The False God of Sports
You love your sport. You think about it when you wake up. Your mind drifts to it in class. You orient your schedule around it. You eat, sleep, sacrifice and slave for it. You live for it. You worship it.
If this was a commercial for a sports drink, it would sound like the epitome of the ideal athlete—the picture of a disciplined, focused achiever who will let nothing stand in her way. But it’s not. It’s a study designed to let God free us from the prison of the world’s lies and to learn how to do life His way. And in His Kingdom, the proper term for this dangerous, all-consuming approach to sports is idolatry.
What's your initial reaction to the word idolatry? How does it make you feel?
On a scale of 1 to 10, how strongly do you fit the description in the first paragraph?
Fill in the blank: My relationship with my sport is _______________.
How does that compare to your relationship with Christ?
THINK IT THROUGH
Athletes of all levels struggle with letting their sport overtake their world. With so much emphasis being placed on success, competitors give themselves fully to training and competition in an effort to find significance and value. But when the sport becomes the source of their worth, it captivates them to the point of total devotion at the exclusion of everything else. And that’s when they have an idol.
According to Merriam-Webster, an idol is “a representation or symbol of an object of worship; a false god.” It’s also called an “object that is worshiped as a god.” And because we only have the capacity to serve one master at a time, our idol is what gets our first, best and always. All other objects or people fall in line behind it.
There are many reasons why athletes fall into sports idolatry. A woman may feel insecure in who she is without athletic achievements. Maybe she didn’t receive approval from her dad as a child and is working to earn it through sports. Maybe she holds resentment against people in her life who never thought she’d amount to anything. Or, maybe she thinks she can use sports to win the approval of God and make up for all she thinks she lacks in other areas.
What drives you to succeed in sports? Do any of the reasons above ring true in your heart? Are there others not listed?
What are the emotional desires of your heart? Do sports really fulfill those longings? Why or why not?
If a friend asked you if she was more valuable as a person if she performed better on the court or field, what would you tell her?
Do you idolize and worship your sport?
THE WORD
There are a hundred reasons why idols are dangerous and destructive, and many of them can be found in God’s Word. Take a look at the following verses and note what each says about sports and sports idolatry.
KEY VERSES:
Which of these verses resonate with you personally? In what ways?
What do you think God is saying to you?
Ladies, idols aren’t safe. If you’re bowing to one right now, you’re in a dangerous position. And unless you move, you’re going to get crushed when the idol comes crashing down upon you. The only thing worthy of your worship—that won’t fail you—is God.
TAKEAWAY POINT:
Idols can never be what we want them to be. If we idolize sports and sacrifice everything to be the best athlete, we’ll learn that lesson as soon as we achieve our goal. What happens to us the minute we achieve the success on the court? The bar is suddenly raised. We either have to keep performing at that level forever to maintain our status or watch someone break our record or take our championship away next season. The idol isn’t satisfied by victory; it’s intensified. And if we keep bowing to it, we’ll wind up killing ourselves in pursuit of something that does nothing to change our true value as a woman.
The only way to avoid being crushed by the inevitable falling idol is to take it down before it crashes—or, better yet, replace it with the only One capable of maintaining the idol status.
God is the only One who won’t fail or fall. Sports will end. Our bodies will age. We will move in and out of different life seasons. But God will never, ever change or fail. He will never crush us with His demands like idols do. (How often do you just wish you could escape the pressure of it all?) If we live to serve Him above all else, He promises that, no matter what, He will work only for our good in all situations (Romans 8:28). No idol can make any such promises.
Do you see it? By instructing us to not worship idols, God is protecting us. He doesn’t want us to be crushed by false gods. He knows they can’t take His place, and He loves you too much to let you settle for anything less than the best: Himself.
TEAM TIME
Gather back together as a group and let the Lord work through you as a team.
ACTIVITY:
Go around the room and let each teammate share her struggles with idolatry. (If you have a large group, break into groups of three to five.)
Once everyone has shared, discuss the similarities and common themes or thoughts. Write them down on a whiteboard or flipchart for everyone to see.
As a group, identify the lies that drive the negative thoughts. (e.g. I’ll be accepted if I achieve. I must be perfect. Sports success will fulfill me. God alone can’t meet my needs.) Write these down, as well.
To fight the lies, replace them with Truth from Scripture. As a team, identify Bible verses that correspond to each lie and write the reference next to (or directly over) the lie. Discuss the activity as a group.
Because idols (poorly) fill some perceived need in our lives, break into smaller groups if necessary and discuss what purpose the idols have served and what it will take for you to be able to surrender them. Ask the question, “How can Jesus meet that need?”
End with this question to the group: “What is God saying to you, and how will you respond?”
WORK IT OUT
Your team’s mission is to begin tearing down the idols in your lives and allowing God to take their places. While you may start by realizing your sports idolatry, God might also reveal other idols in your life such as boyfriends, academics, possessions, etc.
Come up with a plan of action that will help you live out what you learned and believe God’s Truth about idols and Himself. Choose one (or more) of the following activities to do as a team and use the B&B Rally Cry to help each other stay the course!
Memorize the key verse or one of the ones listed in the study and quote it to each other daily.
Make a “No Idols” sign and post it in your locker room using the universal “no” symbol (circle with a slash through it).
Come up with a symbolic gesture to dethrone your idols and put God in their places.
Visit the blog of Pastor J.A. Medders and read Tim Keller’s 12 Questions for Diagnosing Heart Idolatry: http://jamedders.com/heart-idols/. Discuss your findings as a team.
RALLY CRY:
Once you have your plan in place, couple it with this week’s Bold and Beautiful Rally Cry. As a team, this will be your power phrase for the week. Repeat it to yourselves and as a group to combat the lies that the enemy tries to tell you, and let it point you back to the Author of Truth.
“One God!”
1 CHRONICLES 16:26