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 4:1-26
1 Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
2 (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were),
3 He left Judea and went away again into Galilee.
4 And He had to pass through Samaria.
5 So He *came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph;
6 and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
The Woman of Samaria
7 There *came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus *said to her, “Give Me a drink.”
8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 Therefore the Samaritan woman *said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
11 She *said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water?
12 “You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again;
14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
15 The woman *said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.”
16 He *said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.”
17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus *said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’;
18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.”
19 The woman *said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
20 “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”
21 Jesus *said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
22 “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman *said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.”
26 Jesus *said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
Jesus talks with the Samaritan woman. Jesus proves who He is by telling the woman about her sin. He also does not condemn her. During the conversation, Jesus makes a few points:
- Salvation is of the Jews but for the whole world.
- The Father is seeking worshippers for Himself. Worldly religion assumes that people seek after God. But, it is always God who seeks.
- True worshippers worship in Spirit and truth, not at the high place in Samaria or Jerusalem.
If we are in Christ, the Father sought us. He did not seek us to worship according to the stringent paradigms of the world. He sought us to worship in Spirit and truth. In fact, those who truly worship the Father must worship in Spirit and truth. There is a conversation to be had about exactly what that means, but the fact remains.
Jesus here also claims to be the Messiah, the Christ, the one who will tell the world all things.
Today’s question from the New City Catechism:
Q- Since no one can keep the Law, what is its purpose?
A- That we may know the holy nature and will of God, and the sinful nature and disobedience of our hearts; and thus our need of a Savior.
Romans 3:20 says,
20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for bthrough the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
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