Is Church your sport, or Sports your church?
Who or what do you worship? I choose to worship my Lord and Savior!
I have heard people comment that our church’s worship is too charismatic, and expressive that people can get too loud and exciting. People have asked, “Why do they worship like that? Why do they get so excited?” To those questions I usually reply with a simple “We’re excited to worship our Lord Jesus Christ, and we’re thankful for the great things He has done in our lives” But here is another aspect about it, at times I want to ask them “Why do you get so excited about football?” It’s a game played today gone tomorrow. Why it is socially acceptable for someone to paint their face, stand in freezing wet weather, and scream at the top of their lungs for a sporting event, but I can’t stand in my “stadium” and do the same I don’t even paint my face for church. LOL! And if I move to a new city I’m not conflicted with changing my “home team” fan status. No matter where I live I play for the same team.
Whole weekends and even weeks are dedicated to the finals, the playoffs, the Super Bowl, Tour de France, and so on. Polls and statistics are followed to interpret the outcome. Money is placed on who will win! Fans fill couches and bars to watch dare I say “religiously” their favorite teams. “I’ve got to make it home in time to watch the game, catch the highlights of the race, see who got picked for the……” Sports are a religion for some people. Church is just my “sports team”. In sports your team will win or lose. In church people will win our lose (but it’s the chance to go to heaven or the chance to go to hell) So of course we’re excited about that new person getting baptized in Jesus Christ’s name, and being filled with the Holy Ghost. It’s a touchdown. Of course we’re sad when someone falls away from church and chooses to sin; it’s a score for the other team.
Think about it, the choir is the cheer leaders, they lead us in worship. And yes I do mean to imply that many people “worship their favorite sports athletes” Our pastor is the head coach, telling us what to do out on the field, what plays will work and what to watch out for. The Bible is our playbook. We have our uniforms, in sports you dawn the colors of your team, because you’re associated with them, you want to represent them. The same applies with church, but instead of colors our uniform is modest dress that defines me from the other team. I don’t want to be confused for playing on the other team. I want it to be perfectly clear what team I play for. One side or the other. 16So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Revelation 3:16 There are no players that play on both teams. You’re on our team or theirs. Because in the end it’s the church vs. the world, the saints vs. the sinner, Heaven vs. Hell, God vs. Satan. But here’s the kicker, I know who wins the game. Jesus. And I’m on the winning team. I just need to remind them who is going to win.