Family Worship in the New Year

by Jonathan@http://jonathandavis.wordpress.com

I am not the kind to make New Year’s resolutions. Maybe I am more cynical than most, but all I see myself doing is making a promise that I am pretty sure I will break in a couple of months. So I console/justify myself by not even traveling that road to save some heartbreak. Yet, every year I still plan out goals (resolutions) I would like to accomplish, don’t call them resolutions, all in the hopes to make me feel better if I don’t end up keeping them. Yes, lame, I know.

Aside from my warped resolution logic, if the beginning of the New Year is good for anything, it is at least good for using the day as an annual marker to look back over the past year to gauge where and how you have been made more into the image of Jesus, and to see if you have grown/changed at all. If you look back and see absolutely no change or no desire to be molded into the image of Christ you have a bigger issue to deal with in your life other than sanctification. For me looking back over the past year provides ample opportunity to see how I have blown it several times (insert being angry over stupid things, being impatient with wife & child & employees, not loving unconditionally, loving other things and prioritizing them over my God, etc. In general not loving God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, every day, all the day).

As I have been looking back over the year and looking forward to the new year coming one thing that I desire to grow in and mature in is the area of Family Worship. My wife and I desire with all our heart to raise Godly children. This desire for our children manifests itself in a fairly-semi regular bible reading, song singing, and prayer time with our child. It is not always easy or convenient. My daughter seems to live in perpetual motion and so getting her to settle down for 5-10 minutes of bible reading, song, and prayer is difficult most of the time. As the husband and spiritual head of my family/home I have walked away from family worship sessions dejected, beaten, down-and-out, and left wondering if this is even doing any good. But as time progresses I am learning by God’s gracious revealation and from other godly men who have traveled this road before me that it isn’t quite necessary for my 2 year old to be able to memorize and understand the doctrine of propitiation and it’s proof texts…at least not yet. However it is important for my 2 year old to see Daddy and Mommy consistently setting aside time during their day to seek their Sovereign and Omnipotent God and wanting to do so with joy and gladness.

For a good article on family worship you can read Joe Thorn’s interview of Tom Ascol on the subject. Here is a snippet from that interview.

Thorn: What advice would you give to those who have/are starting young families?

Ascol: Make family worship a priority. Don’t let pride keep you from asking for help. Ask men and women who are doing it to give you suggestions. Get Don Whitney’s booklet on the subject (now available as a message on CD, as well) and read it together. Don’t be intimidated with unrealistic goals or visions of what family worship ought to be. Start simple. Read the Bible, sing a song or a chorus or a verse of a song, and pray. Then do it again the next day. Recognize that there will be days that you are not able to worship together as you like. Recognize that there wiil be days that you are able and you simply choose not to due to laziness, neglect or blatant sin. When that happens, repent, believe the Gospel, and start over, and do that the rest of your life. Once you incorporate family worship into the regular pattern of your life, don’t let house guests divert you from your schedule. Include them, or at least invite them to join you. Evangelism happens during such times. So does discipleship. Your example and testimony can be powerfully used by God in the lives of others who witness it.

Here is a great gift to give to your children–a memory of always worshiping God in their home. What a blessing to bring a child into a worshiping family! His or her earliest memories will be framed by this God-honoring practice. Children blessed with this gift will never have a memory of a time where this was not a regular part of your family’s life.

Family Worship

5 Reasons to have Family Worship

“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.”
Deut. 6:6, 7

by Joe Thorn @http://www.joethorn.net

I’ve talked a little about family worship/devotions in the past, and interviewed Tom Ascol on the subject. As our new church develops unique ministry emphases family continues to remain at the top of the list in a number of different ways. One of the simplest things we are doing is encouraging families to discover or strengthen their practice of family worship. Here are a few good reasons your family should be practicing this ancient discipline.

1. It’s your job to train your children, not your church’s.
God gives you, the parents, the responsibility and privilege of discipling your children. Have you thought about it that way before? You are tasked with teaching your children to be the disciples of Jesus. Simply handing them over to the church for instruction, and assuming that is enough, is lazy and dangerous. It is lazy because it is a refusal to participate in one of our most important roles as parents, and dangerous because we are dealing with children whose lives hang in the balance. I want fathers to see themselves as the pastors of their families. I want parents to see their families as their most important ministry; far more important than anything else they are involved in. What I tend to find is parents who will spend hours preparing for and executing ministries in the church while giving little time and less thought to family worship.

2. It teaches parents how to talk to their kids about spiritual things.
For many parents, especially new parents, talking to children about spiritual things does not come naturally. It can be awkward. Regularly gathering with your whole family to read and discuss Scripture will help you develop your communication skills, and help you better understand the truth as well. C. Ben Mitchell once suggested to me that if I cannot explain the truth to a child, I might not understand that truth very well myself.

3. It provides a regular context in which spiritual conversations take place.
Not only will this force you to learn how to speak to your children, but it will give you regular opportunity to do so. Let me tell you what I have observed. Families that do not regularly gather for family worship have little opportunity for real, spiritual conversations with the kids. But those who do regularly gather for family worship not only have that time to discuss things, but wind up having other, more spontaneous conversations about spiritual things as well.

4. It allows parents to guide theological development.
Your kids are theologians - right now. They have beliefs about God and probably articulate those beliefs if you listen carefully. Their theology will continue to develop over time, and their best hope for good theology is the passionate, clearly articulated, Scriptural teaching of their parents. Let me also remind you that your kids are watching you, to see if the things you teach them are the things you really believe. And when they discover that what you said about God being sovereign and good impacts the way you receive suffering and affliction, their theology will begin to blossom.

5. It prepares kids for corporate worship.
Family worship is a great aid in getting your kids ready for corporate worship. It teaches them the importance and value of sitting still, listening, and truly engaging corporate worship. They learn that the Bible is holy, and worth paying attention to. They learn songs, and will enjoy singing them in church after learning them in the home. It also demonstrates the value of corporate worship itself, preventing them from thinking about worship as something private. The dominant thinking on worship that I encounter in the evangelical church today is that worship is almost exclusively a very personal/private encounter with Christ. Family worship can lead our kids to see that while worship is always personal, and we should find time to get alone with God, it is meant to be expressed and experienced in community.

Start small, be regular, make it fun, keep it simple, and lead your family in worshiping Jesus Christ for the glory of God, and the good of your home.

Doing Family Devotions

By Erik Raymond @ http://www.irishcalvinist.com/?p=349

Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

The Scripture is pretty clear on the fact that we have a responsibility to be training our children in the truth. Christian fathers in particular have a responsibility to be leading and training their families in the Revelation of God.

Many men struggle in the area of family devotions. It is kind of like evangelism, we know we have to do it but it is the doing it that is the problem.

Because I have echoed the Scriptures command for you and me to act like men and because some folks have requested that I talk about it, this is a quick guide to doing family devotions.

What follows is not an exhaustive how-to manual but rather some things that we do in trying to “teach them diligently” (Duet. 6.4) as God has commanded. Most of these things are things that we do, I am not saying that everyone has to do them, but rather supply suggestions in effort to be helpful.

-1- Be in the Word yourself

If you are going to teach your family to love the Word of God you better love the Word of God yourself. God’s design in commanding men to lead their families in the truth is to be preserving faithfulness throughout generations not modeling self-dependence and hypocrisy.

If you have not gone to the well of truth to draw fresh water from heaven than do not pretend to have something to say to your family. Instead, retire to a place where you can open up the Bible and drink from the fountain of grace that you might be fueled to speak of how impressed you are with Christ. You must know the Jesus you speak of, and not just know him but love him; this love is birthed by divine grace through the word of God and sustained by the same means.

-2- Choosing a Topic

In our family we usually go through books or sections of books of the Bible. We have been most recently going through Mark’s gospel, but I felt the need to work on teaching my family to pray more biblically, so we have been working on the Lord’s prayer in Matt. 6.

I have found that narratives are great for our family due to their ages. This also forces me to continually explain the context and themes of the book. I am learning too!!

You may have something that needs to be dealt with in your family. Family devotions are a great place to do this. Study as the leader and communicate what the Bible says and apply it to specific circumstances.

-3- Open the Bible

This is always a good thing! When you as the leader open the Bible you show your submission to what God says and you are modeling faithfulness to the Word. You may have the text memorized, it doesn’t matter, open the book and read it. Show your family you love the Bible.

Your own handling of the Scriptures expresses your view of the Scripture. Is it authoritative? Then you must open it up, interact with it and submit to it as you endeavor to apply it.

-4- Have a set time

It is good to set a routine for when you will read together. We like to read in the evening after dinner or before bed. I have brought the Bible out to eat with us to read and talk while we wait for the food. This encourages your family not to fear man and shows them that their Dad/husband loves the Bible.

-5- Talk about the Word all the time

As a family we may not sit down every single night and do a devotion, however, there is not a day that goes by that I do not speak to my kids about God. I want to make sure that the climate in my home is Christ centered therefore everything is a sign to point to Jesus. With little children their discipline is within the context of the gospel, for we are not trying to teach morality but Christianity! Their framework for obedience must be a holy and righteous creator and an accountable humanity. The only way to have this work right is within the context of the gospel.

My wife is a great help here. She talks about the Bible all the time with our kids during the day and we talk about it at night. It is important to create a climate that supports the sufficiency of Scripture and our dependence upon God.

-6- Make it fun

Family devotions should not be like doing chores. We don’t want to be all cantankerous and mean hitting our kids with a 45 minute running commentary on the book. Instead I have found it helpful to use a lot of illustrations that apply to my children’s lives. I have used action figures to explain a narrative, made up rhymes about “Elijah who likes to play with fy-ahh!” And “Ehud was a tough dude” …kids remember stuff like this.

I have also found it helpful to pause a lot and ask question of individuals. My 11 year old son could sit and listen to a sermon but my 4 year old girl will listen for 4 minutes and then start day-dreaming about a pink Pegasus. I have to reel here in frequently and ask her a question. Sometimes it is as simple as, “What did Jesus say to the woman?” Other times I’ll make a statement like, “Jesus heals people to show that he is the King, he is God, and he has power” then I’ll ask Alaynah (4), “why does Jesus heal people?” It is good to keep asking questions.

-7- Make application

After teaching the passage to your own heart make specific applications to your family’s. You may ask them questions like, “What can we do tonight, tomorrow or this week to live this scripture out?” and then being sure to follow up on that.

The time you spend in the word will serve to be a great resource for instruction in the days and years ahead.

-8- Addressing your wife

Your wife is your helpmate but she is also your responsibility as the husband. You are to lead her and teach her as well (Eph. 5.25-29). Sometimes the tendency is to spend so much time on the kids that you forget about your wife. It is good to involve your wife by asking her questions. The kids get to see that Mom knows and loves the Word too.

One thing to consider is that simply being a leader is a huge edifying factor for your wife. During devotions your wife gets to see first hand that her husband is a man! It shows that you love God and your family.

Something else to consider: more than likely, your wife rarely gets to sit down during the day. So, to sit with the kids and rub their hair or scratch their back while you do a devotion has several effects: your wife gets to hear God’s word, to learn something, to get time to be with the kids, to rest and to see you lead. How edifying is that?

-9- Teaching Prayer

Devotions are a great time to teach prayer. You as the leader can model biblical prayer. However, this is not the only time. I try to pray whenever I feel compelled to. This may be driving or some odd time during the day. It is good to teach your kids dependence upon God throughout the day not just during “quiet time”.

This is also a great opportunity to teach. Sometimes one of our kids will get loose with an unbiblical prayer and I often stop them and instruct them biblically and help them to think and pray in a way that God has prescribed. What do you do if your 5 year old prays for Satan to be saved? This is a great time to make personal application based upon what God has prescribed. Our recent study in Matt. 6 has really helped this.

-10- Gospelize your family

Remember that the whole point in doing this is to point your family to Jesus. Therefore, it is right to continue to explain and apply the gospel. Talk about the gospel all the time. Remember that your kids are young, they have not been dwelling upon the gospel for years, they probably don’t understand it like you do and they need to hear it! For we learn in Romans that “faith comes by hearing and hearing from the word of Christ” (Rom. 10.17). So since the gospel “is the power of God for salvation” (Rom. 1.15) and we want our kids to be saved, then what should we be telling them?

-11- Remember that this is a command

God does not ask us to lead and teach our families, he commands it. This is a regal decree from the King of heaven to us as his followers and leaders of our families. Therefore we must be good stewards of our time, pouring into our kid’s hearts and lives the unsearchable riches of Christ.

If you are struggling with this discipline then resolve today to get started; and the best way to get started is to get started. Open up your Bible read it and apply it to your life. Go home tonight and tell your family that you want to read the Word of God to them. And then do it again tomorrow, praying that God would water his word.

Hopefully this proves helpful.

See also: http://irishcalvinist.com/2006/08/30/doing-family-devotions/

The importance of family worship

“Worship God in your family. – If you do not worship God in your family, you are living in positive sin; you may be quite sure you do not care for the souls of your family. If you neglect to spread a meal for your children to eat, would it not be said that you did not care for their bodies? And if you do not lead your children and servants to the green pastures of God’s Word, and to seek the living water, how plain is it that you do not care for their souls! Do it regularly, morning and evening. It is more needful than your daily food, more needful than your work. How vain and silly all your excuses will appear, when you look back from Hell! Do it fully. Some clip off the psalm, and some the reading of the Word; and so the worship of God is reduced to a mockery. Do it in a spiritual, lively manner, go to it as to a well of salvation.”

- Robert Murray M’Cheyne

Doing Family Devotions

By Erik Raymond

Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

The Scripture is pretty clear on the fact that we have a responsibility to be training our children in the truth. Christian fathers in particular have a responsibility to be leading and training their families in the Revelation of God.

Many men struggle in the area of family devotions. It is kind of like evangelism, we know we have to do it but it is the doing it that is the problem.

Because I have echoed the Scriptures command for you and me to act like men and because some folks have requested that I talk about it, this is a quick guide to doing family devotions.

What follows is not an exhaustive how-to manual but rather some things that we do in trying to “teach them diligently” (Duet. 6.4) as God has commanded. Most of these things are things that we do, I am not saying that everyone has to do them, but rather supply suggestions in effort to be helpful.

-1- Be in the Word yourself

If you are going to teach your family to love the Word of God you better love the Word of God yourself. God’s design in commanding men to lead their families in the truth is to be preserving faithfulness throughout generations not modeling self-dependence and hypocrisy.

If you have not gone to the well of truth to draw fresh water from heaven than do not pretend to have something to say to your family. Instead, retire to a place where you can open up the Bible and drink from the fountain of grace that you might be fueled to speak of how impressed you are with Christ. You must know the Jesus you speak of, and not just know him but love him; this love is birthed by divine grace through the word of God and sustained by the same means.

-2- Choosing a Topic

In our family we usually go through books or sections of books of the Bible. We have been most recently going through Mark’s gospel, but I felt the need to work on teaching my family to pray more biblically, so we have been working on the Lord’s prayer in Matt. 6.

I have found that narratives are great for our family due to their ages. This also forces me to continually explain the context and themes of the book. I am learning too!!

You may have something that needs to be dealt with in your family. Family devotions are a great place to do this. Study as the leader and communicate what the Bible says and apply it to specific circumstances.

-3- Open the Bible

This is always a good thing! When you as the leader open the Bible you show your submission to what God says and you are modeling faithfulness to the Word. You may have the text memorized, it doesn’t matter, open the book and read it. Show your family you love the Bible.

Your own handling of the Scriptures expresses your view of the Scripture. Is it authoritative? Then you must open it up, interact with it and submit to it as you endeavor to apply it.

-4- Have a set time

It is good to set a routine for when you will read together. We like to read in the evening after dinner or before bed. I have brought the Bible out to eat with us to read and talk while we wait for the food. This encourages your family not to fear man and shows them that their Dad/husband loves the Bible.

-5- Talk about the Word all the time

As a family we may not sit down every single night and do a devotion, however, there is not a day that goes by that I do not speak to my kids about God. I want to make sure that the climate in my home is Christ centered therefore everything is a sign to point to Jesus. With little children their discipline is within the context of the gospel, for we are not trying to teach morality but Christianity! Their framework for obedience must be a holy and righteous creator and an accountable humanity. The only way to have this work right is within the context of the gospel.

My wife is a great help here. She talks about the Bible all the time with our kids during the day and we talk about it at night. It is important to create a climate that supports the sufficiency of Scripture and our dependence upon God.

-6- Make it fun

Family devotions should not be like doing chores. We don’t want to be all cantankerous and mean hitting our kids with a 45 minute running commentary on the book. Instead I have found it helpful to use a lot of illustrations that apply to my children’s lives. I have used action figures to explain a narrative, made up rhymes about “Elijah who likes to play with fy-ahh!” And “Ehud was a tough dude” …kids remember stuff like this.

I have also found it helpful to pause a lot and ask question of individuals. My 11 year old son could sit and listen to a sermon but my 4 year old girl will listen for 4 minutes and then start day-dreaming about a pink Pegasus. I have to reel here in frequently and ask her a question. Sometimes it is as simple as, “What did Jesus say to the woman?” Other times I’ll make a statement like, “Jesus heals people to show that he is the King, he is God, and he has power” then I’ll ask Alaynah (4), “why does Jesus heal people?” It is good to keep asking questions.

-7- Make application

After teaching the passage to your own heart make specific applications to your family’s. You may ask them questions like, “What can we do tonight, tomorrow or this week to live this scripture out?” and then being sure to follow up on that.

The time you spend in the word will serve to be a great resource for instruction in the days and years ahead.

-8- Addressing your wife

Your wife is your helpmate but she is also your responsibility as the husband. You are to lead her and teach her as well (Eph. 5.25-29). Sometimes the tendency is to spend so much time on the kids that you forget about your wife. It is good to involve your wife by asking her questions. The kids get to see that Mom knows and loves the Word too.

One thing to consider is that simply being a leader is a huge edifying factor for your wife. During devotions your wife gets to see first hand that her husband is a man! It shows that you love God and your family.

Something else to consider: more than likely, your wife rarely gets to sit down during the day. So, to sit with the kids and rub their hair or scratch their back while you do a devotion has several effects: your wife gets to hear God’s word, to learn something, to get time to be with the kids, to rest and to see you lead. How edifying is that?

-9- Teaching Prayer

Devotions are a great time to teach prayer. You as the leader can model biblical prayer. However, this is not the only time. I try to pray whenever I feel compelled to. This may be driving or some odd time during the day. It is good to teach your kids dependence upon God throughout the day not just during “quiet time”.

This is also a great opportunity to teach. Sometimes one of our kids will get loose with an unbiblical prayer and I often stop them and instruct them biblically and help them to think and pray in a way that God has prescribed. What do you do if your 5 year old prays for Satan to be saved? This is a great time to make personal application based upon what God has prescribed. Our recent study in Matt. 6 has really helped this.

-10- Gospelize your family

Remember that the whole point in doing this is to point your family to Jesus. Therefore, it is right to continue to explain and apply the gospel. Talk about the gospel all the time. Remember that your kids are young, they have not been dwelling upon the gospel for years, they probably don’t understand it like you do and they need to hear it! For we learn in Romans that “faith comes by hearing and hearing from the word of Christ” (Rom. 10.17). So since the gospel “is the power of God for salvation” (Rom. 1.15) and we want our kids to be saved, then what should we be telling them?

-11- Remember that this is a command

God does not ask us to lead and teach our families, he commands it. This is a regal decree from the King of heaven to us as his followers and leaders of our families. Therefore we must be good stewards of our time, pouring into our kid’s hearts and lives the unsearchable riches of Christ.

If you are struggling with this discipline then resolve today to get started; and the best way to get started is to get started. Open up your Bible read it and apply it to your life. Go home tonight and tell your family that you want to read the Word of God to them. And then do it again tomorrow, praying that God would water his word.

Hopefully this proves helpful.