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.
John 2:23-25
23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing.
24 But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men,
25 and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.
People saw the signs Jesus did in Jerusalem. Many of them believed in His name, but Jesus did not commit Himself to them because He knew man—here I believe referring to human nature. Jesus knew what was in man—man’s thoughts and agendas.
We expect someone positioning himself as some kind of messianic figure or deliverer to commit himself to the people he gains as a following for himself. Jesus wasn’t interested in being that kind of leader—the kind of leader we now associate with the formation of cults. Jesus did not have to manipulate people into following Him because He is the real messiah. He doesn’t need a cult following. He came not to be served but to serve and give life to others.
This is how we distinguish between the truth of Jesus’s messianic position and the lies of mere mortals in the world with messiah complexes. Jesus gave Himself to people. Everyone else seeks to gain popularity, wealth, and/or power from their “flocks.” We know Jesus was not a cult leader like Muhammad or any other because Jesus did not take anything for Himself like the others did. Jesus gave His life for His people—loosing our bonds, not tightening them.
Today’s question from the New City Catechism:
Q- What does God require in the fourth and fifth commandments?
A- Fourth, that on the Sabbath day we spend time in worship of God. Fifth, that we love and honor our father and mother.
Leviticus 19:3 says,
3 ‘Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father, and you shall keep My sabbaths; I am the Lord your God.
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