We are a culture in love with sports. In America our athletes are millionaires. Their images hang on kids' walls, we wait in line just to get them to sign their names on our shirts, and grown men collect little cards with their pictures on them. Maybe it’s gotten a little out of hand? It can be hard to see our own idols, especially when something good slowly makes its way up the priority ladder of our lives. It tactfully slithers, making one innocent move after another until you are in a lawn chair surrounded by fields of baseball diamonds full of sixth graders somewhere outside of Des Moines on a Sunday morning totally unaware of the problem.
There is now a new church, and its parking lot is full and its worship is passionate, but the gods are false.
Now before you get defensive and stop reading, please hear me out. I love sports. So much of who I am today has to do with the impact of teams I have been on, workouts I’ve gone through, wins, losses, and lessons through it all. I’m old enough to remember when youth sports was something that happened at a park when enough kids showed up to play, and caught the beginning of club sports traveling to tournaments. I’ve gotten to play college football in front of thousands on national TV. I have coached, and am the son of a coach. I have no interest in bashing sports. I want to help you see what your main sport is. I’m not here to belittle being part of a team. I want to help you better see the most important team you are on.
Paul uses a sports analogy to call us to a deeper commitment to the cause of Christ.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. (1 Corinthians 9:24-25)
Doesn’t passionate prioritizing of our dedication to Christ just make sense? How can athletes show more dedication to something that doesn’t last than Christians do to something that lasts forever? Don’t you see the problem? Too often in our Americanized Christianity we have asked Jesus to follow us, when the call he extends is for us to follow him. We see Jesus as our personal savior whom we take with us wherever we go, like Jonah trying to start a ministry in Tarshish. We get excited about an athlete who writes a Bible verse on their shoes for Sunday’s game, because as a culture we’ve long forgotten Eric Little, who skipped an Olympic race because he had church. I get it—to us that is a decision that now sounds ridiculous. Or, is that the kind of devotion you make movies about?
This is not about belief in Christ; I am assuming belief. This is about dedication, commitment, and devotion. The concern is not that we will deny Christ, but rather we will just neglect him. Even form a habit of neglecting him. Saying yes to the tournament and no to church without even thinking twice about it. It’s just what we do now. The writer of Hebrews warns us of this:
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25)
There is a call to be devoted to our spiritual teammates, considering how to stir up one another to love and good works. And to do that we have to show up. We have to make the practices and the games. We can’t get into the bad habit of just not being there. Earlier in Hebrews the author warns of the severity of this:
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:12-13)
He starts out with the call to brothers but warns of falling into unbelief. Something that is tricky, deceitful, and leading you—slowly, over time—to a hardening toward the things of God. It's a warning, and to heed this warning is to be in frequent intentional relationships with other believers. Exhorting one another every day, as long as it is called “today”. Or, as he restates later in chapter 10, to not neglect the gathering. Don’t miss practice.
Here is what I would like you to think about. What if we saw church like a team we were on? Because here is what we are accustomed to hearing on a team: “You made a commitment to this team. Your teammates are counting on you. This is a team sport and our success depends on a collective commitment.” To which I would say that, for an athlete, those are all true statements. But as a pastor I would ask, “Don’t those statements also apply to ministry? And isn’t ministry a bigger deal? You made a commitment to this team. You were baptized into the body of Christ, connected to one another for purpose and set on mission. Your teammates are counting on you, needing you to show up to spur them on to love and good deeds, depending on you to help them not fall into the deceitfulness of sin.” This is a team sport and our success depends on a collective commitment. Within the body of Christ, each part doing its part matters for the work of ministry.
My guess is that if most people treated their sport’s team like they treat church, their coach would be upset. “Coach, I’ll be late to the game, I got church.” “Coach I won't make it this Friday, we are having a night of worship at church.” “Coach, I have to leave at halftime, I have a Bible study meeting.” How do you think that would go over? So why do we so easily treat church that way? Which one is the perishable crown, and which one is the imperishable crown? If coaches would get upset at that, maybe pastors should be a lot more upset. Isn’t our godliness more important than our athletic success? And your kids’ godliness a lot more important than their athletic success? And isn’t a church that draws people to the living God saving their souls for an eternity of glory more important than a team that wins state? Aren’t fostering the relationships within the body of Christ and that mission more important than fostering the friendships on the traveling team that seem to spend more weekends together?
I’ve shared this before, but I’m zealous for the church to have a brotherhood that I experience in football. Now I know church can be full of all types of people, people you might not normally choose to hang out with. But that is true on any football team. People from all walks of life come together. I’ve often wondered, from my own history playing football, why did that brotherly bond feel stronger on a football team than it can tend to feel at church? Three reasons:
1. Time—we spent a lot of time together during practice, workouts, training, and traveling.
2. A clearly shared goal—everyone was there to win.
3. A shared commitment—we all were devoted to do what it took to win. And we went through the challenges of that journey together.
I don’t care what your background is or your personality type; if you spend enough time with people, with a clear goal, and a shared devotion to that goal, you will discover a brotherhood. We see that in sports teams, but you know where else we see that? The early church.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47, emphasis added)
Community wasn’t something they pursued, it was a result of their shared devotion. Community was never the goal, it was the byproduct. They didn’t join the church to make friends, it was a persecuted group of people. There are better ways to make friends. And you didn’t join the football team to make friends—there are easier ways to do that—but through a shared devotion to a common goal while playing football, you found a brotherhood. If you come to Veritas looking to just get connected, you’ll be frustrated. But if you come devoted to the shared goal of glorifying God, you will discover deep connection.
I’m telling you, if you treat the gathering of believers as not that big of a deal, it won’t make that big of an impact. But if you foster the relationships you have in the church—giving them the time to develop, embracing the shared goal of being ambassadors for Christ and making disciples—and you don’t neglect this team, not only is it the winning team that is pursuing an imperishable reward, but you will discover true brothers and sisters.
The path to community is devotion. And if we begin to see the church as the most important team we are part of, we will find the belonging we long for.