The Importance of Family Worship – Deuteronomy 6:7 You Shall Teach Them Diligently to Your Children

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The importance of family worship is in the Old and New Testaments. Since families are at home together because of the Coronavirus, Pastor Scott recorded his family worship, modeling for other families what they can easily do too. The video includes them coming together at the table, singing worship songs, reading the Bible together, and praying for some requests.

You can jump to 5:50 if you want to see when we actually begin, but he left the first few minutes because he wanted it to be real. You can see how messy and loud the LaPierre family home is, even minutes before (and then during) family worship.

• I discuss the importance of family worship at Marriage God’s Way Conferences. Have a Marriage God’s Way Conference in the privacy of your own home. Download and print the handout that’s given to attendees.
• Receive a FREE copy of my book, Seven Biblical Insights for Healthy, Joyful, Christ-Centered Marriages.
• Visit my speaking page for conference and speaking information, including testimonies, endorsements, and contact info.

The text in this post is from Your Marriage God’s Way, and the audio is from the accompanying audiobook. I am praying God uses the book and workbook to strengthen marriages and exalt Christ.

Notes for the Importance of Family Worship

Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

The question isn’t, “Is God doing something good through this season of lockdown?” The question is, “What is the good God is doing through the Coronavirus?”

What do you think?

In a recent sermon I shared that we’re the busiest people. We work more hours per week than any other nation. This makes it harder for families to spend time together.

God has dramatically slowed us down, and put us together.

We had a ministerial it our church yesterday and two pastors observed how this can be a wonderful blessing.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics the average number of hours in a public school day is 6.64, and this doesn’t include the time spent walking, driving, or riding the bus to and from school. The average number of school days per year is 180, which adds up to a little under 1,200 hours per year. This means by the time public school students graduate high school they have spent over 15,500 hours away from their parents.

How are we using this time?

We’re jumping into the Book of Deuteronomy. Who wants to tell me what this book is about?

Deuteronomy 6:1 “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. 4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

Where had these commands been written?

Deuteronomy 6:7a You shall teach them diligently to your children,

When it says You, who is it referring to?

The “You” is parents.

While I think some people might think the church is responsible with teaching children spiritually, God’s Word puts that responsibility on the parents’ shoulders.

Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

This verse is interesting because understandably with fathers working, mothers perform most of the teaching; therefore, how do we obey this verse? While mothers might deal with much of the day-to-day academics, it seems much of the (spiritual) training and admonition rests on the father’s shoulders.

I don’t get to sit back and say:

• Mommy will do it
• She has it under control
• Whatever you need to learn about the Bible you can learn from her
• I’m too busy working to worry about teaching my children.

Genesis 18:19 (God said), “I have chosen him, that he may (direct) his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”

This is exactly what God could say to every father: He has chosen (us) as fathers. He wants us to direct our children and our households that we may keep them in the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice.

Deuteronomy 6:7b 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.

And this teaching is supposed to go on all the time, when you:

• Sit in your house…
• Walk by the way…
• Lie down…
• Rise up. 

When I taught elementary school as soon as the bell rang I sent students home for the day, but as homeschooling parents educating is never done. God wants us teaching and discipling our children around the clock, every day, all day.

When I was an officer in the Army they told us, “You always have to have a hip-pocket teaching available.” Our uniforms had large pockets on our hips, and the idea is we had to have a teaching we could pull out at any moment to share with the soldiers.

So Mommy and I are supposed to look for teachable moments throughout the day.

What are some Bible topics that come up throughout the day for us to teach on w/ you?

Forgiveness, generosity, service, joy, appreciating God’s creation, etc.

As our children encounter day-to-day situations, we want to regularly say:

• What does the Bible say about this?
• What does God’s Word tell us about this situation?
• How should Scripture direct our thinking regarding this decision?

You can tell that for Christian families, God expects the Word to be at the center.

When I used to be really into fitness, there was a big debate about cardio and the best time for it to take place. I think most people would say the most important thing is that it takes place.

The same w/ family worship.

While I might prepare messages in the future, for this study I deliberately didn’t prepare a message, b/c I wanted it to resemble our family worship as much as possible.

One good thing w/ the Coronavirus is it’s allowed many families to be together for parents to do this!

Deuteronomy 6:8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

The Jews took this literally. By Jesus’ day they made boxes for the verses called phylacteries.

I don’t take this literally, but I do think it means God’s Word should be always before us.

Deuteronomy 6:9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

And God’s Word should be around our homes. Hopefully we’re always seeing it.

When I taught elementary school, I found the teachers I worked with to be hardworking, and genuinely concerned about their students. They taught their students important academics, and they’re moral people who also taught an amount of character. In classrooms across the nation students learn important subjects like math, reading, writing, science, etc. as well as important morals: do not lie, cheat, steal, be kind, etc.

So what homeschooling parents need to consider is if we don’t move beyond teaching our children academics and morality, we’re not moving beyond anything public schools teach.

We need to make sure we’re teaching the Word of God and preaching the Gospel to you.

Practical application…

• For husbands:
  • One of the men in our church taught at one of our men’s breakfasts that we make two mistakes w/ family worship: we think too little or too much of it.
  • Don’t have to prepare a sermon for it: the right balance, something you’re familiar with, but you don’t need to prepare a sermon
  • The power is in God’s Word to sanctify and cleanse your families
  •  
• For wives:
  • Support, encourage, and respect your husband
  • Your husband doesn’t get to study God’s Word for a living
  • Katie does a great job supporting me w/ the kids and arranging her schedule
• For children:
  • Be attentive
  • Ask questions
  • Thank your father

While I choose portions of Scripture for our family Bible studies that I’m familiar with, I don’t develop in entire message.