Turning your Bible back to 1 Corinthians 9, the title of my message. I realize we don't have a bulletin. The title of my message this morning is A Theology of Sports. A Theology of Sports. I'm going to read 1 Corinthians 9, 24 to the end again. 1 Corinthians 9 verse 24, Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. Therefore, so run, not as uncertainly. So fight I, not as one that beateth the air. but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." We live in a culture and in a world and in our nation that is saturated with sports. Okay, just as an objective idea to think on, to prove that, recently, and I don't know the exact details, I think it was in June, the Supreme Court, someone representing college athletes in the NCAA, there was a ruling. And basically the idea is, and I'm not commenting on the lawfulness or unlawfulness of this, it's just that this is what's happened. Now college athletes, amateur athletes, can gain revenue from what's called nil revenue, name, image, and likeness. So we're used to seeing that for professional athletes. Now we're talking about amateurs, college athletes. So Bo Nix, the quarterback for Auburn, I'm aware has a contract with Milo's Tea. Now, I mentioned this to you simply to point out that the only reason why that was a Supreme Court issue, the only reason why Milo's would pay a man who throws a piece of leather money is because it's a big deal. Sports, football, whatnot, is a big deal. People really like it. People admire athletes, okay? How much should we admire athletes? Should we admire athletes? I mean, there's all kinds of questions. Okay, sports, I wanna speak to you on that. And I have a little bit lengthier of an introduction. I want us to think more about this. Sports, okay? an activity involving physical exertion and skill, which an individual or team competes against another for entertainment. That's how I define sports. I'm not going to be speaking about all recreations, music, hobbies, and things, even though some of what I'm going to say applies to that. I want to speak about sports. Sports has been around, okay? Ancient Olympics, 684 BC. Okay, before Christ, in Paul's day, he would have been aware of the ancient Olympics. It was initially a one-day event. They were extended to three days. The ancient games included running, long jump, shot put, javelin, boxing, a form of martial arts that I can't pronounce, and then equestrian events. Now the sports. Okay, now Olympics. In 1896, modern Olympics started. Okay, nine sports, 13 countries. Now, 35 sports. This is the summer Olympics. 35 sports in 98 countries. ESPN. Just think for me. I want you all to think about this. Some of you may not be into sports, OK? But this is a big deal. Whether you are or not, it's a big deal. ESPN started in 1979. They filmed a men's professional slow pitch softball game in Wisconsin. That was their first, you know, event. Now, 65 sports. 24 hours a day in 16 languages in more than 200 countries, ESPN. The largest, most watched event was the 2011 BCS College Football National Championship. 17.7 million homes, not people, homes watched one sporting event. 17.7 million homes. Sports is a reality for us today. How much should we esteem professional athletes? How much time should we spend watching or have spent watching the Olympics? Should my children be involved in sports? Should I have a regular exercise routine? What does the Bible say about this? Briefly, again, I'm still in my introduction, if you're taking notes, the Bible doesn't really talk about sports too much. We read 2 Samuel 2, an interesting chapter, very helpful chapter overall in the story of redemption and whatnot. But this whole interchange at the pool of Gibeon between Abner's men and Joab's men, I would mention to you that there's something going on here with sports initially, okay? There's dialogue between Abner and Joab, they haven't started a war yet. It hasn't been clear yet. They come to the Pool of Giving, they sit down. Let the men, the young men, probably a little bit more physically strong, at least in some sense, let them arise. There was 12 on 12, there's order here. It appears that they grab the beard, and it says grab the head. They all have swords. They all die at once. There seems to be something going on here. There's some kind of military training, athletic sports event. Of course, it's interesting that Asahel is mentioned in this chapter as one whose light of foot is a row. Maybe he practiced at that. I don't know, but. Then you have, of course, Paul in the New Testament. And just real briefly, what does the Bible say? The Bible's here in our life. Where's the Bible? Where's, I'm sorry, the sports. Sports is here in our life. Where's sports in the Bible? Well, running is mentioned five times by Paul. Three times fighting is mentioned. Agnizomai, I'm striving. At least one of those times, it's not used generally, because you can strive as a soldier or you can strive as a farmer, but it's striving as an athlete. And that's 1 Corinthians 9, 25, which I read. And every man that striveth for the mastery. Some translations just say an athlete, someone who competes. And then later on in this chapter, it talks about running or boxing. Paul would have known about these things. We have in 2 Timothy 2, 5, The Greek word athle, that's how you would say it here. You can hear the word athlete there, okay? Second Timothy 2.5, and if a man also strive for masteries, he is not crowned except he strive lawfully. And this is clearly referring to athletes, because in the context it has soldiers and farmers, but it's not talking about them. Now, To my knowledge, this is really all the reference directly to sports. And the Bible refers to sports descriptively, not proscriptively. This is helpful. He's not saying that sports is commanded of you. I'm assuming some of y'all have never played a sport and that's fine. It's not forbidden either. It's descriptive. Some things in the Bible are just mentioned. It's not meant to be followed or he's not making a law or whatnot. We can learn from that. So some would say that sports, it's adiaphora. Maybe you've heard of that word. It's a helpful word to be familiar with. It comes from the Greek, diaphora, which means difference. You add an A in front of it, which negates it. It's without a difference. We're not really sure. It doesn't really matter, that kind of type of idea. It's indifferent. Whether you have carpet in your house or hardwood floors. In itself, it's not either commanded or required or forbidden. However, when it comes to indifferent things, we need to make sure they stay indifferent. Okay, there's other issues. I mean, there's a certain sense which the Bible does have a lot to say about whether you should have hardwood floors in your house or carpet. When we are to use necessary consequence from the scriptures and think about, there's different things indirectly that would play to that. Well, I want to speak to you on sports. Here's my lesson. If you're taking notes, this would be a good thing to grab onto. Sports are lawful and beneficial, but can be harmful. That's my lesson. Sports are lawful and beneficial, but can be harmful. I have three points, and I'll say just quickly, beginning that I am preaching a message to you that's very much more than normal focused on believers. I will have a word for you here if you're not a Christian, if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, if you don't know him as your Lord, but I want to speak to you specifically as believers who love Jesus as Savior and your Lord. And you want to further understand what he has commanded of you and required of you in this age. So three points. First, the lawfulness of sports. The lawfulness of sports, it's lawful. You can play sports, but you need to make sure that your participation in sports remains lawful. And there's three rules that govern in different things. Three rules, and when I say three rules, I don't have a monopoly on that. It's just, this is my, as I look at sports in our age, these are some rules, three rules that I want you to think about. First, the first rule would be moderation. In many cases, we don't want to be moderate. We talked about that at Presbytery this week. But it's not a bad word in itself. It's good. Medicine is good. If you take too much of it, it's bad. Okay, William Perkins. Puritan said this, for we must, excuse me, moderation in two ways, time, first in time, in our time. Perkins said this, for we must redeem the time. That is take time while time lasts for the procuring of life everlasting. This condemns the wicked practice of many men who follow this game and that to drive away time. Let us make all the haste we can to repent and be reconciled to God. You can play sports too much to the point where it's a distraction in your life. More on that in a moment. Moderation in time, Ephesians 5, 15 through 16. Of course, Perkins was referring to this verse. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time. Moderate in your affection. Our love for God and for his son, Jesus Christ, is the only love that cannot be inordinate. You cannot love Jesus too much, but you can love your spouse or your kids too much, even though you're commanded, of course, to love your spouse or your kid. Matthew 22, 36 through 37. Master, which is the great commandment in the law, Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind. I'm gonna come back to this later, but here's some questions. What are you willing to sacrifice for your sports participation? What effect does participation or watching a sport event have on you emotionally? Especially as you can compare that to other things. Like someone being converted. A sinner who we believe is converted and turning away from sin. What happens to your mood after a loss or a win? Et cetera. More on this later, but moderation in time and affection. The second rule that governs in different things would be purpose, okay? Your purpose, your heart, what's your motive in doing things? I mean, you can come to worship, which is God commands you, but you can come here so you can earn salvation or something else that's totally wrong and unbiblical and therefore sinful. Your purpose, 1 Corinthians 10.31, whether therefore ye eat or drink, whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. A football player scores a touchdown and he runs up in the corner of the end zone next to the TV and he's just like making flex moves and just like look at me and what's up you know and I'm great, especially NFL football players, I think are pretty brutal about that. There's, I mean, you can, I mean, almost in no case can we possibly say that's not some kind of weird thing about me. I mean, you can celebrate, you know, to some degree, but I'm just kind of giving you something to think about. What's, why is he playing football? That's the question. Okay. A good example of that would be Christians in interviews, giving thanks to God. I mean, perhaps it's overrated, but that's good. I thank God. First, I wanna thank God for just giving me the ability to play sports and do well, and that's a good thing. Eric Liddell, a Scottish sprinter back in the day, I believe back in the 20s, 1920s, More on him in a second, but he spoke evangelically at other events. He used his position for the glory of God directly. I wonder how many Christian athletes now just kind of end at, first I just want to give God glory, and that's like all that they say. But Eric Liddell actually used it to preach the gospel. My coach in high school football used it as a discipleship platform. That's something that's really useful for those of you who coach. I mean, use your place to disciple, use it to, especially in a Christian environment. It's not just about winning. It's about developing others. So that's a good purpose. Third, a third rule of governing in different things is what I call the per se principle. Kind of going back to what I said earlier, this sport is not in and of itself per se. sinful or commanded, forbidden or commanded. But we need to make sure that, there's two things that come to my mind immediately in our day. And as a man of the gospel, part of what I'm commanded to do by the Lord is to pray and be sober minded about our day and taking God's word and applying it to our day. And two things come to immediately to mind when it comes to sports, where it's unlawful, outright, don't do it. The first is the Sabbath. The Sabbath day, okay? Our confession of faith asks the question, how is the Sabbath to be sanctified? Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful in other days. And it goes on, but it forbids recreations. Isaiah 58, 13, this is a good proof text. There's a lot to be said about this, of course. Isaiah 58, 13 says, if thou turn away thy foot, from the Sabbath, and I'll just say that in the context, he's talking about the false Sabbath. If thou turn away thy foot from the false Sabbath that I've already described in this chapter, from doing, what does that mean? From doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath, that is the true Sabbath, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord honorable, and shall honor him. How are we gonna honor him? Not doing thine own ways, recreation. Not finding their own pleasure. Recreation. Or speaking their own words. Okay, so there's a proof text for that. This completely throws out NFL football. It really does. Let's just be clear on that. Okay, NFL football is such a huge thing in our society. If you wanna watch Monday Night Football, I'm not gonna, you know, get in a tissy with you on that. It's not on Sunday. But just make it concrete here. NFL football is completely Sinful, it's a sinful occupation. It's really sad. It should make us mourn that people don't worship God. You know, I could go on. When I was a kid, my parents didn't let me play All-Star baseball, the one year I made All-Star. Praise God for that. It's good. We should say the Sabbath is a great delight And why would we want to do things that are either otherwise lawful when we can spend time with the Lord? It's like a couple telling the other spouse on their honeymoon, hey, I know it's our honeymoon, but I want to kind of just do my own thing for about a day. That's kind of what we say to Jesus when we do other things that are otherwise lawful. So the Sabbath, the second obvious one to me, this per se principle, this third rule that governs in different things is modesty. Okay, modesty, the seventh commandment. You should not commit adultery. Okay, modesty comes into that. So we can tempt people to lust, especially beautiful ladies. Ladies, God has made you beautiful as part of your gender. And so you especially, not only, but especially need to be careful of this. 1 Timothy 2, nine through 10. In like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, et cetera. A lot can be said about that as far as being modest in scripture. but, and it's not just the ladies, but a couple things to think about. You know, in the summer, it gets hot, and depending on what sport you play, there's a tendency to shed articles of clothing, but what gives us the right to, I realize it's cold now, I got a jacket on, and I'm not saying there can't be some variation in what you wear, but what gives us the right to be immodest just because we're playing volleyball or swimming or something? We need to think about these things as Christians. Am I exposing my body to cause other people to be tempted? Be aware of just kind of going along with the crowd mentality. I mean, everyone does these things when you go to the CrossFit gym, or when you go to the volleyball court, or when you're running a 5K or something. But we don't do what everyone does. We're Christians. We strive to be different just to be different. But the Bible's very clear, we're aliens, we're sojourners, we're pilgrims. We're not like everyone else. 1 Peter 2.11, my brethren, our dearly beloved as sojourners and pilgrims, just before he says, just before he tells them not to abstain from fleshly lusts, he reminds them that they're pilgrims, sojourners. And so I want you to think about that. If you're currently kind of thinking about an issue maybe in your life, and you're thinking to yourself, but Mr. Ketchum, you know, everyone does it. I'm going to be weird. This is, you know, just be prepared to be different. Be prepared to deny yourself. This is an issue. Honesty. Okay, so sports are lawful. And so I hope to have kind of explained that. And we want to keep it lawful. You can play sports. I don't know of a sport that, maybe I can get into that, that's inherently sinful. But if you keep these rules in mind, you want to keep it lawful. Sports, though, are also beneficial. And I want to talk about that for a moment. Maybe you don't play sports, or you're not involved in some type of exercise or whatnot. Maybe you should be. Okay, let's talk about the benefits of sports. There's four benefits of sports in my mind. Four benefits of sports. First, the development of mind and body. Okay, listen, just up front, I'll tell you this right now. We live in a culture that really overemphasizes that, like big time. I mean, our bodies is like so worshiped in our culture, but we don't wanna completely jettison that either, okay? God has made us as people, body and soul, and we need to take care of our body. It's part of the fulfillment of the sixth commandment that we would develop our body and our mind. The sixth commandment is you shall not murder. The opposite of that is that you would pursue health and life and protection of others in your own life. You would promote life. You would live a long time. Think about this verse, 1 Corinthians 3, 16 through 17. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. Now Paul there is getting at some sins, but our body is a temple of a living God, and we ought to protect our bodies and make our bodies strong for his service. One of my professors in seminary, here's a good example of what I'm talking about. I remember him telling me in my class, and this is, he's an older man now, He's older now than he was then, but basically he just was saying, I want to be a Caleb. I want to be 80 years old, and I want to be fighting the battles of the Lord. Of course, he's thinking of the physical and spiritual, mental rigor that's required to engage in debate and deal with folks who are in sin and who are, you know, just, it's tough. I mean, there's a reason why ministers and elders retire. Their bodies are fading. He wants to live a long time Not so that he can have a high quality of life like the pagans. Not so that he can enjoy life, you know, retirement. Let's just go and, I mean, there's a place for that. But pagans worship that idea. We're not doing it for that mainly, primarily. We're doing it so we can live a long time and serve God in our vocations as a housewife, as lawyers, as a soldier, as a pastor, as a student, et cetera. It's a development of body and mind. Secondly, development of godly character traits. Okay, this is the second benefit of sports. The development of godly character traits. Again, this could be overemphasized, but I want to mention it. I mean, worship, the means of grace. You know, without the word of God and the Holy Spirit, there would be no development of godly character traits. But sometimes God uses providential circumstances to really grow you. And sports can be one of those. I think of four character traits. Teamwork. Teamwork. I think this is good for us to think about. Philippians 4.2, I beseech you, Judas, and I beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. Now, obviously, these two ladies were bickering in Philippi, and there needs to be forgiveness, and the gospel, and I understand that we would not call that teamwork. There's pagans on football teams who have great teamwork, and they're total pagans. So I realize there's a difference, but if you're a Christian, and you see it in that way, it's helpful. I mean, I remember being a quarterback in high school, you know, you pass a perfect pass, the guy drops the ball. Well, guess what? I don't have time to get mad at him. It's fourth down, we gotta score a touchdown to win the game. Just come back over here, we'll figure it out later. Just get over it and work together, okay? I mean, that's an example. And you can, as a Christian, especially as a coach, coaching other students, you can use these things to help people. Courage. It's the second godly character trait. Ephesians 6, 10. Find my brother and be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Courage? You can say that's courage. Joshua 1, 9. Be strong and of good courage. Okay, so forgive me for football illustrations. I played football. But, you know, I was a middle linebacker. And as a middle linebacker, You have to step into the gap and tackle the fullback that's steaming through a hole when it's fourth and one. You have to stop them there on the track. You have to get in there and crush him. It takes courage, because it kind of hurts to tackle people that are big and strong. It's not a false thing to then, as a Christian, compare that to this situation. You're in high school. Everyone's cursing around you. In college, people are pressuring you to sin. Go along with the crowd. Courage. You could call it faith. But those things are related. And God can use sports in that way. I think he can. Leaders in the public sector, church and state, need courage to speak God's word. Where are they gonna learn that? Is it just gonna happen when they're 42 and they're in this position? No, they're gonna develop that. Again, pagans have this kind of courage too. But by God's grace, thinking about your circumstances, you can really develop that. Self-control and discipline. Listen, self-control is one of the fruits of the spirit. Okay, 1 Corinthians 9.25, and every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Temperate in all things. Again, there are athletes that are incredibly self-controlled in their sport, and totally not when it comes to sin, because they're pagans, they don't have the Holy Spirit, and they can't have self-control. But there's a connection, okay? I mean, I remember, I remember growing up in high school, I played basketball and during basketball season especially, I would wake up in the morning and I would go shoot 100 free throws. And I was a good free throw shooter. But if you can shoot a free throw, you can shoot pretty much anywhere. It's a discipline. I need to work on my shot. Well, listen, that, by God's grace, was used in my life to study Hebrew and Greek in seminary. Because Hebrew and Greek in seminary is very just, like you just gotta do it every day. And take yourself, for example. I mean, you ought to love private worship. And you ought to desire to wake up, brew your coffee, sit down under a light before daybreak, or just in the beginning of your day, and read the scriptures. Sometimes you don't wanna do it, right? I mean, sometimes, maybe it's just kind of like, oh, man, I got a lot going on today. I kinda wanna just sleep in a little bit and start my day. It takes discipline. You can put it in those terms. Yes, faith and things, but sometimes it's better to just, by faith, being disciplined, to just do that spiritual discipline than to not do it at all. Determination, the last godly character trait. I want you to think about this. This is good. It's important. 2 Timothy 4.7, I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. 2 Timothy 1.7-8, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Be ye not dull, therefore ashamed. of the testament of our Lord, nor of me as prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel. Determination? Now I invite you to think about it along those lines. First Timothy 6, 12, fight the good fight of faith. Again, there's a connection of faith and things. I want you to think about determination. Listen, we believe in winning as Christians, we do. We do believe in winning. Now, winning as a Christian, okay, is directly related to our faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ and not so much our success in business or success in sports. But we believe in winning. I get excited about this kind of stuff. It's true, we do. were zealous for the Lord's glory and were fighting the devil. John G. Payton was a missionary in the Pacific Islands. And for three years, he wrestled and tried with these cannibals to learn their language and to talk to them about the Lord Jesus Christ for three years. And then he was kicked out of that island. And he went back to another island. He was determined. Overcoming the world, you know, overcoming Satan and just striving. I don't know if John G. Payton played any sports at all, okay? But, you know, these kind of things can be learned. Your kid is playing a basketball game, and it's the fourth quarter, and they're losing, and he's got a scrape on his knee, and he's crying, he kind of wants to give up. What do you tell him? Well, I mean, you know, I realize there's parental wisdom there, and there's other things going on, but you wouldn't encourage him No, keep going, keep playing, push. And by God's grace, those things can be learned and applied to spiritual things. So I'm talking to you about the benefits of sports. I've mentioned development of body and mind and development of godly character traits. There's two more. Developing men, and this is a little bit quicker. Developing men to protect both the nation and others. the use of sports, especially in a place like ours, where we're at peace, our borders are at peace. We're not in Afghanistan, where it's just constant warfare, which I'm familiar with that firsthand. But developing men to protect both the nation and others. First, preparation for war. Men fight in war, okay? And we believe, I think this is another sermon, in just war. We're not the nation, the church is not the nation, but we hope to have Christian nations Listen, we're covenants, we've, our heritage, we've fought wars and battles, and we need men to be men to fight the war. 1 Samuel 4, 9, this is an interesting verse. Be strong and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews. I mentioned that verse, the Philistines, and this is being recorded in scripture for us, they're just telling you what's true by nature. Okay? Men are strong. And they're to fight. And I've seen this firsthand in my life. My alma mater, there's a quote, General Douglas MacArthur, who fought in World War I and was a general all the way through the Korean War. This is a speech he gave. It's written on our West Point's buildings. Upon the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that upon the other fields on other days will bear the fruits of victory. I don't know if MacArthur's a Christian, I don't know if that, but I find it to be a helpful summary of what I'm trying to say, and it's worth mentioning. Second, protecting others. Okay, so not war, but I don't know if there's another soldier here, but all of you men, especially the men, are called to protect your wife, Your mom, you know, protect other kids. And even if you're not married, protecting others that you're around. That's part of your duty as men, especially. Watch ye stand fast in the faith. This is 1 Corinthians 16, 13. Watch ye stand fast in the faith. Quit ye like men, be strong. Okay, Paul's getting at, it's just naturally speaking. Oh, it's true by nature. Men are different than women. God has made them strong. First Peter 3.7, women are the weaker vessel. I'm not trying to get into gender sermon, but if you are a man and you wouldn't be worth anything in a fight, you have a lot of confidence in yourself. The whole fight or flight mentality, you're like, oh man, if a dog was to come over here and potentially threaten kids or something, or if a man was to come into my house. You might want to consider sports to develop your body, develop your courage, because that's something that God requires of you. So it's worth mentioning. Lastly, the last benefit, the fourth benefit, briefly, but I need to say it. It's abused in our day, but rest and relaxation. It's a good benefit of sports. It is true. William Perkins said this. The refreshing of body and mind is necessary, because man's nature is like the bow, which being always bent and used, is soon broken in pieces. Again, this can be abused, but it's worth mentioning, because it's true. Maybe on a Saturday, you go play 18 holes of golf, because you're wound up, and you couldn't even worship the next day. You need to take a break. You need to get work off your mind, and that's a good use of recreation. potentially. Again, moderation and whatnot. I thought the recreation that was at the family camp this summer, the FCC family camp, is a helpful example of that as well. You know, we're worshiping God, like all day. And certain people in my family remind me of that, because it's hard. It's hard to worship God all day. I think we heard like four sermons. But there was that afternoon recreation, to give rest, to change the pace, because we're fragile people. There was a pool. There was a playground. rope course in the trees and whatnot, basketball court and whatnot. So sports are lawful and beneficial, but they can also be harmful. And so I realize I've been preaching for a while, but I want to give you three harms of sports. And I suppose that this is where my focus is, to be honest with you. The harm of sports. Dr. Holdeman, he's an RPCNA minister, he was a very competent college athlete, he coached competently at the college level for a time, said this, anyone coaching a sport at a high level faces incredible pressures, overwork, neglect of family, treating players like tools instead of people, anger, pride, et cetera. I found that to be a helpful quote to kind of give you some ideas. Three harms of sports. All these are related to one another, but they build, they build, and so I want to separate them. The first harm of sports is distraction. It's a distraction to you from Christian duties. I'm kind of hearkening back to a moderate use of time. can be a distraction. And this applies to not just sports, other hobbies as well. It's helpful to think about. God commands you to serve your church. You can be distracted so much that you don't serve your church. 1 Peter 4.10, as every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Some might say, wait a second, you know, Mr. Ketchum, I'm an athlete, a professional athlete. I am serving the church as a professional athlete. Well, yes, that's good, maybe. You know, Eric Little, okay? A lot of sports ministry today is overrated. It's not really serving the church. It's almost like a prosperity gospel. Look at me, I'm doing this in the name of Jesus, and that's it. That's all they say. We have to say more than that. I mean, how incredible would it be if a man who was really good at college football, because he was just very gifted, didn't go into NFL football, didn't go into the draft, because of the Sabbath day. That's a little bit more than just saying, you know, I'm doing this for God's glory. No, I'm really doing this for God's glory. It's over now, because I'm not going to break His commandments. That would be a great ministry. Are sports taking time from serving your family and church? Are you invested in the life of the church and intending its functions? Or are sports taking you from this? I have children. I think young parents who have young kids, that can be a problem. I'm not really attending the prayer meeting. I'm not attending the evening service or whatnot. Do you have times where you can disciple other folks and be discipled by other folks in the church? Okay. Secondly, a distraction from seeking Christ in the means of grace. This is really important. Very, very convicting in my own life. Especially as I look back on my life. It's not that important. Being really good at sports is not that important. Are you reading your Bible? Are you praying? Okay. 1 Timothy 4, 7-8. They refuse profane and old wise fables, and exercise thyselves rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness profiteth. unto all things. How much time do you dedicate to a sport or sports? How much time do you dedicate to seeking Christ directly in the care of your soul? Prayer, Bible memory, family worship, reading, Christian conference and fellowship. Your soul lives forever. And your body will too, actually, if we want to get into that. But my point is, you know, if you neglect your soul, you don't know the Lord Jesus. I don't care how strong your muscles are. It doesn't matter. Second harm of sports is what I would call worldly-mindedness. Okay, sports can distract you. It's a temptation to keep you distracted from other things that are more important. It can also kind of suck you in a little bit more. It can make you focused on things that are very earthly, have no eternal purpose, and it's just like you don't even realize it until it's been like five years, and you're like, what have I done with my life? Not for the Lord. Okay, worldly-mindedness, Matthew 16, 26. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Okay, the world, fame, awards, recognition. Colossians 3.2, set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. And I think if we understand that word affection there, it's our mind, what we think about. Set your mind on things above. I used to memorize, I suppose it's innocent in itself, I knew for me it was wrong. I used to memorize the names and hometown of all the Auburn football players as a kid. I knew the third string football quarterback. I knew where he's from. Not necessary. I didn't know my catechist. Do we know and do we admire the lives of saints? Are we recognizing them? Calvin, Knox, Peyton, Machen, you know, whoever. J.C. Ryle says this, have they a secularizing effect on his soul? Have they a tendency to pull him down to earth and let him take care? I was talking a little bit about this with an elder at the Presbyterian meeting this past week. And he said, it was very edifying to hear him say this. He was like, you know, it's interesting. I'll be partaking in something that's something otherwise indifferent and fine. Or I'm sorry, he said that I'll be experiencing great communion with the Lord, just during the day. Just feeling his presence, having a prayerful mind. And then I'll just kind of like, okay, I'm gonna turn on the radio or something. Again, I'm not saying you can't listen to music in the car. I'm just giving you an illustration of something. And he listens to some, I don't know, symphony or something. And it just distracts him, and he kind of focuses on that, and he lost that presence of Christ that he had, that was so precious to him. He said about himself that sometimes things that are otherwise lawful can pull me away from what, oh, I want that back, I want that communion with Christ back. It just got his mind off. Thirdly, The third harm of sports is, all this is kind of leading to this, and I think this is a big issue in our society, and perhaps in your own life, and that is idolatry. Idolatry. When we're distracted from heavenly things to earthly things, and then we migrate into focusing on it, and we're very aware of it, then it draws our heart, and we love it. And this is what makes us excited. And that's the idolatry. We're loving something inordinately. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Not just the little Buddha statues that people might put in their house somewhere. We don't really face that in our culture. But there are idols. There are idols. It's even more dangerous, because you can't really see them and identify them as easily. First John 5.15, love not idols. The world. Boom, there it is. These are the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Very challenging, very challenging scripture. I want you to think about something. And what I'm about to say is very much a heart issue, but I want you to think about it in this way. Imagine for a moment, a large concrete structure. It seats 95,000 people. There's ramps leading up to the upper deck. You can't just walk up and sit down. It's a very large structure. There's lights, 7.30 at night in September. The lights are shining down to the middle where it's flat and everyone's watching. Everyone's getting super excited. overflowing with excitement. It means so much to them that something happens there. They're focused on it. They're leading up to it, the day before, coming out early, eating food and talking about it. I remember the last college football game that I went to. As I was leaving the stands, there was a man. He just said, oh, that makes me so happy. But it was not like an innocent thing. It really meant a lot to him that they won the game. And I would commend to you that that is idolatry. That's what it is for Jesus. Our affection I mentioned this earlier. Things that are indifferent need to stay indifferent. Moderate affection. You know, I lost the state high school football game my senior year. And I was sad about it. That's okay. I'm not saying you can't get sad about certain things like that. It didn't affect my life. It was a big deal. I got over it. Something to think about. Do you look to sports, exercise for your joy and peace? You know, Christ, dwelling upon him, communing with him, learning more about the way he saves us is what's satisfying. Psalm 81, 16. I'm just gonna read this verse, give you something to think about. God's people are not worshiping the Lord. They're turning away from him, and he says to them, Psalm 81, verse 16, he, referring to the Lord, he should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee. You know, even God's people can turn to otherwise lawful things for their joy and their peace, and God's saying here, if you only knew how marvelous greater communion with the Lord is. We don't do it for that. We do it for God's glory, we do it out of obedience, but that's true. In your presence, Psalm 16 and 11, in your presence is fullness of joy, not athletic fame. The thief has come still to kill and to destroy. I have come to give life, life more abundantly. Do you believe that? Sports are lawful and beneficial but can be harmful. And I want to bring my message to a close and I want to just direct you to one main thought. Kind of wrap this all together here. It has to do with the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I mentioned to you at the beginning that I was speaking to you as Christians who want to submit to the Lord. And so, first I want to say, maybe this message to you is not really that big a deal. You're kind of like, man, I've been talking about sports for 53 minutes. You know, that's a long time. Well, maybe you don't understand lordship in the first place. Maybe you don't understand that. And that all of life, your soul is to submit to the Lord Jesus Christ, and you need to do that. Maybe that's, you know, this sermon has revealed that to you. Why are we so concerned about things that are otherwise indifferent? Because we're concerned about what the Lord Jesus wants for us. That's a matter to us. That matters to us. Does it matter to you, fundamentally? Coming off that, I want to say to you that some of you here may not really be involved in sports and exercise and whatnot, and you should consider it. You should. You should consider that. John Murray walked a mile. John Murray was a professor, a godly man, and he walked a mile a day to keep his body strong. But all of us need to esteem and value sports in proportion to how important they really are. And they're not important. If you have the Heisman Trophy Award, maybe I don't have the Heisman Trophy Award, but if you had the Heisman Trophy And all of it's fame. And all of it's worldly glory. And you don't have Jesus. You have nothing. Do you have Jesus? You don't have dice and trophies? You have everything? Let him, Let the mighty man not glory in his might. Let the rich man not glory in his riches. Let the wise man not glory in his wisdom. But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord. That's what we glory in. Knowing the Lord. Amen. Please stand for prayer. Heavenly Father, we lift up our hearts to you. And we ask that you would grant us repentance, confession of sin, and the areas in which we have sinned. We ask that you would fill our hearts with love for Jesus Christ and for the kingdom of God, that you would protect us from the temptations of the devil, from worldly mindedness and idolatry. We pray that you would Grant us protection from his attacks in this regard and fill us with love to the degree that we glory in sports too much. We pray that we would glory rather in knowing you, making you known. Hear us as we pray this in the name of Christ, amen.