Family Worship Guide
“Grace” (1918)
The leadership at Westminster is committed to serving and enabling godly families in their pursuit of truth, obedience, and sanctification. We believe that the family is God’s design for people everywhere. Because of this, we are excited to offer you this resource to assist you in family worship. Look for a new guide every week.
Family Worship Guide
Scripture Reading:
#1. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen (Galatians 1:3-5)
#2. I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad andexult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. (Psalm 9:1-2)
Prayer of Praise to God: Refer to the verses above and hymn below.
Hymn: Speak O Lord
Speak O Lord Thy voice obeying, I will Thy commandments keep I will follow where Thou leadest, Tho’ the path be dark and steep.
Refrain: Speak O Lord Thy servant heareth, And I wait to do Thy will, Gladly I for Thee would labor, Would my task of love fulfill.
Speak O Lord behold I’m standing, Waiting at Thy holy throne, Thou hast only to command me, Henceforth I am all Thine own. [Refrain]
Speak and I Thy voice obeying, Gladly will Thy precepts keep, They will save my steps from straying, When temptations o’er me sweep. [Refrain]
Reading of the Law: Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:19-23)
Silent Confession of Sin/Confession of Sin: Grant, Almighty God, that as you urge us to daily repentance, and each of us is also stung with the consciousness of his own sins, – O grant, that we may not grow stupid in our vices, nor deceive ourselves with empty flatteries, but that each of us may, on the contrary, carefully examine his own life, and then with one mouth and heart confess that we are all guilty, not only of light offences, but of such as deserve eternal death, and that no other relief remains for us but your infinite mercy, and that we may so seek to become partakers of that grace which has been once offered to us by your Son, and is daily offered to us by His Gospel, that relying on him as our Mediator, we may not cease to entertain hope even in the midst of a thousand deaths, until we be gathered into that blessed life, which has been procured for us by the blood of thy only Son. Amen.
Reading of the Gospel: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)
Heidelberg Catechism: Lord’s Day 9
Q 26
What do you believe when you say,
“I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth”?
A. That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in
them, who still upholds and rules them by his eternal counsel and providence, is my God and Father because of Christ
the Son. I trust God so much that I do not doubt he will provide whatever I need for body and soul, and will turn to
my good whatever adversity he sends upon me in this sad world. God is able to do this because he is almighty God
and desires to do this because he is a faithful Father.
Prayer of Thanksgiving: Give thanks to God for all the blessings he has given you and the church
Supplication: Pray for the needs of those in our church and our country
Bible reading and commentary: 1 Corinthians 6:1-11
In these first 11 verses Paul confronts the problem in which some of the Corinthians are suing one another in
secular courts. Paul makes it clear that grace and holiness go hand in hand. As mutual heirs of God’s kingdom, we are
not free to bring lawsuits against fellow believers regarding property/financial disputes that can be settled in the
church. We are not free to “wrong and defraud” our brothers and sisters, or to engage in the various other forms of
self-indulgence named in verses 9-10. Paul’s concern is not for criminal cases. Even if a Christian feels he/she has
been wronged, taking a brother/sister to court before unbelievers is a scandal that does wrong to the unity of the
church.
Paul rebukes them for what they should already know. When the kingdom is consummated, God’s people will
participate with Christ in judging unbelievers and the angels. Therefore believers should not appeal to unbelievers in
this life to judge between Christians.
One problem that manifested itself in various ways in the Corinthian church was petty pride. Here Paul calls the
believers to be more willing to suffer wrong for the sake of the body than to see an injustice righted immediately and
ruin the testimony of the church. He has already reminded them of Judgment Day, when all things will be made right
after all is said and done. This therefore is not a tolerance for injustice, but Christian patience and hope.
Paul makes a stark contrast between pagans and the church to highlight the scandals addressed in Chapters 5-6,
and to call professing believers to repentance over sin. Those who do not turn from sin to God in Christ shall not
inherit the kingdom. They will have no place in God’s glory when Christ returns, but will suffer God’s wrath.
Paul reminds the Corinthian church again who they are in Christ and by the Spirit. Once we were mired in the
fifth of such sin, but now we are “washed, sanctified” (made fit for God’s holy purposes), and “justified” (made
righteous in Christ, and therefore heirs of God’s kingdom). God accomplishes this gracious work for us through “the
Lord Jesus Christ,” and in us “by the Spirit. When he does this work in us, we are given power for a new life, which
includes the desires and ability to repent when we hear stern warnings about sin and its consequences. Since we are
declared righteous by God with respect to the law, we must be who we are not what we used to be.
John Calvin from his Commentary on 1 Corinthians 6:9: By “unrighteous” we are to understand that which is
opposed to strict morality. Therefore unrighteous persons are those who inflict injury on their brothers and sisters,
who defraud or cheat others, who, in short, are intent on their own advantage to the injury of others. Such unrighteous
persons will not possess the kingdom of God. However, it goes without saying that the term “unrighteous” ----- such
as adulterers, thieves, the covetous, and revilers ----- refers to people who do not repent from their wickedness, but
obstinately persevere in their sins. And the apostle himself states this explicitly; when he says that the Corinthians
were once such as these. Wicked people do obtain the kingdom of God, but only if they have been first converted to
the Lord in true repentance and in this way have abandoned their wickedness. For although conversion is not the
cause of our pardon, nevertheless we know that none are reconciled to God unless they repent.
Note: Most Reformed commentators emphasize that the ‘unrighteous” are those who refuse to repent of their
wickedness. Christians are forgiven people, not perfect people. Rather than focusing on Paul’s expansive list of
Corinthian vices, most interpreters describe and celebrate God’s abundant grace by which sinners are washed,
sanctified, and justified through the death of Jesus Christ.
Finally, there are only two categories of people; saved (in Christ) or unsaved (in Adam). We cannot be in both at
the same time or flip back and forth. Once united to Christ, always united to Christ. So therefore repent and trust in
Christ.
Gloria Patri:
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise him, all creatures here below; Praise him above, ye heav’nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen
Closing Scripture: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
The Lord’s Prayer (together):
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in
heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against
us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the
glory, for ever and ever. Amen
Closing Hymn: Gloria Patri
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen. Amen.
Closing Scripture: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
The Lord’s Prayer (together): Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.