Super Self-Congratulation Sunday?

Photo Credit

This Sunday is the Super Bowl. I don’t need to tell you that it will be one of the biggest events of the year. It’s a part of the fabric of the American culture.

Unlike most of my fellow Americans, I have only seen one Super Bowl live from beginning to end. In the majority of those instances, I have missed the Super Bowl because of Sunday evening church. I'm not writing to complain that I'm deprived or anything like that. I’m also not going to say it’s stupid to have church on a night when most of the people there would rather be home or at a party. I wouldn’t waste your time with such topics.

What I am writing about is the often-unstated assumptions that go with church on Super Sunday night. These assumptions center around the idea that we are somehow more pleasing to God because we are at church on a particular night of the year. In many churches I have been a part of or a visitor in, Super Bowl Sunday becomes “Prove How Much We Love Jesus” Sunday.

Here’s the first problem as I see it: Sunday night church in the fundamental/conservative evangelical circles I grew up in (and am still a part of) is hardly sacrosanct. We'll cancel church for anything: holidays like Memorial Day or July 4th, Christmas and Easter (the fact that many F/CE’s go to church less often during the seasons of Christmas and Easter is certainly full of irony, but that is another topic for another time), bad weather and more. But come blizzard or flood, we're going to have church on Super Bowl Sunday night. Why? Because that's the way it's always been done, and it feels good to be doing something so “spiritual.” 

And that leads me to a second, more insidious problem: the faulty belief that we are proving something to God or to the world by being at church. I know this is real because I have experienced it. Super Bowl Sunday night services are never normal. There is a charge in the air. 

In the worst cases, I have seen the whole service be about how wonderful it is that we are better than the church down the road that canceled services or, even worse, is showing the game and invited the community to a watch party. Other times the message may be about how shameful it is that some of the members are here but would rather be watching the game. I’ve seen the song leader make sure to sing all 5 verses of each song (to an audible chorus of groans), and the pastor making jokes about preaching an extra long sermon. I haven’t yet been to a service where the prayer went, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men,” but it’s not beyond the realm of possibility.

The fact is that God can’t love us any more. He sent His only Son to die and pay the penalty for our sins because He wanted to have a relationship with us. How much more love do you need? Our acts of piety don’t bring us any closer to God. We draw closer to God through obedience. Samuel told Saul, “To obey is better than sacrifice,” and Jesus quotes Hosea when He says, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” 

Does that obedience include church attendance? Yes it does. But if we are meeting to congratulate ourselves or to lay a guilt trip on people who are there but would rather be watching the game, we are not fulfilling the purpose of the church. 

Am I telling you not to go to church this Sunday evening? No, I’m not. Maybe you don’t like pro football, or maybe you don’t really care about either team in the game. There could be as many legitimate reasons to go to church as there are believers in whatever churches are having services. My plea to my fellow believers is not to be pharisaical about it. Don’t judge others who aren’t there. Don’t be proud of yourself because you are there. Don’t think going to church will give God opportunity to favor your team. And, if I may say so, if you really want to see the game, do it. And don’t lie to your pastor next week about the kids being sick or something. 

A picture of the game-saving tackle on the last play of Super
Bowl 34. Photo Credit

Sixteen years ago I skipped church to watch St. Louis in the Super Bowl. As football fans know, it was one of the best Super Bowl games ever. It was a thrilling victory, and given how extremely unlikely it will be for St. Louis to ever be in the Super Bowl again, it is a memory I will cherish forever. Makes me wish I had skipped church two years later. Maybe St. Louis would have won again. I’m joking, of course, but I am serious about not regretting not going to church. This principle applies in many areas where others might condemn us for a personal choice. Paul tells us, “Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.” In other words, if you have a clear conscience before God about your decision, don’t let others' judgmental attitudes keep you away from doing what you want to do.

Stop Embracing Babylon

"My kingdom is not of this world." - Jesus

"Is this vile world a friend to Grace,
To help me on to God?" - Isaac Watts

Today the US Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right. Personally I think it’s a bad decision, but I can't say that it's going to directly affect my life. The indirect results are the ones I am afraid of, but that’s not the point of this article. More significantly this ruling is being viewed as a major blow to the so-called Religious Right. 

And that's the problem I want to address today. For decades the American church has been simply a cog in the political machine on both sides of the political aisle. Both parties have their circuits of churches, organizations and committees that their candidates can reliably count on for speaking engagements, donations and endorsement. 

Meanwhile, the church has steadily lost influence in society, if you believe survey after survey over the past couple of decades. In seeking temporal victory in Washington rather than spiritual victory in people’s hearts, we have accomplished neither. We have been fighting in the wrong battlefield.

Babylon (by which I mean the temporal state) never has been and never will be the church’s friend. But there is no denying she is tempting. She promises political power and cultural influence, and in exchange all she requires is the sublimation of the church to her ends. This has been true throughout the church’s history, from Rome to Geneva to Massachusetts Bay. 

Certainly the contemporary American church is not the first church to be charmed by Babylon, nor will it be the last. But now is not the time to double down on our efforts to effect change in Washington. Now is the time to take stock of what we have lost and what little we have gained in our struggle. The church needs to stop embracing Babylon and instead return to embracing the cross of Jesus Christ. The first century church had no political action committee, and no values coalitions. They simply had the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they lived it every day. And they succeeded in turning the world upside down. 

No one denies the first-century church was successful. We have to stop judging our success or failure as a church by what goes on in the halls of political power. Today’s decision did not happen because we didn’t pray hard enough or send in enough letters. We have forgotten who is in charge here. God did not stop being God today. He did not step away from His throne for a couple of minutes and give the devil a chance to sneak one by Him. God is working and will continue to work His sovereign plan. But sadly many Christians in America are more broken up today over the decision than they are about the young girl in their congregation who is contemplating running away from home. In which situation would an encouraging word do the most good? In which one will our participation effect a greater change in eternity?

God defines success differently than we do. Samuel the prophet saw Eliab and thought this good-looking, accomplished man was surely the one God was going to choose to be the next king. Nebuchadnezzar seemed to be at the zenith of his power when God struck him with madness for a time for exalting himself in pride. The church at Laodicea had money in the bank, influential members in the community, and seemed to be a model church. But God said they were poor, blind and naked. I wonder what our political success and failure ledger look like to God? I don’t know for sure, but I am afraid those events that appear to be our biggest successes could turn out to be failures in God’s eyes.

Paul’s words to Timothy in I Timothy 2:1-2 are an appropriate way to close this piece: “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.” (NKJV) 

Notice the motive we are to have when we pray for our political officials. Paul does not say to pray for them to make decisions we like, although I would not say that is entirely inappropriate. But the main thing we are to pray for is that they will leave us alone. Paul was not interested in scoring points in Rome for the good guys. He was interested in freedom to proclaim the Gospel. The Gospel changes people’s lives in ways legislation is powerless to achieve. Let’s bring the Gospel back to the forefront of our hearts and minds, individually and as churches. When we do that, we may lose more battles in Washington, but we will gain more souls for the Kingdom of Heaven. And isn’t that what the church is supposed to be about?