What then is the first key to a Christian family's spiritual health?...Simply, the first and primary key to your family's spiritual health is a commitment to the weekly public worship services of the church. The most important single commitment you have to make to ensure your family's spiritual well-being is to regular, consistent attendance at public worship.More and more I'm convinced that Terry Johnson is 100% right there. I grow in this confidence weekly, if not daily. I see the positive (and negative) proof in my life and the lives of others. I see people, families, souls destroyed by lack of this commitment; and people, families, and souls built up, restored, and made whole--not to mention holy--by this commitment. [N.B. please note he said "services"--that's plural, that's all of 'em]
Sound far-fetched? I'll say it even stronger. I have yet to meet a person for whom it could not be said that all of his problems, personal, marital, familial, or vocational would not be solved by such a commitment. I do not believe that the person for whom this is not true exists. By saying so, I do not minimize the seriousness of the problems that people face. Rather I maximize our confidence in the power of the gospel. So I'll say it again: we do not know of anyone of whom it could not be said, if only he were in worship week in and week out, fifty-two weeks a year, year after year, his problems would be basically solved.
It's not the programs, it's not the conferences, special speakers, books, events, CDs...it's not the "WOW! Factor." Nothing zippy or dramatic that brings lasting spiritual growth. It's the ordinary stuff.
Ordinary Means. (not ordinary as in dull, ordinary as in normal) Church attendance; the Word read and preached; baptism; the Lord's Supper; prayer; singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs; fellowship and discipline. The routine, the week-in and week-out work of the Church. That's how Christian people, Christian families, Christian disciples are built.
Yesterday was one of those days that underlined this for me. Highlight of the day was something I'd long prayed for: a new family in our church repented of their former Baptist life and had the remainder of their household baptized. In the morning, our pastor preached a decent sermon (not his best, but decent). In the evening, our seminarian gave our pastor some much needed time off to care for himself and a sick family and delivered an okay exhortation (some improvement there...but far to go). Singing of great songs of the faith. Lots of fellowship--the relaxed chit-chatty kind, the encouraging kind, the iron sharpening iron kind. Sadly, no Lord's Supper this week--that would've sealed it as a perfect day--we're still a 1x a month. But hey, we'll get there...
And now, because of that, I have no doubt that I can get through this many deadline/little sleep/many miles of travel/big stress week without a scratch.
Glory to God for the ways he takes care of His own with the ordinary things.
4 comments:
"Repented of their former Baptist life?"
Hard to swallow, that!
Thanks for that reminder. We forget the importance of the "monotonous" I'm afraid. I really like that quote, hard to believe it is that simple.
"Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God."
"Sadly, no Lord's Supper this week--that would've sealed it as a perfect day--we're still a 1x a month. But hey, we'll get there..."
I'm curious why you said this.
heh, you really expect me to take the bait on that and start another big controversy? :>
I'll just say I think Calvin got it right on frequency. And as a postie, I'm optimistic that even this congregation will come around some day.
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