Olympic Competition and Manhood and Womanhood, Part 5: When Does Sport Become Idolatry?

What passion is awakened in the soul of a nation over its athletic events.  Whether it's the World Series, the World Cup, the Final Four, or even amateur events such as the Olympics, sport can bring out the best and worst in us.

A man's mind strays near the end of the Sunday morning sermon as he daydreams of ranting at the TV over the fate of his favorite team.  A parent boisterously upbraids a referee at their youngster's big game. Or worse, parents of opposing teams brawl over the outcome of junior basketball!  A youth anxiously despairs over the pressure to ‘win at all costs' and self-destructs at a losing outcome. Could these be symptoms of a thinly veiled idolatry of sport? Is it even possible that sports can be an idol?

I am not suggesting that all enjoyment of sports is wrong. My family, like many of you, will watch many exciting hours of Olympic coverage, starting tonight! What I am suggesting is a way of viewing sports that keeps it in its rightful place under God. He has said, "You shall have no other gods before Me" (Deuteronomy 5:7). So the question becomes does God ever take a backseat to the Olympics in your heart?  How can you tell?

One of the ways we can identify idolatries is to ask, "Where are the sacrifices made?"  Some examples emerge. For the sake of success in sport some sacrifice their health by the use of performance enhancing drugs.  For some, they may sacrifice the well-being of their families.  For the sake of sport, some sacrifice their integrity by an obsessively competitive spirit. Some women will be ‘widowed,' and youths can be pushed to perform past their ability.  Sport, it seems, can be a window to the heart.

Above all, the greatest sacrifice one can make to the idol of sport is the sacrifice of our soul.  God accepts no one who does not cherish His Son Jesus Christ above all. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind" (Luke 10:27).  Paul writes, "Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality...sensuality...idolatry...enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy...and things like these. .... those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God" (Galatians 5:20-21).  Should it surprise us that so many sins Paul lists above can often find their expression in the realm of sport?

May it be said of you and me, "you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come" ( I Thessalonians 1:9,10).  And that the healthy, balanced, moderate enjoyment of sport in our lives, serves to strengthen and unify us in this life, but all the more to inspire us to press on with God-reliant effort for the Olympics-dwarfing prize of eternal life in Jesus Christ.