NASB).<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Don’t move quickly past the meaning of this verse. Would we, by striving to follow the rules to earn our right standing, be so foolish? If we do, Christ died and suffered needlessly.<\/p>\n

We must be vigilant in our thinking. Does reading the Bible, serving at church, talking about Jesus, make us any closer to God? It’s very subtle. We must keep seeking to live in the flow of the Rivers of Living Water, [2] not in the dry and dusty land of self effort. All our exhausting, self motivated rule keeping is worth nothing. [3]<\/p>\n

Prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lord, please show me quickly when I once again lead with rule following as opposed to allowing what I say and do to flow from my relationship with You. You’ve called me to fiercely love all the folks you’ve put in my life, no matter how they treat me. I can’t do that if I cut off the flow of Your love by trying to follow rules in my own strength. I resolve to wait for You, to yield to You and to allow You to love through me.<\/em><\/p>\n

[1] Ephesians 1:13-14<\/p>\n

[2] John 7:37-39<\/p>\n

[3] John 15:5<\/p>\n

Previous posts in our From Duty to Delight Series:<\/span><\/p>\n

Discipleship Rhythms: From Duty to Delight<\/a><\/p>\n

Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God\u2019s nearness in the midst of life\u2019s adventures.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Subscribe to get email notifications of new posts. We post a few times a month. Thank you for reading.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
Robby Buck<\/strong><\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Nonfiction books by the Author:<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Because joy is rooted in God and is eternal, it doesn\u2019t ebb and flow with the waves of circumstances. In fact, as we grow in our understanding of joy, we can even experience it more acutely when life is hard. Why? Because God uses trials to conform us into the image of Christ. With this awareness, which gives us glimpses of God\u2019s greater purposes, we rejoice because of His masterful work to free us from needing anything but Him.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

For these reasons, and many others, joy in the Lord is commanded in scripture. It\u2019s not just a good idea, it\u2019s vital to our journey as human beings.\u00a0Rhythms of Joy<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Novels by the Author:<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

What happens when a professor figures out how to send messages to his younger self to try and avoid the suicide of his best friend? Did he change more than he bargained for?\u00a0\u00a0Beyond Time<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

By finding two undelivered letters in an old shack deep in the woods, Cassie and Daniel unknowing set off a series of events which uncover a plot to wipe out a whole family\u00a0Hope Remains<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Please Check out the\u00a0\u00a0Cola City Podcast<\/a>\u00a0. Discussions that impact the vision of reaching every man, woman, and child in a city.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve heard about it in parenting. Rules without relationship leads to rebellion. Life and joy flow from relational connection. Without it, the heart groans.<\/p>\n

Story<\/p>\n

In the south, we tend to all call ourselves Christian, without really knowing what it means.\u00a0 Growing up, I was no different. On Sunday mornings, my sister, brother and I\u00a0 would cut the volume way down on our 4 channel, rabbit ear bearing television. The plan was to stay quiet enough not to wake Mom. If we made it until Rocky and Bullwinkle came on, we were safe. There wouldn’t be enough time to get dressed and ready for church. Mom didn’t like to be late.<\/p>\n

My dislike of church wasn’t helped by the fact that we lived very close to a fundamental Christian college. Some of the kids who lived there attended my elementary school. I judged them for the way they looked and acted. They dressed so prim and proper.\u00a0 And, because they didn’t join in our mischievous ideas of fun, they seemed stuffy and joyless. I felt judged by them. But looking back, I was the one who was doing the judging.<\/p>\n

In my eyes, they were a “born again,”\u00a0 “holier than thou” brand of Christianity I wanted no part of. Besides, I\u00a0 “believed” in Jesus. I’d tried to live a good live. I hadn’t murdered anyone or robbed a bank. I figured my slot in heaven was secure, since my good deeds surely outweighed the bad. At least that was my thinking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While in college, I became convinced that my pursuit of joy in earthly treasures would always leave me empty. My best friend talked to me about giving my life to Jesus. But I didn’t understand why Christ would accept me because of my party lifestyle.\u00a0 My friend said He would. He asked me if I took a shower before I took a bath. He said I didn’t need to clean my life up to come to Jesus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This kind of grace seemed so foreign. Nevertheless, in 1977, I bent the knee and surrendered, best I knew how, to Jesus Christ as my Lord. I understood that at that point He took up resident in my heart by His Holy Spirit [1], but my life did not change for some time.<\/p>\n

I believe my conversion to be genuine, but I really had no idea how to follow Jesus as His disciple. What I saw around me was much like the kids I’d avoided in elementary school; folks trying hard to follow rules they read about in the Bible. If we struggled, we read more scripture and kept striving. I’m sure most of us felt exhausted, but nobody let on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 1985, things began to change. Susan and Louis Sutton, a couple in our church, asked my wife and I to be a part of a fellowship group. For about three years, before they began their missionary work in Chad, we did life together with them. During that time, I began to understand how completely different Christianity is from how I was living it.<\/p>\n

I’d let following the rules become the most important thing and I’d missed the relationship with Jesus.<\/p>\n

Though it took years for the truth to become a heart reality, the Suttons showed us that Christianity, at it’s essence, is about a relationship with Jesus, not following rules. The other stuff, the loving, the holy living, the following Jesus, would flow out of my relationship with Him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Putting the Cart Before the Horse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":865,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2536],"tags":[317,401,2532,2528,489,800,2526,999,1862,2530,2523,2534,2535,430,2521,2531,18,510,134,2513,1089,2522,1066,2516,2529,100,2533,2524,2519,2518,2520,2517,624,2527,2525],"class_list":["post-3955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-relationship","tag-believe","tag-born-again","tag-cart-before-the-horse","tag-chad","tag-church","tag-disciple","tag-elementary-school","tag-ephesians-113-14","tag-exhausted","tag-fellowship-group","tag-fundamental","tag-galatians","tag-galatians-16-7","tag-galatians-221","tag-holier-than-thou","tag-holy-living","tag-holy-spirit","tag-jesus-christ","tag-john-155","tag-john-737-39","tag-joyless-rules","tag-judgemental","tag-loving-people","tag-matthew-121-8","tag-missionaries","tag-parenting","tag-perfection","tag-prim-and-proper","tag-rabbit-ears","tag-relationship","tag-rocky-and-bullwinkle","tag-rules","tag-surrender","tag-susan-and-louis-sutton","tag-wanton-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3955"}],"version-history":[{"count":70,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7705,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3955\/revisions\/7705"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}