Choose This Day Whom You Will Serve

So I hear that there is some kind of sporting event about to happen within hours of this post. This image expresses my interest in these types of events. However, my mind goes to the bigger picture as well. As it happens every year this major sporting event always falls on a Sunday, and more and more, churches of late have adjusted their normal schedules to accommodate the NFL, even going so far as to cancel services. How should we think about these types of events?

The Old Testament is helpful here, but needs to be put into context. When Israel was coming out of Egypt and entering into the Promised Land, it was full of people who worshipped false gods. Under the leadership of Joshua and Caleb, the Israelites conquered many of these people in a miraculous way, with the sovereign hand and guidance of God. 

One of the things that we don't relate to as well anymore is this concept of little "g" gods like Baal, or Molech, or the Queen of Heaven. I would like to propose to you, the reader, that we still have such gods but that they are known by different names. The gods of our society of leisure and pleasure, idleness and entertainment. 

There is something, or Someone rather, who doesn't change, and that is God Himself (see Heb. 13:8). Therefore, the imperative we read at the conclusion of the book of Joshua still has bearing on the modern believer. Joshua told the people of Israel: "If it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" (Josh. 24:15). 

Let's put this in modern context and say that you have a choice between the True and Living God and the false gods of entertainment, most typified by this sporting event called the Super Bowl. You will make a choice. Are you going to forsake assembling with other believers for the purpose of corporate worship (which is what worship is supposed to be) so you can watch a game? Are you going to let the anticipation of that game distract you from your attention to the Word of God and prayer and fellowship? I know that a lot of people really get into sports and am not condemning that; I'm simply challenging you to examine yourselves (cf. 2 Cor. 13:5) and see if that love of sports has crossed the line into idolatry. Sadly, for many in the church, it has. Our arenas are the new temples of modernist religion. They are packed out with tens of thousands each Sunday while our churches are emptying. Don't let your love of the world and its false gods take you away from the Worship of the One who created the heavens and the earth, who for formed you while you were yet in your mother's womb, and who not only sustains your life on earth, but offers you eternal life in heaven.

Soli Deo Gloria!