Through the pen of Moses, our God commanded Moses in Deuteronomy 6 to teach the people of Israel a series of things. Moses was to teach the people of Israel how to obey God and, in response, the people of Israel were to “do” these things. In addition to doing these things, the people of Israel from grandfather, to father, to son (each and every person in the community) were to fear God and keep all the statues and commandments that Moses was giving them. Not only was Israel to do these things, but they were to do them all the days of their life. So that we are all on the same page, the following is the full text I’m referring to:
1 Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, so that you may do them in the land where you are going over to take possession of it, 2 so that you, your son, and your grandson will fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 Now Israel, you shall listen and be careful to do them, so that it may go well for you and that you may increase greatly, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey (Deut. 6:1-3).
As Christians, and in this post more specifically, as Christian men, we should read the above Scripture with the mindset of wanting to imitate Moses with our own family. Moses was the federal head, or representative, of Israel; therefore, it was Moses’s responsibility to teach the people. In the same respect, the man is the federal head of his family, so he is likewise expected to teach his family. As other Godly men have believed for hundreds of years, I firmly believe Deuteronomy 6, amongst several other passages of Scripture (Gen. 18:19, Josh. 24:15, Deut. 4:9-10, just to name a few), command us as men, as husbands, and as fathers, to teach our family the things of God.
Years ago, as a baby Christian, I remember a co-worker of mine asking me, “are you leading your family in family worship?” I responded probably with a puzzled look, feeling embarrassed because I really didn’t know what he was talking about. At this time, my wife and I had no children, yet my co-worker said family worship still applied to me.
My co-worker went on to explain what he meant by family worship. He told me that daily, he would read the Bible to his family and they would talk about it. He presented it as almost being a mini liturgy in the home. I thought the idea was awesome and terrifying at the same time. I felt inadequate to lead such a thing.
Now, years later, I realize that leading family worship is probably the most essential and important thing I could be doing for my family. I wanted to write this post to give the Christian man, Christian husband, and Christian father some quick advice on how to lead family worship, as well as some encouragement.
Start now:
You might be new to the idea of family worship. You might be overthinking it, planning the first session out, wanting to conduct extensive Theological research before starting, just to be sure you get it right. Brothers, if you are a Christian and understand the good news of the Gospel, you already have what you need. Start now and do not wait. The Lord has placed you as head over your wife and children. As their head, it’s your responsibility to lead them in the Word, to aid in the increase of their knowledge and sanctification. Do not take this glorious opportunity and obligation the Lord has given you for granted. Teach your family and start now!
How to start:
Okay, so you have decided to start but what is the next step? The easiest thing to do, what I often do, is have a brief conversation with my wife and discuss what book of the Bible we should read through. Pick a book of the Bible and systematically read through it. To me, it doesn’t really matter where you start. Old Testament or New Testament, as long as it is the Word, you will be set.
If you caught it, I used the word “liturgy” earlier. Family worship should resemble a Church service, but shorter. Sing a hymn before you read. Stand with your family, as you do Sunday morning, and sing a song of praise. This has numerous benefits for your children, which I hope to get into in later articles.
After you sing a song, read a section of Scripture to your family. I like to go chapter by chapter, but sometimes my son has other plans for us and I end up reading a shorter section. And that’s okay. Do not be legalistic about it, do what you can.
After you read through your section of Scripture, talk about it with your family. Engage with them because trust me, some of the best conversations you will have with your wife and children will be during family worship. To aid you in this, there are several family worship guides out there that provide a summary of each chapter of the Bible, along with questions. You can simply read this summary and questions to your family to help you out. My dear Pastor friend gifted me with Joel Beeke’s Family worship guide before my first son was born and it has helped me out tremendously. I will post the link for it here:
https://heritagebooks.org/products/family-worship-bible-guide-hardcover.html
After singing, reading and discussing, close in a prayer. Maybe one day you close out with the prayer, and other days throughout the week your wife and children can do it. It’s a beautiful thing to pray with your family.
Family worship doesn’t have to be long. Our sessions are normally 10-15 minutes. Sometimes they are even shorter. The important thing is to just do it and do it with the proper intentions. If you do that, even if it’s 5-10 minutes, it will be fruitful to you and your family and glorifying to Him.
Once you start, consistency is key:
Life is busy and if you are like me, I try to stay scheduled and on a routine. Nevertheless, there are always those days where your schedule gets thrown off. Maybe you had to work late, maybe you have a day full of errands and tasks, maybe it’s your first day off work and you just want to chill and not be on a schedule. Whatever it is, seek to do family worship everyday. Ideally, I like to do it first thing in the morning because it sets the tone for the day. But also, as I previously said, it’s an extremely important task for us men to lead our families in, so it should be a priority. However, even if you can’t do it at your normal time, just do it when you’re able. Even if it’s in the middle of the day, before bed time, whenever; just do it! And if for some reason you do miss a day, don’t let that discourage you. Think of your mission of raising Godly children and sanctifying your wife, and get back to it.
Considerations:
So, you sing the song, read, pray, and want to be consistent. I want to close this out with some words of encouragement and advice that has helped me along my Christian walk in leading family worship.
Men, even if you don’t have children yet and are just married. Heck, even if you are engaged or are just courting a partner, lead your woman. This is a task for men no matter what their circumstances are; unless they are going the Apostle Paul route and choose to not be married, because their life is wholly dedicated to the Lord’s service. Praise be to God if that’s the case but if it’s not, this responsibility to teach is yours, even if you don’t have children yet.
If you are married with a family, it doesn’t matter how old your children are. Include your children in family worship. When my son was born, as an infant, he joined us in family worship. The Apostle Paul tells us that faith comes from hearing the word (Romans 10:17). If we truly believe in the sovereignty and promises of God, your child by God’s grace could be saved during a session of family worship led by you, even when your child is young. God uses means and instruments to carry out his will in history, if you apply that same truth to you leading family worship, you will see continually how important it is for you to lead your family and teach them.
Men, rise up in your role of being a man and fulfill the awesome duties that God has so graciously blessed you with! God has blessed you with your family, lead them and teach them. Be a good steward of them, they are a gift to you from God.
By: Kody