THREE NAILS FOR PROFESSIONAL AND COLLEGIATE SPORTS

"And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."

Galatians 5: 24

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

I Corinthians 13: 11

"I don't play very much. I like to play. I like to have fun. I like to tell funny stories. I love sports. I love to go to ball games. I never go to a ball game."

- Dr. Jack Hyles

ew Christian leaders have generated as much controversy throughout their ministries as did Dr. Jack Hyles. It seems that people either love him or they hate him. There doesn't seem to be any room for a middle ground.

Let me say, by the grace of God, that I love Dr. Hyles. In saying that, I don't mean that I endorse Dr. Hyles' ministry without qualification or that I agree with everything that Dr. Hyles did or taught. In fact, I disagree with Dr. Hyles on some very important doctrinal issues. I wouldn't support his ministries or either attend or send others to Pastor's School, even if Dr. Hyles were living and laboring today just as he was during the zenith of his ministry. But that being said, by God's grace, I can still love him and render him due respect, even while voicing disapproval of his errors. Dr. Hyles is in Heaven, and he knows better now. The Lord has settled those issues better than I ever could. I don't need to preoccupy myself with an attack campaign to correct whatever sins or false doctrine he may or may not have been guilty of during his lifetime. There are plenty of other battles to fight in the land of the living.

That being said, I can also rejoice in the good qualities of Dr. Hyles. I praise the Lord for his passion for soulwinning. I praise the Lord for his strong emphases on the absolute necessity of the Holy Spirit's filling and power in the life and ministries of God's servants. I praise the Lord for his strong stand on the Fundamental doctrines of the faith and the Baptist distinctives.

One point that I admire about Dr. Hyles was his focus. Dr. Hyles had a consuming, driving vision for reaching the lost. That vision preoccupied him. As a result, he had no time for games. In his worthwhile book, Meet the Holy Spirit, he said, "I don't play very much. I like to play. I like to have fun. I like to tell funny stories. I love sports. I love to go to ball games. I never go to a ball game." His passion for souls preoccupied him, consumed him.

It is just this very point that separated Dr. Hyles from the overwhelming majority of Christian leaders today, including many that claim to follow him. Dr. Hyles had a focus that absorbed his attention, leaving no time for the petty frivolities that most Christian leaders indulge in. Although he enjoyed certain activities, he put them away. He had no time for them. He had more important matters to pursue.

Contrast that with the average Christian leader or church member today. We certainly can't say that about them. The average Christian leader or layman today is thoroughly immersed in the entertainment world, absorbed, not by the work of the Great Commission, but by a plethora of amusements that consume his time, his thoughts and, worst of all, his affections.

That brings me to America's great idolatry, professional and collegiate sports. The average Christian, leader or layman alike, is obsessed with them. And this obsession violates clear, plain Scriptural commandments, grieves God's Holy Spirit and drowns out any possibility that God will ever use them to bring about revival or do great and mighty things for the cause of Christ. This ungodly, unbiblical fixation renders thousands upon thousands upon thousands of otherwise godly men and women absolutely powerless and useless for the cause of Christ.

NAIL #1: IN SUPPORTING PROFESSIONAL AND COLLEGIATE SPORTS, A CHRISTIAN TAKES PART IN ROBBING GOD

Week after week, stadiums across the country are filled with men and women on the Lord's Day. This is a form of robbing God, and it has done more to promote the decline of faithful church attendance in the United States of America than anything that I know of. Worse than that, rather than rebuke the sports clubs as they ought to, Evangelical and Fundamentalist pastors often spend their time in the pulpit voicing their support for their favorite team. I say again that this is a form of robbing God, and that

Christians who support professional and collegiate sports are guilty of stealing what belongs to God and promoting the national decline in church attendance.

Now at this point, someone immediately will argue that the games are scheduled in the afternoon, between Sunday church services, and that a Christian can easily attend church and watch his game at the same time. And quite frankly, this excuse is so shallow as to be labeled a form of deception. It doesn't hold a drop of water.

Anyone who has ever attended a professional ballgame before knows quite well, that if the game begins in the early afternoon, you must leave early in the morning in order to make it in time. You can't just leave after church and pull into the stadium parking lot and find a seat. You have game day traffic to contend with, the challenge of finding a parking spot and long lines to get into the stadium. This takes hours. So no matter what people say about the game starting in the afternoon, it's just an excuse. That sporting event has deterred thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people from going to church.

But there's more to it than that. In Revelation 1: 10, the Apostle John says that he was "in the Spirit on the Lord's day." Now that phrase reads the same in the King James Bible, the Geneva Bible, the Wycliffe Bible and even the corrupted New International Version! It is supported by both the Textus Receptus and the Nestle's Text! In other words, even if you don't like the King James Bible, you still can't escape it.

And that phrase has inescapable meaning. It is the possessive case. It signifies possession. It signifies ownership. In other words, the Holy Spirit has said by inspiration, "This day belongs to me. I own it. It is not yours."

In order to drive the point home more clearly, we can compare a common Scriptural argument used for tithing. The Bible says, that all the tithe is the Lord's in Leviticus 27: 30. We often hear that statement used to establish God's claim upon the believer's tithes. We say that he has a right to them, that they are his. They belong to the Lord.

Now notice that the Holy Spirit uses the exact same language in Revelation 1: 10. The same case used in reference to the tithe is used by the Holy Spirit when he speaks of the first day of the week. He has made the exact same claim upon them both! They belong to God. They are his, not ours. He owns them. Therefore, we owe God not only his tithes, but also his day. They are not ours to use as we wish.

Perhaps at this point someone would try to cloud the issue by accusing me of inventing a new doctrine. This charge is easily refuted. The fact of the matter is that at one time Christians widely held the Lord's Day to be sacred. Only in recent days has this doctrine been dismissed. Jonathan Edwards placed such an emphases upon keeping the Lord's day sacred that he made a personal resolution "Never to utter any thing that is sportive, or matter of laughter, on a Lord's day." And the great Baptist pastor and author, John Bunyan said,

"Have a special care to sanctify the Lord's day; for as thou keepest it, so it will be with thee all the week long. Make the Lord's day the market for thy soul; let the whole day be spent in prayer, repititions, or meditations; lay aside the affairs of the other part of the week; let the sermon thou hast heard be converted into prayer. Shall God allow thee six days, and wilt thou not afford Him one?"

NAIL #2: BY SUPPORTING PROFESSIONAL AND COLLEGIATE SPORTS, A CHRISTIAN PRAISES THE WICKED, CONTRARY TO SCRIPTURE
In Proverbs 28: 4, the Scripture says, "They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them." Clearly, the Holy Spirit expects believers to make an open and public effort to resist the wicked in society. Conversely, he says that those that praise the wicked have forsaken God's law.

Now the lives of professional and collegiate sports players are notoriously wicked. Yes, there may be occasionally some among them who have a testimony of faith in Christ and who even demonstrate some measure of character and moral integrity. But these individuals are exceptions to the rule, and not the overarching standard. Generally speaking, professional and collegiate sports players are known for living licentious lives characterized by drunkenness, fornication and drug abuse. Not only that, but their attitudes are constantly characterized by abominable pride, which God vehemently abhors.

And yet, Fundamentalists are constantly singing the praises of their sports heroes. They praise them throughout the games. They praise them in conversation with their family and neighbors. They praise them in the workplace. They praise them by wearing their jerseys, sneakers and numbers. They even praise them before and after church, around those same church services where they can scarcely be heard to sheepishly stumble through the hymns of praise to our blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Now if that isn't outright idolatry, then nothing is.

Not only is it idolatry, but it's blatant hypocrisy as well. Fundamentalists criticize politicians, Hollywood celebrities and rock musicians for the wickedness of their lifestyles. Yet when it comes to the wickedness of their favorite sports celebrities, they're as mute as a stone. They don't say a thing about it. Not only that, they praise the wicked, contrary to the commandment of the Word of God.

NAIL #3: BY SUPPORTING PROFESSIONAL AND COLLEGIATE SPORTS, A CHRISTIAN SETS HIS AFFECTIONS ON EARTHLY THINGS, CONTRARY TO SCRIPTURE
The Word of God also forbids us to set our affections on things below (Colossians 3: 1 - 3). It forbids us to love the things that are in the world (I John 2: 15). But it not only forbids us to love worldly things, it also asserts plainly that an outlook that focuses upon earthly things puts us in the position of being the enemy of the cross of Christ (Philippians 3: 18 - 19).

Now why would this be? Simply because this perspective that focuses upon earthly things is the antitheses of being crucified with Christ, of dying to the world and to self. Galatians 5: 24 says, "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." This is the position of the Christian in salvation. This is the confession that we make in baptism, one of the very reasons why we insist so strongly upon baptism by immersion. Because the believer is crucified with Christ, is buried with Christ and is dead to self and to the world. Thus by setting our affections back upon the world, we are contradicting this baptismal confession of Scriptural truth. We are denying the implications that result from these doctrinal principles. In a very real practical sense, we are denying what has taken place in our lives at salvation, denying what Christ has accomplished for us and resisting what the Holy Ghost is trying to accomplish in us. And this resistance to the Holy Ghost and his ministry puts us in the position of fighting against God, of actually becoming and behaving like an enemy of God and his truth in Christ Jesus.

Now, if I were making these statements about rock music or about Hollywood films or about sordid romance novels, many of you reading this would not only agree with me, and support me, but you would do so enthusiastically. But because I am making application of these doctrinal truths to professional and collegiate sports, you feel a growing attitude of rage and hostility towards me, even as you read this. You hate what I have said, and you may even hate me. And this anger, this hatred is just exactly the enmity that the Apostle Paul spoke of. You don't want to crucify your affection for

professional and collegiate sports. You want that to continue to live and to thrive. You may crucify other elements in your life, you may call upon others to crucify various elements in their lives, but you want an exemption here. You do not want to crucify your affection for professional and collegiate sports. And because of this, you have enmity towards anyone who confronts you with these Scriptural truths about crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts. And this is that enmity towards the cross of Christ that the Apostle Paul spoke of. Beloved, God has confronted you with a choice. He has called upon you to forsake all and to follow his only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He has called upon you to take up your cross and to die daily. And you cannot do this in part. You cannot hold anything back. You must forsake all and follow Christ. Why don't you yield to the truth of Scripture and the ministry of God's blessed Holy Spirit, and give up professional and collegiate sports? Why don't you follow the call of God for your life and place them on the altar permanently. Nail them to the cross of Christ, once and for all. I guarantee you that God will bless you for it.