Focusing on Family Worship: Part 1

As the children of Israel encamped on the east side of the Jordan River, Moses began to remind and reiterate the details of God’s covenant with them (Deut. 1:1). This was the moment they’d all been waiting for. After traveling through the desert for forty years, the Israelites were finally preparing to possess the land that God had promised them. However, before entering the land of promise, the Lord wanted to emphasize the vital necessity of genuine worship, both as individuals and as families.

Moses declared this to the people, saying:

“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, 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. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deut. 6:4-9).

To the Jews, this passage is known as the Shema. Not only is it prayed daily in Judaism, but it’s what Jesus quoted from when He was asked to provide the greatest commandment of the Law. He responded by saying:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment” (Matt. 22:37-38).

But He didn’t stop there. Rather, He continued, saying:

“And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39).

Therefore, as parents, when we consider these words of Jesus, and their direct connection to the Shema, it compels us to ask the question: who could be considered closer neighbors than our own children? Could anyone be closer than those who are living under our roof and entrusted to our care? Furthermore, what could be more loving than to teach our children the truth about who God is and what He’s done for us in Christ? This is the heart of family worship.

The Precedent for Family Worship

Perhaps you’ve never considered the concept of family worship. Maybe you’re thinking, “Isn’t that what we do at church on Sunday mornings?” Well, yes, but when we speak of family worship, we’re referring to the intentional practice of consistently gathering as a family for the purpose of worshiping God, through His Word, in the home.

Family Worship in the Bible

To see this in Scripture, we need not look any further than the passage we began with. Moses commanded every household in Israel, concerning the words of God, saying:

“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. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deut. 6:7-9).

Notice that the Lord’s will for the parents of Israel was to teach their children about Him, on a consistent basis, using every conceivable instance of the day as an opportunity for teaching and instruction. Observe also that the majority of the examples provided would’ve taken place within the home: when they sat in their homes, when they were preparing for bed at night, and when they woke up each morning.

From this Old Testament example of Deuteronomy 6, we fast forward to see the continuity in a New Testament example found in Ephesians 6. Leading up to the exhortation found there, the Apostle Paul tells husbands that they have been called to love their wives as Christ loves the Church, selflessly and sacrificially, for the purpose of their sanctification and spiritual growth, which takes place through the Word (Eph. 5:25-33).

Flowing from the presupposition that husbands are saturating their homes with the Word, we read the following:

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’ (this is the first commandment with a promise), ‘that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.’ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:1-4).

In other words, children are called by God to be submissive to their parents. And parents are called to care for their children through loving discipline and instruction, with the primary emphasis of that responsibility entrusted to earthly fathers. For as long as children are living under the authority of their parents, this God-ordained relationship is to continue. Yet, what better context is there for focused times of formative discipline and biblical instruction than family worship? 

Family Worship in Church History

Although Scripture is sufficient for the precedent of family worship, we can also look to the pattern established for us throughout church history. One early church scholar wrote about the daily devotions of ancient church families, saying:

“But it was not merely at noon, and in time of their meals, that the primitive Christians read the Word of God and sang praises to His name. At an early hour in the morning, the family was assembled, when a portion of Scripture was read from the Old Testament, which was followed by a hymn and a prayer, in which thanks were offered up to the Almighty for preserving them…for His goodness in permitting them to meet in health of body and soundness of mind; and…His grace was implored to defend them amid the dangers and temptations of the day,– to make them faithful to every duty, and enable them, in all respects, to walk worthy of their Christian vocation…In the evening, before retiring to rest, the family again assembled, when the same form of worship was observed as in the morning, with this difference, that the service was considerably (extended) beyond the period which could conveniently be allotted to it in the commencement of the day.”[1]

Fast forwarding from there to the days of the Reformation, men like Luther, Calvin, and Knox, all exhorted parents, especially fathers, to lead their homes in discipleship and worship. Preaching on Genesis 18:19, Calvin bluntly asserted:

“So what is to be noted here is that heads of family must go to the trouble of being instructed in God’s Word if they are to do their duty. If they are stupid, if they do not know the basic principles of religion or of their faith and do not know God’s commandments or how prayer is to be offered to Him or what the road to salvation is, how will they instruct their families? All the more, then, must those who are husbands and have a family, a household to govern, think, “I must establish my lesson in His Word so that I will not only try to govern myself in accordance with His will, but that I will also bring to it at the same time those who are under my authority and guidance.’”[2]

Perhaps no other era of church history emphasized the crucial importance of family worship than that of the Puritans. The Puritans understood that there was nothing more important than the eternal salvation of their children. As John Bunyan once wrote:

“If you are a parent—a father or a mother—then you are to consider your calling under this relation. Your children have souls; and they must be born of God as well as of you, or they perish. And know also that unless you be very circumspect in your behavior to and before them, they may perish through you—the thoughts of which should provoke you both to instruct and also to correct them.”[3]

Following in the footsteps of the Puritans before him, the great American pastor and theologian, Jonathan Edwards, consistently pointed the families under his care to the necessity of engaging in family worship. In fact, in his farewell sermon to his church in Northampton, Massachusetts, Edwards spoke to the congregation, saying:

“Let me now therefore, once more, before I finally cease to speak to this congregation, repeat, and earnestly press the counsel which I have often urged on the heads of families, while I was their pastor, to great painfulness in teaching, warning, and directing their children; bringing them up in the training and admonition of the Lord; beginning early, where there is yet opportunity, and maintaining constant diligence in labors of this kind.”[4]

Finally, reserving the last word from church history for the Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon saw the immense importance of family worship in his own congregation of the 19th century. Preaching a sermon on Hebrews 9:22, Spurgeon proclaimed:

“We deeply want a revival of domestic religion. The Christian family was the bulwark of godliness in the days of the puritans, but in these evil times hundreds of families of so-called Christians have no family worship, no restraint upon growing sons, and no wholesome instruction or discipline. How can we hope to see the kingdom of our Lord advance when His own disciples do not teach His gospel to their own children?

Oh, Christian men and women, be thorough in what you do and know and teach! Let your families be trained in the fear of God and be yourselves ‘holiness unto the Lord’; so shall you stand like a rock amid the surging waves of error and ungodliness which rage around us.”[5]

Family Worship in Your Home

My friends, having now seen the precedent for family worship in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, as well as the unbroken chain of exhortation from faithful voices throughout church history, do you recognize its vital importance in the life of your own family? Without question, we live in an era that is desperate for both biblical reformation and genuine revival. As those who have gone before us have consistently declared, the greatest of these works of God begin in the home. Regardless of our efforts in the past, may we be a people who see the importance of practicing family worship, today.

References:

[1] Lyman Coleman, The Antiquities of the Christian Church, (United States: Gould, Newman & Saxton, 1841), 375-376.

[2] John Calvin, Sermon on Genesis 18, accessible at John Calvin, Sermon on Genesis 18, accessible at https://www.monergism.com/father%E2%80%99s-main-responsibility-genesis-1819.

Kevin HayComment