In the last article, I began explaining how you can keep family worship simple. I’ve opted to use the acronym S.I.M.P.L.E. to do so. So far, we have looked at the first three principles involved in keeping family worship simple. Today, I’d like to share with you the last three principles.
By way of review:
The S stands for short. Shorter times of family devotion ought to be the norm with longer times the exception. As explained in the last article, shorter windows of family worship help create consistency. And consistent family worship forms into a habit.
The I stands for intentional. Simple family worship begins with an intentional and thoughtful selection of the most appropriate time to have family worship for your family. This will not always be the same for each family unit. Howbeit, the time of day you choose to conduct family worship is critical to the success and longevity of it.
The M stands for memorable. Don’t be afraid to engage the participants of family worship with stories. Story telling captures the hearts of children quicker than anything else. There are tons of stories from the past heroes of the faith that will inspire your children, illustrate important biblical truth, or reaffirm why it’s important to have convictions.
See the last article for a more detailed description of the first three principles. Now to the final three.
P-The P stands for practical.
Following the last point, family worship should be intensely practical. Find ways to relate God’s Word to specific struggles you detect within your home. Avoid putting people on the spot by calling out names. But use this time to reach into the souls of those you are ministering God’s Word to. Maybe you have a child struggling with assurance. Help them see from the Scriptures the evidence of someone truly in Christ. Perhaps you have a teenager questioning foundational truths. Show them the existence of God in Romans 1. Whatever the issue, pray beforehand that the Lord gives you wisdom to apply Scripture in helpful ways. This does not take a lot of planning, just a lot of prayer. But it does require sensing the spiritual temperature within your home. You must take the time to observe sinful patterns, regular anxieties, spiritual discouragements, and theological confusion within your house. The Holy Spirit will prompt you in the moment. Pray for God to help you, and then earnestly read and teach God’s Word. The door will open. You will be amazed how Scripture will naturally and powerfully speak to the unique needs of each soul under your roof.
Often, you will also address spiritual needs you were unaware of. It has occurred on more than one occasion of family worship that I will read a passage of Scripture and extemporaneously comment on it for 10 minutes or so. I can usually tell I’m speaking to relevant issues because the attention of the children is more focused. Once family worship is complete, my wife privately shares with me some of the conversations and events during the course of that day that paralleled the Scriptural exhortation in family worship that evening. Though I was unaware of these earlier conversations and events, the Spirit of God was not. He used His Word to speak directly into the hearts of my children in powerful and pointed ways. This does not happen in the exact same way every family worship session, nor should you expect it to. God’s Word works even when we don’t see immediate results. But this example should serve as motivation to freely apply the Scriptures in as many directions as possible. Hebrews 4:12 reminds us of the power of Scripture when it says God’s Word “is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Parents are not called to be professional theologians. Their calling and duty toward their children is to “bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). Belonging to a church where your children sit under the faithful exposition of the Word is critical. There they will receive theological instruction. Catechizing your children also instills a solid theological foundation. The hard part is discerning a child’s anxieties, discouragements, patterns of sin, levels of conviction of sin and love for Christ. But this is the duty of a parent. In order to effectively minister the Word to one’s children, parents must find ways to make God’s Word practical and helpful. This begins with theological instruction, but must not end there. Parents are called not only to instruct the minds of their children with theology, but also reach into their hearts with biblical exhortation. So keep family worship practical. Target the heart of your children.
L-The L stands for leveled.
Family worship must reach the appropriate age levels of those participating. If your family has younger children, perhaps a story from the Old Testament or one of the Gospels should be a regular fixture. Catechism questions are always a fun way to engage younger listeners as well since they teach theology while also creating a public platform to engage the listeners with questions and answers. It can be a fun and even competitive exercise helping each other memorize the answers to the questions. Don’t underestimate a young child’s ability to absorb doctrine. The Westminster Shorter Catechism was originally written for young children. So don’t be afraid to work through it. It was designed with this purpose in mind. Lodge truth within your child’s heart. As they get older, they will begin to understand the nuances the more they are familiar with the answers to the questions.
Of course, older children can absorb key theological terms complete with extended definitions and applications. Following out all the theological tributaries of a given Bible text is also acceptable for older children whose minds are more developed. Allowing for a question and answer time is appropriate for all age groups, given you are confident that you are prepared to answer the questions! Keeping family worship simple requires understanding the level of depth the participants can go.
This can be challenging when you have a mix of older and younger children. In this case, it’s best not to bore the older kids. Teach in a manner that raises the bar for the younger ones, and yet still implement elements within the structure of activities for the younger children. For example, family worship should be able to use theWestminster Shorter Catechism complete with a deeper explanation using the Scriptural proofs provided. Phase 2 can then involve a question and answer time to clarify these truths for the older children, while phase 3 can focus on the older children helping the younger children simply memorize the answer. This engages both the older and younger participants without either group losing interest. As a reward to the younger ones, you can sing the B-I-B-L-E (a simple song) after singing the more theologically rich How Firm a Foundation. This is just one example revealing how family worship should easily move back and forth between activities that are age appropriate for all participating in family worship..
E-The E stands for expository.
Simple is not the same thing as simplistic. Family worship is done best when it explains larger Scripture passages. This may sound intimidating, but it’s actually simple. An expository approach allows God’s Word to speak. It lets God’s Word do the work.
I regularly tell the soccer players I coach to “let the ball do the work”. Now what I do not mean by this is that they don’t have to work hard! Good soccer players have a gold standard work ethic. They must run long and sprint hard. However, good soccer players are also smart. As they work hard, they actually work less in the sense that possessing good passing skills results in less running. The more the ball is passed, the more the other team gets worn out trying to get it. And the more the ball is passed, the less the passing team has to run because the players are “letting the ball do the work”.
Just as effective soccer players let the ball do the work, so too should leaders of family worship let the Bible do the work. The expository approach to family devotions is simple. But simple is not the same thing as simplistic. A simplistic approach only draws out elementary moral lessons, or simply regurgitates what is in the text. Shortly after getting married and while studying for the ministry in seminary, my wife and I began attending a church where the pastor claimed to be an expositor. We didn’t last long there, however. He was preaching through James, a very practical book of Scripture, working through it verse by verse. But he was not really an expositor because his sermons offered no real explanation. He would read a fairly large portion of James for a particular sermon, and then make general comments as he reread each verse. He drew no depth out of the text, but was simply repeating what was on the surface of the text. His preaching was dry. It was not engaging. It was not expository. It didn’t appear he had studied the text at all. He possessed no passion. And we didn’t stay at that church as a result. A couple of years ago, I learned that he left the ministry. This came as a surprise to many since he pastored a large church and was responsible for establishing a network of churches in what he called a “church planting movement”. But his departure from ministry did not surprise me. There is no doubt that he is better off not preaching. Such is also true for those he ministered to as well. This should serve as a warning that even pastors who have been trained in seminary can be guilty of making God’s Word boring. God’s Word is not boring! So, don’t be guilty of making it boring as parents in family worship.
An expository approach in family worship should not be simplistic, but it should be simple. Draw out the deeper truths of the text. Cross reference other verses in the Bible that support the truths revealed in the text you are teaching. Teach what you know. Speak from your heart. Trust the Holy Spirit. Read a ton of Scripture and the Holy Spirit will prompt you to say something valuable.
The expository approach to family worship is simple, but it does require study. The head of the home has the responsibility to study God’s Word on his own. He must read solid theological resources. He should invest in a library to equip him with the necessary resources so that he is prepared to teach others. The Holy Spirit will speak to the needs of the listeners just by the faithfulness of slowly teaching through a book of the Bible, but do not shortcut your own study of Scripture. I would suggest that the best and most basic structure for family worship simply involves reading a chapter of Scripture while commenting along the way. Outlines are not necessary, but are helpful. The goal remains the same–allow God’s Word to speak. Explain what it says. Interpret verses within their context and apply them accordingly. You don’t have to have a Master of Divinity to explain the Scriptures to your family, but you do have to be a serious student of Scripture yourself. Your prior study then frees you to let the Bible do the work when you are teaching.
So, there you have it–keeping family worship simple. I hope you continue to build your home with the bricks of God’s truth. Don’t get stressed. Keep it simple. Be faithful. Rest in God’s grace, and trust He will use your faithfulness in exposing God’s Word to your family. Family worship is a delight and a duty. Psalm 145:1-4 encourages us:
I will extol You, my God and King,
and bless Your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless You
and praise Your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and His greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall commend Your works to another,
and shall declare Your mighty acts.
I love to hear from my readers. Feel free to write me with questions or suggestions at: asmith@preachingsociety.org.