Our church has had a long tradition of the pastor hosting a children's sermon each Sunday. It generally is a time of teaching doctrine. Both adults and children seem to benefit from it greatly. These often have been what people comment on the most. Lately we have ventured into the need to teach children (and adults) about worship. Several have requested this publication of what is being taught in these lessons. I hope you will benefit from the following installments.
Elements of Worship for Baptist Children
A Note to Parents
When it comes to worship, every element of the “worship service” is to bring us to look unto God and the glory of His gospel. Too often we take the worship apart and think of it as parts rather than looking at the whole of worship. This mindset leads us to think of the music as worship, the giving as giving, and the preaching as preaching. It does not articulate that there may be something greater going on.
The goal of these articles is to help us see the parts as being a function of something greater. We need to look at the whole of the service, and to do that we will first look at the parts.
When properly done, worship begins at home, comes to church, and returns to our home, school, and workplace through out the week. And that is the wish of this writing, to help us all to be God centered worshippers, to get the most out of life, to fulfill the chief end of man. May we glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
As I write I write to children. Now I do not know of any child who reads a blog. So the presupposition is that as a parent you will read these articles, think them over, and use them in devotion times at home.
Devotions at home can play a significant part in the child accepting the Gospel as truth. Parents that participate in some form of honoring God only on Sunday will create a dichotomy for children. They will be apt to put “God in a box”. Rather as Deuteronomy 6 says,
And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deu 6:6-9)
In this way magnify the glories of God in every aspect of life. At the dinner table create discussions of God and His blessings and the scriptures that go with such love from God. When you drive home from the service, point out the interwoven glories of God. You may even want to hum or sing a song from that morning. When you pray with your children use scriptures from the sermon.
By making worship a part of the home life you make worship a part of your child’s life. Apart from this application the children will just not receive it. Thus the worship service at church is a great strength. Corporately the people of God worshipping at church illustrate the glories of God. This will guide you to live accordingly throughout the week.
Worship Begins at Home
Dear children, did you know that God created you to be in love with Him? He made you so that you could enjoy Him. He made you so that when you glorify Him you would be filled with the most joy you can have. It has been said that “The main reason people were made is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever”.
So in this book we are going to talk about how we worship God at church.
When we get to church we most likely do not automatically worship God. Worship is a condition of the heart. It is not an automatic response like switching on a light. Worship involves our thoughts, our emotions, and especially the condition of our heart. If we have sin in our heart it is hard to worship God. As a matter of fact, how we live at home has a lot to do with worship. We can begin to worship God on Sunday by making sure the night before we are prepared.
Just think, so you ever have bad dreams after watching a scary movie? What if you don’t sleep well? Have you ever gone to bed angry and woken up angry? You see the things we put in our mind before going to bed can affect our attitude the next day. It can affect our sleep. If we are tired we may be grumpy. Being tired does not make us have the sin of grumpiness, but it does open our hearts to sin easier.
What would Sunday worship be like if the night before we worshipped God. One thing you can do to get ready to worship God is to worship Him the night before. Your family can help you. After setting out clothes for church, so you can be on time, you should gather together. When your family is together you can sing, share praises, and pray. Remember how I said sin in our heart makes it hard to worship God? Well, you should take time to confess and repent of any sins you know about. This will let God clean your heart for worship. One of the best things you can do is share the stories of God in the bible. These are all things we do in worship at church that we are also supposed to do at home. You can read about this in Deuteronomy chapter 6.
