I came across this on Wednesday of this week. I hope you enjoy it.
3 Steps Toward a Distinctively Christian Approach to
Sports
August 10, 2016 By Eric Geiger
I am honored to lead the
Resources Division at LifeWay and serve with a team of leaders who are
passionate to serve the Church in Her mission of making disciples.
Each Wednesday, I share the heart behind one of the resources our
team has developed. This week’s piece is from In The Arena, a new book by David Prince, Pastor of Preaching and Vision at Ashland Avenue
Baptist Church in Lexington, KY, as well as Assistant Professor of Christian
Preaching at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY.
Because I am about to
coach my youngest daughter’s six-year-old soccer team, I find David’s work
helpful, challenging, and encouraging.
(Jim Arrington’s note: David
Prince is a graduate and former baseball player of Robert E. Lee High School
and Huntingdon College, Montgomery, AL)
If, as G.K. Chesterton
asserts, we can say grace over our enjoyment of sports, then we must think
about our enjoyment of sports in light of the priority of our faith and the
supremacy of Jesus Christ. What would a
distinctively Christian approach to sports look like? In the Sermon on the
Mount (Matt. 5—7), Jesus teaches about the characteristics of the kingdom of
Christ. His message turns the wisdom of the world upside down and is a call for
his disciples to live distinctive lives. The distinctiveness of Christ’s
followers will bring verbal and even violent persecution at times (Matt.
5:11–12) because the disciples of Jesus constitute an alternative kingdom
community who are in the world but not of the world (John 17:14–15). In other
words, Christians are to constitute a unique gospel culture within a culture.
Let us consider what Jesus’ call for his followers to be salt and light means
for how we think about our interaction with sports as Christians.
1. A distinctively Christian approach to
sports must actively seek to preserve the good in God’s cultural gift of
sports.
Jesus told a tiny band of
Palestinian peasants with no cultural power or authority, “You are the salt of
the earth” (Matt. 5:13). Before refrigeration, salt was used to preserve meat
from inevitable decay and to season food. Animals are a part of the good
creation of God and are used as food to nourish and sustain his image bearers.
Meat, not preserved, will rot and be harmful, but meat properly preserved and
seasoned can become, not just good, but very good. Jesus then provided two
warnings. The first is that salt contaminated and diluted is worthless, and the
second is that its saltiness, once lost, cannot be restored (Matt. 5:13). The
implication for Christians in relation to sports is clear. If Christians
uncritically absorb sports culture, they will have no preserving influence.
But, they will also be ineffective if they withdraw from sports culture.
2. A distinctively Christian approach to
sports will seek to illumine the world.
The preserving work of
Christians as “the salt of the earth” and their illuminating work as “the light
of the world” is to be a communal blessing—a public good. Therefore, the light
of the Christian gospel should permeate all public places, including the
athletic fields and stands. The people of God have not been given the light of
Jesus simply so that they can personally enjoy it. Neither have they been given
the light so that they can share it with each other or compare to see whose lamp
shines the brightest. Nor have they been given the light so that they can shake
their heads and talk about those sad and pitiful people of the world who grope
around in darkness. No, they are to be “the light of the world.” The pervasive
cultural interest in sports provides a particular, specific, and strategic
place for Christians to be the light of the world.
3. A distinctively Christian approach
to sports will be God-centered and God-directed.
In other words, it will
be for the glory of God. Jesus says, in the same way a lamp shines, and a city
on a hill cannot be hidden, Christians are to let their distinctive gospel
light shine for the benefit of others, “so that they may see your good works
and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). The Christian is
not given distinctiveness in order to parade their virtue and righteousness
before the world. Doing that is simply a manifestation of pride—not salt and
light. When Christians do so, they are adding to the decay and darkness. The
goal is not that others would see them and follow their morality but that they
would glorify God in Christ.
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