Sermon Leftovers: Psalms preparing us for worship

Bonus! You can watch today's post on youtube. 

Sunday I was blessed to preach the conclusion of our church's study in the Psalms for the summer. During the sermon there was one primary teaching point: The Psalms of Ascent were sung by God's people as traveling songs to worship. In other words, God's people worshipped on their way to worship. 

After the completion of the Temple in Jerusalem there became a central location for worship for the Old Testament family of God. As traveling families would leave their homes and draw closer to Jerusalem the Psalms of Ascent were sung. The praise and making much of God couldn't wait till the travelers had arrived at the Temple. God's people worshipped on their way to worship. 

The biggest application from Sunday's sermon was for us to follow the example of those who sung the Psalms, to worship throughout our lives, not just on Sunday mornings when we've gathered as God's church. I encouraged the congregation to pursue worship of God in the home, together as family units. In the bulletin we included a "Family Worship Guide" to help give some direction. 

I quoted a short story from Rev. Jason Helopoulos' book "A Neglected Grace: Family Worship in the Christian Home" to encourage those who may be reluctant. There are no doubt many challenges to getting together regularly and spending devoted time to meeting with God as individuals and families. Towards the end of his book Rev. Helopoulos gives several wonderful encouragements and words of guidance to those seeking to begin the practice of worshipping God in their homes:

"Today, there are very few individuals in the Western church who grew up worshipping in their homes, so most of us are starting from a limited knowledge base and with very little to absolutely no experience in family worship. Therefore, let's look at a few practical helps that may aid our families in this new journey." (Page 81) 

Rev. Helopoulos then goes on to outline several helpful practices, I've included a comment with each paragraph heading:

1. Find the best time 
1. Different families will find different times of day better suited for family worship
2. Same time 
1. Once you've found the best time, stick with it
3. Same place 
1. Find the best location for you and your family, for some it's a dining room, others it's a porch, others it's the living room, find the best place for you and your family.
4. Start slow 
1. Don't expect too much out of your family as this is a new thing for you, your spouse, your children. Don't try to read the whole book of Isaiah on day 1!!! Our suggested readings for this week are very short Psalms that are simple to read, and don't include many geographic places or names that may be difficult to pronounce or confuse.
5. Brevity 
1. Think about family worship in the big picture of things. Each day reading, praying, singing has an accumulative effect on yourself and your family. Don't think your family worship needs to be a certain lengthy period of time each day.
6. Make it a priority
1. If we are so busy with so many things that we cannot sit together as a family for 5-10 minutes each day, then we have seriously overbooked ourselves and our family. 
7. Be Flexible
1. Emergencies happen and some days our regular routine will be interrupted, that's ok! Time together as a family in worship is a gift and grace of God, not a law or an intrusion. 
8. Model the right attitude 
1. Others are always watching us, that includes our spouse and kids. If we are always upset, off-put, or seeing worship together as a hardship then of course the rest of our family will be impacted by our attitudes. Conversely, a joyful attitude that delights in time together in God's word, in song, and in prayer will also have an impact on our family. 
9. Perseverance
1. Keep at it! Distractions happen. At our dinner table where we typically have family worship there is almost always a hand raised to go potty, a babbling toddler, a phone dinging with texts, or a dog barking to be played with. Remember in the midst of interruptions and distractions the big picture. God is at work in your family through this process. 

In conclusion today I want to remind you (and myself) that as God has placed us in little family units he has also placed us in his big family unit. That showing hospitality to others is a key aspect of the Christian faith. There are some who have huge families with many children, grand-children, step-mothers and fathers. There are also some who have very small families, maybe just a single parent and child, or a single person. There are some who are orphans and who are widows and widowers. 

As we worship God together throughout the week, following the example of the Old Testament people of God, worshipping on our way to worship, we have a chance to join our voices together with others around us. As the travelers would leave their homes in the days of ancient Israel to walk the roads leading to the Temple in Jerusalem they would meet others along the way who were also going up to the Temple. They would then be able to join together, not just as one family, but as two, or three or more in their singing the Psalms along their journey. Eventually the procession of travelers would become quite the crowd filing into Jerusalem to celebrate and worship. This is also a picture for us as New Testament Christians. We worship in our homes as families, but we can also worship together as we invite one another over into our homes. We can show hospitality by feeding one another meals, and by feasting together on the Word of God read and our faith encouraged through song and prayer. 

You can find a copy of Rev. Helopoulos' book at any of the following links:

Amazon.com 

ChristianBook.com

Barnesandnoble.com