Entertainment as God

Our Entertainment Culture

The average person spends 3.5 to 4 hours a day watching TV

That equates to 9 years of your life by the age 65

The average person spends 3 hours on their phone everyday

67% of American households having gaming systems

Average “gamers” spend 6 hours per week playing video games. 18-25 year old’s play more than 7 hours per week.

In 2014 a 24 year old man was convicted of murdering his 16 month old son because he wouldn’t stop crying while he was playing a video game.

Last week, while I was preaching here, a man opened fire at a video gaming tournament in Jacksonville after being eliminated from the competition. He killed 2 people, injured 10, and killed himself.

I am not sharing those stories to sensationalize the issue, but both of those stories are extreme examples of where our pursuits of amusement can lead.

I am not saying “If you play video games you are going to kill someone.” That’s ridiculous, but I am asking the question “What are you willing to sacrifice in the pursuit to be entertained?”

I am asking “Has the desire for entertainment become our god?”

We have more access to instant entertainment than any culture has ever had and yet we all have been sitting in front of the TV surfing netflix’s 5000 movies only to find nothing to watch.

We spend lots of time watching sports, pursuing hobbies, scrolling social media, and sparing at a screen seeking to escape, relax, and find some peace, only to come back to the same wells over and over yet never quenching our thirst.

we all have been sitting in front of the TV surfing netflix’s 5000 movies only to find nothing to watch.

Perhaps this is worship? And we probably didn’t even realize it.

Defining Worship

Kyle Idleman says of worship

Worship is the built-in human reflex to put your hope in something or someone and then chase after it. You hold something up and then give your life to pursuing it. If you live in this world, then sooner or later you grow some assumptions concerning what your life is all about, what you should really be going after. And when you begin to align your life with that pursuit, then, whether you realize it or not, you are worshiping.

“Hope in something or someone and then chase after it...Give your life to pursuing it.”

What I am not saying:

What I am not saying:

We shouldn’t watch TV or play video games.

We can’t have hobbies or root for our favorite teams.

We can only have fun in church and with church people.

1 Corinthians 6:12 ESV

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.

1 Corinthians 6:12

Paul is confronting a statement made by the Church in Corinth, “All things are lawful for me,” meaning “we can do pretty much anything we want right Paul?”

Paul doesn’t counter with regulations, but with wisdom

not all things are helpful

Don’t let anything become your master (idolatry)

God is not against our enjoyment of things or our entertainment, but He is concerned with the objects of our worship.

“We identify things we want, both good and bad, and then we make sacrifices to get them.”

What do we sacrifice in our pursuit of entertainment?

Our time-

Our relationships

Our money

Our health

Our faith in God

Chasing the Wind

Question: If you had all the money you would ever need and all the free time you would ever desire what would you do?

It is safe to say none of us will ever have that opportunity, but there was one man in history that did, King Solomon.

Solomon was David’s son and had inherited a very healthy and wealthy kingdom.

Solomon is still considered possibly the wealthiest man in history.

He was also King during a very prosperous time in Israel and a quite peaceful time.

Solomon had loads of resources and free time on his hands, so he was able to tests out some modes of entertainment.

In his reflective and poetic letter “Ecclesiastes”, Solomon speaks of his pursuits:

Ecclesiastes 2:1 ESV

I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.

Solomon was the wealthiest man in history. He had access to anything and everything entertaining "under the sun".

In modern terms Solomon had the best cable package money could buy, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Netflix; he had and all the newest gaming consoles and a killer gaming PC. He had the newest phones, the best guns, the biggest tv, access to the best golf courses... You get the drift...

And Solomon says "it is all vanity"

which means vapor or breath. It is meaningless, unsubstantial, and empty.

It is like "striving after wind."

Ecclesiastes 1:14 ESV

I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

The Consequences of our Pursuit

1) We squander our time and resources for it.

Consider the amount of time and money we spend on frivolous things.

I spent $1500 on a sounds system for my car when I was in high school so I could “enjoy” listening to music and share it with everyone around me.

I would love to have half the time back I wasted playing phone games, watching YouTube videos, and scrolling social media.

Again, I am not saying we shouldn’t rest and unplug,

I AM asking, how can we redeem our rest?

How can we use our time and resources toward a greater, more fulfilling purpose.

2) We sacrifice ourselves and others for it.

Consider the amount of t

How does our pursuit of entertainment influence your health and your relationships with others?

Our hobbies and the ways in which we unwind can become addictive and have ill effects on our health, both physical and psychological.

Loneliness is a huge issue in our culture, yet we have more forms of communication than EVER before.

The choices we make on our diet and our activity level are effected by our pursuits of entertainment and escape.

Our pursuit to be entertained, or to escape, deeply effect our relationships.

Whether is it your spouse and kids, or friends and family, we often sacrifice our time with them or our financial means to take care of them at the alter of entertainment.

Hanging out with friends, going hunting (Minnesota fishing season opens on Mother’s Day every year), surfing social media instead of spending time with real people, playing golf,

Again, none of these things are bad things, but have they become god things in your life?

3) We neglect our responsibilities and greater callings for it.

We neglect our responsibilities and greater callings for it.

One survey said 64% of employees visit personal (or non-work-related websites) daily while on the clock, some as many as 10 hours a week.

On a practical sense, that is a form of stealing time.

But it is also neglecting your responsibilities at work.

Do you stay up super late watching TV, playing video games, or watching a woman open oysters on facebook live (I have done it)

Neglecting good conversations with your spouse

Neglecting the opportunity to hear from God in His Word.

Do you choose to hunt or golf on the weekends rather than getting in the floor to play with your kids or spend time serving the needs of others.

We are neglecting our responsibilities, but also an ever greater calling.

My message changed yesterday.

I was struck with the thought “Am I squandering opportunities, sacrificing relationships, and neglecting the calling of God to His Mission in order to be entertained?”

A passage from Ephesians came to my mind:

Ephesians 5:16–18 ESV

making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,

Ephesians 5:14–16 ESV

for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

eph 5 15-

Ephesians 5:15–17 ESV

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Paul tells us to “Pay attention to how we live (walk)” and gives us three directives

Three Directives from Ephesians 5:15-17

1) Walk in wisdom

My favorite definition of discipleship (or growing in our relationship to Christ) is: continually submitting to Christ in all areas of life.

This means a disciple is one who is giving up control of their lives one aspect at a time.

Their family, their job, their health, their diet, their time, their money…

It is continual in that there is always an aspect of our lives we are holding on to or having to submit again day after day.

Walking in wisdom means we are asking the age old question: “What would Jesus do” according to His Word and the Spirit inside me.

We cannot be guided by what feels the best right now, or what others are doing.

1 jn 2

2) Use your time well

Our world is full of distractions and opportunities for instant gratification.

You have entertainment at the tip of your fingers anytime your want.

There are endless opportunities to experience new things.

There is always something new about to come out, only to follow with the next announcement that the even newer will come out soon after that.

We must fight the temptation to waste our time in the vanity of pursuing entertainment.

Paul says “the days are evil” meaning there is ample time and opportunities for us to waste.

But God has a better way. He has given us mission and purpose.

1 Peter 2:9 ESV

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

1 Peter 2:10 ESV

Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

You want to know why we constantly move from one thing to the other, looking to be entertained? Because we have a desire to be a part of something more, something bigger.

The reality is WE ARE, if you are a Christian.

I was struck yesterday with some daunting questions

“Do I use my time well?”

“Do I take advantage of every opportunity I am given, in whatever way that may be?”

“Do I live with intentionality and seriousness?”

I am still pondering those questions.

3) Seek and understand God’s will

This may sound cliche, but we must live our lives shaped by God’s Word and His Will as reveal in His Word.

One of the areas we sacrifice and neglect the most in our lives is learning and growing in God’s Word.

We read social media, watch endless amount of TV, even watch other people play a video game, before we take time to read God’s Word.

FOOLISHNESS

What is your action step?

Turn off the TV,

put down the phone,

schedule time with family,

get up earlier to read the Bible (we have a reading plan in the bulletin every week)

Hang out with a lost friend and love them like Christ and share Him with them.

“Everything is lawful for me” but not everything is helpful. “Everything is lawful for me” but do not be mastered by anything.