What is more attractive? (2)
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What is more attractive than corporate worship?
Religion defined
The very word religion bothers some Christians. People like to say “Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship”. Or even more directly, some Christians have made videos and written articles saying “I hate religion” Or “God hates religion”
I believe this is because the word religion is taken to mean something other than what it does mean. The bible speaks of religion, and I think it is time we take back the term. Those who hate the word religion usually mean they hate hypocrisy, or in other words, they hate to see people who live out the rituals of religion without living out the true life of faith. But let’s take a look at how the top 2 dictionaries define religion:
The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.
‘ideas about the relationship between science and religion’
1.1 A particular system of faith and worship. ‘the world's great religions’
1.2 A pursuit or interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance. ‘consumerism is the new religion’
1
a : the state of a religious : (as in) a nun in her 20th year of religion
b (1) : the service and worship of God or the supernatural (2) : commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance
2
: a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices
4
: a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith
You see, the problem with religion is not in its true definition, but in the failure to live it out truly. Christianity is a religion by the dictionary definition: it is the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God. It is a particular system of faith and worship. It is a pursuit of interest to which someone ascribes supreme importance. It is the service and worship of God. It is a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.
I saw a video that compared football fans to religious zealots. Is there a difference? Some fans are far more engaged than many Christians in the worship of their sport or team. They invest their money in it, their time, all their conversations go towards it. It is what they think about the most
Now, before you get too upset with me making this comparison, I want to give some quotes from various articles and papers that have been written about sports as religion:
A caption on a photo in one article says:
Two San Diego fans perform the sacred ceremonial Chargers face-painting ritual before a game in 2011. (The Atlantic)
The Super Bowl, professional sports' highest holy day, is again upon us. (The Atlantic)
The notion that sports remain our civic religion is truer than we often let on: In fandom, as in religious worship, our social connections are brought to life, in the stands as in the pews. (The Atlantic)
…”Members of each clan try to give themselves the external appearance of their totem ... When the totem is a bird, the individuals wear feathers on their heads." Ravens fans surely understand this. (The Atlantic)
Fan clothing is called “sacred vestments”
"The similarities between sport fandom and organized religion are striking. Consider the vocabulary associated with both: faith, devotion, worship, ritual, dedication, sacrifice, commitment, spirit, prayer, suffering, festival, and celebration.” - psychology today
As Wann and collaborators note, various scholars discuss sport in terms of "natural religion," "humanistic religion," and "primitive polytheism" pointing out that "spectators worship other human beings, their achievements, and the groups to which they belong." And that sports stadia and arenas resemble "cathedrals where followers gather to worship their heroes and pray for their successes." [Wann, et al., 2001, p. 200]
If ritual may be entertaining, then entertainment, as experienced in a sports stadium, may be ritualistic. Fans wear the team colors and carry its flags, icons, and mascots. Then there is repetitive chanting of team encouragement, hand-clapping, booing the other team, doing the wave, and so forth. The singing of an anthem at a sporting event likely has similar psychological effects as the singing of a hymn in church. (Psychology Today)
It is also curious that as religious attendance rates have dropped off in recent decades, interest in sport spectatorship has soared. (Psychology Today)
Some scholars believe that fans are highly committed to their favored stars and teams in a way that gives focus and meaning to their daily lives. In addition, sports spectatorship is a transformative experience through which fans escape their humdrum lives, just as religious experiences help the faithful to transcend their everyday existence.
From that perspective, the face painting, hair tinting, and distinctive costumes are thought to satisfy specific religious goals including identification with the team, escape from everyday limitations and disappointments, and establishing a community of fans. (Psychology Today)
Now, I’ve picked on football enough. I think you get the point, and maybe you are not interested in football and you are thinking to yourself, “Yeah, take that, you obsessed football fans!”, hold on. You see, the point has been made for football. It could be made for many other things. Fans of a book series will line up for hours to get the newest book in a series. Same with fans of technology who line up for hours to get their hands on the newest phone or stand in line for hours on Thanksgiving weekend to score a deal.
The same point could be made for those obsessed fans of various musicians, who will make a pilgrimage to a concert or go into debt to buy tickets. Or the person who loves video games and spends half their lifetime online, or those who are obsessively into sci fi and all they ever talk about is the latest marvel or star wars movie coming out. For others it may be their occupation. Try having a conversation with a farmer and see if you can get through ten minutes without hearing about how the weather is effecting the crops or what commodity prices are doing.
I could go on and on, but I think the point is clear: We have the ability to form a community around almost anything, and often times those different communities can start to look a lot like the church. Go to a lions or kiwanas or rotary club meeting and see if I’m not right. Any group can get together under some binding common interest and they will do all of those things mentioned in the video. No, they wouldn’t want to admit that they do it religiously, but it often looks very similar.
In fact, it is the commonest thing to see how people will bond together. There are many shared interests that result in a group of people uniting and becoming a community. They have meeting places large and small, they unite under one god, small g, they love each other’s company, they have fun celebrations, they have meals together, they cerebrate when someone in the group has a breakthrough, it becomes for some the most important thing, the thing they truly live for, they share in each others troubles. Groups like that have corporate confession. The ritual that has been established for football and other sports, where the post game press conference happens and the losing team or players come out and make their apologies for losing.
But the die-hard fans always forgive, and I must admire the resilience of some of the fans who continue to support their team and always say, its ok, we’ll get em next time! There are songs sung in these various communities. School songs, civic groups have their own songs, if it is a patriotic group like a veteran’s group, they have patriotic songs. They share a great joy in a common hope, the wear clothing to let other know they are part of that group, they have conversations centered around that common interest.
So we have to ask the question: “Well, what is wrong with that?” Well, there isn’t anything wrong with any of that, unless.” Unless you have put your faith in Christ, received the great mercy of God and been saved, and yet your secular life remains more important to you than your faith life.
You see, what is common in all of those communities, whether sports, or hobby groups, or whatever, is this: They have a common focus (one might even call this an idol or object of worship). The community then grows out of that common entity and focus. The community grows closer and stronger through social activities, shared meals, times of laughter and celebration, times of mourning, etc. And none of that is bad in and of itself.
In the church, we do the same. Under one common unifying theme, we are united, and that is a shared participation in the wonderful salvation offered through Jesus Christ. We unite under this and under God’s Word, which gives us instruction on how to live out this faith, and so we are a community formed by this common factor. And just like sports can do, and volunteer organizations, and all these other things, this unity can even erase the divisions that normally could keep people apart, as well looked at in in November. Fans of the same team will greet each other, or give a thumbs up, to someone else wearing the team colors.
My point this morning is not that any of those things I’ve mentioned are bad. My point is that in the church, we have something far superior.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,
by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,
and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
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.
Do you see that in our passage, if you were to insert something other than Jesus and inserted some other thing that people are united by, you can imagine the same conclusion? Dolphins fans, let us hold fast our confession of our hope without wavering.
Again, my point is not that any of these things are bad all by themselves. No problem with being a sports fan. No problem being in a community organization. No problem being a fan of an author, or sci fi movies, or gadgets, or whatever. And there is no problem is getting excited about those things or have conversations about them, or anything else. I am not standing here to tell you you have to give up every hobby or passion you have that isn’t church related. Unless…
Unless you have a passion for anything that exceeds your passion for Jesus Christ and his church. Unless you spend time on that passion and say you don’t have time to pray, or read God’s Word, or fellowship with the saints. Unless when faced with a decision to do that other thing always wins over if the alternative is to go to church.
You see, any common passion between people can be unifying. In the church, we have a common unifying element that is unmatched anywhere else, because ours will outlast everything else, it is far superior because our basis is an understanding of a guaranteed eternal victory which involves all of the saints worshiping together because the God of all the Universe has granted to us salvation through His son, Jesus.
Nothing will ever compare to that.
Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands,
saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”
And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
Now, to someone who has not experienced this salvation, they consider that to be a boring eternity. You see how cartoons and illustrations have shown heaven to be someone sitting on a cloud for all eternity, plucking away at a harp, and people will say, I don’t want to do that forever! And yet, every sports fan wants to recapture that euphoria they remember from the time they won state, or their team won the championship.
For anyone who has been part of a big production of a musical or play, after the curtain drops for the last time, and the after party is over, they long for those precious moments where they were in their element. When a reader closes a great book and gets over the initial satisfaction of a great ending, they soon begin to long to return to the feelings they had as they were reading, and soon that satisfaction turns to a disappointment that the book is done. But for the Christian, the excitement about our faith should build up over a lifetime, the expectation to see Jesus face to face should stir our hearts again and again, and looking forward to the eternal celebration in heaven should cause everything in this temporary world to fade in our affections, because nothing can compare to what God has in store for us.
If you read a passage from the Revelation and think it sounds boring, I wonder if you have truly felt the burden of your sins lifted, if you have ever known truly in your heart that your eternity is secured. Whatever gets you excited in this life will pale in comparison to what he has in store for us.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
Therefore encourage one another with these words.
But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
I realize this message may be uncomfortable to hear. I believe that many Christians need to take stock of what their priorities are. I’m not against sports, or any of those hobbies or passions. I am against them if they are keeping you or your family from experiencing the full benefits of a life of faith that is centered on the community found in the church. I have heard people tell me they can’t come to a church event because it is their only night off from all their other activities. Same when we have had Sunday evening services in the past.
“It’s our only time together as a family, and that is sacred”. I am pleading with you, consider your priorities. You see, if it is some extra curricular activities that keep you too busy to be active in the church, remember this: Even if your child wins state in whatever they are competing in, even if they win some scholarship, even if they get their name in the paper, the accomplishment, whatever it was, will soon fade. The reward for all of those hours spent is very fleeting.
But the time spent in the family of God has benefit both now and forever. That is why the early church had these priorities. Acts 2:42
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
It is ok to be part of multiple communities. You can be part of another group and still be part of the church. But what consumes you? Is it your passion for Jesus or something else?
Conclusion:
We are unified by our faith in Jesus, and our community is superior to any other because it is HIS church. And in eternity, the only community that it will matter that you have been a part of is the family of God, those who have faith in Jesus Christ.
