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 11:45-57
45 Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him.
46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.
47 Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs.
48 “If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all,
50 nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.”
51 Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation,
52 and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
53 So from that day on they planned together to kill Him.
54 Therefore Jesus no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews, but went away from there to the country near the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there He stayed with the disciples.
55 Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves.
56 So they were seeking for Jesus, and were saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think; that He will not come to the feast at all?”
57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he was to report it, so that they might seize Him.
The Sanhedrin recognized that everyone would follow Jesus if He kept performing signs. Yet, they feared the Romans would take their nation from them if the people followed their Messiah. So, they planned to kill Jesus. Ciaphas knew Jesus came to unite, but they did not want to lose their identity…
Nationalistic pride gets the best of us. While there is room for a healthy patriotism, we must recognize the kingdom of heaven as greater than any worldly nation. Jesus is king of all people. He is bringing the whole world together under His own name.
We are either like those who witnessed Jesus’s power over death and follow Him or like the Pharisees who sought to kill Jesus to save their national and political identity in this world.
We can talk about what a healthy degree of worldly patriotism is, but making our country or lands an idol does not a follower of Jesus or citizen of the kingdom of heaven make. We are called to something higher under the only king who is not limited by geographical or national boundaries.
Have a question about today’s devotional?
Alex Southern Baptist Chapel 
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