Theological term
Family Worship
6 sermons · All terms
2LCF - Introduction to the 1689 London Confession of Faith
The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith (properly the 1677 Confession) did not arise in a vacuum: it was a deliberate act of theological stewardship by particular Baptists who stood inside the Reformed Protestant consensus, followed the Westminster Assembly and the Savoy Declaration in structure and wording, and published their confession to correct heterodoxy, serve a new generation, and demonstrate solidarity with fellow persecuted Protestants. This introductory session reads the original epistolary preface to the confession in full and then surveys its argument under five headings — continuity, catholicity, candor, confirmation, and conversation — showing how the confessors understood creeds and confessions as the church's Berean effort to articulate what the Bible says, not to add to it. The session closes with a call to receive the confession in the same spirit in which it was written: not contention, but a whole-souled, humble, and Spirit-dependent owning of the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
The Propagation of Israel's Faith
Deuteronomy 6:6–9 commands Israel not merely to profess allegiance to the one true God but to propagate that truth — first by internalizing it personally, then by transmitting it diligently to children and grandchildren in both formal and informal settings. The passage is read against the wider covenantal structure of Deuteronomy and set in parallel with Ezra 7:10, Psalm 119, and Ephesians 6:4 to show that receiving, doing, and teaching God's word are inseparable obligations running across both covenants. The sermon presses home that teaching children the law and the gospel is not a specialist calling for the especially devout but a natural reflex of redemptive grace, as ordinary and non-negotiable as providing food and shelter. Parents are urged to establish modest, consistent patterns of family worship — Scripture reading, catechism, prayer, and informal covenantal conversation — as the primary means of inoculating children against the idolatry of the surrounding world.
The Elements of Family Worship
Deuteronomy 6:6–7 commands parents to teach God's word diligently to their children in every season of daily life, and this sermon traces that mandate across both Testaments — from Abraham's household religion in Genesis 18, through the Psalms and Proverbs, to Paul's charge in Ephesians 6:4 and the example of Timothy's mother and grandmother. The preacher argues that family worship is a clear biblical obligation whose specific form is left to the conscience, and that failure to instruct children in the fear of God — illustrated negatively by Eli and Samuel's sons — leaves them unguarded against a culture actively hostile to Christ. Fathers and mothers are exhorted to commit first to public Lord's Day worship, to honour the sanctification of the Sabbath, and then to establish a family altar consisting of Scripture reading, prayer, and singing — scaled appropriately for their household — as the primary means of passing covenant knowledge to the next generation.
The Worship of God in Private Families
Family worship — the regular practice of reading Scripture, praying, and singing with one's household — is grounded in a consistent biblical pattern running from Abraham in Genesis 18 through the Apostle Paul's commands in Ephesians 6. This topical survey traces the biblical warrant for family worship through key Old Testament figures and texts, examines the elements that should mark it, and presses the duty home with both positive examples and negative warnings. Parents and grandparents are called to diligent, consistent instruction of their children in law and gospel, with the sobering reminder that neglect — not busyness — is the real obstacle.
The Christian Mother
Proverbs 31:28–30 sets forth the fear of the Lord as the defining virtue of a godly mother — the root from which her influence, authority, and responsibility toward her children flow. The sermon works through four observations: her condition before God (saved by grace and walking in the fear of Yahweh), her God-given influence over her children, her God-given authority over her children (grounded in the fifth commandment), and her responsibility to instruct, set an example, and discipline them. Fathers are called to honor and encourage their wives, children to express gratitude, and mothers to persevere in a calling that is difficult, often thankless, and of the utmost importance.
The Purpose of the Proverbs
Proverbs 1:2–7 sets out both the purpose and the prerequisite of the entire book of Proverbs. The purpose is comprehensive — to impart wisdom, instruction, and just judgment to the simple, the young, the wise, and every condition of man — while the prerequisite is singular: the fear of the Lord, which is not a natural attainment but a gracious work of God in the soul. The fear of God is shown to be the epistemological foundation of all true knowledge, the animator of righteous conduct, and the preserver of the soul — available only through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the one greater than Solomon in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.