Finals, Finishing and Freedom

Recently I finished another semester of work at Westminster, my most trying one yet. Yes, I have taken more units, and I have taken harder classes, but what made this one the most trying?

I have noticed that as I have gotten further into the course work at Seminary the easier it has become to fall back into my old struggle with perfectionism. Now many people (myself included) are very happy when their pastor strives to be the best that he can be. No one wants to hear a sermon that is half thought out. No pastor wants to be responsible for preaching a sermon that is half-baked. Well the same goes for schooling. If I am going to try to get my masters degree I want to do well, I want to get an A in every course. I want the freedom that comes with knowing I earned the highest grade I could. Herein lies the problem. What is going on in my heart at that moment? Very likely, it is one of two things. Either, I am trying to prove to everyone, myself included, that I belong, that I am just as smart as the others in my class. Or, I am trying to gain pleasure and satisfaction that I earned that grade, it was my hard work and the time that I put in that got that A. At the root this is an issue of self-justification.

Finals week for me is the perfect time for the seeds of self-reliance and self-justification to take root in my heart. I study my brains out, often I ignore my family, my health and my spiritual well being all in a futile attempt to be satisfied with myself and my performance. I can always tell this when I get a C and I feel the pangs of doubt; “Do I really belong?” “Has God called me to this high calling of a pastor?” “Or, am I just fooling myself?” This line of reasoning ultimately spirals down until I end up questioning God’s love and provision for me. “If God really loved me he would have given me a sharper mind that could understand what I am studying.” I then fall into the old trap of setting out to justify myself for the work that I feel the need to finish. Now don’t get me wrong I do need to study hard, and I do need to put in the work to try and earn a good grade. But, I must not confuse the hard work that I do with the extraordinarily difficult work that Christ has done on my behalf and is doing in me through the examination process.

In Philippians 1:6 the apostle Paul wrote these words, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”^[1] This is just coming off of the apostle’s commendation of the Philippian church for their good work in spreading the gospel. But here he gives thanks for the gospel’s work in them. This work is a sure work because it is based on God’s work. He is faithful to be at work in us bringing about the ultimate goal of our salvation. And it is a good work as it makes us more and more in to the image of Christ. Through the trials and testing of life, through the hard work of sanctification, through the difficult task of taking the good news of the gospel to those around us we God’s work is sure and He will finish it.[2]

This is the hope that we have; we are not alone in our sanctification because God has secured for us our justification. What a beautiful hope, what a beautiful truth. This has implications to all of life. When I sit down to take my finals and I feel the fear and the doubts creeping up in my heart I can say with confidence that “He who began a good work in me will bring it to completion in the day of Christ. And since this final is another time where God is working in me to make me into the image of Christ, I can have freedom to do the best that I can do knowing that God is faithful to bring his work to completion in me.” I can fight against the sin of self-justification with the truth of Christ’s work in me. I can know that I belong because Christ has bought me and called me into his kingdom, not because I am a particularly good person, but merely by his grace. I can work hard to be the best student (husband, brother, father, Christian, etc.) because I find my satisfaction in the lasting pleasure of communion with Christ and not in the temporal fleeting pleasure of my grades. I can actually enjoy the process of being made into the image of Christ (go figure!) because I am free from the chains of guilt and shame.

Brothers and Sisters as we face our various callings in life let’s commit ourselves to living as we are called knowing that God is at work in us to make us the people He wants us to be. Just as Paul said later in Philippians 2, “ ¹²Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”^[3]

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^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Php 1:6). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

[2] These two points are a restructuring of the comments by Roger Ellsworth in his little commentary Opening up Philippians.

^[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Php 2:12–13). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

What's So Unique about Sunday Worship?

With this post I plan to begin a series on why we do what we do in Sunday worship.  Corporate worship is central to our lives as Christians, and as many Christian pastors have pointed out, it is one thing we know we will be doing for all eternity. It is therefore important to periodically think about the way that it should be done, and to make every effort to worship not just in Spirit, but also in truth.  Further, I believe that a better understanding of the biblical rationale which undergirds the structure and elements of a worship service, serve to greatly enhance our appreciation and engagement in worship.  Before we examine the particulars of a Sunday service, however, there are a couple of big picture questions that need to be addressed by way of introduction.  The first, given in the title to this post, is about the uniqueness of Sunday worship.  Is there anything different about corporate worship compared to what happens during the rest of my week?  The answer, I believe, is yes. In this post I want to show you that when God’s people gather corporately for worship on the Lord’s day, God is present with us in a unique and special way.    

This may sound surprising, after all, isn’t it true that God is present everywhere?  And does not the Scripture teach that as a believer, God himself dwells within me?  Yes of course.  These are both wonderful truths that should not be forgotten. However, it would be a mistake to conclude from this that there is essentially no difference between what happens on Sunday and what happens  during the rest of the week.  The Bible itself teaches that God is present with his people in a special way, different from his general omnipresence or indwelling of believers, when his people gather corporately.  As my seminary professors used to remind us, it is true that God is present everywhere, but he is not present everywhere in the same way.  God is just as present in Hell as he is in Heaven, but his presence in these locations are quite different.  Or think of the story of the Exodus.  God was certainly present in Africa when Israel was being led out of Egypt.  However, God manifested his special presence to Israel, leading them with the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, indicating that His presence with them was both unique and redemptive.   

Similarly, while God is present with us when we are at work or school throughout the week, this is not the same as his presence when we are corporately gathered in worship.  After all, Jesus promised that “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them” (Matt 18:20).   In saying this, Jesus is not denying that he is present with us as individuals, but is promising a special presence when there is a corporate gathering of Christians “in his name.”   Further, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians that when the body of believers is assembled together, they are assembled “with the power of the Lord Jesus” (1 Cor 5:4).  These considerations have led the PCA Book of Church order to conclude:

A service of public worship is not merely a gathering of God’s children with each other, but before all else, a meeting of the triune God with His chosen people.  God is present in public worship not only by virtue of the Divine omnipresence but, much more intimately, as the faithful covenant Savior.[1]

PCA pastor Jeff Meyers, in his book The Lord’s Service, captures this point well:

Even if we cannot define it precisely, God is nonetheless present in a heightened special sense when His people gather as the church on the Lord’s Day.  For one thing, He is present there “for us.”  This is a place and time where he gathers His people around the Word and Sacraments…The bread and wine are singular signs designed to assure us of His special, gracious presence with us.[2]

           If we believe this, it should radically change our view of Sunday worship.  We do not come to worship primarily to “do” something for God, but to enter his presence and receive something from him!  We do not come hoping that God will meet us if our worship is good enough, but confident that He is not only there, but is there in a special, unique way - to bless and strengthen his people by his grace.  If Jesus, by a special revelation from heaven, promised to show up this week at Charger Stadium to speak to his people and bless them, how many of us would miss it?  And yet this is precisely the opportunity we have every Sunday, as Jesus has promised us that at the appointed hour for worship, “there I am among you.”

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[1] BCO 47-2

[2] Jeffrey Meyers, The Lord’s Service, 168. 

Developing Godly Family Life: Avoiding Moralism in Interpreting and Teaching God’s Word

In our last installment on godly family life we discussed the ways to effectively weave the Word of God into the fabric of our home.  One big issue that we touched on but did not unpack was this:  How do we see and savor and teach Jesus and his saving work on the cross from everywhere in the Bible?  An example shows us the challenge that we will face. 

Take the story of David and Goliath.  If your experience is similar to mine, you heard the application of this story go something like this: “We all have giants in our lives.  And just as David through his faith conquered his giant, so you too can trust God to conquer them in your life.”  What’s the problem with that interpretation?  Well, to use a phrase: right truth, wrong text.  Is it true that God can give us the faith to conquer the struggles in our life?  Yes.  How we do that is another discussion.  But is that the point of David and Goliath, or is there something more profound, more significant?  Is it not more significant that David was the representative of his people, and fought the battle of God’s people on their behalf against the representative of God’s enemies?  Is it not a microcosm of the same story that’s been going on since Genesis 3:15 - that there would be war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent?  It’s amazing to see the parallel between the prophecy – that the seed of the woman would crush the head of Satan– and that David literally did this to Goliath!  Is not David showing us what Jesus would come and accomplish  - the war we could not win that David’s greater Son would win on our behalf?  Now, given all that, it is still true that David’s faith was great, coming to the giant in the name of the Lord of Israel, and insofar as he shows us his greater Son, we too are to trust in God as David did.   You might hear that interpretation and think, “that’s great David, but it sounds like you’re saying that I shouldn’t make very specific applications of these stories to my life.  Nothing could be further from my point.  The question is not whether we specifically apply God’s Word, but how we effectively apply it.   To simply say that we too can slay our own giants is moralism: a good bit of wisdom or tip for living (which we could hear in any Jewish synagogue because it makes no mention of Jesus!), but it is both profoundly shortsighted AND does not give us the Gospel – the power of God both to save us and to truly build us up in faith through Jesus’ work on the cross.  The moralistic way provides only empty hope for change.  But specifically applying God’s Word through the lens of the cross holds out the hope for true transformation.  So how do we avoid the pothole of moralism in applying the Bible?  At the heart of it is this:

Know that Jesus IS in every part of Scripture, because he is both the author and the subject of the Bible.  Jesus himself declares this on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection:

Luke 24:25-27  25 And he said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!  26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?"  27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Jesus gives them a lesson on how to interpret their Old Testament!  And what is the lesson?  He says “The things concerning himself.”  But what things?  Peter tells us that the Old Testament testifies to the fact that Jesus would come to suffer for sin and rise from the dead:

1 Peter 1:10-11  10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully,  11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.

So what should we be asking when we teach any Bible story (Old OR New Testament)?  We should ask: How does this urge us to love and grasp more deeply the Gospel and its implications in my life?  Back to our example of David and Goliath.  How does this story drive us to the cross?  We know that David was a man after God’s heart, but he was still a sinner like all of us.  To hold David up as an example without a recognition of his sin is to say this:  “David was faithful.  So be like David.”  There are two problems with this.  First, is David really the one with whom we should find our direct connection in the story?  Aren’t we actually much less like David (who stood in the gap for His people) and much more like the rest of Israel who were weak and frozen with fear?  If we’re honest, we are the struggling soldiers who need a deliverer.  Second, we don’t want to say categorically that we should be like David, because David was an adulterer and a murderer and he needed a redeemer also!  David is held up as an historical picture (sometimes called a type) of Christ and his work, and God recorded these events from redemptive history to show us aspects of Jesus who would represent us and save us.  As David stood in the gap for Israel, so Jesus would take on the world, the flesh and the devil (our great enemies).  As David defeated the giant and won freedom from the prospect of slavery to the Philistines, so Jesus set us free from the law of sin and death.  In this way the Bible is primarily about Jesus, not David and not us.   We can have true freedom from sin not just from seeking to be faithful like David was, but by running to the cross where freedom was actually accomplished for us. 

            But don’t think that the lives of the ancients have no particular application to us in terms of how we live.  It’s not that we don’t learn from David’s faithfulness.  The New Testament tells us to follow their example, both negatively:

1 Corinthians 10:6-11   6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.  7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play."  8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.  9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents,  10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.  11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.

And positively, on the heels of the hall of faith in Hebrews 11:

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us….

So not only can we learn from the faith of David, we must. You may say, “David didn’t you just contradict yourself?”  I’ve been known to do that, but in this case I don’t think so.   It’s one thing to say “David was faithful, just be like David.”  But it’s quite another to see how David’s life points us to the only One who was truly faithful where we failed.  Thus by the power of God’s forgiveness through Christ alone we can be “Imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Hebrews 6:12).  Then our strength to obey comes from Jesus’ finished work, not because of the bare example of David.  David’s strength to obey came as he grasped the mercy of God for his own forgiveness.  We learn from and imitate David insofar as we seek mercy from God as David did.  Anything else is an anvil on our back, trying and working in the power of the flesh. 

Let me conclude by saying this: The Bible is the revelation of a glorious person:  the Lord Jesus.  Let me encourage you as you study the Bible and teach it in your home to seek Jesus in Scriptures at every turn, and let every story, every truth cause us to run to the cross to be washed from sin and strengthened for life.  May God bless our study of His Book!

Pastor David

Justin Bieber, Tim Keller, and Apocalyptic Romance.

Several months ago Justin Bieber released a song entitled “As long as you Love Me.”  The song got as high as  # 15 on the Billboard’s Hot 100 list, and the official music video posted on YouTube has over 88 million views.  That’s right, 88 million.  Needless to say, the song was popular, and my guess would be that a high percentage of teens, especially teen girls, could sing you the lyrics and have seen the music video.   I do not normally watch music videos (or listen to Bieber’s music for that matter), but after hearing the song on the radio I was intrigued, and because I personally know several die hard “Bieberites,” I decided to check it out.   

The video itself was provocative, but to be fair, it is probably no more provocative than the video’s that other pop stars are making these days.  At the beginning of the video, Bieber is confronted by his girlfriend’s father and told to get out of her life.  As the video progresses, it flashes between previous memories and make-out scenes between the two as they make plans to run away together.  At the end of the video, which was a bit surprising, the father catches them, beats Bieber up, and leaves with his daughter.  Although much could be said about the video itself, what caught my attention were the lyrics.  The chorus goes like this:

As long as you love me
We could be starving, we could be homeless, we could be broke
As long as you love me
I'll be your platinum, I'll be your silver, I'll be your gold
As long as you love, love, love, love me (love me)
As long as you love, love, love, love me (love me)

At one point in the song, rapper big Sean chimes in, presumably representing Bieber’s attitude towards his girlfriend, “I don’t know if this makes sense, but you’re my hallelujah.”  These lyrics caught my attention because they offer such a clear example of the message that our culture is aggressively communicating, especially to our teens, about what relationships ought to be like.  Tim Keller, in Counterfeit Gods, refers to this view of relationships as “Apocalyptic Romance.”[1]  According to Keller, apocalyptic romance occurs when two people look to “sex and romance to give us the transcendence and sense of meaning we used to get from faith in God.”  Or, to use Bieber’s song, apocalyptic romance says to the significant other:  “You’re my Hallelujah.”   Keller continues, “We maintain the fantasy that if we find our one true soul mate, everything wrong with us will be healed.”  Of course, that is a lie.  “No lover, no human being, is qualified for that role.  No one can live up to that.  The inevitable result is bitter disillusionment.”  

         The point of all this is not to suggest that we should avoid listening to Justin Bieber, or other such pop artists.  As Christians, we are not called to remove ourselves from the world.  Rather, we are called to not be conformed to the world.  “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds” (Rom 12:2).  (Plus, if I did suggest such a thing, we might have a High School riot on our hands at NCPC! I won’t name anyone to protect the guilty).  As Christians we are called to engage pop music, as with all culture, with biblical discernment.  We can listen to secular music, but we must be careful not to passively receive the worldview that it communicates.  And when we hear a song like “As long as you love me,” we must remind ourselves, and our children, how the Gospel brings real hope where “Apocalyptic Romance” inevitably fails.   No single person, not even the best in the world, can be our “platinum, silver, and gold.”  Only Christ can satisfy us in that way.

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[1] Keller himself borrows this term from Ernest Becker’s book, The Denial of Death

Developing Godly Family Life: Feeding on the Word Together

There is little doubt that the Word of God is at the center of godly family life.  If we truly believe that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ” (Romans 10:17), then there is no getting around it: if we want to see our children come to faith, we ought to be strategic in our family life and patterns in order to maximize their exposure to God’s Word. 

We’ve been thinking about aspects of godly family life in this column for the past couple of months.  So far we’ve explored how praying together and singing God’s praise together are ways in which we can disciple our children in God’s grace. What are some ways to feed our children on the Word?  Let me suggest just a few practical things that we’ve found helpful:

1.     Don’t expect too little from your kids.  This is one of the first potholes of which to be aware.  There is no doubt that I’ve expected too much from them at times when we sit down for family worship.  As a pastor I’ve been way too tempted to expect them to digest larger portions of the Word than they are developmentally equipped to process.  We need to understand their age and capabilities, and my wife is much better at choosing a manageable amount for them.   However we can easily make the mistake of assuming that they just can’t comprehend biblical truths until they are older.  But the Bible is their book too!  There are big concepts to be sure, but I’ve been regularly amazed at what my children can not only pick up, but actually retain and comprehend. 

2.     Schedule regular time where the family gathers around the Word.  This is difficult in a world that lures us away from throne of grace and the kitchen table with sports, music, dance, basket weaving, etc.  Every family has to make their own decisions on the amount of time spent on those enjoyable and often profitable endeavors, but use this simple guideline to help:  Put family worship somewhere in the daily schedule first as a non-negotiable activity.  The time of day will be different for everyone.  But if we don’t do this well ahead of time, other things will crowd the Word out of our daily routines. 

3.     Plan for this time.  This time where the family gathers around the Word of God needs some planning to be effective.   How much you study and what you do with this time depends on the age and spiritual maturity of your children.  If you’ve never done it before and your children are young, there are several different resources to help, including The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones, The Big Picture Story Bible by David Helm, Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schoolland, or The Child’s Story Bible by Catherine Vos.  While these are great resources, don’t neglect simply opening up God’s Word and retelling the great stories of the Bible yourself!  I cannot tell you how valuable it has been for us to read through one of the Gospels or the book of Genesis together as a family.   When your children are young you will need to plan ahead of time to decide if there will be will be specific portions to pass over until they are older.  Grab hold of as many of the great stories as you can!  Above all, show them Jesus from every text Scripture (How do we do this?  This will be the subject of next month’s article).  Of course this means that we as parents need to be fed by the Word on our own so we can give it to our children.  Someone once said, “You cannot commend what you do not cherish yourself.”  We must be students of God’s Word, letting it sink deep into us so we can pass it on to our children!

4.     Work on memorizing the Scriptures regularly. We’ve found that the whole family truly benefits from memorizing a portion of Scripture together.  We’ve marveled at how our children have been able to memorize Psalm 8, Psalm 23 Psalm 121 and the Christmas story from Luke 2 to name a few.  Try working on Bible memory at the breakfast table - It’s a great way to begin the day! 

5.     Let the Word be a part of daily routines.  These formal times of biblical training ought to be the foundation for a family life that is suffused with the Scriptures.  One of the big challenges we’ve faced is weaving the biblical truths we’re learning into the fabric of daily routines and not talking about the Bible only at “Bible time.”   Once when we were working on memorizing Psalm 121:1 it helped us have a platform to encourage one of our children in trusting God when struggling with shyness at school.  We talked that morning about seeking God’s strength:  “I lift my eyes up to the hills.  From where does my help come?  My help comes from the LORD, maker of heaven and earth.”  What a great encouragement to a child who needs God’s strength to step out in faith!  The biggest challenge (and the biggest need we have) is applying the Word of God to the moments of life. 

There are many more things we could say about this subject, but space is limited.  If you’re not in the habit of opening the Word with your family, why not start tonight? Grab the sermon outline, the kids bulletin, or your children’s Sunday School handouts from Sunday and use them as guides to get started.   Above all, ask God to work the Word of God into the hearts of your entire family.  May God bless your time in His Word!

Pastor David 

Developing Godly Family Life: Singing God’s Praise as a Family

I first realized the power of singing to help disciple my children one day several years ago when I was having a conversation with Emily, our oldest daughter.  I made brief mention of Jesus’ words “Let your light shine before men…”  She picked up on it and said oh yeah, Dad it goes like this:  “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

As she recited this verse I was astonished, not because she was able to recite the verse, but because we had not taught it to her! I asked her:  “Emily where did you learn that verse?”  Her answer?  “It’s a song we heard in the car Daddy!” We have a wonderful music CD made up entirely of Scripture songs for kids.  I have since become convinced that singing is one of the most powerful discipleship tools for our children (not to mention adults!).  She had committed a powerful verse to memory because it had been set to a beautiful tune, and as a result the Word was hidden in her heart. How I love it when I periodically hear my kids singing the words of the Bible! 

This leads us to another powerful element of godly family life:  singing God’s praises.  One thing I learned as a youth pastor – the kids who did not grow up in homes where they regularly sang songs of worship to the Lord were often the kids who struggled to worship God through song later in life.  Parents, we need to begin now showing them that singing praise is not just something for Sunday morning worship; it is part of the ebb and flow of daily life as a disciple of Jesus.  During the trials of Martin Luther’s life, it was often in those dark and difficult moments of the Reformation that he would say to his friend Philip Melancthon:  “Come Philip, let us sing the 46^th Psalm.” We can teach our children that all of the circumstances of life are opportunities to sing of God’s greatness and power – in times of trial we can sing Psalm 46 “God is our refuge and our strength.”  When we are worried about the future, we sing “I will cast my cares on you; I will rest within your arms, knowing I am safe from harm.”  When we become keenly aware of our sin because of something we’ve said or done, it is fitting to cry out to God:  “Not the labors of my hands, can fulfill Thy laws demands.”  When we are filled with wonder at God’s goodness, we can sing “Glorious and mighty…you’re awesome in beauty!” 

You might say, “Ok David, you have an unfair advantage because you have a singing wife!”  While that is a great blessing, don’t think that you have to carry a tune to foster a love for singing in your home.  We use CD’s to help lead us in praise all the time.  We put them on while driving in the car, at home while doing chores, and sometimes during our family worship too.  I love to put on such music while driving the kids to school or while we drive to church on Sunday as it helps us focus as we start the day.  If you struggle with singing, there are many great resources out there to help, and I’ll list a few of them at the end of this article.

The apostle Paul tells us that singing is something we do to teach each other:

Colossians 3:16  6 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Did you notice how music is actually a tool for discipleship?  As the word dwells richly in us while we sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in our hearts there is something powerful that happens: we are teaching and admonishing one another.  One is positive and one is negative.  The Greek word translated “teaching” means to instruct someone in the course they should follow.  To “admonish” is to warn someone who is on the wrong course.  And Paul says that scripturally grounded singing is a means to do those two things.   So our instruction is not just from teaching Bible stories; it is from singing God’s truth into each other’s lives. 

As I said in our previous article on family prayer, I want to share with you how we are striving (albeit imperfectly) to foster patterns of godly family life so we can learn together to disciple our children.  Practically speaking, when it comes to our family worship time we spend a few minutes each evening singing some of these great songs.  We still sing songs they learned during vacation Bible school!  But we also teach them songs we sing on Sundays. This is particularly helpful in enabling them to participate in worship on the Lord’s Day.  Look for the worship email that comes to your inbox on Thursdays to see what we’re singing in worship.  We teach songs through call and response – we sing a phrase and they repeat it until they have it memorized (with a little time each day, a song can be memorized in a matter of days).   As kids learn to read, the process of learning songs gets much easier.  If you’re not comfortable using call and response, you can say the phrase before you all sing it together.  This translates well into the worship services on Sunday; we’ve taught our pre-reading kids to sing by whispering phrases of a song into their ear as we’re singing.  This encourages them to try to sing, and eventually they will pick the song up with repetition. 

Take some time this week to sing with your kids – start small with songs you know and love and it will get easier the more you do it.  May God bless us as we train young worshippers! 

Here are a few resources for good kids music:

www.sovereigngracemusic.org (we sing much of their music in worship)

www.seedsfamilyworship.net (some of our favorites for VBS and Sunday nights)

www.janaalayra.com  (more VBS music!)

Hide ‘Em in Your Heart - A great CD with Scripture songs by Steve Green found here: www.stevegreenministries.org

The Trinity Hymnal (Every home should have one!)  www.gcp.org

Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs: Volume 1and 2 –Great CDs available through the PCA at www.gcp.org under teacher and parent resources, worship and child rearing.

“Sing to the Lord, bless His name; tell of His salvation day to day.” (Psalm 96:2)

A fellow worship trainer,

Pastor David

Developing Godly Family Life: Family Prayer (Revisited)

Fall is in full swing!  With some sadness I let the air out of our beach toys and look for a place to hang our body boards.  Although I’m still hoping to get us to the beach more before it actually gets cold, the new schedule has us running around as a family again.  I’ve been concerned about how we will fit everything in to our days and weeks, especially time to seek the Lord together as a family (and individually!).  Back in the beginning of 2009 I published several articles in our newsletter on what it means to develop godly family life.  As we begin a new fall season with school beginning, ministry schedules ramping up, and life generally getting crazy, I recently pulled these articles out and read them again to remind myself of the basics of devotion to Jesus.  I’d like to put them out there again to you in an updated form over the next few months.  Some of you may remember these, and like me perhaps you need to refresh on these essentials.  Or you may be new to NCPC in the last few years. Either way, these articles are designed to encourage you in fostering rich biblical patterns of home life that promote godliness.  This is not easy in our culture!  So let’s struggle together through this and ask God to give us grace in establishing patterns based on truth.  The first issue I’d like to start with is prayer. 

                       

Philippians 4:6-7  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

One of the things we’re trying to weave into the fabric of our home life is family prayer.  As a father of three, I’m feeling the burden to foster a lifestyle of Godward dependence in all of us (and I’m at the top of the family list of those who struggle on this score).  One of the chief ways that dependence is expressed is through prayer, particularly as Paul says in Philippians 4:6 “In everything by prayer and supplication…”  So we are trying to train our children to pray about any and every situation.  I want them to know that Jesus wants to have a relationship with them where he speaks (in the Word) and they speak (in prayer).  But my desire is twofold:  I want them to hear their Dad and Mom praying for them, and I want them to develop a lifestyle of praying to God themselves.  Let’s think about each for a moment.

Parents, your children need to hear YOU pouring out your heart before God, laying before Him the concerns in your life (at least the ones appropriate for little ears).  They need to hear you confess your sin, particularly when you’ve sinned against them (how will they learn how to repent of anger, worry, impatience, coveting etc. if you do not model repentance before them?). They need to hear you plead for more grace, ask for sufficient mercy for every trial and perhaps most important, they need to hear you plead with God on their behalf.  What a deep spiritual impression it will have on them to hear Daddy pray:  “Lord pour out the gift of faith and repentance on Emily, Kaitlin and Caleb. Incline their hearts toward you so that they might love you will all their might.  Keep them from sin and Satan.  Make them mighty warriors for your kingdom!”    Our children will learn to pray (or not!) by the patterns of their parents.  If you do not pray out loud in their hearing, they will not have the sense that it is important, and eventually they may sense that YOU are not depending on God because they don’t know that mommy and daddy speak to Him. 

But here is the overlap with my second strategy for family prayer:  they not only need to hear you pray, but it is in this very act that you will lead them and teach them how to pray themselves. Set aside some time each day to lead your children (at whatever age!) in prayer.  This may seem odd, but I don’t think it is ever too late to begin.  Particularly with young children, it is vital to help them know how to express themselves.  Pray a phrase at a time and have them repeat it.  As they grow more comfortable and able to speak, gradually lengthen the phrases and add richness to the language of prayer.  What you will gradually see is your children wanting to try it more on their own, and pretty soon you’ve gone from a coach to a guide to a counselor in the area of prayer. And YES this means you must foster the richness of your own prayer life.  How? Open your Bible to your favorite Psalm and pray God’s word back to him.  Ask Donna Pipkin for her five-finger prayer resource. Teach kids to go through the stages of adoring God: “Lord you are more beautiful than________.”  Giving thanks:  “Lord thank you for ________.”  And confessing sin:  “Lord forgive me for _____________.”   Lead them through these before asking Him for things or praying on behalf of others.

Make no mistake: the spiritual benefits will become evident as you persevere in this area.  One thing we see is that our kids don’t have reticence about praying out loud in front of other people, because they do it regularly at home.  But the major spiritual benefit of developing the habit of prayer came out recently.  Just this week as Emily and Kaitlin awoke for the first day of school, they were both filled with anxiety.  In their room by themselves they spoke about their nervousness as they began a new year at a new school with so many unknowns before them.  What did they do?  Emily grabbed her Bible, opened it and read aloud from Genesis (where Abraham rescues Lot), and then they prayed together that God would give them strength to face these new challenges.  (Picture Dad beaming at this moment….)  They related this to me at breakfast, and I couldn’t help praising God for HIS WORK (not mine or Priscilla’s) in their hearts. Don’t misunderstand me; I know that their dependence on God was a direct result of God’s Holy Spirit working in their hearts.  God blessed them with a desire to depend on Him in prayer!  They knew where to turn in time of struggle, and that only comes from Him. 

But God also uses means: you as a parent can lead them to the fountain daily as you pray with and for them about anything and everything.  (“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” 1 Cor. 3:6). It doesn’t have to be an hour of prayer.  It could be a simple prayer in the car before you drop them off.  Or a prayer as you sit at breakfast, or in the evening before bed.  In fact, brief but regular prayer patterns may indeed teach them that prayer is a conversation with God that can and should happen continuously throughout the day. 

Let me encourage you this week to develop or bolster patterns of prayer in your family life. In a world of self-sufficient people, let’s foster Godward dependence on our knees as we pray with and for our kids.

Fighting the good fight with you –

Pastor David