Family Worship #10
Family Worship Guide
Sunday, May 17, 2020
SING
READ
Psalm 95:1-11 (ESV)
1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3 For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your fathers put me to the test
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known my ways.”
11 Therefore I swore in my wrath,
“They shall not enter my rest.”
WATCH
ASK
The Importance of Worship
Parents, ask your children, “Why do you sing?”
Share with them that according to the experts, singing has the power to alter our moods and invoke memories and feelings. Singing also provides an emotional release, a way to express our thoughts and feelings. We sing because something inside us needs to express something beyond words.
Q: How many times does the Psalmist use the word 'come' in the Psalm?
A: 3 times (v1, v2, v6)
“Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!”
–Psalm 95:1
Here, the word ‘come’ is appropriate for an invitation.
“Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!”
–Psalm 95:2
Here, the word ‘come’ means ‘to anticipate.’
“Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!”
–Psalm 95:6
Here, the word ‘come’ means ‘to enter.’
So we are invited to come, attend, anticipate His presence, and enter into the holy of holies where we can worship God.
I. How Should We Worship God?
Q: What are the two ways that we should worship God according to the Psalmist?
A:
- We worship God with our emotions and mind (vv1-2).
“1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!”
–Psalm 95:1-2 - We worship God with our wills (v6).
“Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!”
–Psalm 95:6
Q: In verses 1 and 2, what is the Psalmist inviting us to do?
A: Sing, make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation, and make a joyful noise with songs of praise.
Singing expresses human thought emotionally.
Q: What are the three things the Psalmist invites us to do in verse 6?
A: 1. Worship, 2. bow down, and 3. kneel.
“Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!”
–Psalm 95:6
These three acts point to the physical act of submission. They involve confession and repentance when we worship God. God is not only concerned with our emotions and mind when we worship, He is also concerned with our will when we worship.
“Before we move forward in worship or inward in discipleship or outward in evangelism, we must fall downward in repentance.“
Worship is valuing God. Parents, ask your children, “What do you value?”
Ask them, “How do you treat what you value?” Explain to them that worshiping God is valuing God above all things.
II. Why Should We Worship God?
Q: What are the two reasons mentioned by the Psalmist as to why we ought to worship God?
A:
- Because He is a great God (v3)
How great is our God?
He is the Creator of all things–from the depths of the earth to the heights of the mountains and to the depths of the sea. Creation points to the existence of God.
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.”
–Psalm 19:1God is greater than all of His creation
- Because He is our shepherd. (v6)He is our Shepherd in the fact that He leads us, guides us, and protects us. Can you imagine that the same God who rules the universe, who is greater than the highest mountain, who calms the raging seas, and is greater than its depth, is the same God who is leading those who have entered into a relationship with him?
“14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
–John 10:14-15
III. What Can Hinder Our Worship?
Q: According to the Psalmist, what can hinder our worship to God?
A: Disobedience and hardened hearts.
True worship is centered on the truth of God’s word.
The Psalmist reflects upon an incident in the wilderness concerning the people of Israel. That incident is mentioned in Exodus 17:1-7, where the people of Israel, lacking water, brought to Moses a complaint against God. God called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarreling of the people. The word Meribah means to dispute or quarrel and Massah means testing and tempting.
We must be careful not to dispute and argue with God concerning His will and thus harden our spiritual arteries. It is one thing to question God because we do not know what He is doing, but it is quite another thing to argue with Him because we think we know best.
PRAY
—Pray that your family can worship God with their emotions, minds, and wills.
—Pray thanking God for His greatness and for the fact that He is our Maker and Shepherd.
—Pray that we would not be disobedient and harden our hearts toward God.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Again, we’d like to direct your attention to our resources page for more info on family devotions.
Here are some coloring sheets, a word search puzzle, and a handwriting sheet that you can print out for your child. These are all meant to be aids to help you with your child(ren). Feel free to print some of these or all of these, whatever will work best for your specific child and his or her age.
