A tune-up works as a metaphor for any kind of systems check. Look at some of the basics, get some reminders, add some oil to keep the engine from seizing or tighten the lug nuts to keep the wheels from falling off. And though we’re not going to take the whole engine apart, nothing goes without saying.

Paul told children to obey their parents and then he specifically told fathers, “do not provoke your children to anger but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). What is the goal of fatherly discipline and instruction? Good morals? Bible knowledge? Kinda, sorta. The goal is to raise children to be worshipers of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Success in bringing up our kids in the nurture and admonition of the Lord will look like them as worshipers worshiping. Doing their chores, being nice to their siblings, staying out of jail, not watching porn, these are all good. But the ultimate is knowing and loving God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.

That means we should include them in worship, lead and show them how to worship, explain along the way why we worship and why we worship the way that we do, and worship with them as younger brothers and sisters in the Lord.

The Lord calls all creatures to worship Him, even the inanimate ones (like the sun, moon, shining stars, and highest heavens, Psalm 148:3-4), so certainly He expects worship from all the living ones, even if they are immature.

We get all kinds of good from our Father in heaven and, in this respect, we are all dependents in worship. As His children, He gives the good of His presence. He gives the good of loving correction and discipline and restoration. He gives the good of truth and guidance. He gives the good of food and welcome at His table. He gives the good of joy and then even the good of assigning us jobs.

Did you hear our liturgy in there? Call, Confession, Consecration, Communion, and Commission. In all these things the Father is giving us Himself. He is present with His family. He encourages His kids.

As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.
(Psalm 103:13–14, ESV)

What an amazing and encouraging truth. He knows our frame. Keep that in mind.

Psalm 103 is about blessing the Lord. Note a few things about this.

• Bless the LORD bookends the song, verses 1-2 and verses 20-22. This is our call to worship. For us to be blessed by God is to be privileged with God’s favor for fruitfulness. God blesses us by giving good; we bless Him by praising Him for His goodness. It’s individual—each soul, but not isolated—along with angels and all His works.
• Bless the LORD is a command. “Do this, soul. Do this, all His host.” It’s right, but also required. But we are required in a way that pulls us UP and pulls us INTO. It’s not a painful requirement. We are implored to remember and rejoice and we join with all those who fear Him.
• Bless the LORD is a spiritual work, externalized. Our souls are called, but our souls sing. Our minds awake, and our bodies are energized (verse 5).

Note a number of situations in which needy people need to bless the Lord.

• When forgetful. (verses 2-3) To err is human, to forget is also human. You’d think it’d be hard to forget all the alls from the Lord, “all His benefits” and all His forgiving and all His healing. The more we think about it the more reasons we have to bless the Lord. But that’s the problem, we forget to think about it.
• When tired. (verse 5) The Lord gives good energy; He gives us wings. Think Isaiah 40:29-31, “they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength”!
• When oppressed. (verses 6-7) Remember the Exodus.
• When sinful. (verses 10-12) Sin is the biggest hindrance to blessing, from us and to us. Forgiveness is the biggest blessing to us from the Lord, and the biggest reason to bless back.
• When insignificant. (verses 13-14, 15-16, 17) We are frail as dust, we are as temporal as grass. But the Lord is everlasting, His love is steadfast, He shares His righteousness with us and our children, He rules from His throne.

Come to get the Lord’s favor! We are blessed by the Lord when we bless Him and bless His name. We do not come just to know more about the Bible, but to know God and to be in God’s presence together. You can’t actually get the same thing at home by yourself, or out on a run listening to a sermon, as profitable as it may be.

Call your kids to pay attention to the Lord. You pay attention to their frame, and raise them to pay attention and bless the Lord. In Nehemiah, “all those who could understand what they heard” stood for hours (from “early morning until midday,” see Nehemiah 8:2-3). This isn’t to say that we must stand for the whole service, but are you waiting for them to figure it out on their own or bringing them along?

Do your kids forget? Are they tired? Have they sinned? Do they struggle with feeling insignificant? Come and bless the Lord!

“Kids can’t understand everything that’s happening or being said and sung.” So, for real: do you understand everything that’s happening here? God is the only one who can claim that, and He calls all of us to praise Him anyway. Kids can do that at their level, like you do at yours. If it’s okay that we need to keep growing, then it’s okay that our kids do, too, just 20 steps behind us.

If you recognize a blessing they are missing out on, you tell them and help them get it. You be the pastor, teach, correct, train by the Word (2 Timothy 3:16). You be the exegetical theologian. You be the spiritual hero. “Dad, what did the bearded guy mean?” “Oh dad, you’re the best. I wish you could be the preacher.”

Here are some suggested helps, though without verses (“I, not the Lord” cf. 1 Cor. 7:12), for your trial and error and iteration, that attend to their frame as worshipers while you help frame them as worshipers.

• Start preparing on Saturday evening. Have a nice(r) dinner, sing before dinner (maybe one of the songs planned for the upcoming service), ask your kids what they are looking forward to about Sunday morning. Encourage answers even about seeing their friends (isn’t great that they have church friends?). Have them take a long bath or shower; clean up. Lay out the clothes for the morning. Wear special jammies. Tell them why. Worshipping the Lord on the Lord’s Day is good.
• Get them their own Bible. Let them use it.
• Choose a reasonable amount of crayons, and probably not 128 permanent pew-marking markers, for working on the Kids’ Korner. Tell them to use the Kids’ Korner and also to use it during the time that they might be most bored, which probably isn’t during the singing or kneeling. Tell them why. Coloring can praise God. He made colors, and fingers. Choose reasonable toys, less velcro straps and sirens.
• Bring small candy to share, partially unwrapped perhaps, or some gum. Tell them why. God’s Word is sweet like honey (Psalm 19:10). “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).
• Let them sit on your lap for some of it. Your sermon notes will have a 15-20 minute gap, so go online on your phone and listen to it later. What an amazing day we live in. Put your arm around their shoulders. Tell them why. God loves His children.
• Practice sitting still at home. Have “blanket time,” and start at five minutes and increase it every few weeks. Sitting still quietly is a life skill. Tell them why.
• Don’t pout and cringe at every song you don’t like, unless you want them to think that pouting and cringing are fruit of God’s Spirit helping you worship.
• Don’t glare at your son every time he makes an accidental noise, or even if he makes an intentional one. Your Father shows mercy, show mercy (and patient, loving discipline) as a reflection.
• Be a moving target. Don’t keep trying to make your colicky baby stay in the whole time. There’s not a law about minutes in the service equalling less years in purgatory (first of all because there is no purgatory). We have a nursing room for moms, we have another spot for little noisy worshipers. (Also, have them go to the bathroom before the service.)

Conclusion

When you got married and you thought about reproduction, did you realize that reproduction is not only a moment of intimacy but a life of sharing yourself? As Christians, we know we are made to be worshippers, and the One who calls us to worship Him calls us to raise worshippers of Him.

If that’s not how you think about it when your head pops off the pillow in every Sunday morning, sure. So start now. Ask your Father in heaven for help. He knows your frame. You’re one of His kids. He’s brought you to appreciate and be filled from worship. How did that happen? Have you shared that or shown that to your kids?

Do you want the Lord’s blessing on your family? Then prioritize worship as a family.

God is developing worshippers of all shapes and sizes and ages. Our Father in heaven knows His children and calls them to praise Him. Bless the Lord, O you His children!

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Charge

Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, turn the world upside down by filling your home with worshipers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Bless the Lord in all places of His dominion. Bless the Lord, and start everything you do by seeking His blessing on you and through you.

Benediction:

Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!
(Psalm 90:16–17 ESV)