In the Genesis account God ordains the unit we know as family. We see this in Genesis 2 as God creates man and woman, providing everything that they need and commanding them “to be fruitful and multiply.” As God instituted the first family the family’s main activity, their main responsibility was to worship their God as a family.
This theme does not stop in the Garden of Eden, but carries over to the life of the people of Israel. We can see in the Law given by Moses in Deuteronomy the great command from God:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9
It is not hard determining what God is telling the Israelites to do here. As a family they were to be subject to learning the things of God in the home. Notice it was not the responsibility of tabernacle worship to educate the family on the things of God; it was always to happen at home. I know what you are thinking, well, that’s the Old Testament; we have the church gathered as New Testament Christianity. If we take a close reading to the Book of Acts and notice what would happen when people believed, we would see the text say things like “and the whole household was saved/baptized…” Acts 11:14cf. Yes, absolutely we see family worship happening in the New Testament. As a matter of fact we see that when one would believe the Gospel, they would go back to their homes and proclaim the saving Gospel to those they loved, their families.
We do have a responsibility to be Gospel light bearers in our homes. Our homes should be ground zero for Gospel growth. The question is, how do we do this? We have to admit that we exist in such a consumer culture that we have mostly outsourced even our Gospel teaching in the church to material from larger groups that make a business out of distributing “Gospel material”. To take that a step further in our homes we have outsourced all Gospel teaching to the church, and the church has made many different ministries to meet this need. Much of what we do to make things “easier” on ourselves has caused us to miss the essential means of grace that God has ordained with our homes, family worship. You will find as family worship goes, your worship corporately with the church will have more depth and substance. Three very simple steps we can take to turn our homes into the place we can meet our God in worship as a family.
Read
Step one; take up your Bibles and reading them together. I am not saying that an exegetical exposition of a biblical text needs to take place in the living room, but just a simple reading of Scripture together as a family. You will be amazed at the questions that your children will ask by just reading, or having them read the Bible together as a family. That is where the joy comes in family worship, as you get to lead your family into the mystery of discovering the depths and wisdom of our God. A healthy reading of Scripture together will have a supernatural effect on your family, helping you grow together in the grace of the Lord.
Pray
Step two: take to your knees and pray together. Now, I am not saying this has to happen on your knees, more figuratively speaking. As a family we should have plenty to pray for:
1. Growth in Christ as individuals & as a family
2. Salvation for those that do not know the Lord in the family
3. Specific church members (make a list or use what the church provides)
4. Needs in city/county, state, nation, or world
5. Issues at jobs or school
As awkward as you may think it may feel to pray for the salvation/growth in Christ of your child that is sitting before you, I would contest that there is nothing more loving that you could do, and nothing you could do that would show a child how much you love them. We cannot check our “spiritual” life at the door of the church but must let our lights shine in the world and most of all it is our mandate from Scripture to do this at home.
Sing!
If you can imagine for a moment, the Ford family has read the Scriptures together, we have prayed for each other and our church family and then we break out one of the five hymn books that we have and begin to sing. As our voices begin to ring out, not one voice in unison, not one in tune, our dog (Phineas) begins to howl on the back porch and we break out in laughter together as a family, but the sound of our commotion and laughter is a sound pleasing to the Lord. So your singing does not need to be pitch perfect, nor does it need to be led by a sympathy of accompaniment, sometimes a howl of an old mutt will do, but in obedience to the Lord we should make a joyful noise.
Most of All: Start Now
It’s not an ignorance of the Bible, it’s not a lack of knowing the right things to pray, it’s not the lack of ability to sing that is holding you back from family worship. It is the thing that keeps us from doing so many things, just not stepping out and doing it. The Lord has called you from Scripture to lead your family in His ways; it is your responsibility as a Christian to do it, so start now, start tonight. Sure your family may look at you funny, it may end in a train wreck, many of our family worship times have, but be obedient to the Scripture.
Worshiping the Right Way: Family Worship
Worshiping the Right Way: Family Worship
In the Genesis account God ordains the unit we know as family. We see this in Genesis 2 as God creates man and woman, providing everything that they need and commanding them “to be fruitful and multiply.” As God instituted the first family the family’s main activity, their main responsibility was to worship their God as a family.
This theme does not stop in the Garden of Eden, but carries over to the life of the people of Israel. We can see in the Law given by Moses in Deuteronomy the great command from God:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9
It is not hard determining what God is telling the Israelites to do here. As a family they were to be subject to learning the things of God in the home. Notice it was not the responsibility of tabernacle worship to educate the family on the things of God; it was always to happen at home. I know what you are thinking, well, that’s the Old Testament; we have the church gathered as New Testament Christianity. If we take a close reading to the Book of Acts and notice what would happen when people believed, we would see the text say things like “and the whole household was saved/baptized…” Acts 11:14cf. Yes, absolutely we see family worship happening in the New Testament. As a matter of fact we see that when one would believe the Gospel, they would go back to their homes and proclaim the saving Gospel to those they loved, their families.
We do have a responsibility to be Gospel light bearers in our homes. Our homes should be ground zero for Gospel growth. The question is, how do we do this? We have to admit that we exist in such a consumer culture that we have mostly outsourced even our Gospel teaching in the church to material from larger groups that make a business out of distributing “Gospel material”. To take that a step further in our homes we have outsourced all Gospel teaching to the church, and the church has made many different ministries to meet this need. Much of what we do to make things “easier” on ourselves has caused us to miss the essential means of grace that God has ordained with our homes, family worship. You will find as family worship goes, your worship corporately with the church will have more depth and substance. Three very simple steps we can take to turn our homes into the place we can meet our God in worship as a family.
Read
Step one; take up your Bibles and reading them together. I am not saying that an exegetical exposition of a biblical text needs to take place in the living room, but just a simple reading of Scripture together as a family. You will be amazed at the questions that your children will ask by just reading, or having them read the Bible together as a family. That is where the joy comes in family worship, as you get to lead your family into the mystery of discovering the depths and wisdom of our God. A healthy reading of Scripture together will have a supernatural effect on your family, helping you grow together in the grace of the Lord.
Pray
Step two: take to your knees and pray together. Now, I am not saying this has to happen on your knees, more figuratively speaking. As a family we should have plenty to pray for:
1. Growth in Christ as individuals & as a family
2. Salvation for those that do not know the Lord in the family
3. Specific church members (make a list or use what the church provides)
4. Needs in city/county, state, nation, or world
5. Issues at jobs or school
As awkward as you may think it may feel to pray for the salvation/growth in Christ of your child that is sitting before you, I would contest that there is nothing more loving that you could do, and nothing you could do that would show a child how much you love them. We cannot check our “spiritual” life at the door of the church but must let our lights shine in the world and most of all it is our mandate from Scripture to do this at home.
Sing!
If you can imagine for a moment, the Ford family has read the Scriptures together, we have prayed for each other and our church family and then we break out one of the five hymn books that we have and begin to sing. As our voices begin to ring out, not one voice in unison, not one in tune, our dog (Phineas) begins to howl on the back porch and we break out in laughter together as a family, but the sound of our commotion and laughter is a sound pleasing to the Lord. So your singing does not need to be pitch perfect, nor does it need to be led by a sympathy of accompaniment, sometimes a howl of an old mutt will do, but in obedience to the Lord we should make a joyful noise.
Most of All: Start Now
It’s not an ignorance of the Bible, it’s not a lack of knowing the right things to pray, it’s not the lack of ability to sing that is holding you back from family worship. It is the thing that keeps us from doing so many things, just not stepping out and doing it. The Lord has called you from Scripture to lead your family in His ways; it is your responsibility as a Christian to do it, so start now, start tonight. Sure your family may look at you funny, it may end in a train wreck, many of our family worship times have, but be obedient to the Scripture.
Some Helpful Resources:
https://www.amazon.com/Family-Worship-Bible-History-Your/dp/1433567229/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=family+worship&qid=1587419978&sr=8-1
https://www.amazon.com/Big-Truths-Young-Hearts-Greatness-ebook/dp/B002ED4WYG/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=big+truths+young+hearts&qid=1587420024&sr=8-1
https://www.amazon.com/Family-Worship-Book-Resource-Devotions/dp/1857924010/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=family+worship&qid=1587419978&sr=8-4
https://www.amazon.com/Pilgrims-Progress-Dover-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486426750/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=pilgrims+progress&qid=1587420245&sr=8-2-
https://www.amazon.com/Faith-Grow-Important-Things-Believe/dp/1400304423/ref=dp_ob_image_bk