LESSON 4 IDOLS WE NEVER KNEW WE HAD— SPORTS Whatever we give ourselves to in worship, this is our God. Sometimes, because the word worship often gets too narrowly defined, we assume that worship is merely a musical style or something that we do for a period of time on a Sunday morning. The Christian pastor A. W. Tozer sheds some light on this topic. He once famously said, “If you will not worship God seven days a week, you do not worship Him on one day a week.”1 He’s right. Idolatry is when we take something good in our lives, but misuse it by glorifying it to spiritually unhealthy degrees. We then make sacrifices of other things as an expression of love and respect for that specific idol’s glory. Imagine for a moment that you are an alien from a far away galaxy who is transported into our solar system. As you begin examining earth, you zero in on the United States on a pleasant Sunday afternoon in autumn. If you have to guess what people worship, I’m guessing it wouldn't be the God of the Bible. Your spaceship begins to hover over a major metropolitan stadium. Dominating the landscape of the city, you see a billion dollar structure (that is, temple). You see seats that are very expensive yet sold out every weekend (that is, offering). You see droves of people dressed in particular colors, stuffing themselves with food and drink (that is, special dress and feast). You hear loud music and continuous chanting (that is, harmonious praises and cries of lament). You see scantily clad women standing near the main action, leading people in cheers (that is, playing to lustful desires, as was often done in pagan rituals). Point being, as a visitor from outer space, piecing together what you are looking at, you would probably assume you are viewing a worship service as large, passionate, devoted, vocal, and generous as any other worship service in the world that day. You’d probably be right. Of course, a love for sports is not inherently wrong, but a disproportionate love for sports is, in fact, idolatry. ________________________________ 1 A. W. Tozer, Tozer Speaks: Volume One (Wingspread, 2010), Kindle edition.
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