AP

The Art of Family Worship (Part 3)

God tells Moses in Deuteronomy 6 that telling your children about God and the Bible must be a daily conversation. Every Christian parent must take this to heart and aim to do it. But how?

One morning, I was walking my daughter through a forest glade to her school bus and asked her: “What are those trees doing?” She looked at me in surprise and replied: “Uh, growing”. “Yes”, I replied, “But more than that, they are giving glory to God”.

Tell your children daily

My daughter was pretty used to her mum and dad talking about God, the Bible and salvation every single day. Uttering short prayers in the morning and evening, saying grace at every meal was a staple diet as our children grew up. Listening to godly music, reading godly books (like Children’s Pilgrims Progress), talking about social and cultural issues and the Bible’s answer to these hard questions were a daily exercise. Every night our children knew they had to read 30 or more minutes of the Bible or child devotional book as well as pray. When I compared myself to godly Christians in the past, I always felt we did not do enough.

Now, some people, even Christians, may think we were over the top, fanatical even. But, in a world, which is constantly, actively and  seductively attempting to indoctrinate our children to think secularly (aka atheistically), Christian parents need to take God’s word seriously to daily teach their children the word of God (Psalm 1:1-2; Joshua 24:15; Deut. 6; Psalm 78:4).

The world is against you

One of my family members (a sceptic) told me that when he had children, he would leave it up to his children to decide whether they wanted to become Christians or not. He was going to be entirely democratic and not force God or the world down their throat. So what did he do? He did nothing except bring them up in the world. They were loved. They were cared for. They had a Bible (my mother made sure they got one) but it was never opened. They never attended church. They never prayed. There was virtually zero Bible input. God was absent from their house. His children, however, were saturated with worldly tv, music, social media and school.  

What was the result? Every one of his children knows close to nothing of God and has adopted most of the world’s sinful ways. This way of thinking is the norm in most of Australian culture. Not only will my relative condemn himself on the day of judgment, he will also likely be one of the leading causes why his own children could be condemned as well.

Society may tell you: “You are indoctrinating your children – you should let them decide by themselves whether to become Christians or not”. What society does not tell you is that the world is instructing our children too. It’s true, we cannot push our children through the narrow gate but we we can show them the way to the door. God requires that parents train their children to know God (Proverbs 22:6; Malachi 2:15). Your children are your immediate mission field.

Society may tell you: “It is unscrupulous to teach your children about God and the Bible”. We should remind ourselves that the Devil has no such scruples. The Puritan John Flavel warns us: “If you neglect to instruct them in the way of holiness, will the devil neglect to instruct them in the way of wickedness?”

In the past, godly parents took instructing their children in the way of life very seriously. Every day, at least once, but usually twice they would lead their children in family worship. Today, family devotions are almost a lost and forgotten art. A dim light, however,  is dawning in some parts. Though long forgotten by many there is a glimmer of light among Christian parents re-learning the  lost art of family worship.

How should family worship be conducted at home?

First, encourage your children to read the Bible or a family devotional every day at home. Do not neglect it. It is very easy to become distracted in today’s world. This is one of the devil’s tactics for our children to learn nothing about salvation. Or, at the very least to think that knowing God is of little importance.

Make it your practice that as a family  – especially when the children are young  – to read the Bible to your children every day. Next to the Bible read to them Pilgrim’s Progress and other great devotional books.

Second, sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs at your home every day (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16). It would be best to sing them together. Teach your children good Christian songs. If your children are very young, teach them age-appropriate songs. If they are older, teach them good solid doctrinal hymns – many of which have sadly gone out of fashion. Choruses are fine but they should be biblically solid. Teach singable hymns and psalms. They should cover a wide range of biblical subjects. Sing them at home, in the car, on camps, and elsewhere.

Third, teach them to pray. ACTS is a good method for prayer.

A is for Adoration.

C is for Confession.

T is for Thanksgiving

S is for Supplication.

Ask God to bless your efforts.

Parents should always be praying for their children’s salvation. Pray that the Holy Spirit will plant seeds in their hearts. As much as we want them to do well at school and be healthy our first priority is that they know God (John 17:3) and obtain eternal life. As John Flavel wisely noted: “It is a greater mercy to descend from praying parents than from nobles”. Use William Scribner’s tract ‘Praying for your Children’ as a useful guide which can be found here https://puritansermons.2a03.party/pdf/pray.pdf .

Do not give up. Your prayers will outlive those who uttered them. Augustine’s mother Monica wept in prayer for her ungodly son for many years without any apparent success. She began to wonder if God would ever hear her prayer that Augustine would be saved. A bishop encouraged her, going beyond Scripture: “It is impossible that the child of so many tears should perish.” But Augustine was drawn finally drawn to Christ.

Here is a Puritan’s prayer for his family. May it be your prayer also:

“O God, I cannot endure to see the destruction of my kindred,

Let those that are united to me in tender ties

Be precious in thy sight and devoted to thy glory.

Sanctify and prosper my domestic devotion, instruction, discipline and example,

That my house may be a nursery for Heaven,

My church the garden of the Lord,

Enriched with trees of righteousness of thy planting for thy Glory;

Let not those of my family who are amiable, moral, attractive,

Fall short of Heaven at last;

Grant that the promising appearances of a tender conscience, soft heart,

The alarms and delights of thy Word, be not fully blotted out,

But bring forth judgment unto victory in all whom I love.”

Recommended Reading:

1. Family Worship by Don Whitney https://store.faithlafayette.org/content/Family_Worship_Excerpt.pdf
2. Family Worship by Joel Beeke

– Troy Appleton