Building Family Worship
BUILDING FAMILY WORSHIP
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (ESV)
4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
One of the precious truths we have learned again and again from the Scriptures is that God is able to turn our burdens into blessings; He is able to transform our tragedies into triumphs. I was reminded of this again after reading the article written by Dr. James Emery White last month, entitled, “5 Ways the Pandemic is Saving the Church.” In this article, he mentioned that because of the Pandemic many churches were forced to do online ministries or embrace social media. He said that prior to this forced lockdown, only about 15% of churches were leveraging the Internet and social media. But now, almost every church has increased their online presence.
In the same way, I believe God is also bringing some needed transformation to the family. I have read that there are many parents who are loving the lockdown, because with the kids staying at home, even teenagers, they are able to enjoy more family time and family meals together. Many said that prior to the Pandemic, with all the extracurricular activities, they could hardly hang out together. We should, definitely, take advantage of this time with our children by making sure that we turn them into very productive time. I’m not saying that we fill those times with extra work. No, I’m sure your kids need some time other fun activities, besides just work. Speaking of productive time with the family, one activity that I want to recommend to you strongly is doing a family worship.
How many of you are familiar with this spiritual discipline? Or how many of you have regularly maintained a family worship, especially during this lockdown? For the sake of those who are not familiar with it, let me simply refer to family worship as the time set aside by the family to gather together in order to sing to the Lord, study the Bible, and pray together. Now, according to the research of Visionary Parenting Ministry, “Only about 15% of Christian parents today grew from families that practiced family worship, leaving 85% of parents with a little or no idea about it.”
I know that when we examine the Bible, we won’t find a direct command to do a family worship. However, we would find so many verses that speak about the responsibility of parents to lead their children into a loving relationship with the Lord. One of the clearest passages is found in Deuteronomy chapter 6. Many Bible scholars believe that the practice of the Jews to gather their families at the beginning of their Sabbath day, every Friday evening, for worship could be traced primarily from this passage. This practice is the main reason why I have chosen Deuteronomy 6 as our main text this morning.
In order to understand the significance of our text, allow me, first, to give you some background. In the history of Israel, you can place this passage at the time when the Israelites were at the border of the Promised Land. This setting is at the tail end of their 40 years of wandering in the desert. As they were about to enter the most fertile land that God has reserved for them, they needed to acknowledge the fact that the only way they can enjoy their blessings to the fullest is when they have maintained a loving relationship with God. If they fail to walk with Him and His statutes, the Lord has strongly warned that He would come and remove them from the land that He gave them. So, on the basis of this clear warning, the need to regularly gather their families for worship became a great necessity. Today, I really believe our own families can also benefit so much if we can consider building this practice of doing family worship. If you are interested to learn more about it, let me recommend at least three basic initiatives:
I PROMOTE THE LOVE FOR GOD
As you begin to read verses 4 until 7, you will find the Lord giving His people a very clear command - “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children.”
With these words, first, God has plainly commanded His people to love Him with all of their being (with all of their heart, soul, and might). Now, if you know the New Testament, you would easily identify this as the Greatest Commandment, because Jesus Himself declared it in Matthew 22:34—38. It is important to mention that Jesus quoted this statement in the New Testament in order to emphasize that this command is also applicable to us.
Then, in addition to loving Him with all of our being, God also addressed the parents and told them that they have to diligently teach their children to love Him as well. Obviously, this command becomes the biggest motivation why there is a need to establish a family worship - It is because we need to promote the love for God within our family.
I’m sure that we have many parents in our church who are committed to teaching their children to love the Lord and, perhaps, your question is: How can I effectively teach my children to love the Lord with all their being? Well, the reason why I believe family worship can help is, because if you read the second half of verse 7, the text gave some specific examples to us – “and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” These words simply recommend that we, as parents, must be intentional in looking for every opportunity to talk to them about loving God. If this is the case, then, building a specific time for family worship could be the best time for it.
One more truth I want to really highlight is the very reason why the love for God is absolutely necessary. Let me backtrack and read for you Deuteronomy 6:1-3 (ESV): 1 “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
If you connect these words to our main text, the most logical reason why we need to love God is because they affect our obedience to Him. Evidently, if we don’t love God enough, we won’t fear Him and obey Him. By the way, we always need to understand the “fear of God” in the Bible as “respect” or the “fear to disappoint.” Let’s put it this way – if you love God so much, you hate to do something that would disappoint Him. So, with fear and obedience come the natural results of our deep love for God.
Parents, do you want your children to be obedient to God? Then, I suggest that we diligently teach them to love God. And worshipping as a family can effectively instill this love. The former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill once said,
“There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human society, are created, strengthened, and maintained.”
II PLAN A MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCE
Since we have a very clear goal of why we have decided to build a family worship, I firmly believe that parents should adequately prepare every time they decide to hold a family worship. It’s almost like coming to church to attend our worship services. I trust that we are all aware that a lot of work goes into the preparation in order for us to do an effective worship service; we don’t just try to wing it.
The last thing we want to see is that our kids end up being bored or being uninterested because we failed to prepare. So, in our planning, it is imperative that we include three vital areas:
A. Sing to the Lord
Singing hymns or praise songs is a significant aspect of every worship activity. The apostle Paul declared this in Colossians 3:16 (ESV): 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
It is also important to note from this verse that singing is considered an integral part of teaching during worship. Often, there are people who undermine the value of singing in worship, so they come late and skip the singing part. This perspective is not right; we should always see it as part of worship.
With family worship, parents, I strongly recommend that you plan the praise songs ahead of time, and make sure that they are tied to the main lesson you want to teach during the worship time. I would even suggest that you print the one or two songs in advance, so that everyone can join the singing.
B. Study the Word of God
In the New Testament, Paul also gave an important word to all parents in Ephesians 6:4 (ESV): 4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
If you examine these words, God is actually telling parents that they should not provoke their children into rebellious behavior. Instead, they should properly discipline them, and instruct them according to the Bible.
Of course, when we talk about the “instruction of the Lord,” or teaching the Bible, there would probably some parents who would immediately feel inadequate. Well, we are not really talking about putting out a 30-minute sermon to your family. This instruction could simply be reading 5 to 10 verses, and then giving a very practical explanation plus application on a verse or two. You can even ask some members of your family to also give their explanation and application on a verse or two. In fact, your kids will probably enjoy the Bible study if you give them an opportunity to give also their input during your study. Another important reminder to all the parents, your approach to your Bible study will have to depend on the ages of your children. If you have younger children, your explanation and application should be appropriate for them.
C. Share Your Burdens in Prayer
One of the most precious privileges we have as God’s children is to cast our burdens to the Lord. It does not only demonstrate our faith in God, it also relieves us of our worries. The Bible encourages us about this truth in Philippians 4:6-7 (ESV): 6 [D]o not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Indeed, we need to help every member of our family to believe that God possesses the power to help us in our most difficult times in our lives. I firmly believe that prayers in the family can create an environment of faith in our homes. The more we pray, the more we will experience miracles in our lives.
There are two very practical reminders I want to sound off in relation to prayers:
Don’t pray long prayers – Be direct to the point and not be too wordy. My fear is that we are trying hard to impress God with our words at the expense of our young children. Be straightforward with your words, so you won’t put your children to sleep.
Don’t be repetitious – Make sure that you are not praying the same requests every time you pray. A good prayer list that is broken down according to different needs/areas can be of great help (like Family, Sick Ones, Church, Missionaries, etc.). And you don’t have to pray for everything at one time. Pray for a separate section every time you meet for family worship.
Overall, our hope is that if we plan well enough for our family worship, then, it becomes more meaningful and sustainable. Just don’t treat it like another church worship where it takes an hour and a half to finish. I really believe that the family worship can be meaningful even if it is only done in thirty minutes.
III PRODUCE A GODLY HERITAGE
When we started with this sermon, I have mentioned that the biggest motivation why we want to build a family worship is because we want to promote the love for God within our family. The truth of the matter is that what I have passed on to my children will eventually what they will be passing to their children. So, if my children will love the Lord, guess what, my grandchildren will end up loving the Lord as well. Basically, God has this in mind when He was giving His commands to His people. Go back to Deuteronomy 6:1-2 (ESV): 1 “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.”
I would like to highlight the first sentence in verse 2, “that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son.” Obviously, God was not just thinking of one generation, but even the following generations. I trust that all of us will have the same perspective. Clearly, if we want to build a godly heritage, it should certainly start with us. Yes, it would demand some sacrifices from us. We need to prioritize our time. We might hear some occasional complaints from our kids as we begin to build our family worship. But in the end, it will be worth it. The Psalmist declared this truth in Psalm 112:1-2 (ESV) 1 Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments! 2 His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.
Listen, this passage is telling us that our faithfulness to God today will help us produce a generation that will be mighty, godly, and blessed. I’m sure all of us would love to see this happen to our 2nd, 3rd, and all our future generations. So, let’s make all the necessary efforts to start building our family worship. Stop making excuses for not being able to do it. If you start it now while you have a lot of time together, hopefully, it will be a habit already for our family after the shutdown. By the way, it doesn’t have to happen every day. Start slow, probably twice a week, and see if you can manage to increase the frequency of it.
As I close, I want to remind you and assure you that God wants to guide you in this life, because He desires the best for you. May you continue to grow in your love and faith in Him because it is only through Him that you will experience the best in this life!
-Dr. Jeremiah Lepasana