AP

The Art of Family Worship (Part One)

In John Bunyan’s well-known book, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Bunyan describes a man with a muck-rake who looked only downward and dragged his rake among the weeds and worthless rubbish while all the time above him was Christ offering a glorious crown. The man would not let go of his muck-rake and take hold of the crown of righteousness. He forfeited his soul – he made a poor trade.

Many Christian parents today are doing the same thing with their children. They make poor trades. They know there is a heaven to win and a hell to escape from. They know that the way to hell is broad and easy and that many walk on it. They know that the road to heaven is narrow and straight and only a few enter the narrow gate. They know all this and yet many a Christian parent focuses on the here and now.

What do many parents really want for their children? They want their child to be “successful”. They want John or Mary to excel academically and get a good job, and a nice house and car. So, what do they do? They spend an exorbitant amount of time, money and energy on making sure that John and Mary go to a good school; get to a good university; play sport; and learn an instrument. Now, there is nothing wrong in giving your child a good education; in playing sport; and doing well on the piano. Martin Luther once wrote: “When schools flourish, all flourish”.

But Luther also wisely wrote and warned parents the following:

“Parents can perform no more damaging bit of work than to neglect their offspring, to let them curse, swear, learn indecent words and songs, and permit them to live as they please. …They are constantly concerned to provide sufficiently for the body rather than for the soul. …Therefore,it is highly necessary that every married person regard the soul of his child with greater care and concern than the flesh which has come from him, that he consider the child nothing less than a precious, eternal treasure, entrusted to his protection by God so that the devil, the world and the flesh do not steal and destroy it. For the child will be required from the parent on Judgment Day in a very strict reckoning.”

The problem we have inside the church today are parents who are seriously short-sighted. They are not seriously concerned whether their son or daughter find salvation. They are duped by the secular atheistic society we swim in today. Instead of thinking like Jonathan Edwards (who prayed:  “Lord, stamp eternity on my eyeballs”), they look one year, ten years, fifty years down their children’s life road. But they stop there. They don’t look further. They never ask where will my children be in 100 years time?

As I often tell my children, everybody born in the 19^th century is dead. And where are they now? If Jesus’ words are true, many of them are now sadly languishing in hell. As parents we need to be asking ourselves: “Where will my children be in 10, 50 100 years’ time? Where will they be in eternity?” The great majority of Australian children are walking mindlessly on the wide road and many of our own children are walking on that same wide road. There is a judgment ahead.

Over 150 years ago the wise Christian pastor and writer John Angell James wrote a practical book on parenting called The Christian Father’s Present to His Children. In the second chapter he wrote:

“Almost every parent has some one object, which he desires, above all others, on behalf of his children. Some are anxious that their offspring may shine as warriors; others, that theirs may be surrounded with the milder radiance of literary, scientific, and commercial fame. Our supreme ambition for you is, that whatever situation you occupy, you may adorn it with the beauties of holiness, and discharge its duties under the influence of Christian principles. Much as we desire your respectability in life (and we will not conceal our hope that you will occupy no base place in society), yet we would rather see you in the most obscure, and even menial situation, provided you were partakers of true piety, than behold you on the loftiest pinnacle of the temple of fame, the objects of universal admiration—if, at the same time, your hearts were destitute of the fear of God.”

As parents our primary objective is to tell them the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Deut. 6; Psalm 78:6-7). This is the core responsibility of every Christian parent. Some Christian parents only teach their children the Bible and the Gospel casually as if it was some kind of unimportant appendix to life. Still other parents believe that teaching the Bible to their children is the work of the Sunday School teacher. Charles Spurgeon speaks wisely to Christian parents today on this:

“Let no Christian parents fall into the delusion that Sunday School is intended to ease them of their personal duties. The first and most natural condition of things is for Christian parents to train up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord”.

As good as Sunday Schools are, it is the chief responsibility of the parents to daily teach their children the Bible and to pray for them. One of the best guides on how and what to pray for children can be found here: https://puritansermons.2a03.party/pdf/pray.pdf (Praying for your Children trifold brochure by William Scribner should be in the home of every Christian parent).

Let us finish with Martin Luther’s warning: “I am much afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of Hell, unless they diligently labour in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place his child where the scriptures do not reign paramount”. Be aware of what is being taught (and just importantly what is not being taught) in the school your son and daughter attend.

– Troy Appleton