Slow out of the blocks this morning …

Sermon prep started a little later than expected today. And here’s the reason.

I came back from Theology Breakfast as the announcer on the Today Programme told me what was coming on next. Fatal. No, not Women’s Hour. It’s a 45 minute interview with Jonathan Agnew on Desert Island Discs.

The BBC Radio i-player blurb says this

Kirsty Young’s castaway this week is the cricket commentator Jonathan Agnew.

Known simply as “Aggers” to the army of fans devoted to Test Match Special, his charm, knowledge and ready wit have gained him a place in the heart of anyone who loves the game.

His own infatuation began as a young boy at boarding school and along with his talent and determination it took him all the way to the top of the sport. He played for Leicestershire and England. His transition from the crease to the commentary box was cemented by one of the most memorable moments in broadcasting history – the notorious “legover” comment that prompted the legendary Brian Johnston to dissolve into helpless, prolonged giggles live on air.

It’s pure gold.

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Boris on Rugby

Stirring rhetoric from the Mayor of London at the Rugby World Cup Launch.

Genius.

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The Games We Play: Blog Post 3

Sport is dangerous. It can make us selfish. What I mean is that it can encourage introspective self-absorption. It can foster an attitude of self-examination that has everything to do with me, how well I played and whether I won. It has very little to do with others. At least that’s often been my experience! And when we’re obsessed with our own game we tend to forget that, even in sport, God has given us neighbours to serve. Most sports give us others to relate to. We have team mates, opponents and officials to interact with. So let’s think about how ‘loving our neighbour as ourselves’ might apply in sport.

Relating to team mates

Team mates are the other players with whom and upon whom we depend as we compete together.

Being in a team means playing our part. It means being a team player. And there’s no ‘I’ in team (though there is ’me’ if you look hard enough)! It means that we contribute positively to the creation and maintenance of team spirit. Of course, what our team mates need most from us is our encouragement, not our abuse when they fail to match up to our expectations or our blame when they make a critical mistake. If you wanted to model yourself on one biblical character, take Barnabas. He was known as an encourager (Acts 4:36). Most teams need someone like that. And a Christian is well placed to encourage others. If we’re honest, it’s probably hardest to encourage someone who’s competing for your spot on the team. That’s not easy. It’s hard to love the team-mate who’s been selected instead of you. There’s only one place worse than the stands to watch a game and that’s from the replacements bench. I’ve watched games wanting my team-mate to underperform so that I can get my place back in the team. That’s not great. And it’s not right. I should have encouraged him and then gone away and worked at improving my game. I should view him as someone God has sent me to encourage and someone sent to make me better.

Relating to opponents

Opponents are not enemies to be hated. They’re people against whom we compare ourselves. They’re our competitors and we treat them with respect by competing honestly and wholeheartedly against them. The former tennis player, Jimmy Connors once said, ‘I don’t go out there to love my enemy, I go out there to squash him’. But our opponent is not an enemy to be hated; Jesus said he’s a neighbour to be loved. this is a radical departure from the way we may have been taught to behave in competition. But how do we love our opponent? We love him by giving him our best. The nature of sport is that it involves competition. Two teams or two individuals are pitted against each other to discover the winner. The best sport happens when two sides that are equally matched go head to head and stretch each other to produce their very best. The other team is looking for an opponent of a similar standard who will challenge them. They deserve our best. In a sporting context therefore to love them means to be competitive. That’s why the top of the table clashes are eagerly awaited. With the best will in the world it’s not easy to get excited by Man Utd against Wigan, especially if you’re a neutral. But Man Utd against Man City is a prospect to relish.

Relating to officials

The officials are people who give up their time to facilitate a fair contest. They may provoke our dissent for their unreliable and unequal decisions. But they shouldn’t get it. They deserve our respect and our thanks. Regrettably I’m not averse to expressing my opinion on the sports’ field and I’ve often been on the wrong side of the line when it comes to officials. That doesn’t mean it’s right. It just means I’m work in progress.  I’m ashamed to say that my children have seen me yellow carded for mouthing off to an incompetent referee. But in addition to that propensity to dissent, I need to watch out for two other sinful habits. I need to watch out for disrespect. And this has as much to do with what I say about him behind his back to my team mates as well as what I shout in his face! And in addition I mustn’t be dishonest. As Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:5 there’s no victory worth having if we’ve not played according to the rules. Dishonesty is cheating. Both teams agree to compete according to a set of regulations. That way it’s a fair contest. When we cheat, we tip the balance in our favour. We may get away with it. We may win. But it’s a hollow victory and the triumph is tarnished. Christian sportspeople can maintain a wonderfully distinctive witness in the way that we love the officials.

A Christian approach to these three groups has to do with serving them unselfishly.

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The Games We Play: Blog Post 2

Sport is dangerous. It gets under our skin and it gets into our hearts. We love it. The problem is; we can love it too much. It can become our obsession. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with sport, it’s a good gift from God – given for our enjoyment (1 Timothy 4). But there’s plenty wrong with us. And we’re so messed up that we’re capable of taking a good thing and turning it into a god thing. We can worship sport. It becomes what we live for. It’s what gets us excited above everything else. It becomes our saviour providing us with sporting heaven or sporting hell. When the sporting gods smile on us we’re lifted to states of ecstatic praise so that we’re indescribably happy. And when they don’t, we descend into a pit of morose whingeing despair so that we’re unbearably miserable.

When we do this we fail to love God wholeheartedly. Taking the first of Jesus’ two summary commands, we turn it on its head. We worship a created thing (sport) instead of the creator (God). That’s idolatry. And it’s an ever-present danger when we’re really passionate about something, not just sport.

And so, the first way in which we struggle to play Jesus’ way, is that we’re tempted to idolatry. Whether we’re losing the fight against idolatry can be known if we’re prepared to engage in a painful bit of self-examination.

We usually think about the things that we most value. So it’s worth asking where our mind goes when we have nothing else to think about? I used to daydream about games I’d played in, rehearsing the tries I’d scored or moments that inspired me. I used to fall asleep replaying the last game and chastising myself for the mistakes. I used to glory in those flashes of genius that were a rare accompaniment to my ‘career’. Where our mind goes when it rests or when it has some downtime reveals what we live for.

We usually talk about the things that we most value. So what’s the subject of our most passionate conversations? What do you get excited about? What are you talking about when you;re most animated? When do you find yourself raising your voice? I can sometimes be found shouting at the telly. Usually it’s when one of my team’s players has been a complete ‘numpty’. Only last Saturday, Nick Easter was on the receiving end of a tongue lashing from me for his handling mistakes against Worcester. What was going on there? Why the raised temperature? Why the heated and animated conversation? I desperately wanted Quins to win. And Worcester were playing the better rugby. Nick Easter and (admittedly) his temporary incompetence was denying me what I most wanted. A win. And that showed in how I spoke him through the telly! As it was, Quins won. (I like to think my harsh but fair words may have played their part?!)

We usually find time for the things that we most value. So is the diary wall to wall sport? Where do church, family and friends fit in? I still feel the shame of a decision I made as a young man which should’ve sent warning signals to all who knew me that sport had become more than a pastime. I was due to play in a sevens tournament on a Saturday. I got a call from my Father about the unexpected and very serious illness of my Mother. She nearly died. But she didn’t. And she was recovering in a hospital in a fairly critical condition. So I dropped everything and rushed to her bedside, right? Wrong. I played in the tournament and went up the day after. Idiot. It didn’t help that I was living a largely unaccountable Christian life. Being away with the Royal Navy, I didn’t have a regular church that I was plugged into. But still. It was shameful. And it showed that rugby had indeed, become an idol.

We may not enjoy the process fo self-examination. But those searching questions may help us come to terms with the reality of our situation. The answers to those questions will help us realise whether we’re fighting the desire for idolatry or whether we’ve simply surrendered to it.

So what are we to do? We’ll get to that after we’ve thought about the second way in which we fail to play Jesus’ way in the next blog post.

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The Games We Play: Blog Post 1

As part of the forthcoming London Men’s Convention book, ‘The Big Fight’ (at least I think that’s what we’ve called it) I had to write something about sport. My initial draft didn’t make the cut. Thornborough brutally culled it. And then got all his friends to weigh in when I disputed his judgement. I’d written something for sportsmen. But Tim was convinced that the overwhelming majority of the LMC participate in sport as spectators not as players. I stood corrected. And less enjoyably, in need of writing a whole new article. But what about the first one; the one I wrote for guys who actually do sport and don’t just watch sport. It couldn’t go to waste. And so here it is.; in three parts. Part one today and the other two to follow in short order.

Let me start with something a little provocative. Competitive sport is either an act of God honouring worship or it’s an act of God denying idolatry.

Does that get under your skin? It did mine. When I first heard it. I was on camp and I’d asked to leave early so that I could go and play for my rugby team. The camp leader told me that rugby had become my idol. He was right. And I didn’t like it.

But it doesn’t have to be like that. It’s possible to play our sport so that we humbly use our God given abilities to bring Him glory. And in our better moments, before the red mist brought on by competition descends, that’s what we’d love to do. But often we find that we selfishly display our sin in arrogant attempts at self-glorification.

But let me explain how I got there.

Jesus doesn’t address the issue of sport directly. But he did condense God’s requirements in a natty two point summary.  In Matthew 22:37, he memorably told his disciples,

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’

And so Jesus has made it unavoidably clear how he’d like us to conduct ourselves on the field of play. He only requires two things of us. Remembering that surely lies within the capabilities of most sportsmen! The first requirement is that we love Him unreservedly. And the second is that we serve others unselfishly. That’s it. But whilst we may understand those in theory, we struggle to live them out in reality, especially in sport.

And so all sport is dangerous, regardless of whether it’s extreme or not. It provides limitless opportunities for ungodliness. Don’t misunderstand me, there’s nothing wrong with sport. But there is with us. And it’s what we are that spoils the games we play. We’re sinners, forgiven sinners, but sinners nonetheless. And we’ll continue to struggle with the desires of our sinful flesh until the New Creation. At that point, our heroic champion, the Lord Jesus Christ will return to complete the redemption he accomplished on the cross. And he  destroy our flesh. Imagine that; sport without sin. We’ll participate in morally perfect sporting contests in heaven. I’ll never cheat. My opponent will never sledge or distract me with other gamesmanship. And I’ll never racquet chuck ever again. It’ll be fantastic. But until then we’re going to have to deal with our ungodliness. Especially we’re going to struggle to love God unreservedly and to serve others unselfishly. We’ll find ourselves tempted to idolatry (not loving God unreservedly) and to individualism (not serving others unselfishly).

We’re going to think about each of those in turn in the next two posts.

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‘I’m in the Seconds!’

Using his left foot!

Rufus, our eldest son, came back from school in an uncharacteristic melancholic mood last week. He’s normally upbeat, especially on a Friday because the week finishes with triple games. And for a sports’ loving lad, what’s not to love about that. But he looked decidedly under the weather, so I asked how things had gone. Not well. It wasn’t that the bottom had fallen out of his world. But it was pretty close.

He’d only made the seconds.

Spring term means football. Sadly the oval ball is consigned to the cupboard. The sports’ staff had divided the boys up into squads. After a few sessions casting their eyes over the talent before them they had to make some choices. Rufus had only made the seconds. He was in the first team last year. He was gutted. And there was a sense of incomprehension at the decision which, being a one-eyed father, I shared! I could have said, ‘it’s only footy’ and not a sport that really matters (which is what I really think). But I didn’t. I could have asked Rosslyn for advice about what to say. But I don’t think she ever got dropped in her life.

Let’s be honest. Making the seconds isn’t awful, though it feels like it when you’re not used to it. It’s actually quite an achievement in a school with 90 boys in the year group and only 7 boys in a team (though there are probably 10 in a squad). Footy isn’t Rufus’ sport. He’s small for his age. He’s just coming back into contact sport after a broken arm. But the simple truth is that (in the opinion of the selectors) he’s not good enough at the moment to make the first team. And that’s not altogether bad.

Rosslyn and I are grateful for this recent turn of events. We don’t like seeing our boy ‘crushed’ but there are lessons to be learnt. Rufus and I had a bit of a chat on our journey home. I can help with sport. It’s Biology and French that I struggle with. So we talked, on the hoof. And I’m sure that I said some useful things. But I’m pretty sure there was a whole load of dross as well. As I’ve reflected and we’ve talked some more, these are the four things I’ve said in response to being dropped. I wish I’d learnt them when I was younger. To my shame, I was rubbish at being left out of the starting XV or demoted to the seconds. These same four principles apply to all of us who play sport and have to cope with the disappointment of being told that we’re just not good enough at the moment.

1. It’s an opportunity to react to life’s disappointments. Life doesn’t always turn out the way we want it to. And that’s not a bad thing to learn, even if you’re only ten. I’m intrigued to see how he’s going to react. Lot’s has gone his way so far in life. He’s very good at the things he loves; namely sports. But that rich vein of form won’t last. And it’s going to be interesting to see whether he loses interest in the things where he doesn’t succeed. But it may help him put his sport into perspective. The danger is that whichever sport he’s playing that term can become the be all and end all. But there’s more to life than sports. And he needs to know that. The crushing sense of disappointment at being dropped does hint at some underlying issues that have been worth talking about. We’ll come onto those. But sport can become an idol even at such a tender age. And we’ve had a chance to talk about the appeal of sport and why we value it so much. Being dropped has been a good thing.

2. It’s an opportunity to realise that ability isn’t identity. In other words, we’re not what we’re good at. But that’s not usually how it works in a school (or in life). And in a boys’ school with a sporting pedigree, ability matters. One of the reasons that his transition in into a completely new school has gone so well was because he made his way into the first rugby team at scrumhalf. But I don’t want Rufus’ identity to be bound up with sporting success or which team he’s in, but with Christ. I want him to think of himself as belonging to Jesus more than he thinks of himself as belonging to any team, or indeed our family. I don’t want him to think of himself as being something because he’s one of the best footballers in his year. That’s arrogant. I want him to walk around gobsmacked that God in His kindness has given him the privilege of being a follower of Christ. That’s humility. God has picked him for Christ’s team. That’s all the selection he needs!

3. It’s an opportunity to respond by improving his game. He’s been left out of the first team for a reason; the coaching team don’t think he’s good enough. He could despair at the injustice of it all. Or he could go away and sulk, much like his Father would. Or he could go away and improve his game. This could actually make him a better player. He could stop coasting and actually apply himself to working out what he does well, what he contributes to a team and what he needs to work on. Presumably God gives us disappointments to remind us that we’re not the finished article; that there are areas where we could improve. And I’m not simply talking about his sporting skills. I’m talking about character. That’s why Rosslyn and I are pleased that this has happened. It’s provided an opportunity to focus on what really matters; namely what kind of boy he’s becoming not how good at sport he’s getting!

4. It’s an opportunity to remember that he’s part of a team. It’s not wrong to want to play at the highest level. He wants to play with the best and pitch himself against the best. But whichever level he ends up playing at, he’ll be part of a team. And that means that he has to play his part. After all, the key thing is not making the team but being part of the team. I think that this is the one thing I want him to learn above all. He needs to do what he can in the team that he’s in and not spend the whole time looking across at the first team game wishing he was there. His team, the seconds, can have a terrific season loving playing together and competing against other teams. And it could be a blast. With the group of boys God has given him to be involved with, he could be a real encouragement and help them become a great team where they’re more than the sun of their parts. That would be a far greater achievement than making the firsts.

Whichever team he ends up in, I’ll be there; supporting him whatever, encouraging him when he’s down, chastising him when he’s lazy and praising him when he’s playing his part.

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The Conduct of Sport

How should I behave?

In an essay entitled ‘The Sporting Spirit’, George Orwell wrote that ‘serious sport has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words it is war minus the shooting’

I think he had issues. He probably couldn’t catch and was always picked last when it came to choosing teams. But even if he’s half right then it ought to be possible for the Christian sportsperson to bring something distinctive to sport.

In Matthew 22:37 Jesus taught his disciples, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself’.

Our sporting life is not exempt from Jesus‘ expectation that we’ll love our neighbour. So whether we’re talking about our team mates, our opponents or the officials Jesus expects us to show them some neighbour love. But that just sounds plain wrong. I’m a sportsman I can’t go around talking about ‘love’ and exepct to be taken serisouly. So let’s go for the more manly sounding but nevertheless meaning much the same sort of thing ‘serve’. I must serve others in teh way that I play sport. But what does that look like in practice? After all Jimmy Connors once said, ‘I don’t go out there to love my enemy, I go out there to squash him’. Quite what that looks like from a man in tight white shorts playing a non contact sport one can only imagine. But what Jesus taught is a radical departure from the way we may have been taught to behave in the arena of competitive sport.

1. relating to team mates

Serving involves putting ourselves at others’ disposal. In a team it means playing our part and being a team player. It means that we contribute positively to the creation and maintenance of team spirit. If you wanted to model yourself on one biblical character, it’s worth knowing that Barnabas was known as an encourager (Acts 4:36). Most teams need someone like that and a Christian is well placed to encourage others. Of course, it’s hard when you then need to encourage someone who’s competing for your spot on the team. That’s not easy. It’s hard to serve the team mate who’s been selected instead of you. There’s only one place worse than the stands to watch a game and that’s from the replacements bench. I’ve watched games wanting my team mate to underperform. That’s not right. I should have encouraged him and then gone away and worked at improving my game. I should view him as someone God has sent me to encourage and someone sent to make me better. 

2. relating to opponents

Our opponent is not an enemy to be hated, he’s a neighbour to be loved (or served!). But how do we serve him? We serve  him by giving him our best. The nature of sport is that it involves competition. Two teams or two individuals are pitted against each other to discover the winner. The best sport is when two sides that are equally matched go head to head. The other team are looking for an opponent of a similar standard who will challenge them. They deserve our best. In a sporting context therefore to love them means to be competitive.

3. relating to officials

I hate the way that Premiership footballers think it’s acceptable to crowd round the referee and challenge his decision. It’s disgraceful and there’s no way to justify it. In rugby, it’s not tolerated. And the laws of the game make it straight forward to punish.

I’m not averse to expressing my opinion on the sports’ field and I’ve often been on the wrong side of the line when it comes to officials. That doesn’t mean it’s right. It just means I’m a work in progress.  But in addition to that propensity to dissent, I need to watch out for two other sinful habits.

Secondly, I need to watch out for disrespect. And this has as much to do with what I say about him behind his back to my team mates as well as what I shout in his face!

And thirdly I mustn’t be dishonest. As Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:5 there’s no victory worth having if we’ve not played according to the rules. Dishonesty is cheating. Both teams agree to compete according to a set of regulations. That way it’s a fair contest. When we cheat we tip the balance in our favour. We may get away with it. We may win. But it’s a hollow victory and the triumph is tarnished. Christian sportspeople can maintain a wonderfully distinctive witness in the way that we love the officials.

Conclusion

I can’t tell you how much I love sport. It borders on idolatry. But I’ve got it under control. The chief way I ensure I remain godly in sporting competition is to give thanks to God for physical exercise, for technical ability and for competition and the expression of that in sports. They are wonderful gifts from our gracious God. And I suspect that many of us know that. But our danger is that we play them for the wrong reasons and sometimes in the wrong way. But if we’ll change the motivation for which we play and we’ll change the manner in which we play, we’ve got an unparalleled opportunity to use the sports that God has given us for His glory and not for our own. And we’ll be better sportspeople for it.

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The Dangers of Sport

What are the things that I need to look out for? I’m not talking about physical injury. I’m talking about things far more serious than that.

1. Don’t lose your heart

Sport can be dangerous. It gets under the skin and into our hearts. We love it. But the danger is that we can love it too much. When I was a university I well remember one church leader chastising me for the importance I attached to my involvement in rugby. He told me in no uncertain terms that he thought rugby was my idol. I told him that he didn’t understand how sport and teams worked. He didn’t. But he was right. I see that now. Rugby had become an unhealthy obsession. I’d turned a good thing into a God thing. It had become the supreme object of my affections. I was worshipping it, and me, rather than the God who gave it to me. If we’re not playing sport to the glory of God, we’re still worshipping. But we’re worshipping someone or something else. The Bible calls it idolatry. So how do we know whether we’re doing this? We need to do some self examination. We need to ask some tough questions of ourselves.

First, we should examine the thoughts of our hearts. We usually think about the things that we most value. So where does our mind go when we have nothing else to think about? If it’s sport or sporting success it may well be this has become too important to us. What do we dream about? What makes you indescribably happy and what makes you unbearably miserable?

Secondly, we should examine the words on our lips. We usually talk about the things that we most value. So what do we talk about? What are we talking about when we have our most passionate conversations?

Thirdly, we should examine the content of our diaries. How do we use our time? We usually find time for the things that we most value. Is the diary wall to wall sport? Where do church, family and friends fit in? The answers to those questions will help you realise whether sport has become an idol.

2. Don’t try to win at all costs

The Green Bay Packers coach, Vince Lombardi is credited with saying, ‘winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing’. It’s wrong of course. There’s a bigger picture. There are some things more important than victory. When Andrew Flintoff bent down to speak to Bret Lee in 2005, we got a glimpse of the bigger picture. The victory at Edgbaston was terrific. But the noble interaction between two world class athletes put it in context. But just because winning isn’t everything doesn’t mean that we can use this as an excuse for being half hearted in the way we play. We can’t use it to justify a mediocre performance. And it’s no reason to be uncommitted in the way that we prepare. In Colossians 3:23, The Apostle Paul wrote, ‘²³ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, ²⁴ since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving’. And so Christian sportspeople ought to be the most loyal, committed and hard working members of the team. But we need to stop short of thinking and behaving as though winning is everything. We mustn’t sacrifice our godliness on the altar of victory. It’s not ‘win at all costs’.

3. Don’t confuse ability with identity

I’m now playing veterans rugby. We’re older, slower and weaker than we used to be. Markedly so! But we’re still a pretty good side because some of our ability and acumen remain. And we still play non-veteran sides full of young athletic lads who think that their best years are ahead of them. Who knows what they think when they see us trot out onto the pitch. I still get an inordinate amount of delight from beating those teams. But that’s not altogether healthy, is it? It suggests I’ve got identity issues. I have. But I’m not alone. Lots of us derive our self worth from our accomplishments. And sport is no different. And so, sportspeople can be surprisingly insecure. That’s because of the maxim ‘you’re only as good as your last game’. That’s nonsense. But we believe it. We’re enslaved by the conviction that ‘who we are’ is bound up with ‘how we play’. The reason for that is because that’s usually the way that teams work. A disproportionate amount of attention, respect and praise is given to the star players. That reinforces the view that only the brilliant are to be valued. But Christians should have a different perspective because we understand that teams need diversity within unity. Or as Paul put it in 1 Corinthians 12:1 ‘The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable’. That’s one of the reasons I love rugby; the big lump can play at prop and play his part, the lanky beanpole can play second row and play his part and the tiny whippet can play wing and get the glory for scoring the tries! But he knows he’s not done it alone. He’s part of a team that functions on interdependence. Even if we’re one of the most gifted players in the team, when we appreciate that our abilities are God given and that in a team we need others, humility ought to characterise our demeanour. Not arrogant self absorption with our own performance.

Play sport, by all means. But don’t be naive. Beware of the dangers.

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The Benefits of Sport

Apparently 28 million people, nearly half the entire British population, take part in sport or recreation at least once a month. There will be many reasons why they choose to do so. Some of those we’ll share. Here are three reasons I could think of.

1. We play sport for the sheer enjoyment of it

It’s just hugely enjoyable. We derive real pleasure from using the bodies that God has given us in sport. And there are moments of indescribable satisfaction where every once in a while we pull off something unexpectedly brilliant. We sink the twenty foot putt on the final green. We bowl a perfect leg break that whizzes past the outside edge. We execute an outrageous sidestep that leaves the sixteen stone flanker floundering in our wake. One of my sporting heroes, Eric Liddell, famously said ‘God made me for a purpose but he also made me fast and when I run I feel his pleasure’. There are times when sportspeople know that too. We know that God has given us sport, that He’s given us bodies and that He’s given us opportunities to delight in His goodness to us through sport.

2. We play sport to be part of a team

Sport is fundamentally relational as well as recreational. God, who is Himself relational, intends that we function in teams. After all, what else is the Trinity if not a divine team? Going to the gym is exercise. Going on a ride is sport, I suppose. But it’s so much more when we go out early Sunday morning with a bunch of mates and we go all the way down to Box Hill and are back in time for church! When the time comes for me to stop playing rugby, it’s being part of a team that I’ll miss most. I so appreciate the playful interaction that’s commonplace within the changing room. For lots of sportsmen, banter is their love language. No one is allowed to take themselves too seriously. That’s good for my ungodly preoccupation with my own self importance. The camaraderie of sharing the joy of victory and the disappointment of defeat is a precious thing. You don’t get that on your own. And let’s not forget the interdependence that you get within a team. Teams may ahev star players but they need a team to function. Just ask Lewis Hamilton. Lewis may be the best driver in the world but if me and my mates were in charge of getting his McLaren ready for a Grand Prix, I think it’s fair to say he’d struggle!

3. We play sport to test ourselves

Whether we’re going for a run and trying to beat our personal best or whether we’re part of a five-a-side league and trying to avoid relegation, sport lives by comparison. We’ll only discover how good we are when we compete against others. We need an opponent. We had a rugby fixture last year and the opposition failed to turn up. They weren’t stuck in traffic. It wasn’t that they’d been unable to raise a team. It’s just that they hadn’t remembered the fixture. It was so disappointing because our team needed another team to play against. We tried playing touch but our heart wasn’t in it. Christians can be uncomfortable with the concept of competition. We needn’t be. We just need to remember that there’s bad competition and good competition. Bad competition is what you get when people compete for the wrong reasons, like a husband and wife vying for the trousers. Or when people compete in the wrong way like political rivals slandering their opponent. There’s no doubt that competition can be ugly and negative. But it doesn’t have to be that way. The purpose of competition is to compete by the rules of the game and aim at victory. There’ll usually be a winner and a loser. But everyone who competed is better off for the experience. In going up against an opponent we not only find out how good we are but we also have an opportunity to improve. The best sporting experiences are normally to be had when we go up against someone at the same level as us.

Sport is beneficial. It’s good for our appreciation of who God is, it’s good for our social interaction and it’s good for our own humility.

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The Nature of Sport

When I’m feeling playful, I casually introduce my definition of sport into dinner party conversation and wait for the response. As far as I’m concerned, to be classified as a sport, an activity must involve the following four features

1. it must involve competition
2. it must involve athletic ability
3. it must involve technique or skill
4. it must involve a ball or ball substitute

As you might imagine, it’s a definition that hasn’t met with widespread approval! It’s usually point four that creates the most issues. Especially amongst the rowers. The cyclists. And the runners. But can you think of a better definition?!

Of course, we’ll search the scriptures in vain for a biblical definition of sport. We’ll find a handful sporting metaphors, especially in the New Testament. But the biblical authors are simply using athletic competition, the victor’s rewards and the preparation required to compete as brilliant illustrations of the Christian life. They’re not constructing a theology of sport.

We tend to know what sport is when we see it. But for the sake of completeness, let’s run with the council of Europe’s definition of sport which says,

‘Sport means all forms of physical activity, which, through causal or organised participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental well being, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competition at all levels’.

But though the Bible doesn’t define sport precisely, it nevertheless has important things to say about the nature of sport. Here are three.

1. Sport is a gift from God

God did not create sport. People did. Though I’ve always thought there’s something divine about cricket. But God created people with sporting ability and sporting desire. And then using their God given creativity they did the rest. They invented a diverse array of sports; from canoeing to kabbadi. Sports therefore express the creativity that God has given to humanity. There’s actually something artistic about it. As a flyhalf, I often tell my outside backs that the rugby pitch is a blank canvas on which we’ll paint our work of rugby art. You can imagine the response! But how should we respond to this divinely given gift of sport? In 1 Timothy 4, the Apostle Paul says ‘⁴ For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, ⁵ because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer’. And so we need to thank God for the gift of sport. It’s one of His undeserved generous acts of kindness to create us with the capacity to enjoy recreational activity. When was the last time you thanked God for your sport? I used to do it before every game I played. But somehow I stopped. I’m going to change that.

2. Sport is a legitimate leisure activity

For a privileged few, sport is work. But not for most of us. They’re part of God’s gift of leisure. And so, in our fallen world, where productive work is frustrated by toil and weariness deprives us of enjoyment of daily life, God has given us sports to refresh us. But sport has not always been viewed in such terms. Christians have sometimes viewed sport and sportspeople with suspicion. There have been periods in the history of the Christian church when sport has been viewed as unspiritual and therefore an unfitting activity for the serious minded disciple. But there’s nothing intrinsically ungodly about sport. Sportsmen may be ungodly. But that’s a different matter. And we’ll get to that. But sport isn’t inherently wrong. In all the New Testament references to sport there’s not a single explicit or implicit condemnation of the activity. If sport were intrinsically evil, we’d expect the New Testament writers to qualify their comments or nuance their illustrations. But they didn’t. And so it’s entirely reasonable to assume that the Bible is not anti-sports. It fits into the ‘whatever you do’ of Colossians 3:23 where Paul says that ‘whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men’. And so, in good conscience, we can wholeheartedly commit ourselves to our sporting endeavours as a valid discipleship activity.

3. Sport is an act of worship

In 1 Corinthians 10:31, Paul writes, ‘³¹ So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God’. So sport, like anything else in life, is an opportunity for us to glorify God. God has given us sport, not simply for our own benefit but also as a means by which we can draw attention to His goodness. Properly played and enjoyed therefore, sport is an opportunity to express the greatness of God. To bring glory to God as sportspeople we should play sport in a way that brings attention to God’s greatness. Not our own. This involves more than making the sign of the crucifix before you step onto the field of play or falling to your knees in prayer after scoring a century. It has to do with worshipping God as we play. As Paul writes in Romans 12:1, ‘Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship’. And so there’s a sense in which the sports pitch is the Temple in which we offer our sacrificial act of worship (which may explain why you get slaughtered so much!).

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