For the Church

FTC Preaching Guide: Judges

1. Introduction
2. Preaching Outlines
3. Key Themes and Motifs
4. Problem Passages
5. Commentaries and Resources
6. Preaching Christ from the Book
7. Why You Should Preach This Book

Introduction

During seminary my wife and I were members of a small local church near our home. I volunteered as much as time and permission from church leadership allowed. A few times a year our pastor let me preach. One fateful year I managed to land the opportunity to preach during Advent. Even sweeter, he let me pick the passage. I chose the book of Judges, specifically Judges 19.

Looking out from the pulpit upon a sanctuary decorated with golden stars and red velvet bows and families dressed in their Sunday Christmas best, I told the story of a concubine raped all night to her death, sliced into twelve pieces, then packaged and sent throughout the tribes of Israel. “Such a thing has never happened or been seen,” says the narrator (19:30). That’s sort of how I felt too as I preached the passage during Advent.

I titled the message “Unexplainable Misery and the Wonder of Advent,” and I intended to mean the misery of everyone in the book of Judges (especially those in chapter 19), as well as the misery of all us who live east of Eden. But as I preached, it sure seemed awfully hot in the sanctuary for the middle of December. My misery, however, did not seem so unexplainable.

It has been fifteen years since I preached that sermon, and different ministry roles have taken me to churches in other parts of the country. But just the other week I ran into my former pastor. Although we had not seen each other in years, do you know what came up? “Ahhh, yes, that sermon,” he said. I guess neither of us can forget it.

Although my seminary preaching ambition may have been greater than my preaching ability, the gospel punchline from that sermon still preaches: There was no king in Israel—until there was. The King of Kings came in a manger, and he will come again on a white horse. Both Advents bring good news to all who see Jesus as the only Savior from the sinful world around them and the world of sin within them.

As you preach through the book of Judges, your people may stare back at you with blank faces; indeed, you may sit in your study on more than a few Wednesdays pouring over a passage with your own blank stare. Yet, if you “pray until the sermon’s hot,” as I’ve heard one pastor say, the glory of the grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ will sparkle against the grizzly backdrop of the book of Judges—and against the backdrop of our lives. And after you preach each week, and the music team takes the stage for one more song, with every head bowed and every eye closed, your people will be able to rest in this one truth: although scarcely will one man die for a good man, they will know that while we were still sinners—sinners like the sinners in the book of Judges—God demonstrated his love for us in the death of his Son. Soon and very soon, the Son who now sits will yet stand to split the sky.

Sound the trumpet, Preacher. There was no king in Israel until there was. And is. And will be again.

Preaching Outlines

College Church in Wheaton, Illinois
Preached by Josh Moody and several others in the summer of 2009 as part of their evening services. The sermons were apparently not individually titled, but the series had the title “If You Want God, You Have to Get Over Your Self.”

Judges 1:1–2:5 (Josh Moody)
Judges 2:6–3:6 (Josh Moody)
Judges 3:7–31 (Josh Moody)
Judges 4:1–5:31 (Josh Moody)
Judges 6:1–32 (Jay Thomas)
Judges 6:33–7:8 (Josh Moody)
Judges 7:9–25 (Todd Augustine)
Judges 8:1–35 (Josh Moody)
Judges 9:1–57 (Brandon Levering)
Judges 10:6–11:40 (Todd Augustine)
Judges 12:1–15 (Jay Thomas)
Judges 13:1–25 (Chris Castaldo)
Judges 14:1–20 (Josh Moody)
Judges 16:1–22 (Jonathan Cummings)
Judges 16:23–31 (Eric McKiddie)
Judges 17:1–13 (Jeff Hershberger)
Judges 18:1–31 (Collin Hansen)
Judges 19:1–30 (Chuck King)
Judges 20:1–48 (Brandon Levering)
Judges 21:1–25 (Ryan Skinner)

Bent Oak Church in Springfield, Missouri
Preached by Chase Replogle in the summer of 2016

“Introduction to the Judges”
“Othniel, Ehud, and Eglon”
“Barak, Deborah, Jael”
“Gideon Encounters God”
“Gideon’s Pride”
“Abimelech, Son of a King”
“Jephthah”
“Samson’s Parents”
“Samson’s Riddle”
“Samson and the Escalating Violence”
“Samson and Delilah”
“Sin Makes Us Boring”

Community Evangelical Free Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Preached by Benjamin Vrbicek and Jason Abbott in the summer of 2016

“Courage then Compromise then Consequence then Christ,” Judges 1:1–2:5 (Jason Abbott)
“Upon Further Review,” Judges 2:6–3:6 (Benjamin Vrbicek)
“The Good, the Bad, and the Oxgoad,” Judges 3:7–31 (Jason Abbott)
“God Wins,” Judges 4:1–5:31 (Benjamin Vrbicek)
“Wooing a Warrior,” Judges 6 (Jason Abbott)
“Finish Strong,” Judges 7:1–10:5 (Benjamin Vrbicek)
“No Negotiation,” Judges 10:6–12:15 (Jason Abbott)
“The Purpose of Privilege,” Judges 13:24–16:31 (Benjamin Vrbicek)
“Born to Save,” Judges 13 (Jason Abbott)
“Feasting in Freedom,” Judges 17–18 (Benjamin Vrbicek)
“And They Gave the Sense,” Judges 19–21 (Jason Abbott)

Key Themes and Motifs

The cycle of sin, suffering, supplication, and salvation. Students of the book of Judges describe the cycles in Judges with various monikers. Here is my best attempt, a patchwork from several sources (the ESV Study Bible, various commentaries, and my seminary classes): Savior . . . (then) service . . . (then) sin . . . (then) subjugation . . . (then) supplication. The cycle begins with God as Savior, the God who saved his people from Egypt and gave them the Land of Promise. Throughout the book, God remains the only Savior, but he uses individual human judges to do his saving. Under the leadership of said judge, God’s people often initially served the Lord with vigor but would later fall into sin. And their sin would grow. And grow. And grow. God would then give his people over to foreign nations to chasten them. Consider Judges 6:1, for example, to see both sin and the subsequent subjugation: “The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.” In their distress, God’s people would then cry out to the Lord (supplication), and God would again send them a judge to save them. This is the cycle in Judges. Another good verse to illustrate this cycle is Judges 2:18, which says, “Whenever the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them.”

We think we are right in our own eyes. Likely you are familiar with the refrain the narrator sings several times near the end of the book, including the final few musical bars: “In those days there was no king in Israel” (21:25; cf. 17:6; 18:1; 19:1). Some commentators take this to mean that the book of Judges served as a justification for kingship in Israel. Perhaps it did. Look here, people, when we didn’t have a king, life was this bad. We better get us a king who looks like the kings of other nations. But there is more to the final verse in the book. The full verse reads, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (21:25 and 17:6). The theme of doing what is right in one’s own eyes, a euphemism for following the sinful desires of our hearts, develops slowly over the course of the book. At first, when the people sin, the narrator tells us, “the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD” (2:11). This description—doing “evil in the sight of the LORD”—is the typical repetition: 3:7, 12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1. Then, with Samson and his eyes, the wording shifts. Samson tells his father to get him a wife from the Philistines, saying, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes” (14:3). And consider 16:1, which says, “Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her.” Thus, Samson serves as a bridge to the final refrain: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” And isn’t this exactly how sin grows? First, we rightly measure ourselves by God’s standard and how far short we fall. Then, well, we just sort of stop talking about God—he’s such a nuisance, you know, always telling us what we can and can’t do. We’re probably better off without him, calling our own shots. But does the ending to the book show that we are better or worse without God?

Generational faithfulness is simultaneously really important and really difficult. In the New Testament, James famously speaks of our lives as “a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (4:14). The prophet Hosea says something similar of a certain tribe of Israel. Because of sin, Ephraim had become as ephemeral as a vapor and as easily blown as chaff (Hosea 13:3). These two aspects of our humanity, our finitude and our depravity, combine to make faithfulness from one generation to the next just as wispy and vanishing. It certainly was in the book of Judges. At times, under the reign of one judge or another, obedience to the Lord abounded. At other times, under the reign of a different judge, or in the gap between two judges, the people of God floundered. The second chapter of Judges offers a key passage to show the simultaneous importance and difficulty of generational faithfulness. “And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD,” we’re told (2:10). How could this happen? Did the older generation not teach the younger generation? Or did the younger generation not want to learn? We don’t know. Maybe both. This tragedy of the miscarriage of generational faithfulness cycles on repeat throughout the book. The ideal among the people of God—an ideal to which we often fall short—is that “One generation shall commend [God’s] works to another [generation]” and that the future generation “shall speak of the glory of [God’s] kingdom and tell of [his] power” (Ps. 145:4, 10).

Problem Passages

General Issue #1: What was a “judge”? The judges were not judges in the sense that we commonly understand the role of judges in the American judicial system; the judges in the book of Judges did not adjudicate between disputing parties while wearing black robes and holding a gavel. “All rise, all rise, for the honorable Judge Shamgar.” No, the judges settled conflict while holding weapons of war and spilling blood. Interestingly, only Deborah is said to judge Israel in the way familiar to us. “She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment” (4:5). It is better to think of the judges as military leaders or generals who ruled for a season over a region of Israel, either by self or outside appointment.

General Issue #2: Deeply flawed leaders. You might appreciate a leader who saves you from your enemy, and you might even be thankful to God for that leader, but, generally speaking, we shouldn’t necessarily pattern our ethical and spiritual devotion after the judges. Please forgive my use of an anachronism, but no judge says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1), nor should we listen too closely if he did. Once, Gideon did say, “Look at me, and do likewise” (7:17). Still, that instruction was for a specific military stratagem for a specific battle, the lighting of a torch, the blowing of a trumpet, and the shouting of a battle cry. Speaking of Gideon’s battle cry, it went like this: “For the LORD and for Gideon” (7:18). And here we see the thread already starting to pull away from the knitted sweater. Gideon—as was the case with many of the judges—was deeply flawed. In fact, the more material we have on a particular judge, especially with Samson, the more we might be tempted to wonder about the sincerity of his salvation were it not for the fact that Hebrews 11:32ff considers the judges men of faith. Still, Gideon began by pulling down idols of Baal and Asherah only to later erect idols to his own honor that “all Israel whored after” (6:28 and 8:27). “I will not rule over you as a king,” Gideon tells God’s people. “But come over here and meet my son—his name is ‘My Father Is King’” (paraphrasing 8:22–23, 31). If not for the seriousness of sin, Judges almost reads comically, as though it were a parody of leadership. And yet, without too much mental effort, we could name the scores of celebrity pastors who have failed out or deconstructed out of ministry as dramatically as they seemed to flourish in ministry. Today, Christian apologists must craft apologies to explain the failure of our leading Christian apologist. We do not, however, need new arguments to describe our present predicament. We need the ancient ones, the arguments as old as Ur. We live after Genesis 3, and God has always drawn his straight lines with crooked sticks. As you preach the book of Judges, though, do not keep the flaws of the leaders at arm’s length. Bring them close and apply them near, not far. Remember that the flaws of Jephthah and Samson and the like do not merely explain the flaws in contemporary leaders but the flaws in our common humanity. When you and I look honestly in the mirror, sometimes we see judges.

The “double introduction” (1:1–2:5 and 2:6–3:6). The first four words of the book say, “After the death of Joshua . . .” Short as they are, the biblically informed reader should feel sufficiently situated for the context of the story that follows. Additionally, this line gives readers the appearance of chronology, which is to say one event will follow the next. Despite this general, chronological flow of the book, the second chapter takes a step backward. We read in 2:6, “When Joshua dismissed the people . . .” But how did Joshua, the leader who had recently died, dismiss people? It seems that Judges 2:6–3:6 provides a second introduction to the book, an introduction that chronologically precedes the first introduction. The second introduction explains, with more depth, an issue that seems to have been intentionally glossed over in the first introduction. In 1:19–36 we read that most of the tribes of Israel did not fully drive out the inhabitants of the Promised Land, but we are not told why. The closest we get to an explanation for their failure is in v. 19, which says, “because they [the foreign nation] had chariots of iron”—the idea being that Israel had an inferior military, and that is why they failed. The real reason for their failure, however, was their spiritual infidelity. It is for this reason that the second introduction highlights in sobering detail: when the people of God “abandoned the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth” (2:13), they floundered. Noting this in a sermon or two allows preachers to pull up sin by the root, not merely the leafy green parts.

Deborah, Barak, and women in leadership (4:1–5:31). Much more is happening in the important story of Deborah and Barak and God’s victory over Sisera than we typically discuss in the egalitarian and complementarian debate. In other words, if you only focus your sermon here, you will miss the bigger issues. This is not to say that a discussion of men’s and women’s roles is irrelevant to the passage. The fact that Deborah chides Barak that her going with him to the battle “will not lead to [his] glory, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman” (4:9) indicates that a woman in such an authoritative military role is at least unusual, and at most, shall we say, unnatural. Preachers will need to reckon with whether this unusual circumstance is the result of a transgression of cultural norms or of God’s transcendent design. I tend to think both. And, as with all narrative passages of Scripture, hermeneutic decisions must be made about whether an event is more prescriptive (this should happen) or more descriptive (this did happen). Once a preacher comes to conclusions on these questions—and a host of others—then comes the leap to the discussion of ways this passage relates to, and does not relate to, the local church in the New Testament era. Even when all the exegetical and theological questions have been considered, then comes the question of how much can be addressed on Sunday. It seems to me that preachers will serve their congregations best as they preach this passage by only making passing comments in the direction of men’s and women’s roles in the home and church, so that the thrust of the sermon can be pointed in the same direction as the passage: God—not Deborah or Barak or even Jael—gets the glory.

Jephthah’s vow (11:29–40). I will be brief here because, as you study this, you’ll realize the possibilities abound for what Jephthah intended when he made the vow and what he actually did. Did Jephthah assume an animal would come out of his house or a servant or something else? And what actually happened to Jephthah’s daughter—was she conscripted into the service of the Lord and not allowed to marry, or was she offered as a human sacrifice? It is difficult to know with certainty the answer to these questions and other aspects of the passage, although I’m persuaded her father, quite tragically, made her a human sacrifice. Whatever you conclude exegetically, it’s helpful from a preaching standpoint to remember that all the options are bad. There is no way to read this passage and view Jephthah as an embodiment of godly leadership. Even if he intended to sacrifice an animal, and even if he didn’t actually sacrifice his daughter, behind his vow was the attempt to barter with God. If you do this, Lord, then I’ll do this. Perhaps Jephthah’s view of God is more pagan than Hebrew, which is to say, perhaps Jephthah’s god is more like the gods of the nations who worshipers must placate to avoid bad karma. Perhaps Jephthah’s god has no concept of grace and mercy for the penitent. Perhaps Jephthah’s god is not much like the real one, “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness . . . forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Ex. 34:6–7).

Helpful Commentaries and Resources

Block, Daniel I., Judges, Ruth: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture, The New American Commentary, (Holman Reference, 1999)

Davis, Dale Ralph, Judges: Such a Great Salvation, Focus on the Bible, (Christian Focus, 2015) [This is a must-have if you’re preaching through Judges. Reading a Dale Ralph Davis OT commentary is an experience like reading no other commentary, one full of both wisdom and wit.]

Keller, Timothy, Judges For You, God’s Word For You, (The Good Book Company, 2013)

McCann, J. Clinton, Judges: Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Westminster John Knox Press, 2011)

Pressley, Emily (Author) and Watson, Stephen (Illustrator), Powerful Kindness: The Story of Judges and Ruth, Kaleidoscope Kids Bibles Reimagined (Rocky Heights Print & Binding, 2020) [This is a wonderfully helpful chapter-by-chapter illustrated resource for children to follow along with the storyline of Judges.]

Schwab, George M., Right in Their Own Eyes: The Gospel According to Judges, The Gospel According to the Old Testament (P&R Publishing, 2011)

Webb, Barry G., The Book of Judges, New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Eerdmans, 2012)

How to Preach Christ from Judges

I wouldn’t necessarily liken the book of Judges to a cut diamond that sparkles anyway you turn it. The book is more of a coal mine; the gospel diamonds are in there, you just might have to dig to find them. Here are some of the places I’d suggest you dig.

The anti-examples point to Christ. The Old Testament frequently promises and prefigures the person and work of Christ through glimmers of hope, those times when God empowers sinners to look more like saints as they serve him. Often in the book of Judges, however, sinful people and sinful leaders stoke our longings for the Messiah by way of contrast, by sinners acting like sinners. Thus, the judges often serve more as anti-examples than examples in the traditional sense. C. S. Lewis notes how our longings that cannot be met in this world indicate that we were made for another world. In a similar way, our longings for a faithful judge indicate that we need more than a judge from this world—and certainly more than a judge from the book of Judges. Timothy Keller has said of Jesus that he is “the true and greater David.” Indeed he is. And in even starker contrast, Jesus is the true and greater judge.

When all seems very dark, with God there is always light we cannot (yet) see. Do not forget the opening line in the book of Ruth: “In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons” (Ruth 1:1). A book that begins with a crippling famine in the house of bread (i.e., Bethlehem) and the loss of husbands and fathers, soon becomes a story about the obscure but fierce faithfulness of one man and one woman who join in holy matrimony and give birth to the grandfather of the future king of Israel (Ruth 4:21–22). Remember this as you preach the book of Judges. Remember to tell your people that in the days when the judges ruled the land, even though most people could not see the light, God was on the throne and not everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

The violence of our sin anticipates the violence of our salvation. Swords stuffed to the hilt in entrails, tent pegs tapped through temples, and animal jawbones cracking human skulls. These are the ways of the judges the Lord raised up to save Israel out of the hand of those who plundered them (cf. 2:16). Blood-soaked and grotesque, redemption came through judges, and so it comes through Christ, the “one from whom men hide their faces” (Isa. 53:3). This is not to excuse the sins of the judges or to impugn Christ with corruption. May it never be! But it is to say that when God pulls us from the mire, it means he must wade into the swamp. When Jesus said the bronze serpent that Moses lifted in the wilderness would look like the Son of Man lifted up on a cross (John 3:14), he meant that our salvation, in one sense, looks as venomous as our sin. And by staring with our eyes unblinking, fully absorbed by the horror of the cross, God means to burn away our lust and pride. It’s hard to boast when you know how ugly is your sin and how costly is your redemption.

Except for the prayer of Jesus, God has only ever answered the prayers of those who do not deserve his grace. “If any of you lacks wisdom,” James writes in the New Testament, “let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach” (1:5). Note the connection between our lack and our asking and the God who gives generously without finding fault. So it was in the book of Judges. In other words, no prayer for salvation is ever prayed by those with clean hands. “Wash me, savior, or I die,” goes the hymn. The people of God in the book of Judges are dirty and need washing because they rolled around in the muck—time after time after time. We know this, but knowledge of our sin often keeps us from going boldly to the throne of grace in our time of need. And it should not be. If while we were enemies, Christ died for us, how much more will he not answer us when we cry to him for help?

The Advent of the King. I hinted at this in the introduction. There was no king in Israel until there was.

Why You Should Consider Preaching Judges

Those who live in the Rocky Mountains or on the Hawaiian shores can behold beautiful scenery as easily as they can walk to their back porch. For most of us, however, tracking down mountain vistas or ocean sunrises takes a lot of work. From a preaching standpoint, the vistas seen from Ephesians 2 or Romans 8 tend to be more accessible and thus more often traveled by preachers and beheld by congregations. Yet for those willing to break a sweat and endure some soreness, the vistas that open in the book of Judges are just as fearfully and wonderfully made—you just might have to wade through a swamp or hack through a jungle before you can see them. In short, you should preach Judges because the book offers modern readers scenery that we didn’t know we needed until someone has shown us. These “views” include but are not limited to those I have listed below. Knowing these breathtaking views exist and hiking with your people to see them is reason enough to start the journey through Judges. And as you go, you will discover other sights both terrifying and awesome, sights you didn’t know you needed until God showed you that you did.

The book of Judges shows us the purpose of divine rumble strips. Rumble strips are annoying. They shake your car and rattle your teeth. If you have young boys in the back of your car, someone might yell, “Who farted?” In other words, rumble strips get your attention. So do smelling salts. So do defibrillators. God often goes to great lengths to get our attention when we, his people, are tempted to sin. “When new gods were chosen, then war was in the gates” (5:8). For his glory and our good, thankfully the invasive love God displays in Judges, he still displays now. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

The book of Judges shows us that sin is fundamentally illogical and only partially explainable. To read Judges slowly and carefully is to also become confused. He did what? But why? And she said what? But why? Often, you can deduce probable answers to many of these questions, and yet even when the questions are answered, you still might not know the deeper reason for why people do what they do. For example, consider some of the unanswerable questions from chapter 19. Why wouldn’t anyone take the travelers into their house? How could it be that an angry mob demanded violent, homosexual acts in an Israelite city? Why would a man offer his virgin daughter to the mob to be devoured? Why would the Levite allow his concubine to be handed over? What was a Levite doing with a concubine, anyway? And who could cut up a woman and send her out in twelve little pieces? When you stand back and let the totality of the depravity of this passage land on you, one recognizes almost immediately that we must settle for partial explanations. This is because, in the order of the universe, sin is only partially explainable. Why would Adam take and eat the fruit? Why would sin ever have looked pleasing to his eyes? Why would anyone crucify the son of God? Why would the drunk driver get behind the wheel? Why would I ever use that tone of voice with the wife of my youth? Because sin is only partially explainable and fundamentally illogical. We really do need a savior.

The book of Judges stokes our longings for permanence. Peace and prosperity ebb and flow like the ocean tide, and all our progress seems as permanent as castles in the sand. The cycles in the book of Judges show us this. And they show it to us again. And again. And again. We need a savior who sits on the throne he will never vacate, which is what we have in Christ.

Finally, the book of Judges shows us the greatest enemy of the church is not external but internal. The book of Judges both shouts and whispers this indictment. Consider, again, the last sentence in the book. “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (21:25; see also 17:6). Positioned intentionally at the end, this statement is the ancient equivalent of bold, italics, underline, and all caps—an example of the book shouting that our greatest enemy is internal. We hear another shout in Judges 2:10 where God lays the blame for all their trouble on the fact that “there arose another generation . . . who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel.” Again, the foe is internal, not external. The book also whispers this message. For example, consider the judge Tola (10:1–2). He, like another judge named Shamgar in Judges 3:31, was a deliverer only mentioned in a verse or two. But unlike Shamgar, who delivers from an external enemy (the Philistines), no enemy is listed that Tola fought. When Tola comes to save, he saves Israel from Israel. And that is why the book, as a whole, concludes with an appendix of sordid stories likely from an earlier time in the book, stories of a greedy priest, a Levite who dismembered his concubine, and a civil war that nearly annihilated one of the tribes. It is easy to point the finger at those outside the church. The greatest threat to the church, however, is not ISIS or Planned Parenthood. It is not Hollywood. It is not atheist professors who ruin the faith of our sweet college freshmen. The greatest enemies are not secular politicians and Supreme Court judges. If we want to know the worst enemy of the church—the one that, apart from the sustaining grace of God, could eternally destroy us—then we must look in the mirror. Doing so will not be easy; it will be uncomfortable. But a long look into our own souls and our indwelling sin might catch our melanoma while it’s early. And if it does, praise God we have the gospel for our healing.

Jason Duesing on the Role of General Revelation in the Christian Life

By Mike Brooks / Sep 7

FTC.co asks Jason Duesing, provost and professor of church history at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, “What is the role of general revelation in the Christian life?”

Crazy Grace

By Jared Wilson / Sep 6

Pastor, every Sunday, over and over again, without fail, stubborn and convicted, you take to that pulpit and pin all your hopes on the gospel in your preached text. You aren’t trusting your rhetoric, your well-turned phrases, your homespun stories, your hokey jokes. You aren’t trusting your emotional appeals, your special pleadings, your creative context, your fog and lasers or your eighteen verses of “Just As I Am.” You leave all the good news out on the field, praying the seed will find purchase in softer soil than the week before.

You look up from your closing prayer and see, yet again, blank faces, arms crossed, pursed lips, feet itching to beat the Catholics out to the all-you-can-eat buffet at the local people-trough. You sigh.

Then you get studied up and prayed up all week and do it again. And again. And again.

Sometimes response comes in trickles, sometimes not at all. You start feeling quite hamsterian, and the preaching calendar is one giant wheel.

Pray, study, pray, preach.
Pray, study, pray, preach.
Pray, study, pray, preach.
Wash, rinse, repeat.

Somebody comes along at some point and suggests “This gospel stuff is nice” — this is a true story, by the way — “and you do it very well” — flattery will get you nowhere, or everywhere, depending on how my day is going — “but sometimes we need to hear other things.”

You want to say “Get behind me, Satan,” but you just smile and nod and inside your heart collapses like those outdated hotel-casinos they blow up in Las Vegas, with a great plume of dust that makes the sky look dirty. You feel old. It does feel like it’s getting old.

But you keep going. It’s giving you wrinkles, headaches, heartburn. You push on, press on, preach on.

Pray, study, pray, preach.
Gospel all day, erryday.

“If you think you need to hear other things,” you telepathically say to the valley of dry bones scattered across the pews, “it’s proof you need a double helping of the gospel.”

So you keep going. Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.
What’s the definition of insanity again?

If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God . . . — 2 Corinthians 5:13

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. – Galatians 6:9

(Not) Without A Doubt

By / Sep 6

Last Christmas Eve, I sat with my youngest grandbaby on my lap, full to the brim with the joy of family and the spirit of Christmas. As I nestled my grandson and listened to the pastor expound on the birth of Jesus Christ, I began to think about the fact that my pastor was not merely telling us an allegory or a metaphor or a fable meant to inspire. Rather, he was ceding a historical account, with a tacit assumption that the events written in Luke 2 had actually happened. For a few moments, I took myself out of believer mode and listened with the ear of an outsider. Suddenly, our otherwise rational, articulate, well-educated pastor sounded like a lunatic.

With a straight face, he spoke about messenger angels, ancient prophecies, and a virgin birth. His message concluded with the confident assertion of the return of a resurrected Savior who would establish an eternal Kingdom on a refurbished earth. Continuing in my outsider mode, I marveled that this guy genuinely, and with great passion, believes every bit of this stuff.

This is really where I went in my mind on Christmas Eve. And this is where I have been going the last year, as I’ve been wrestling in a rather unsettling season of doubt. Why, in the times in which we are living, when modern science explains so much, would any sane adult believe in such outlandish claims? Why do my husband, my children, most of my close friends, and countless other prudent, sensible, healthy, intelligent, level-headed people believe it? And why would I?

The Shadow of Doubt

A few years ago, in a blog I wrote explaining to unbelievers why I believe what I believe, I made the claim that I believe it without a shadow of a doubt. But I don’t think I was being completely honest. The shadow of doubt is a menace that hovers above my belief almost constantly, threatening at any moment to pull the one thread that will unravel all I have held as truth for so long.

Alisa Childers, author of the book Another Gospel, said, “Doubt isn’t the opposite of faith. Unbelief is the opposite of faith.” I don’t like the season I’m in. I love God. I am committed to Christ. I revere him and love him dearly. Yet, I sometimes get caught up in worry, fearing that all I have come to believe may not be true. That everything I have committed my life and my work to, the personal sacrifices I’ve made and see others making, are all for naught. The most terrifying thing I can think of is that there is no loving God, no Savior, no heaven. What if non-Christians are right?

God’s Nearness to Doubters

In the end, what I have found in this season of doubt is a God who does not reject me. In fact, he draws near to me and gently reminds me of the truth when I doubt. Just like he did with Thomas (John 20:24-29) and with John the Baptist (Matthew 11:1-19). And like he will for any believer who becomes afraid under the weight of an unbelieving world.

My doubt has led me to search, which, as God promised, led me to find (Matthew 7:7). And in the finding, I can now “make a defense to anyone who asks” why I believe what I do (1 Peter 3:15), and why this belief offers hope and peace and confidence, even when I doubt.

My Prepared Defense

If you ask for the reason for the hope that is in me, I will tell you what I have found.

1. Science is too remarkable and natural things too intricate to have been randomly generated.

The complexities of life cannot be explained by uncreated phenomena.

Consider this one fact: If it were possible to stretch out all of the DNA in a single human being and lay it end to end, it would reach to the sun and back six hundred times. That is fifty-five billion, eight hundred million miles of DNA in just one person. And DNA perpetuates itself in vastly complicated chemical processes on and on and on throughout generations of all living things, according to their kinds (Genesis 1:24-25). It takes great faith to attribute the enormous complexity of procreation to random processes of fortuity.

2. The existence of existence is inherently astounding.

While science may explain the workings of the world, science cannot explain the existence of existence. So any explanation we land on carries with it a level of absurdity.

Those who decry Christianity in favor of say, an influencing universe, or an impersonal deity, or any variety of polytheism, or a gospel of science, or even no belief at all, are not adopting any belief system less absurd than that of Christianity.

3. Biblical Christianity offers the best explanation for all that is.

The complexities of the natural world affirm, at the very least, an intelligent higher power. But Christianity asserts a personal Deity who sees us, knows us, and loves us. Why would anyone believe that?

Peter replied to Jesus in John 6:68, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” The claims of the Christian Bible provide the most plausible explanation for the intricacy of the natural world, the vast intelligence of science, the beauty and order of math, the purity of love, the reality of evil, the appeal of sacrifice, and the very existence of anything at all.

So I write with a straight face that

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

Not without a doubt, but with a decided Amen.

Mark Dever On What The Church Needs To Get Right in the 21st Century

By / Sep 3

We asked Mark Dever, “What is the one thing the local church needs to get right in the 21st century?”

On Sermon Illustrations

By / Sep 3

There are three basic elements to a sermon: explanation, application, and illustration. At any given point of the sermon, you are doing one of these three things.

Explanation is the foundation of a biblical message. The goal is to explain what the text means by what it says. However, interpretation without application is abortion. You must explain the text and exhort the congregation to do what it says (James 1:22).

But your work is not done there. The effective preacher must also work to clarify meaning, make ideas stick, and call the listener to action. To this end, Illustrations are the preacher’s friend. Want proof? Read the Gospels again and note how Jesus taught. A compelling illustration sheds light on the message and helps the congregation see what you are saying.

Here are 9 tips for making good use of sermon illustrations in your preaching.

Illustrate! An illustration that does not illustrate is counterproductive. A good illustration is like a window in a house. It helps your listeners see in or out. But to prop up disconnected sheets of glass is useless. So is giving an illustration, just because it’s a good story you had to tell. Make sure the illustration has a relevant point.

Location, Location, Location. The value of real estate is based upon its location. The same is true of sermon illustrations. You will hurt the sermon if you stick a story somewhere it does not fit. Position illustrations where they will best clarify the text, highlight the point, or enforce the application. And don’t use it at all if it’s too good. Illustrations should support the message, not overpower it.

Avoid indecent exposure. Get your wife’s permission before using your family in the message. Don’t embarrass people. Use parental guidance. Don’t say inappropriate things that are unnecessarily offensive. Keep confidential conversations out of the pulpit. And don’t be the hero of the stories you tell.

Look for them everywhere. Life presents possible illustrations every day. Just keep your eyes and ears open, and you will find more illustrations than you can use. Likewise, if you can get several good ideas from that illustration book, it’s worth whatever it costs. Ultimately, scripture is the best place to find illustrations. Using biblical illustrations allows you to continue to teach as you illustrate. And scriptural illustrations carry divine authority.

Write out the illustration. I advocate that preachers write out full sermon manuscripts. But I know this is not possible for everyone. As a concession, I would say that you should write out sections of the sermon. For instance, fully write the introduction and conclusion. Craft your transitional sentences. And write out your illustrations. Make it clear. Include important details. Check your facts. Edit it down. And be creative.

Don’t read the illustration. If possible, write a complete sermon manuscript. But don’t read it in the pulpit. Prepare a set of notes from the manuscript to use in the pulpit. Again, I understand that some preachers work best with a full script. So here’s another concession. Try not to read your illustrations. Familiarize yourself with the illustration so you can tell it in a personal way.

Let the illustration stand on its own. Do not begin the illustration with an apology. If you have to apologize for it, don’t tell it. Don’t introduce it by telling the congregation how sad or funny it is. Let them be the judge of that. Comedians say that if you have to explain a joke, it bombed. The same is true with sermon illustrations. Just tell the illustration and let it stand on its own.

Do not bear false witness! Consider sermon illustrations a matter of ministerial ethics. Guard your credibility. Be honest and accurate about your sources. Where appropriate, give credit where credit is due. And don’t tell someone else’s personal story as if it happened to you.

Preach the text, not the illustration. We are charged to preach the word (2 Tim. 4:2). The proclamation of scripture, therefore, must be our priority. So build the sermon around the text, not illustrations. Give the illustration. Make the application. Then move on. Let the text guide the sermon. And don’t let a good story lead you astray from your assignment to preach the word.

Editor’s Note: This originally published at HBCharlesJr.com

What We Need From Mentors

By Mike Brooks / Sep 2

A friend, the wife of a seminary professor, pours her life into young women. She’s discovered, though, that they don’t just need to learn advanced theology. They need to learn basic life skills. They need two things from her: relationship and learning how to live.

We’re not so different. Most of us need someone who’s further on than we are. We need two things from them: relationship with them and learning how to live in the next lap of the journey.

Relationship

The best mentors and disciple-makers offer relationship. “Come, let’s hang out together,” they say. “I want to get to know you.” In the process, they let us get to know them too.

My friend Bill was five or six years older than me. When I was a teenager, those five or six years made all the difference. Bill drove. Bill dated. Bill worked. Bill was everything that I wanted to be.

When Bill asked me if I’d be interested in hanging out with him, I was thrilled. Looking back, Bill was immature. How could a 23-year-old be anything but? But Bill was, literally and spiritually, years ahead of me. He showed me what it looked like to walk with God, albeit imperfectly, in the stage of life I would soon be facing.

Some models of discipleship focus on curriculum. A lot of the materials are good; I’ve written some myself. Bill took me through some of that material. But what we really need is someone who will walk beside us as we learn how to follow Jesus. We need more information, but information is best absorbed in the context of relationship.

We learn by seeing gospel truth lived out in flesh and blood, in the context of marriage, bills, jobs, and stress. “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith,” Hebrews tells us (Hebrews 13:7). We benefit from hearing God’s word from others. We also benefit from seeing how they live, how God’s truth shapes their lives.

Meals together, trips to the grocery store for milk, camping trips, long drives, coffees, and walks become fertile ground for helping others grow. One of the greatest gifts mentors can offer others is relationship.

Learning How to Live

“You hope to be a pastor one day, and you’re not regularly reading the Bible on your own?” my professor asked. I don’t think he meant to sound so harsh. I think he was just surprised. I was 19 years old and aspired to pastoral ministry, but I hadn’t yet developed some of the habits I’d need, like regular Scripture reading and a consistent prayer time. I knew I needed to do these things; I’d just never developed them as life skills.

Sometimes we assume that people will figure out how to grow once they’ve started to follow Jesus. But just as children need adults to raise them, younger Christians need the church to show them how to mature.

Most of us know what we should be doing. But not all of us have developed the skills to do them. Our problem isn’t a lack of knowledge. It’s translating what we know we should be doing into regular patterns in our lives.

I once taught at a conference on the importance of building skills like Bible reading, prayer, and church into our lives. After my teaching session, the host invited a panel to the stage. Each person on the panel was different. Some were young, some were old. Some had young children at home and heavy work responsibilities; some had retired and had more free time. Some were morning people; some loved evenings. The host asked each of them how they’d build patterns of Scripture reading, prayer, and church into their lives. No two answered exactly the same. Each one represented a different real-life example of how to build these necessary habits into their lives.

We don’t just need prescriptions. We also need real, relatable examples of people just like us. We need to see how people in a similar stage of life, with a similar personality, manage to build habits in their lives. We can learn content in a classroom, but we often learn skills and habits best by watching other people.
I remember watching people arrive for worship at our church plant one day. I realized that most of them had never been taught how to develop the daily skill of engaging with Scripture: how to build a habit, where to start, and how to deal with the inevitable challenges and setbacks. Most had never seen anyone develop a regular pattern of prayer in their lives.

I had to begin to think of ways to help them develop these skills. I couldn’t assume that they could figure them out by themselves. They needed someone to show them and to model it for them. All of us can learn from the examples of others. All of us can serve as an example for others too.

My friend, the wife of a seminary professor, continues to mentor young women. She invites them over for tea and spends time with them. In the process, they learn from a more mature, godly woman, and they see how she lives.

It’s not a bad model for making disciples. As we live with others, we have the privilege of extending relationship to them, and inviting them to learn some of the skills they need that we’ve learned from others. And then we pray that they in turn will one day offer both relationship and these skills to others. All of us have a role to play in relating to and learning from others ahead of us, and then offering relationship and our example to others.

Should Elders Insist on Unanimity?

By Web Dev / Sep 2

Unity is a wonderful thing, especially in leadership. How I pray that David’s description of unity would be true of the elders in my church and in your church. Unity that’s good and pleasant is the blessing of God!

But this raises an important question. In the interest of unity, should an eldership insist on unanimity before it acts? Wouldn’t it be a wonderful boost of confidence to your congregation to know that the elders only ever speak when they are of one mind?

Five Reasons to Not Insist on Unanimity

Let me give you five reasons why I’d discourage the rule of unanimity, and then finish with one brief caveat.

1. Unanimity isn’t the biblical pattern.

In 2 Corinthians 2:6, the church appears to have exercised church discipline by a “majority.” In Acts 1:26, the apostles determine Judas’ successor by casting lots. Does this settle the matter? Certainly not. However, if there were a strong biblical pattern of unanimity, we should pay it close attention. But no such pattern exists.

2. Unanimity can stifle dissent.

I remember in the years before I became a pastor, I worked with one company who insisted on unanimity in their product development decisions. One night over dinner with a group of R&D heads at large companies, I asked them what they thought of that practice. Did requiring unanimity protect the all-important minority viewpoint? Ironically, every one of them disagreed, insisting quite the opposite. When everyone in a group knows unanimity is required, people who disagree with the majority are actually less likely to speak up because they don’t want to get in the way. That can be true especially when the group trusts one another. Insisting on unanimity can lead to group-think.

3. Unanimity can discourage trust.

When I lose a vote on our elder board, I must then turn around and represent our decision to the congregation as my decision as well. Is that my conformist, people-pleasing tendency at work? No, it’s because I trust my fellow elders. On the other hand, insisting on unanimity removes the need for such trust. You need not lean on trust when everyone agrees. And just like a muscle atrophies when it’s not used, trust can decline when it’s not tested. For the health of an eldership and a church, trust is better than unanimity.

4. Unanimity can slow things down.

Elders regularly make decisions that are unclear but important. That’s the nature of the office. Very often, the timeliness in these decisions is important. For example, when a wandering sheep must be warned (1 Thess. 5:14), timeliness can prevent greater harm to that sheep. When a congregation must act to protect against division (Titus 3:10), timeliness can prevent greater harm to the flock. Unless the rule of unanimity has completely stifled dissent (concern #2), it nearly always delays a decision.

5. Unanimity underestimates God’s love for your church.

Time and time again, I’ve seen our eldership have a tortuous, difficult conversation, make a decision on a thin majority, and then realize with great certainly later on that we’d made the right decision. I ascribe that not to the wisdom of our elders but to God’s love for our church, who ordains that we act with far greater wisdom than we deserve. If my faith was ultimately in the wisdom of our elders, I might place greater weight on getting to agreement. But my faith is less in us as individuals and more in God’s kindness to lead our church through imperfect men. As such, I hold to the decisions of a majority with nearly as much confidence as unanimous ones.

Unanimty in Nominating New Elders

I promised one caveat, and here it is: in my church, we’ve found it useful to insist on unanimity for the nomination of new elders.^[1] That practice has all the downsides that I listed above. In fact, in describing those five reasons in favor of majority action, I’ve been mentally referencing problems we’ve faced as an elder board in nominating new elders.

And yet, despite the downsides of insisting on unanimity, there’s a greater downside in this one area of not doing so: asking a man to serve alongside an elder he believes is not biblically qualified. We’ve opted to choose for the lesser of two evils. As our elder board has grown, our definition of “unanimous” has evolved. At our current size—roughly two dozen elders—we allow a nomination to proceed when no elder votes “no” and abstentions amount to less than a quarter of the eldership. We assume any abstention is simply because one elder doesn’t know a man well enough to vote yes.

This practice works best for us, and I trust that your eldership will identify what works best for you.

Unity, Unanimity

Like David in Psalm 133, we should celebrate unity in our churches and in our elder boards. And as Paul instructs in Ephesians 4:3, we should be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” So we should pray for unity. We should work to preserve the unity God’s Spirit has given us.

Insisting on unanimity, however, can actually damage unity. Instead, let’s value trust more highly than agreement.

Editor's Note: This post originally appeared at the 9Marks blog and is used with permission.

Episode 133: Mistakes New Preachers Make

By / Sep 1

On this episode of the FTC Podcast, Jared Wilson and Ronni Kurtz discuss some common errors made by new or younger preachers.

The Heart of Family Reformation

By / Sep 1

When our children were younger we began the day with the hymn we are currently memorizing. When Laura was five, she sang for all of us the second verse of “I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord” by the Yale president of the late 1700s, Timothy Dwight. With a determined look, she sang out,

I love Thy church, O God.
Her walls before Thee stand.
Dear as the apple of Thine eye,
And gravy on Thy hand.
My boys collapsed on the floor with laughter. The word is “graven!”

I value family worship, not only because it is sometimes humorous, but because it is glue that holds families together, stimulus for some of the family’s best discussions, and provides real strength for family member’s lives — it can become the heart, in fact, of family reformation.

The Puritans, long misunderstood, had an exceptional view of the family. We can learn from them even though we might not accept all they had to say. They often talked of the home as the “little church,” and the father as the pastor of his little flock. Lewis Bayly said, “What the preacher is in the pulpit, the same the Christian householder is in his house.” Family worship is the natural outcome of such a view. In homes without a believing father, the mother may fulfill this oversight role for children.

The practice of family worship (with or without children at home) is as forgotten to the church today as the dust in our attic, but this simple and effective method of restoring family spirituality is the most potent tool we have available to us—and every one of us can do it!

WHY IS FAMILY WORSHIP CRITICAL?

First, family worship is critical because the placing of the Word of God in the hearts of our family members is indispensable to their conversion.

Paul reminded Timothy that, “From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3: 15).

Peter said that we are “born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible through the Word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Pet. 1:23). This incorruptible seed of saving life (corresponding to the natural biological seed) is inseminated in the dead soul via the Word of God alone.

The Puritans believed this with a passion. This was the rationale for their long sermons, the catechizing of children, the morning messages in those cold church buildings prior to the work day, the daily meditating on the Word in private, and especially the practice of family worship. For the Puritan, family worship took place two times a day, as the “morning and evening sacrifice.” It was through this means that his children and wife, and any other guests or helpers in the home, might receive life!

Richard Baxter, one of the most famous of the Puritans, saw his village of Kidderminster, England transformed through this method. He stated:

I do verily believe that if parents did their duty as they ought, the Word publicly preached would not be the ordinary means of regeneration in the church, but only without the church, among practical heathens and infidels.

Second, it is critical because the Word alone enables your family to withstand the prevailing currents of an evil culture.

In the 2 Timothy 3 passage we find a torrent of base culture descending on young Timothy. “. . . In the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers… disobedient to parents…without self-control. . . headstrong . . . lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (vss.1-4).

How will you be able to rescue your family from the effects of such a culture? Only through the Word of God, according to Paul. The Word makes Timothy as the “man of God,” “thoroughly equipped for every good work” necessary to strengthen the church. His toolbox is complete and “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (vs. 16) so that the people under his charge can withstand the flood of culture described in the previous verses.

In the same way, the shepherding father of the home (or the mother in homes without a father, which was Timothy’s situation) is made adequate to help his or her family. Paul tells Timothy, therefore, to “preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season” (4:2).

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth… (4: 3-4).

When culture rushes down on your family and the professing church is trying to imitate the world itself, how will your family keep from being swept away in its path? Only through the Word of God! Family worship, on a daily basis, is your hope that they will stand like steel piers against the prevailing tide.

When speaking in Basel, Switzerland years ago I saw a ferry which crossed the swift Rhone river. It had no engine but operated by means of its resistance to the current, guided from one side to the other along a taut steel line. Unless we attach those tender hearts of our family members to the steel line of truth, there will be little hope of their withstanding the forces pressing against them.

In India, there was a custom of throwing babies into the Ganges river as a sacrifice to the gods. If we are unwilling to do any more than merely take our children to church, we might as well be throwing them into the river of the culture. This is an explanation why many children of Christian parents are so often no different than the world’s. They have been given to the gods by their parents — thrown in with hands of neglect.

WHAT ARE THE BASICS?

There are three aspects of family worship that I find important: singing, the reading of the Word, and prayer, or as one friend puts it Song, Scripture, and Supplication.

Singing. Not every home is musical, but every attempt should be made to incorporate singing into the daily worship experience. We have been concerned that a whole generation of children are growing up without Christian hymnody. Therefore, we taught our children the best hymns of the faith. In fact, I used to give my children three dollars for every hymn they learn!

We preferred the hymns written by the theologians and pastors of earlier days (Watts, Wesley, Newton, Doddridge, etc.) since the theology is better. Some new authors are providing hymns and spiritual songs that are also valuable. A mixture is best. The “gospel hall songs,” however, written by the crusade musicians of the 19th century are often trite and less God-exalting, even though some believers are romantically attached to them.

I got the idea of paying money for learning hymns from Charles Spurgeon, the 19th-century pastor of London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle.

My grandfather was very fond of Dr. Watt’s hymns, and my grandmother, wishing to get me to learn them, promised me a penny for each one that I should say to her perfectly. I found it an easy and pleasant method of earning money, and learned them so fast that grandmother said she must reduce the price to a halfpenny each, and afterwards to a farthing, if she did not mean to be quite ruined by her extravagance. There is no telling how low the amount per hymn might have sunk, but grandfather said that he was getting overrun with rats, and offered me a shilling a dozen for all I could kill. I found, at the time, that the occupation of rat-catching paid me better than learning hymns, but I know which employment has been the more permanently profitable to me. No matter on what topic I am preaching, I can even now, in the middle of any sermon, quote some verse of a hymn in harmony with the subject. The hymns have remained with me, while those old rats for years have passed away, and the shillings I earned by killing them have been spent long ago.

Reading the Word. Though there are uses for devotional books of various types, they are best as a supplement and not a substitute for the Bible. My preference was to stick with reading the Bible as our main diet during family worship. Occasionally you may wish to add a chapter day by day of a Christian biography, while still giving the Bible the center stage. Use other helps at bedtime, or as a supplement, if helpful, but drink the “pure milk of the Word” during family worship. We found that reading a chapter each day was best, and always completing the book we began.

You will find the Bible engaging enough on its own, and often a launching place for discussion about many things. For instance, what better place can you find to learn about sexuality than from Scripture? Don’t be afraid of the less-than-perfect characters you will meet in the Bible. They are included for our instruction. Use the examples, good and bad, to talk about those forgotten virtues of integrity, honesty, faithfulness, etc. Bring out the nature of sin and the beauties of the gospel, heaven and hell.

When the children are young, or the family is new to the faith, go over and over the story portions of the Bible. Begin with Mark, and then read the other gospels, Genesis, Exodus, the two Samuels, Kings and Chronicles, Ruth, Esther, Acts, etc. This will give them the history of the Bible as a great redemption drama. Later they can handle the teaching portions better.

Though the morning is by far the best time for family worship, you may not find it workable. You may wish to take the mealtime most attended by all your family. Have the Bible set beside the father’s place as part of the table setting. Then, after the meal, but before any dishes are moved off the table, worship together. Do it faithfully, even when someone must be absent.

Family prayers. Are your children unused to seeing prayers answered. Why? It is often because we don’t pray very specifically. Also, when we see the answer come in, it is important to make something of it.

I preferred to talk with the family about some of our needs and then assign each of us something to pray about. I usually accompanied this with an encouragement that God has been answering our prayers and that we all should pray silently while another is wording our request. There is nothing more beautiful than the sincere request of children.

Keeping this time fresh will be your hardest task. Sometimes you may wish to put requests into a basket and let each person draw one out. Seek ways to make this time better. When the children are young, however, family worship should not be long and tedious for them. They will learn best by degrees.

Some families will keep up the tradition of family worship throughout the family’s life together. Others will find other ways to encourage the intake of the Bible and prayer as the family matures. How we do it is a matter of personal choice. God has not commanded daily family worship as I have outlined it, but He does intend for each believing member of the home to grow by means of the Bible and to pray. It is the parent’s job to encourage this practice and to be the primary example for their children. When children are younger and do not understand the Bible on their own, family worship seems almost indispensable as a method.

JUDGMENT DAY

Puritan Richard Mather (1596-1669), grandfather of Increase, and great grandfather of Cotton Mather, once imagined children on judgment day, speaking to their parents. His words will serve as a final sober warning that we must be more diligent to care for the souls of our children:

All this that we here suffer is through you. You should have taught us the things of God, and did not. You should have restrained us from sin and corrected us, and you did not. You were the means of our original corruption and guiltiness, and yet you never showed any competent care that we might be delivered from it. Woe unto us that we had such carnal and careless parents; and woe unto you that had no more compassion and pity to prevent the everlasting misery of your own children.

Editor’s Note: This originally published at Christian Communicators Worldwide.

For The Church