What is family worship? (Click the arrow to the left)
As Christians, particularly Christian men, we are responsible to lead our households with strength and resolve in the ways of Christ. Leading our families in devotions and family worship is one way to lead our families, raising our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, Jesus Christ (cf. Deuteronomy 6:7; Ephesians 6:4).
In my house, we do morning and evenings. In the morning after we eat breakfast together, we all have our quiet times. We read our Bibles seperately and journal what we see. In the evenings before bed, we talk about what we saw in our morning Bible reading, I share my insight from my own devotional time, we ask questions from the New City Catechism, we sing a couple worship songs together, and then we pray as a family. Family worship doesn’t have to look like this. It may look different for every household, but I want to invite you to join me in leading our families well. Every weekday on this blog, I want to provide a guide for fathers to lead their families in some form of family worship. If your household doesn’t have a father, I believe the responsibility falls to the mother. Design a routine that works for your family, but be intentional about leading in the only way that matters instead of getting too caught up with the affairs of this world. Every Christian man is the pastor of his home. I believe the most important thing we can do for our children is (1) lead them in the home and (2) be faithful to the church as a family. As the family goes, so goes the nation. Our job as pastors to our family matters.
If you went to church, talk as a family first about what everyone learned at church.
John 1:19-28
19 This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
20 And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
21 They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he *said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”
22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”
23 He said, “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”
24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.
25 They asked him, and said to him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
26 John answered them saying, “I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know.
27 “It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”
28 These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
John the Baptizer begins his public ministry, comprising mostly preaching Old Testament messianic passages and baptizing Jews who come to him. Some leading Jews come out from Jerusalem to question John, but John was not trying to be the next public teaching figure. Unlike others, he was not claiming to be the literal resurrection of Elijah, the messiah, or even a simple prophet. John had one mission in fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1—prepare the way for the true messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.
John’s baptism had no power. It was merely water. Yet, it put attention on the need for personal purification. I think we can learn much from John the Baptizer’s ministry. Our words, actions, ordinances, sacraments, and whatever else we do have no power. They are merely material practices. But, perhaps our religion can be used to introduce people to the only one with true power to forgive sin—Jesus Christ. If we are bringing people to church by the power of our words, programs, and ordinances, they will fail. If we are simply preparing the way for Jesus to cut to the heart, divide bone and marrow, soul and spirit, He will never fail. It isn’t for us to cut through the chaos because we are not powerful to do so. It is prideful to think we are. It is for us to sit and learn from Jesus, who is the only one offering rest.
Today’s question from the New City Catechism:
Q- How and why did God create us?
A- God created us male and female in his own image to glorify him.
Genesis 1:27 says,
27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
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