Household Worship - Part 11 - Participation

Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church

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Household Worship - Part 12 - Beyond Households

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All right, so today we're going to be looking at participation in household worship. Does everybody else have one?

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Okay, good. Yeah, that's fine. All right. Okay. Yeah, so a lot of the things we've focused on have been about leading household worship, naturally.

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If you know how to lead it, you can tell people how to participate in it, but it's good to go through a lesson on how to participate in household worship.

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All right, so first of all, you should start off with a gratitude for the blessing of household worship.

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So, belonging to a home with household worship is a great privilege if you consider how few people actually are in homes that have any kind of household worship.

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You know, I grew up in a home that had household worship through some seasons, but not many, and I still consider that a great blessing.

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That is probably, you know, like top fifth percentile of even Christian homes, you know, if not top, you know, of the world.

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Probably, you know, top, you know, 0 .1 % or something, out of anything at all. So that is, yeah, it is a great blessing, especially to have a family who is doing it regularly.

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So if you belong to a family who's regularly practicing household worship, yeah, count it an incredible privilege that God chose to place you in that home.

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Second Timothy 1 through 5 says, I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly, my prayers night and day, as I remember your tears.

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I long to see you that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother

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Lois and your mother Eunice, and now I am sure dwells in you as well.

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That is Paul speaking to Timothy. How is it that he became such an important figure in the church?

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How is it that he became such an important figure in the church? Well, it was through the blessings of a household that served the

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Lord. So maybe not even the whole household, but just a mother and a grandmother who passed on the faith to him.

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Belonging to a home with household worship warrants Thanksgiving. Psalm 104 says, enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.

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Give thanks to him, bless his name. Psalm 122 says, I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the

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Lord. These, of course, refer to corporate worship, yet at the same time is not the, you know, underlying truth here.

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Does that not apply to household worship? If you should go into God's courts with thanksgiving that you are able to enter into his presence to praise him, should it not be the case that you with thanksgiving praise him even in a home that is going to praise him?

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There's a quote from Oliver Haywood that was, I didn't want to write down on here, but I did want to quote at least.

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Let's see. Oliver Haywood said, give glory to God, admire his wise and gracious providence.

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It is not the lot of all young people. Think and say, Lord, who am I that I should enjoy this privilege?

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This is a blessed place and a place of blessings. This fleece is wet with dew when others are dry.

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This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. Blessed be God that has cast my lot here.

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So it is a, it is a cause for a lot of Thanksgiving. Belonging to a home with household worship implies a great responsibility as well.

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Luke 12 48 says, but the one who did not know it and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating.

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Everyone to whom much was given of him much will be required. And from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

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So yeah, it's not the case that, you know, it has zero implications for you. If you do not know what you're doing, if you are in a home that has household worship, that has implications for you.

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You are now, yeah, not only are you equipped with more that God is going to expect you to use and invest well, but it is also the case that you represent

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Christ's name in a special way now. Like if others discover, right, that you grew up in a home that had such blessings and you turned away from it, right, that indicates something about the goodness of God.

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If you were the closest to it and you were not interested in it, right, it brings dishonor to Christ's name.

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So it, yeah, there are a lot of implications for the obligations and responsibilities involved in being in a home that has household worship.

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Oliver Haywood says, God forbid you should be a scoffing Ishmael in an Abraham's house, profane

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Esau in Isaac's. A rebellious

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Absalom or an unchaste Ammon in holy David's family. You disgrace the ways of God more than others.

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When it shall be said, see what was brought up in a praying family, you greatly discredit your privileges and sink yourselves deeper in hell.

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God Almighty open your eyes, awaken your consciences, and reform your conversation, meaning the way you talk.

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That you may walk worthy of God, to all well -pleasing. Okay. All right, so yeah, it is a, it is a heavy responsibility that's implied with growing up in a home that has household worship.

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More will be required of you. Those will be things to give an account for on the day of judgment.

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Okay, engagement in household worship. Some obvious things but worth enumerating.

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Be physically present. Proverbs 18 1 says, whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire. He breaks out against all sound judgment.

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Yeah, it's a tendency of a lot of people to just want to hole up and be by themselves, to justify this through personal constitution.

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You know, oh, well God made me an introvert. Therefore, it's okay for me to behave in this isolated way. No, these things are sin.

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Even if you struggle with them more than other people, they are still sin, right? If someone has anger management issues, right, if God made them that way, that doesn't make it okay to punch holes in drywall or whatever the case may be.

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Yeah, be spiritually present as well. Hosea 6 6 says, for I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

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So it's not enough to, you know, just be there and go through the motions and sing, etc. It's also important to have your heart in it.

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Malachi 1 8 says, when you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil?

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Present that to your governor. Will he accept you or show you favor, says the Lord of Hosts?

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So if you think of our sacrifice as praise, as being analogous to the sacrifice of the Old Testament, what is it when you bring, you know, an empty heart to him and just kind of mouth off some words, etc.,

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right? These are, it is, yeah, it's similar to bringing a blind animal or a lame goat.

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You know, you wouldn't, yeah, you wouldn't want to bring a friend, a present that is, you know, already used, right?

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Oh, here's this thing I already used and, you know, it barely works anymore, and here you go.

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I don't want any more, but I'm gonna wrap it up and pretend like this is a great act of generosity on my part.

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No, that's not the case. All right, listen attentively. Nehemiah 8 3 says,

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And the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. This is the way you should listen to the reading of scriptures attentively.

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If at the end of it, you don't know what happened, that is on you. You should have been paying attention.

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Luke 8 18 says, Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has more, more will be given.

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And from the one who has, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away. Notice how, what it starts off with.

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Take care then how you hear. So it's not just enough to just sit there and hear the words. If you're, if you are under the blessing of hearing scripture, there's an obligation for how you hear scripture.

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It should be, yeah, with reverence and with an eagerness to follow

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God's law and obey him and trust in his truth and believe in his promises.

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Proverbs 4 20 through 21, My son be attentive to my words, incline your ear to my sayings, let them not escape from your sight, keep them within your heart.

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All right, same kind of thing. You want to hold on to the words that are, that are said to you. All right, next you want to pray clearly and sincerely.

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So first, listening has to do with the scripture reading. Now praying, pray clearly and sincerely. Matthew 6 7,

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And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

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Psalm 145 18 says, The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

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So it's not just calling on him, but calling on him in truth. First Corinthians 14 17,

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You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other one is not edified. We've gone through that a few times, what the implications of that are for prayer, that you should be praying clearly for the sake of others.

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But most of these things also apply even when you're following in prayer, even when you're praying along with someone who is speaking out loud.

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You are still supposed to be mentally engaged, not, not just sitting there, you know, letting the words go through one ear and out the other.

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You're supposed to be listening so that you can say the amen afterwards, so that you can affirm that.

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All right, you should sing loudly and sincerely. Ephesians 5 19, Addressing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the

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Lord with your heart. Okay, so your heart needs to be making melody, not just your mouth.

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A lot of people make melody with their mouth and no melody is going on in their heart. You've got to make melody with your heart as well. And also you are addressing others, so it should be loud.

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And then you should say the amen loudly. First Corinthians 4 16,

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Otherwise if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say amen to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying?

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Second Corinthians 1 20 says, For all the promises of God find their yes in him. This is why through him that we utter our amen to God for his glory.

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These two verses I include here, not because of the propositions in the verses, but because they are assuming that there is an amen in worship, right?

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Paul speaks as though they just know they are supposed to say amen in worship. This is not something that just comes at the end of prayers.

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That's a lot of times how we think of it. The amen is supposed to come at the end of every element of worship to affirm that your heart is in it, that you agree with it, that you affirm the scripture reading, that you that you trust in God's promises to answer this prayer, that you believe the words of the song you sung.

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That's why we sing amen at the end of the hymn. You don't necessarily have to say amen because you already sang it, but yeah, every every element of worship includes truths about God that the majority of people in the world reject.

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And so what you are doing by saying amen is putting your stake on that and saying, you know,

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I affirm this so the world does not. So you should say amen in worship at the end of the scripture reading, at the end of the hymn if you're not singing it already, and then at the end of the prayer.

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All right. Any questions about any of this before we move on to the next section? No? All right.

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Maintaining gravity of household worship. Okay, so you want to—yeah, go ahead.

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Yes. Yeah, I mean, yeah, and Oh, oh, right, like a

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Raspbian pronunciation. Sure. I mean, isn't the same in Hebrew too? Is it? Yeah. Yeah, it's the same in Hebrew too.

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Yeah, it's right. Yeah, and then transliterated into English.

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So it's, yeah, it's a Hebrew word. Yeah, and I guess we don't know the original pronunciation of any of those things, but yeah, and then people ask, why do we sometimes say amen and sometimes we say amen?

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That, I think, largely has to do with what you're used to hearing, and then too whether or not you're singing it in music.

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Because when you sing it in music, rounder vowels come out better.

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So that's why people tend to say amen in singing rather than amen, because you can get more volume and oomph behind an amen than you can an amen.

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That's why, you know, you listen to pop singers and why they sing their— well, not even pop singers, just any kind of singer, and they tend to sing vowels differently than they speak them.

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It's because everything shifts closer to an O sound in singing. If you're singing well, every vowel is going to shift closer to a big round O sound so that you can get more oomph behind it.

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All right. Maintaining the gravity of household worship. Begin household worship with right affections.

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Psalm 95 2 says, Thomas Doolittle says,

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Yeah, this is true for corporate worship as well, that you should I mean, this is why we've started taking, you know,

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I always say, you know, let's take a moment to prepare our hearts for worship because we should be entering into worship with some level of gravity, making that transition beforehand rather than after worship has started.

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Right? And of course, you know, in the day -to -day of the household, there might not be as much time for that.

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So yeah, when you come to household worship, like be ready to begin worship with your heart in the right place knowing that you are about to worship

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God, and that is a sincere thing with a lot of gravity. All right.

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Let's also talk about continuing household worship with right affections. Luke 10 4a. But Martha was distracted with much serving.

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Okay, so she's distracted. A lot of people get distracted in household worship, especially kids, right?

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You know, they see other things. Their mind goes elsewhere. Even as adults, your mind goes elsewhere to the duties you have.

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It's important to stay focused on what is happening in household worship. Romans 12 11.

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So some examples of ways that this can happen. You know, in between the different elements, you know, in between the reading and the singing, in between the singing and the praying, it's usually a little bit of a gap.

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And if you don't have your hymnal on the ready, like a lot of times our kids haven't already gotten the hymnals out.

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So they go and they get the hymnals. They go and they grab their, you know, ukulele or whatever, and then they, oh, then it's not tuned.

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Then you just get tuned. And so there's all kinds of distractions, right? And then conversations start in the middle.

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It's like, whoa, this is still worship. This is not like, let's talk about this other thing, you know, that you're interested in, and then we'll get back to worship in a minute.

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Yeah, so go ahead and have, if you have, depending on what your role in the household is, you know, if you have some duty or if you have, or if you're supposed to already have a hymnal ready or whatever the case may be, have those things ready so that the transition is simple and that you don't have to yeah, so there's not temptations to get distracted and do other things.

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Also, I think I've mentioned before that in our house, we started kneeling for the prayers and standing for singing.

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And so that's something where, you know, if you have a rule like that in your household, just do it quickly.

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Don't wait until, you know, 30 seconds after the prayers have started that you go ahead and kneel down, you know, just be ready for the transitions so that that is, that is maintaining the gravity of it.

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Be engaged. Be engaged in it. It's supposed to be something engaging. And then end to household worship.

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Worship with right affections. Luke 18, 14 says, The implication of the tax collector being that it's not just that he humbled himself out the temple and then went back with the heart that he had beforehand.

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Like he went back with the humble heart. He left having been a changed man. Right? And so you should leave worship also with, with a sense of the, of the gravity of what happened.

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I would encourage you also, like just even in corporate worship, while you definitely want to, you know, talk to people, and I always try to rush to meet visitors before they go, don't think, okay, well, this is over.

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Let's just immediately go to, you know, talking about sports games or whatever the case may be.

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Right? You want to, yeah, not so quickly throw away what was just proclaimed.

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All right. Heeding self -improvement in household worship.

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I might be going a bit faster than I thought I would. Any questions about this so far? Okay. All right.

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Heeding self -improvement in household worship. Okay, so yeah, you should be improving in your household worship.

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You should not just be thinking, it's just something you're a consumer of. Right? That's how a lot of people treat worship is they're just a consumer.

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They're just, they're getting things. No, you are supposed to be growing and giving, and it is something you are doing.

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So be faithful in secret worship. Psalm 91 .1. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the

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Almighty. Yeah, you should, you should dwell in the shelter of the

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Most High. You should spend time in His presence, even on your own. Matthew 6 .1,

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of course. Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for you will have no reward for your

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Father who is in heaven. If you are just present in family worship, in public worship, but not in your own private worship, there's no reward for that.

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Also, the more you are studying the Word, the more you are going to be able to benefit from the Word as it's explained.

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You know, I'm in my, we're in our fifth reading through the scriptures, and I can tell that, you know, a lot of the kids are getting more out of it now because they know the

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Bible a lot better than they did before, and so they're able to make connections from one parts to other parts.

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You know, the other day I asked, does this particular passage remind you of anything? You know, that anyone who touches the altar is holy, or anything that touches the altar is holy.

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And, you know, one of the kids mentioned that, oh, people who, the woman who touched Jesus's garment was healed.

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And so, you know, they're able to make those connections. And otherwise, the scripture about the altar would not be nearly as profitable without those connections.

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So you cannot, yeah, you can't benefit from family worship as much if you do not know the scripture on your, uh, and, and you're not going to get it that much from just from public worship and family worship.

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You should also, you shouldn't rely on that anyway. You should also be studying the scriptures on your own.

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It doesn't have to be, uh, I mean, hopefully it would be long and deep if you are called to that, but it doesn't have to be long and deep depending on your calling in life.

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But you should be faithful to stay in the word and meditate on it. There are many people throughout the history of the world who did not have the capacity to even read.

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So I'm not even saying necessarily. Now, you are a person of privilege. You can read and has a

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Bible, you know. You should be able to, uh, spend time really reading the

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Bible, and you have all kinds of, uh, all kinds of conveniences that make you have a lot of free time in the day.

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So I'm not necessarily giving you too many excuses here, but I'm trying to say that, uh, there have been plenty of times where people have not been able to read, but they have been faithful by just meditating on what scripture they do know and having memorized it to think about the implications for their life.

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So, yeah, to be faithful is not necessarily to spend inordinate amounts of time studying the word, but it is to take it seriously.

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We are on, uh, be holy, be holy. James 1 26, if anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.

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You know, religion usually referring to, uh, you know, the ceremonial worship, right? Uh, religion is pure and undefiled before God.

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The Father is just to visit orphans and widows in their affliction to keep oneself unstained from the world. So, yeah, religion that is just formal ceremony is not, not sufficient in the

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Lord's eyes. You must have a heart that, uh, loves. You must be holy.

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Uh, 2 Timothy 2 21 through 22. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

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So flee useful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the

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Lord from a pure heart. All right. Yeah, this is a pretty sobering passage.

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I find this a fairly, uh, unique passage in scripture for some reasons, but, yeah, you are, and I think part of the reason

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I find this unique is because usually we think of, and it is right to think of this, I mean, sanctification is a work of God.

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He is the one who prepares people for holy use. It's not us preparing ourselves. Yet, if you think it is just him in a way that is not, uh, bringing the wholeness of scripture, then you will justify inaction as though, oh, well,

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God has not moved me to greater things, so therefore I should, um, therefore I'm totally justified in my inactivity and my complacency.

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The complacency of fools destroys them, Proverbs 1 32 says. You ought to recognize that, um, you can be made purer for more holy uses, and there are actions you may take along those lines.

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You know, disentangling, uh, in what sense is this a work of God? In what sense is this a work of man?

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Uh, this, these can be done to some degree, but, uh, keep in mind these are the same questions that Arminians would ask

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Calvinists about, uh, about things like, uh, you know, faith and repentance and stuff, and we would have, we would all see those questions as, um, you know, designed to deflect, like, just the plain biblical truth that, that, well,

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God is sovereign. You are still to repent and believe. You know, these are not, this one's not an excuse to not do the other, right?

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And so, yeah, let us, just with the same kind of attitude that we do with the gospel itself and, you know, man's responsibility itself, just say, yes,

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God is the one who sanctifies us, uh, but we are still called to do precisely what it says here in 2

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Timothy. Cleanse ourselves from what is dishonorable, to be vessels of honorable use, ready for every good work.

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You know, who knows what God may call you to in the future and, or could call you to in the future, right?

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And if you've prepared now for that time and you are ready, then that is a, uh, yeah, that is a great honor.

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If you do not prepare yourself, right, and you've made yourself a vessel for dishonorable use, right, and then comes that time where there was an honorable opportunity and you are not ready for it, there's no honor to be had in that.

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All right, and then, uh, learn if you are to help lead a household in the future. So, you know, regardless of whether you be, uh, one day you'll be a father or mother or whatever the case may be, if you're a participant in household worship, don't just, uh, participate without an eye toward your future.

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You know, uh, you kids involved and sitting there in household worship, you should be picking up on things.

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You probably will without even thinking about it, but if you do it more proactively, there's a good benefit in that to, um, uh, to think, okay, these are the kinds of things that I want to do in my home when

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I'm older. These are the kinds of things that I think could be improved. You know, you should be not thinking, um, you know, judgmentally or critically about your parents, but you should be thinking along those lines, preparing for the future when you have your own home.

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You should not be just, uh, looking at the present, uh, you know, caught in the moment, not thinking about what responsibilities you will have in the future.

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All right, and then, uh, Proverbs 1 .5 says, Let the wise hear an increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance.

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Yeah, so you should be, uh, you should be growing in these things. All right, any questions about, about any of that, that section?

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All right, let's keep going then. Um, all right, how about being faithful with an unfit head of household?

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Uh, there's another quote I want to give. So this is not an unbelieving head of household, but just one who is, uh, unfit for worship.

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Um, there was one question, I think Thomas Paget had, uh, written this one down.

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A lot of times, uh, these older books are written in terms of questions and answers.

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They're almost written like long catechisms. You look at things like, you know,

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Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica and things like that. They're all, they're all written as, uh, questions and answers.

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The question here is, if the householder or master is loose and careless and possibly comes home under the influence of liquor, yet will pray, though in no fit case for it, or he is unsound at heart and prays but coldly or formally, may

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I join? So it's asking the question, okay, what if, what if the one leading household worship is unfit for household worship?

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Is it okay for me to join into it? Um, yes, it is okay to join in poorly led worship.

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Knowing your responsibility to worship with the right heart is your own. Uh, Galatians 6 .5, for each will have to bear his own load.

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Romans 14 .12. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Uh, if you're familiar with the

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Donatist controversy that happened around Augustine's time in the 5th century, that was a question of, if someone was found to apostatize or they were to deny

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Christ, specifically a priest were to do that, what does that mean for the

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Lord's Supper or baptism? If I was baptized by that priest and it turns out he wasn't a true believer, if I was taking the

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Lord's Supper from that priest and it turns out he wasn't a believer, does that invalidate my baptism?

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Does that invalidate my, my participation in communion? And the answer that came out of that controversy is, is no.

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And I forgot to write down the Latin terms, but there's, there's famous Latin terms that are attached to this ex, ex opera operantis, you know, from the, from the worker of the, of the one worked versus from the working of the worker.

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I forget. Anyway, the question is what, where does the power of, of these things come from?

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Uh, it comes from God through faith, right? So you, um, and think about how that question goes.

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Uh, if you, if you're asking that question, well, does that invalidate it? Well, then you also have to ask about laying on of hands, you know, does that invalidate the ordination of another priest?

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And what if there was a guy, five guys back who later denied the faith, but he laid hand on the priest, laid hand on the priest, laid hand on the priest, laid hand on on the priest that gave me communion?

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Then, you know, is, uh, you know, is that, uh, does that invalidate it? Well, the answer is no, uh, because yeah, true worship is, um, yeah,

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God honors true worship from the heart. Uh, these things do not find their power in the one who is, who is administering them.

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All right. However, you should not join in blasphemous worship. You know, if there's a song that's being sung that's singing, uh, evil things, right?

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Or, or, uh, yeah, denying truths about God, you know, there are songs, uh, praising like the

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Arminian version of free will or whatever, right? Like if you, there are things that are false, uh, you shouldn't, you shouldn't sing that.

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You shouldn't, uh, yeah, you shouldn't affirm prayers by saying amen if they are, if they are prayers that are contrary to God's will.

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So you should not join in blasphemous worship. Now, you can be present for it, but you should not join in it in the way that you would, uh, yeah,

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I mean, I guess if the whole thing is blasphemous, you wouldn't want to join in that, but if a particular aspect of it is blasphemous, you should not participate that in whatever capacity you would otherwise participate in it.

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Leviticus 24 16 says, This is just to point out that blasphemy is evil, obviously, but, um, very evil.

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Ephesians 5, 11 through 12, So you should deal with it by, uh, by following just the steps in scripture, which would start off with privately addressing the head of household for any serious sins in worship.

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Um, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you've gained your brother. Remember, if you are for both believers in Christ, even though one may be a father and the other son, you're both brothers, and it is totally appropriate for you to, uh, yeah, address your father or your mother, um, with their sins.

32:25

Okay, so these are, these are how you would deal with these things. Any other questions or hypotheticals about? Yes. Oh, from the

32:44

Mormon church. Interesting. Yeah, so there's a few ways you could ask that question.

33:00

One is, you're asking, is it okay? Like, there's, there's different things. As the administrator of worship, would it be wise for me to play these things?

33:09

Like, I assume you're talking about the, the Mormon tabernacle choir version of a traditional Christian hymn.

33:15

That it, the hymn's good, but the people singing it are kind of tainting it. Yeah, right.

33:21

And then, uh, so yeah, as a, as someone administrating worship, that would be very unwise to, uh, to associate with false religion to, um, to promote false, uh, yeah, false teachers.

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Who, um, by, uh, yeah, by promoting their music. That's one of the reasons why, you know,

33:42

I don't think people should sing Bethel and Hill song stuff. There's the content of the music itself, which can be evaluated.

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But even if you find a song that is, uh, that is good, do you even want to put your stamp of approval on that?

33:56

And then, um, yeah, but you look at our own hymnal and there are, there are hymns written by heretics in there.

34:03

I don't, I don't choose all the, some of the hymns that I do not choose are because I don't necessarily want to associate, uh,

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I don't necessarily want us singing songs from that person, even though most people would consider that okay, acceptable, because it is so far in the past that you're not promoting a living, you know, movement or anything.

34:23

Right? Like, for example, um, there was one song that we were looking at recently, thinking about singing, but it was written by Henry Ware, who is, um, he was, he was someone at Harvard, by the way, if you didn't know, like all the, uh, all those

34:36

East Coast Ivy League schools, they all started off as seminaries, right? And Harvard was like the Unitarian one.

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It quickly became the one that was known for, you know, denying the Trinity, and Henry Ware was like one of the chief guys at that.

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And I was like, oh wow, we've got a song by Henry Ware in our hymnal. That's crazy. Um, so yeah, it shows not to, let's not sing that one, even though most people probably wouldn't have even noticed her or, um, uh, yeah, looked at who the author of the hymn is if we had done that.

35:06

So, okay, so that's for administration. For participating, I would be, as a participant,

35:12

I would be gracious and sing anything that is not itself blasphemous, you know, while recognizing, well, it would be, it's unwise to make these associations or to promote or to suggest a promotion of this false teacher in this way, but so long as I'm not asking to be done, to do something sinful myself,

35:30

I will participate in it. And that's kind of necessary for participating in worship in general.

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If you are someone of any real, um, well, not any real.

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If you're someone who goes deep, deep in God's word and really cares about his worship, it is almost certain you will encounter times where you think that your pastors might not be doing something in the wisest way, right?

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And the correct response to that is not to just like, you know, kick against the goats and rebel like as much as possible.

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Uh, in any of those circumstances, but to be gracious and to, uh, yeah, and to participate, even if you think that song isn't the deepest song or that song, right?

36:12

Like there's, there's some songs that are pretty repetitive, right? You think that song's too repetitive. If I were in charge,

36:18

I wouldn't have chosen that for worship. There's nothing sinful about singing it, so go ahead and sing it, even if it might have been wrong to have chosen it to be sung.

36:27

Yeah. All right. So when you're in your situation, like if you're singing along with a,

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I don't know, let's say, uh, you're in a household that decides to play music, play audio so that you're able to follow along easier and you're not just doing it acapella or whatever, and you're playing from the

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Morbin Tabernacle Choir, I would go ahead and, and it's, but it's a true Christian song, you know, I would go ahead and sing along with it.

36:55

All right. And being faithful with an unbelieving head of household.

37:03

So different situation. Okay. So first of all, observation, this is a common thing that is, that exists, right?

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Is households with unbelieving heads. Philippians 4 .22, a pretty famous one.

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All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. All right. So you've got a group of saints in Caesar's household.

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Part of what makes these questions interesting, too, is thinking about older times, right, where a lot of households were larger, right?

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Our households tend to be very small. So if you have a believer in an unbelieving household, often they are just an individual, right?

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But a lot of times there are multiple of them, and so there are more questions about coordinating and things like that, to which degree is it, would it be, like, rebellious to coordinate and have worship ourselves, etc.

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All right. So many households have been blessed by believing members.

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So second observation is that believers can be a good blessing to unbelieving households.

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Genesis 39 .5, from the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the

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Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake. The blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in house and field.

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1 Peter 3 .1, talking about disobedient husbands. So it's not necessarily talking about—this applies to things broader than unbelieving husbands, but it does include unbelieving husbands here.

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1 Peter 3 .1, likewise, wives be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won over without a word by the conduct of their wives.

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Okay, so those are the two starting observations. First of all, this is a common situation or a frequent situation.

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And secondly, that it is a tenable situation in the sense that we see lots of examples where God has blessed a situation because there is a believer in an unbelieving household.

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Okay, so just starting off with those two observations, now the directions. Repent if you came to this condition by your own doing.

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You should not willingly join in a household that is led by an unbeliever.

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2 Corinthians 6, 14 through 15. You know,

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I believe this is talking specifically about joining in false worship together, but the implications are much broader than that.

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If you— if your main objective is to serve the Lord and your main situation in life is going to either help you or hurt you in that, to ally yourself with others who have the same goal or not, ought you not exclusively join with believing households, right?

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Households led by a believer? Yeah, you should. So think about the different ways that you could have come into that condition, right?

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If you are yeah, if you are someone in need and you— someone else welcomed you into their home, but they're an unbeliever, maybe you ought not to accept that hospitality because of what the implications will be.

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If you are obviously a wife who—or a woman who is thinking about marrying an unbelieving man.

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It's very common, right? Don't do that. Repent, and if you came about—if you came to that condition because of your obstinance and thinking, oh, this will work out anyway, you know, repent of that.

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Also, obviously, we've been talking about masters and slaves too, right? If you're a servant in a house that is not a believing household, you're a living servant in that way.

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Another thing to repent of. Depart? Yes. Yeah, no, it is a good question, right?

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If you put yourself yeah, if you put yourself in a situation where you have to do evil things, obviously you should be repenting of that.

41:29

I guess there's the broader question of should this apply so absolutely to companies? I would say no because they don't operate quite like households and you have a lot more freedom, but I think

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I've observed in the past that I'm not sure that this is how it should be. You know, I have a lot of questions about the way the industrial revolution changed, the way the world works, and how most of productivity is not happening in homes, but outside of homes and what implications that has for things.

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I'm not saying that all of that is necessarily a bad thing, but it certainly complicates these questions that were primarily centered around households.

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So, yeah, you should be asking yourself, you know, am I going to have to participate in anything evil or does it take me away from things that are good unnecessarily?

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All right, and then depart if it is within your own power.

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Number 1626, and he spoke to the congregation saying depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men. Touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.

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First Corinthians 721, were you a bond servant when called? Do not be concerned about it. But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.

42:44

Right, and remember this is in the context of mixed households, right? First Corinthians 7 starts off talking about the situation where you know, you might be married to an unbeliever.

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So, yeah, if you, if you don't have the ability, that's a tenable situation, like we said, you know,

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God can bless the circumstances, but if you are able to leave, you should take that opportunity to leave, right?

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If you're a wife and you're bound by your vows, you can't leave. If you are, you know, some kind of indentured servant, obviously this is not a common situation that you, today, but you have no way of departing, then you can't.

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But if you can, you should. Second Corinthians 617, therefore go out from their midst and be separate from them, says the

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Lord, and touch no unclean thing, then I will welcome you. All right, so you should pray also for the reformation of the household.

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Pray for the salvation of the head of household. Jeremiah 13, 17, but if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride.

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So this is Jeremiah calling the people to true worship, and then if the nation will not engage in true worship, he weeps in secret for their pride.

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So yeah, in your secret worship, you should be praying for the salvation of your head of household. Something that I have done recently is considered all the authorities over me.

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Maybe not all, given, you know, how massive Congress is, but considering some of the more direct authorities over me and kept them in my prayer list.

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You know, I've looked in—if you all know what Workday is, some of you do— like the HR tool that a lot of companies around here use.

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I've looked at my reporting chain. You know, I've written them all down in my prayer journal. You know, I pray for their salvation.

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Even though, like we've just observed, it's not an authority structure that's united to the household the way it used to be.

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I still think there are some implications, and I've started praying for, you know, my manager, his manager, his—her manager, you know, etc.

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all the way up to the CEO. Okay. Worship with others in the household if you are able.

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Consider Esther 416. Remember, she has an unbelieving head of household. Go gather all the

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Jews to be found in Susa and hold a fast on my behalf. This is Esther speaking. And do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my young women will also fast as you do.

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So she's going to gather other people with her to engage in household worship, right? That's what fasting is, right?

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It's—it's a worshipful act together. It involves prayer. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish,

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I perish. All right, 1 Kings 18 .13. Has it not been told my

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Lord that I did what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, and how

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I hid a hundred men of the Lord's prophets by fifties in caves and fed them with bread and water?

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This is the servant Obadiah hiding from Ahab, hiding these prophets from Ahab and Jezebel.

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not Not—not exactly household worship, but consider what's going on, you know. He is a servant in Ahab, you know, this rebellious man's house, and does he uphold true worship, even though it is contrary to his master's wishes?

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Yes, he does uphold true worship contrary to his master's wishes by hiding the prophets. Okay, so that's—that's why

46:19

I'm bringing out this verse. I know I—I know some of these verses are like the tangential relation isn't always obvious, and I'm not always explaining it, but this is—yeah, this is why

46:29

I have this one in here. So, yeah, it is good to worship with others if you are able to do so.

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You should do that. Find the other believing members of the household and worship with them. Remain faithful in secret worship and public worship, so both by yourself individually and with corporate worship at large.

46:48

There are a lot of people who have chosen not to worship publicly because their head of household does not like that.

46:56

There was a woman who a long time ago came here who would not always be here because her husband did not want her to come to church.

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Right? And, you know, my encouragement to her was, you know, if you— I mean, this sounds like a hard thing to say to someone who, you know, has a—has a husband who is an unbeliever and very hostile, but, you know, if you perish, you perish.

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Like, just go serve the Lord faithfully by joining in public worship. This is not something that you should neglect.

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Even though it may be harder for you than it is for others, like this is what God has called you to. So be faithful in secret worship.

47:35

Be faithful in public worship, even if there is no household worship. Acts 5 29, but Peter and the apostles answered,

47:43

We must obey God rather than men. This is just—I mean, this is such a simple truth, but a lot of people have trouble applying it.

47:53

Like, that's just one of those circumstances. Your husband says, no, you cannot go to church. Like, just go to—go to church anyway.

48:00

If he's—if he's an unbelieving, you know, like, if he's saying, you know, I want you to go to this church rather than that church,

48:05

I'm not saying, well, I'm gonna go to the church I like more. No, but yeah, if he's saying, do not gather with the saints to worship, and God has called you to gather with saints in worship, this is— this feels complicated to people.

48:17

It is not. Just obey the Lord rather than man, right? You know, it's interesting when

48:23

COVID happened and everything, right? Same thing. It's like, oh, who do we obey? Do we obey man or the Lord? Yeah, obey the

48:28

Lord rather than man. Matthew 10, 34 to 36. Like, this is—this is expected.

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You know, this is— this is something Christ said he came to do. A lot of people approach this stuff as, oh, this is not ideal.

48:55

This is not what— like, they think of it as some kind of situation that God didn't intend or is like some wild, you know, providence that few people have to deal with.

49:05

No, this is—this is in some sense a norm that Christ expected is for households to be divided on—on the faith.

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So, you should come into it with that expectation that this is—this is not something outside of the plan of God.

49:24

This is not something outside of his— of the norm that saints would have to deal with or that—or burden or sacrifice that others would not be called to.

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You should see it as something that saints—yeah, the saints are called to. And you should also count it a privilege.

49:42

You know, most people do not have the opportunity to face such difficult things that they will for all eternity be recounting how

49:49

God worked through you to obey despite difficult circumstances. It is a—just like the disciples did in Acts.

49:55

You know, they rejoiced that they were counted worthy of the honor of persecution.

50:02

Galatians 6 .4, But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.

50:11

Okay, so yeah. Your reason for boast will not be in your neighbor, your head of household, or anything.

50:17

It'll be in yourself. Well, it'll be the

50:22

Lord in yourself. But yeah. All right. And then, of course, refuse to engage in false worship, right?

50:29

If it's not just an unbelieving head of household, but someone who practices a false religion, do not— do not participate in the false religion.

50:37

Daniel 3 .18, But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.

50:45

You know, famous scene with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They will not participate in the false worship.

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And remember, they're part of Nebuchadnezzar's household, or at least they were at one point.

50:58

And at this point, they're maybe they're delegated servants elsewhere, but they've— yeah, they're kind of operating under his authority, and they are refusing to participate in false worship.

51:12

There's also another interesting scene in scripture where um yeah,

51:19

Naaman, the leper, is healed.

51:25

Let me go ahead and look that up. Yeah, where Naaman, the leper, is healed, and Elisha— yeah,

51:42

Elisha has healed him by, you know, telling him to wash in the Jordan River. And one of Naaman's concerns, now that he recognizes that the

51:51

God of Israel is the true God, is how does he deal with the fact that he has to worship in his master's temple, in the house of Rimen, right?

52:00

Rimen being the false god. And specifically because his master is feeble, and he has to like—his master requires that he holds his arm and, you know, helps him kneel down.

52:12

And so he has to kneel down because his master has to kneel down, right? I'll read the passage to you.

52:20

Then he returned to the man of God and all his company, and he came and stood down—stood before him. And he said, Behold, I know there is no

52:26

God in all the earth but in Israel. So accept now a present from your servant. But he said, As the Lord lives, before whom

52:31

I stand I will receive none. Then he urged him to take it, but he refused. Then Naaman said, If not, please let there be given to your servant two mule loads of earth, for from now on your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but the

52:45

Lord. Okay, so he's asking for two mule loads of earth from Israel. Okay, so dirt.

52:51

It's not clear why at first. In this matter, may the Lord pardon your servant when my master goes into the house of Rimen to worship there.

53:00

And remember, Naaman is also one of the— we're going to read about him eventually when we get there in 2

53:08

Chronicles, but he's one of the generals directly under the king. And he—yeah, so he's honoring the king basically.

53:17

When my master goes into the house of Rimen to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow myself in the house of Rimen, when I bow myself in the house of Rimen, the

53:24

Lord pardon your servant in this matter. He said to him, Go in peace. So Elijah responds, Go in peace.

53:29

In other words, you can have the two mule loads of earth. So that— what does this mean?

53:35

Why two mule loads of earth? Well, it seems if he knows there's no god but the God in Israel, he's going to take part of Israel with him, put it on the ground there, so that when he kneels down, he's not kneeling down in Syrian territory.

53:49

He's kneeling down in Israel territory, worshiping the true God, even though he's in the house of a false god.

53:55

Okay, so this is like the provision he has to not—that Elisha has granted him. Okay, you will not be said to be worshiping falsely in a false religion if you do this.

54:07

So, anyway, that's an interesting passage that we have in scripture where someone feels bound for a number of reasons to participate in false worship and where they find a way to not engage in false worship, but engage in true worship instead.

54:25

I'm going to actually add that to my notes because I feel like this is a pretty good example of this sort of thing.

54:49

Okay, any questions? If not, we will go ahead and close in prayer.

55:00

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your guidance to us and how to participate in worship. I pray that you would help us to be excellent worshipers of you, both those who lead worship and those who participate and follow in worship.

55:12

I pray that today, as we all worship you together, that our worship would be sincere with hearty amens.