Competitive Sports: An Idol in Seventh Day Adventism
Let me break down Yeshuwah which is the Hebrew word for God is our Salvation and is also the name of the Messiah.
The Spirit of God comes and convict your heart of the love of God, making you realize that you're in bondage and you fall short of that love through your sins. The result is repentance and need for the atoning blood of the Lamb. Our sins are taken away from us when we confess, transferred and laid on Jesus Christ at the altar of sacrifice. In exchange, the title of the righteousness of Christ becomes yours through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the witnesses of heaven declare you guiltless.
You've got your passage out of Egypt, now start walking to Canaan. The journey of faith through the wilderness is one where God baptizes you with fire to teach you how to live like Christ. It involves stumbling, making mistakes, trying over and over again until you get things right, and God will always be right there beside you. It's not an overnight process, it's a lifetime process. Many will fall on the way, it's not because God made salvation conditional, it was because their faith was genuine in the first place.
Like any good parent, God will at times lay the rod on your backside. The book of Proverbs says, "My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delights."
Yes, the correction process can be very messy, look at David, Peter, John, Paul, Elijah, Abraham, Jonah. They had their mess-ups and God was patient.
Jesus promised His disciples 12 seats in His kingdom, even before anyone of them betrayed Him. It's the journey there that will prove who really has true faith. You can either be a Peter, or a Judas. Both of them called, both of them messed up, but only one made it. Salvation is freely given, but it is only by our actions that we throw it away.
Being saved is a package deal. God grants the ticket for free to all who believe in Jesus. The free ticket means that the journey is also free. Many of us want the ticket, but we want to skip the journey and enter into the kingdom. No no princess, on your way to the King's castle, you must pass by the dragon and many other obstacles. God put them there for your character development. He will instruct you how to do things, it's because you're His kid and He loves you.
But there is a line that mustn't be crossed when you're journeying with God. He is merciful and patient, but He is also fair and just. If you cross the mercy line, He will let you go. That's the law. That happens when you continue to rebel, and God will not have rebel-hearted Christians enter His Kingdom.
Let me quote the words of Paul to Titus. "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world." I've said it before, being saved is a package deal. Apart from granting you the ticket to salvation for free when you believe, the grace of God teaches you to forsake the world. Faith without works is dead.
Have you not heard it being said, "Love not the world neither the things that are in it. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."
By rebuking your mistake, am I saying that salvation is not yours? No. I am rebuking your mistake because I believe you are saved. Only you can answer the question of whether or not you are saved. The instructions of forsaking worldly desires come before and after you have been saved because you will be continually tempted by the enemy.
We as Seventh Day Adventists know the Laodicean message of lukewarmness at the end of time. If you continue unholy practices and profess to serve God at the same time, you will eventually cross the God will spew you out. Ellen White says, "A half-hearted Christian is worse than an infidel". And when Jesus comes, you and I will be the ones saying to Him, "Lord, Lord, have I not prophesied in your name, have I not cast out devils in your name, have I not done many good works in your name?" But Jesus will say, "I never knew you. Depart from me, you that do iniquity. Only those who do the will of my Father which is in heaven will enter into the kingdom of God."
Let's talk about the philosophy behind all sports: the goal is to win, and the opponent loses. In the friction of competition, opponents will do everything they can to defeat one another. There's one word that describes it best: rivalry, a spirit that is contrary to the example set by Jesus.
You will never find the Jesus kind of attitude in the sporting games arena. The Spirit of Christ drives us to lose for the sake of others, to esteem others better than ourselves, to let others win, to become a servant and serve.
You can't have that in the competitive sports field, it's all about exalting ourselves against the other side. Showing that we are better than they are, and then we attribute our success to God.
Let me tell you this, fellow Seventh Day Adventists, Jesus Christ would never take part in these kinds of competitive gatherings and rivalry, let alone cheer from the sidelines. Our involvement mocks His spirit and the high calling he has called us into.
According to the SDA prophetic interpretations, this world is slowly being developed by the powers-that-be into a replica of the leopard-like beast of Revelation chapter 13, a hybrid of the four kingdoms of Daniel 7. And we all know that the leopard represents the Greek empire and that the Olympic Games is a huge part of their culture. The games were dedicated to the Greek pantheon of gods, specifically Zeus, their king. Of all the vices bred by such events, rivalry and self-exaltation might just be on top.
The sporting arena has evolved so much during the centuries, but the philosophy and spirit remains the same. We have made sports appealing, entertaining and amusing, much like the apple given to Snow White (looks good, but poisonous). Sporting competitions of many species have been developed, the powers and corporations behind them make a lot of money distracting the world...and the church.
Today we have reached a point where we are trying to replace the old gods of competition with Jesus Christ, pointing up to heaven as we defeat our opponents and celebrate our victories. Satan smiles at this for he knows how foolish we have become, so deceived and gullible that we call evil good and good evil.
We cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. Yes, there is no Zeus, or Apollo, any old gods, those myths are just a cover up for Lucifer, the chief chef of the devil's table serving the lot of us who are blinded by our love of pride, self-exaltation, rivalry, pleasure and amusement.
Is competition part of some of the things we do in our churches? In 2002, I was the first to raise my hands as the pastor asked a question and answered it. I got a prize as the other kids were watching. It was a quiz competition we had every night of that prophecy seminar. Then we used to have our Pathfinder's fair where we showcase our progress by competing in teams. Some churches in Florida, even had the audacity to hold an Adventist Olympic Event back in 2020. What does the church have to do with the traditions of the Olympian gods?
I watch the old spirit of rivalry possess the social sphere, athletes and spectators alike. I am always appalled by the way many Seventh Day Adventists involve themselves in sporting events, especially our young people. Not forgetting our rugby. We Fijians love our rugby that it has become a god and idol that we worship along with its superstars.
Allow me to speak to the older born-and-raised Seventh Day Adventists involved these kinds of events. Your thoughts, actions and words, foolish and unholy, are being weighed in the balance and you are found wanting. We are supposed to be good examples to the younger generation, but we've often made a mockery our high calling. Some of us even have the audacity to expose your foolishness on social media for everyone to see. Please repent.
Yes, the prophecy is true, many of us have become drunk with the wine of Babylon, our discernment has been clouded by our own unbelief and love for our darling sins. "We are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us."
What does Mrs. White say about sporting games and competitive amusement? If I were to summarize Mrs. White's writings on amusements, games, sports, I would say that our involvement is degrades the spiritual sensibilities of those of us who profess to be saved and to keep God's commandments and the testimony of Jesus. She said we ought to direct our energies and resources to better pursuits.
Let me quote Education by Ellen G. White, pg. 210.
Some of the most popular amusements, such as football and boxing, have become schools of brutality. They are developing the same characteristics as did the games of ancient Rome. The love of domination, the pride in mere brute force, the reckless disregard of life, are exerting upon the youth a power to demoralize that is appalling.
She adds:
Other athletic games, though not so brutalizing, are scarcely less objectionable because of the excess to which they are carried. They stimulate the love of pleasure and excitement, thus fostering a distaste for useful labor, a disposition to shun practical duties and responsibilities. They tend to destroy a relish for life's sober realities and its tranquil enjoyments. Thus, the door is opened to dissipation and lawlessness, with their terrible results.
In one of her letters she wrote to Battle Creek College, "I cannot find an instance in the life of Christ where He devoted time to play and amusement. He was the great Educator for the present and the future life. I have not been able to find one instance where He educated His disciples to engage in amusements of football or pugilistic games to obtain physical exercise, or in theatrical performances; and yet Christ is our pattern in all things."
In one of her notes she wrote, "Every soul who joins the ranks of Seventh-day Adventists has a most solemn responsibility devolving upon him. Men are depraved. Their passion for gambling, horse-racing, and all kinds of amusement, is far more absorbing than things of eternal interest. Time, God's precious talent, is wasted. Thousands of poor, infatuated human beings devoted their precious, God-given ability to securing the honor of being a champion in the games of this world, forgetting that while they are educating themselves to become experts in football and cricket, they lose sight of the crown of immortality, which will be presented to all who are victors in the race for eternal life."
I want to read all those manuscripts and letters but that would take me hours. You, my Seventh Day Adventist friend, can go do that in your own time, if you want.
The bottom line is this, the Spirit of Prophecy, through Mrs. White, discourages the practice of competitive games among our various organizations.
We are telling the church to unite into one body, yet we encourage these elements of competition among our ranks, that's like trying to light a fire using water. The 1988 General Conference Executive Committee Council Meeting in Nairobi issued a statement clarifying our stand concerning activities involving competition. But we need only to look at the Adventist colleges in the USA to see the various sports and athletic teams and tournaments to see that the church as a whole has not stayed true to that statement.
Well, here I am reminding us through the inspired words of Mrs. White, stop planting seeds of rivalry in our flock. We live in a solemn period in earth's history, we cannot afford to play games or make a sport of God's work.
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