Since the gospel is the Word of God rather than the word of man, come to church looking for God. Teach your children that ministers are God’s ambassadors who bring you the Word of God (2 Cor. 5:20; Heb. 13:7). Manton wrote, “So much preparation there must be as will make the heart reverent. God will be served with a joy mixed with trembling.” [Manton, James, 146 (James 1:21).]
First, before coming to God’s house to hear His Word, prepare yourself and your family with prayer.
As the Puritans were fond of saying, we should dress our bodies for worship and adorn our souls with prayer. Pray for the conversion of sinners, the edification of saints, and the glorification of God’s triune name. Pray for children, teenagers, and the elderly. Pray for ears to hear and hearts to understand. Pray for yourself and your family, saying: “Lord, how real the danger is that we will not hear Thy Word as we should! Of the four kinds of hearers in the parable of the sower, only one kind heard properly. Focus our minds, Lord, to concentrate fully on Thy Word as it comes to us so that we may not hear the Word and yet perish. Give us faith to hear and profit from it. Let Thy Word have free course in our hearts. Let it be accompanied with light, power, and grace.
Pray that your minister will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to open his mouth boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel (Eph. 6:19). Pray for an outpouring of the Spirit’s life-giving, illuminating, and convicting power to work through God’s ordinances in the fulfillment of His promises so your entire family is motivated for good (Prov. 1:23).
Second, stress the need for every family member to come with a hearty appetite for the Word.
A good appetite promotes good digestion and growth. Peter says, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Pet. 2:2). A good appetite for the Word means having a tender, teachable heart (2 Chron. 13:7) that asks, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6). It is foolish to expect a blessing if we come to worship with unprepared, unbelieving, hardened hearts. [Watson, Body of Divinity, 377.]
Third, discipline yourself and encourage your children to meditate on the importance of the preached Word as you enter God’s house.
The high and holy triune God of heaven and earth is meeting with you and your family to speak directly to you. Thomas Boston wrote, “The voice is on earth, [but] the speaker is in heaven” (Acts 10:33). [Boston, Works, 2:28.] What an awe-inspiring thought!