WORSHIP-FAMILY
Family
Worship is led by fathers, or other heads of families, with a view to
establishing God-centered homes, promoting worship in all of life in all the
members of the household, and in preparation for public worship. The Bible
makes clear the importance of family worship (Ex. 12:3; Dt. 6:6-8; Jos. 24:15).
Worship in Spirit and Truth, Tabletalk, Jan.
2005, p. 55. Used by Permission.
Let me now
therefore, once more, before I finally cease to speak to this congregation,
repeat, and earnestly press the counsel which I have often urged on the heads
of families, while I was their pastor, to great painfulness in teaching,
warning, and directing their children; bringing them up in the training and
admonition of the Lord; beginning early, where there is yet opportunity, and
maintaining constant diligence in labours of this kind.
Jonathan Edwards
Quoted by Jerry Marcellino
in Family Worship, Audubon Press, 2002, iv.
Every
Christian family ought to be as it were a little church.
Jonathan Edwards
Works.
Because the
Christian is not his own, but bought with a price, he is to aim at glorifying
God in every relation of life. No matter what station he occupies, or wherever
he be, he is to serve as a witness for Christ. Next to
the church of God, his own home should be the sphere of his most manifest
devotedness unto Him. All its arrangements should bear the stamp of his
heavenly calling. All its affairs should be so ordered that everyone entering
it should feel “God is here!”
A.W. Pink
Quoted by Jerry Marcellino
in Family Worship, Audubon Press, 2002, iii.
At least
twice each day – in the morning and in the evening – the whole household should
be gathered together to bow before the Lord – parents and children, master and
servant – to confess their sins, to give thanks for God's mercies, to seek His
help and blessing. Nothing must be allowed to interfere with this duty: All
other domestic arrangements are to bend to it.
A.W. Pink
Family Worship.
The
advantages and blessings of family worship are incalculable. First, family
worship will prevent much sin. It awes the soul, conveys a sense of God's
majesty and authority, sets solemn truths before the mind, brings
down benefits from God on the home. Personal piety in the home is a most
influential means, under God, of conveying piety to the little ones. Children
are largely creatures of imitation, loving to copy what they see in others.
A.W. Pink
Family Worship.
The Bible in the pulpit must never supersede the Bible at home.
J.C. Ryle
We have found
it important not to enter the family worship time with rigid expectations and a
rigid plan. We want an atmosphere of freedom, where our teenagers feel free to
ask questions, verbalize doubts, express confusion, debate applications, and
try to draw inferences and applications, all without the fear of being
silenced, rebuked, or ridiculed. We want the truth to connect, to convict, and
to capture our teenagers, so we are in no hurry. We want to give them time to understand
and the Spirit time to work. This time is for them. We have no expectations
about the amount of material we cover and our goal is not to get our teenagers
to agree with us. The goal is to stimulate in them a hunger for God, so we want
to be relaxed, patient, and creative.
Paul David Tripp
Age of Opportunity, P&R
Publishing, 1997, p. 186, Used by Permission.
I agree with
Matthew Henry when he says, “They that pray in the family do well; they that
pray and read the Scriptures do better; but they that pray, and read, and sing
do best of all.”
C.H. Spurgeon
The Happy Duty of Daily Praise.
Brethren, I
wish it were more common, I wish it were universal, with all [Christians] to
have family prayer. We sometimes hear of children of Christian parents who do
not grow up in the fear of God, and we are asked how it is that they turn out
so badly. In many, very many cases, I fear there is such a neglect of family
worship that it’s not probable that the children are at all impressed by any
piety supposed to be possessed by their parents.
C.H. Spurgeon
A Pastoral Visit, Metropolitan Tabernacle
Pulpit, v. 54. p. 362-363.
I trust there
are none here present, who profess to be followers of Christ who do not also
practice prayer in their families. We may have no positive commandment for it,
but we believe that it is so much in accord with the genius and spirit of the
gospel, and that it is so commended by the example of the saints, that the
neglect thereof is a strange inconsistency.
C.H. Spurgeon
Restraining Prayer, Metropolitan
Tabernacle Pulpit, v. 51, p. 327.
[It was said
of Charles Spurgeon that] His public prayers were an inspiration and
benediction, but his prayers with the family were to me more wonderful still…
Mr. Spurgeon, when bowed before God in family prayer, appeared a grander man
even than when holding thousands spellbound by his oratory.
Arnold Dallimore.
Spurgeon: A New Biography, 1985, 178-179, by permission Banner of Truth,
Carlisle PA.
The family
that prays together stays together.
Author Unknown
In addition
to teaching your children throughout the day, you must set aside specific,
planned times to worship the Lord and learn His Word together. Conducting family
devotions requires planning and diligence if this godly practice is to develop
and be maintained in your home.
Biblical Counseling Foundation
Self-Confrontation Manuel, Lesson 17, Page
11, Used by Permission of the Biblical Counseling Foundation
There are a
variety of ways God's Word can be conveyed to your family:
1.
By
direct reading from the Bible according to a plan.
2.
By
reading from a sound Bible story book.
3.
Through
the use of a catechism, a very successful method of teaching biblical truths by
simple questions and answers.
4.
Through
Scripture memory and review.
5.
By
reading from a good devotional commentary.
6.
By
reading through solid Christian classics like The Pilgrim's Progress (Make sure
your Bibles are in front of you, to explore the scriptural truths that will
jump from every page!).
7.
By
reading from Christian biographies, historical fiction, theological novels.
Jerry Marcellino
Family Worship, Audubon Press, 2002, p. 16.
Primarily the
elements available to the father (or head of the household) as he leads family
worship are the same as those found in weekly public worship. At a minimum
these three are most essential and should always be included: song, Scripture,
and supplication.
Jerry Marcellino
Family Worship, Audubon Press, 2002, p. 15.
The
lifelessness experienced in so many churches in our day can be traced directly
to the multitudes of families in those churches which contain Sunday-morning
Christians only. It is plain to see the cause for such deadness when such
individuals are not consistently worshiping God in private. Statistics reveal
that only 11 percent of all professing Christians in America read their Bible
or some portion of it once a day. If so few professing Christians are spending
time alone with God, it should not be surprising that family worship as a
practice among professing Christian families is practically nonexistent.
Jerry Marcellino
Family Worship, Audubon Press, 2002, p. 10.
The greatest
stumbling block for children in worship is that their parents do not cherish
the hour. Children can feel the difference between duty and delight. Therefore,
the first and most important job of a parent is to fall in love with the
worship of God. You can't impart what you don't possess.
John and Noel Piper
The Family: Together in God's Presence, www.DesiringGod.org.
Always
remember the goal of family worship is knowing God.
When you lose sight of that goal, family worship becomes an empty ritual.
Tedd Tripp
Shepherding a Child’s Heart, Shepherd
Press, 1995, p. 74. Used by Permission.
1. If both
your parents worshipped with you regularly while you were growing up, there’s an 80% likelihood that you’ll worship God regularly as an
adult.
2. If only
your mother worshipped regularly with you, there’s only a 30% probability that
you’ll worship regularly as an adult.
3. If only
your father worshipped regularly with you, the likelihood that you’ll worship
regularly as an adult increases to 70% percent!
Fathers have
an enormous impact on their children’s faith and values. One of your most
important ministries is worshipping with your kids!
Author Unknown
On the Father Front, Christian Service
Brigade, Spring, 1995, p. 4.
If therefore
our houses be houses of the Lord, we shall for that reason love home, reckoning
our daily devotion the sweetest of our daily delights; and our family-worship
the most valuable of our family-comforts… A church in the house will be a good
legacy, nay, it will be a good inheritance, to be left
to your children after you.
Matthew Henry
The Complete Works of Matthew Henry, Baker,
1979, p. 260-261.
What the
preacher is in the pulpit, the same the Christian householder is in his house.
Lewis Bayly
Basically,
there are three elements to family worship: read the Bible, pray, and sing… On
those occasions when time permits, consider these additions: catechize,
memorize Scripture, and read other books.
Donald Whitney
Family Worship, 2005, p. 17-18. Used by
Permission.
Parents
should teach the things of God to their children at every opportunity, and they
should do so with the children individually and collectively. But both in
biblical times and now, the best time for parents to teach the things of God to
their children on a consistent basis when all the children are
present would be in a time of family worship.
Donald S. Whitney
Family Worship, 2005, p. 5. Used by
Permission.
Fathers,
husbands – if you have been negligent in this duty and great privilege, repent
by starting family worship today. Again, you may feel awkward about what to say
to your wife or you children about starting, but simply say that God has
convicted you of your responsibility to lead in family worship and you want to
start at a given time today or tonight. Almost certainly your wife will be
thrilled more than you can imagine to hear you say
that. Your children may or may not be as enthusiastic, but that does not really
matter. The less interested they are, the more your family needs family
worship. The Lord will help you. He does not call His Spirit-begotten sons to
this task without giving them the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish it.
The same Father who gave you the Gospel and who drew you to Christ will
strengthen you by His Spirit to put on this badge of godly manhood.
Donald S. Whitney
Family Worship, 2005, p. 26. Used by
Permission.
Family
members…respond just as willingly to the call to family worship in your home.
Encourage your husband or dad in his desire to bring the blessing of God upon
you. Do not be a stumbling block in his efforts to obey God.
Donald S. Whitney
Family Worship, 2005, p. 26-27. Used by
Permission.
Motivations
for family devotions:
1.
What
better way to evangelize your children daily?
2.
What
better way to provide a regular time for your children to learn the things of
God from you?
3.
What
better way to provide your children with an ongoing opportunity to ask about
the things of God in a comfortable context for such questions?
4.
What
better way for you to transmit your core beliefs to your children?
5.
What
better way for your children to see the ongoing spiritual example of their
parents?
6.
What
better way to provide workable, reproducible examples to your children of how
to have a distinctively Christian home when they start a home of their own?
7.
What
better way for getting your family together on a daily basis?
8.
Isn’t
this what you really want to do?
Donald S. Whitney
Family Worship, 2005, p. 23. Used by
Permission.
Let family
worship be short, savory, simple, plain, tender, heavenly.
Richard Cecil
It is highly
honorable to family-worship, as a spiritual service, that it languishes and
goes into decay in times when error and worldliness make inroads in the church.
James W. Alexander
A
family without prayer is like a house without a roof, open and exposed to all
the storms of heaven.
Thomas Brooks
When culture
rushes down on your family and the professing church is trying to imitate the
world itself, how will your family keep from being swept away in its path? Only
through the Word of God! Family worship, on a daily basis, is your hope that
they will stand like steel piers against the prevailing tide... In India there
was a custom of throwing babies into the Ganges River as a sacrifice to the
gods. If we are unwilling to do any more than merely take our children to
church, we might as well be throwing them into the river of the culture. This
is an explanation why many children of Christian parents are so often no
different than the world’s. They have been given to the gods by
their parents – thrown in with hands of neglect.
Jim Elliff
The
Heart of Family Reformation, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.
Consider
family religion not merely as a duty imposed by authority, but as your greatest
privilege granted by divine grace.
Samuel Davies
The Necessity and Excellence of Family
Religion. Sermons of the Reverend
Samuel Davies, v. 2, p. 86.
The
chief thing to be attended to is, that [family worship] may be a spiritual service; and the great evil
to be dreaded and guarded against in the exercise of every duty that returns
frequently upon us, is formality.
If a stated course of [it] is kept up as constantly in its season as the
striking of the clock, in time it may come to be almost as mechanically
performed, unless we are continually looking to the Lord to keep our hearts
alive.
John Newton
John Newton’s Letters, Family Worship.
I
think, with you, that it is very expedient and proper that reading a portion of
the Word of God should be ordinarily a part of our family worship; so likewise
to sing a hymn or psalm, or part of one, at discretion; provided there are some
people in the family who have enough of a musical ear and voice to conduct the
singing in a tolerable manner: otherwise, perhaps, it may be better omitted. If
you read and sing, as well as pray, care should be taken that the combined
services do not run into an inconvenient length.
John Newton
John Newton’s Letters, Family Worship.
Happy
is that family where the worship of God is constantly and conscientiously
maintained. Such houses are temples in which the Lord dwells, and castles
garrisoned by a Divine power. I do not say, that, by honoring God in your
house, you will wholly escape a share in the trials incident to the present
uncertain state of things. A measure of
such trials will be necessary for the exercise and manifestation of your
graces; to give you a more convincing proof of the truth and sweetness of the
promises made to a time of affliction; to mortify the body of sin; and to wean
you more effectually from the world. But this I will confidently say,
that the Lord will both honor and comfort those who thus honor Him. Seasons
will occur in which you shall know, and probably your neighbors shall be
constrained to take notice, that He has not bid you seek Him in vain. If you
meet with troubles, they shall be accompanied by supports, and followed by
deliverance; and you shall upon many occasions experience, that God is your
protector, preserving you and yours from the evils by which you will see others
suffering around you.
John Newton
John Newton’s Letters, Family Worship.
We covenant,
as a church in Dorchester, Massachusetts, to reform our families, engaging
ourselves to a conscientious care to set up and maintain the worship of God in
our homes. And to walk in our homes with perfect hearts.
We resolve, in a faithful discharge of all domestic duties in seeking to
educate, instruct and charge our little ones and our whole households to seek
to keep the ways of the Lord.
A Puritan Church in Dorchester,
Massachusetts, 1677
Quoted in: Leland Ryken, Worldly
Saints, Zondervan, 1986, p. 80.
At an early
hour in the morning the family was assembled and a portion of Scripture was
read from the Old Testament, which was followed by a hymn and a prayer, in
which thanks were offered up to the Almighty for preserving them during the
silent watches of the night, and for His goodness in permitting them to meet in
health of body and soundness of mind; and, at the same time, His grace was
implored to defend them amid the dangers and temptations of the day – to make
them faithful to every duty, and enable them, in all respects, to walk worthy
of their Christian vocation… In the evening, before retiring to rest, the
family again assembled, the same form of worship was observed as in the
morning, with this difference, that the service was considerably protracted
beyond the period which could be conveniently allotted to it in the
commencement of the day.
Lyman Coleman
The Antiquities of the Christian Church,
Gould, Newman & Saxton, 1841, p. 376-377.
You
can speak of everything when with them; your conversation is upon a thousand
different matters; but your tongue and your heart can not find room for one
word about God! You will not look up as a family to Him who is the true Father
of your family; you will not converse with your wife and your children about
that Being who will one day, perhaps, be the only husband of your wife, the
only Father of your children!
J.H.
Merle D’Aubigne
Family
Worship, 1827.
But some will
perhaps say, At what time ought we thus to think of God
and approach Him together? I answer, whenever you choose, at the most
convenient hour, when you will be least disturbed by your other business. This
is generally in the evening; perhaps it were better, on account of the fatigue
of the day, that it should be in the morning; and best of all both morning and
evening. When you have eaten your morning meal, or even while you are eating
it, could you not spend that time which is usually spent either in saying
nothing or in talking of trifles, in reading a few words which would raise your
thoughts to God, or in hearing them read? I am about
to begin the day by the first function of the animal being; but wilt not thou,
O my spiritual and immortal soul, do anything or receive anything now? I am
about to feed my body with that which God has created; but do thou, O my soul,
awake and receive thy food from the Creator! O God! Thou art my portion
forever! O God! Thou art my God; early will I seek thee! What a blessing, my
brethren, will such a beginning bring down upon the whole day, and what a happy
disposition of mind it will give you!
J.H.
Merle D’Aubigne
Family
Worship, 1827.
But
do you say, “This is so strange a thing?” What, my brethren! Is it not more strange that a family professing to be Christian,
professing to have a firm hope for eternity, should advance toward that
eternity without giving any sign of that hope, without any preparation, without
any conversation, perhaps, alas! without any thought
concerning it? Ah! this is very strange! Do you say,
“This is a thing of very little repute or glory, and to which a certain degree
of shame is attached?” And who, then, is the greatest: that father who, in
former and happier days, was the high priest of God in his own house, and who
increased his paternal authority and gave it a divine unction by kneeling down
with his children before his Father and the Father of them all; or that worldly
man in our days, whose mind is engaged only in vain pursuits, who forgets his
eternal destiny and that of his children, and in whose house God is not? O what
a shame is this!
J.H.
Merle D’Aubigne
Family
Worship, 1827.
How
can you hope to meet with those whom you love near Christ in heaven, unless
with them you seek Christ on earth? How shall you assemble as a family there,
if you have not as a family attended to heavenly things here below? But as to
the Christian family which shall have been united in Jesus, it will, without
doubt, meet around the throne of the glory of Him whom it will have loved
without having seen.
J.H.
Merle D’Aubigne
Family
Worship, 1827.
You are not like to see any general reformation, till you
procure family reformation. Some little religion there may be, here and there;
but while it is confined to single persons, and is not promoted in families, it
will not prosper, nor promise much future increase.
Richard Baxter
The Reformed Pastor, Chapter 2, Section 1.