Four years ago, after the Patriots lost to the Giants (shudder, twitch, convulse), I posted a blog article entitled, The Superbowl, Brady, Belichick ... and Bread. Given the rematch coming up this Sunday, I thought it would be wise to repost the article before the "big show" this weekend. Of course I'm hoping that history doesn't repeat itself, but regardless of whether you are a Giants' fan or a Patriots' fan, we would all do well to keep this game in perspective. Read on!
Superbowl Sunday was marked by black Monday – at least here in Boston – as Patriot fans licked their gaping wounds from Sunday’s Super-disappointment. One gentleman sent me the following e-mail on Monday morning, which I have posted with his permission:
I’m glad this brother wrote what most others are probably feeling but perhaps wouldn’t say. He raises some good questions, like why is it that we get so "emotionally distraught" over a simple game? Why do we take these matters so seriously? And perhaps the most important and revealing question of all: Have winning and sports become gods to us?
I think they have. After all, what is an idol but the object of our desires? "Worship is basically adoration, and we adore only what delights us" (John Piper, Desiring God, p. 19). Bear with me for a moment, as I paraphrase a few verses from the Psalms:
My intent is not to be sacrilegious, but to engage in hyperbole for the sake of making a point. Isn’t it ridiculous that our enthusiasm and sentiments for a sports team comes even close to paralleling our affections for God?
The problem is not that we’re pursuing pleasure but that we’re trying to find it outside of God. The prophet Jeremiah put it like this:
Like C. S. Lewis said, "We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."
We settle for football instead of Christ. If it’s not football, then it’s something else: clothes, computer games, a higher income, the approval of others, a great sex life, etc. The tragedy is that we have seen our worship of God as something separate – and perhaps even in opposition to – our pursuit of happiness. This is what John Piper has rightly called "the moral enemy of worship." Says Piper, "When worship is reduced to disinterested duty, it ceases to be worship. For worship is a feast."
Isn’t this precisely the point that our compassionate Lord makes in Isaiah 55:2, when He says, "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food." You see, "the great hindrance to worship is not that we are a pleasure-seeking people, but that we are willing to settle for such pitiful pleasures" (Piper). We think that football or sex or popularity or more money or a better marriage or physical fitness or the affirmation of others can satisfy the longings of our soul. The fact is, they can’t; only Christ can.
Even those who "follow Christ" must be careful to seek their pleasure in HIM, and not just His gifts. Remember what Jesus told the crowds when they followed Him after He fed the five thousand? He said, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval" (John 6:26-27 NIV).
Rather than seeing Jesus as the object of their desires, they saw Him only as a means of fulfilling their wants. Recently I read an outstanding lesson on John 6 by Paul David Tripp in his book, The War of Words. In a chapter entitled "Following the King for All the Wrong Reasons," he asked: "If you had to write down your dream for your life, what would you write? What is your ‘if only,’ ‘if I could just have,’ ‘if God would just give me. . . then I would be happy?’"
Think about that for a second. What would your answer to that question be?
Tripp goes on to share insights from John 6, centering on our struggle betweenphysical bread and spiritual bread: "In the middle of this struggle is the Deceiver, who would have us believe that life is all about physical bread, that spiritual things are of little consequence." Tripp then goes on to share four subtle but persuasive lies that Satan puts before us. Time and space forbid me from expounding on all four lies, but they all culminate in the fourth deception, which is: Life is found in physical bread. Read carefully Tripp’s comments on this vital point. It will be well worth your time:
This can be something as "silly" as a Superbowl win or something more subtle but just as superficial. You can find your satisfaction in physical bread, or you can find it in Christ, the living Bread. You can pursue your own dream, what you think will make you happy – or you can pursue Christ and His dream for you -- "the good portion, which will not be taken away from [you]" (Luke 10:42).
Good morning, Pastor Matt.
I have to confess, I am coming off a pretty much sleepless night. It is amazing to me how emotionally involved we can become in matters such as Super Bowl wins and losses. I need to find a way to disassociate myself from sports. I get so emotionally distraught when our "home teams" lose….primarily the big games. Have winning and sports become gods to us? Pastor Matt, I don’t understand how we can get so wrapped up in these things. The winning affects my life in no way at all other than the "good feeling" that accompanies rooting for the home team. The flip side seems so unbalanced.
Anyhow, I just thought I’d send you a note and ask that you somehow put this into perspective for me. No family member died…..no one got hurt….all are healthy and there are no debt collectors beating at the door…..and yet after the game, there was this giant sized hole/pain. Why do we take these matters so seriously? It’s silly really.. Have a great day.
I’m glad this brother wrote what most others are probably feeling but perhaps wouldn’t say. He raises some good questions, like why is it that we get so "emotionally distraught" over a simple game? Why do we take these matters so seriously? And perhaps the most important and revealing question of all: Have winning and sports become gods to us?
I think they have. After all, what is an idol but the object of our desires? "Worship is basically adoration, and we adore only what delights us" (John Piper, Desiring God, p. 19). Bear with me for a moment, as I paraphrase a few verses from the Psalms:
"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for the Patriots. My soul thirsts for the Patriots, the undefeated Patriots. When can I go and watch the Patriots?
"O Patriots, how sweet are your wins to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!"
"My soul thirsts for a Superbowl win, my flesh yearns for one, in a dry and weary land where there is no water."
My intent is not to be sacrilegious, but to engage in hyperbole for the sake of making a point. Isn’t it ridiculous that our enthusiasm and sentiments for a sports team comes even close to paralleling our affections for God?
The problem is not that we’re pursuing pleasure but that we’re trying to find it outside of God. The prophet Jeremiah put it like this:
"My people have exchanged their glory for that which does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate," says the Lord; "for my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that hold not water." (Jer. 2:11-13)
Like C. S. Lewis said, "We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."
We settle for football instead of Christ. If it’s not football, then it’s something else: clothes, computer games, a higher income, the approval of others, a great sex life, etc. The tragedy is that we have seen our worship of God as something separate – and perhaps even in opposition to – our pursuit of happiness. This is what John Piper has rightly called "the moral enemy of worship." Says Piper, "When worship is reduced to disinterested duty, it ceases to be worship. For worship is a feast."
Isn’t this precisely the point that our compassionate Lord makes in Isaiah 55:2, when He says, "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food." You see, "the great hindrance to worship is not that we are a pleasure-seeking people, but that we are willing to settle for such pitiful pleasures" (Piper). We think that football or sex or popularity or more money or a better marriage or physical fitness or the affirmation of others can satisfy the longings of our soul. The fact is, they can’t; only Christ can.
Even those who "follow Christ" must be careful to seek their pleasure in HIM, and not just His gifts. Remember what Jesus told the crowds when they followed Him after He fed the five thousand? He said, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval" (John 6:26-27 NIV).
Rather than seeing Jesus as the object of their desires, they saw Him only as a means of fulfilling their wants. Recently I read an outstanding lesson on John 6 by Paul David Tripp in his book, The War of Words. In a chapter entitled "Following the King for All the Wrong Reasons," he asked: "If you had to write down your dream for your life, what would you write? What is your ‘if only,’ ‘if I could just have,’ ‘if God would just give me. . . then I would be happy?’"
Think about that for a second. What would your answer to that question be?
Tripp goes on to share insights from John 6, centering on our struggle betweenphysical bread and spiritual bread: "In the middle of this struggle is the Deceiver, who would have us believe that life is all about physical bread, that spiritual things are of little consequence." Tripp then goes on to share four subtle but persuasive lies that Satan puts before us. Time and space forbid me from expounding on all four lies, but they all culminate in the fourth deception, which is: Life is found in physical bread. Read carefully Tripp’s comments on this vital point. It will be well worth your time:
This is the lie of lies–that somehow, some way, life can be found outside of a relationship with God. This was the lie told by the Deceiver in the Garden, and it is the lie told countless times again every day. Feeding on physical bread only leads to more hunger. It is only as you feed on Christ by faith, receiving his life, that you can ever be satisfied. He is the Bread. He is life! All other offers of life outside of Christ lead parched people to drink at dry wells. He is the True Bread. He is the river of life. Follow him and within you will flow rivers of living water (John 4:13-14). Without him you are dead, even though you physically live (Eph. 2:1-10).
It is so easy to buy into the lie that life can be found in human acceptance, possessions, and positions. It is so easy to have your life controlled by dreams of success in your career. It is so easy to believe that nothing else satisfies like romantic love. It is so easy to fall into pursuing the idol images of Western culture–big suburban house, luxurious car, lavish vacations, etc. When we do this, we quit feeding on Christ. Our devotional life begins to suffer. We pray less, and when we do, we pray more selfishly. We find our schedule doesn’t leave much time for ministry, and we spend more time with our colleagues at work than we do with brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. Functionally, we are feeding on the world’s bread, not on Christ.
Our entire life will be determined by which bread we pursue. There are no more dangerous lies than the ones that lead us away from a loving hope and surrender to the Creator we cannot see, and toward a bondage to an endless, unsatisfying pursuit of what is passing away....
We fall into spiritual depression when [Christ] removes the physical bread so that we would hunger again for the Bread that really satisfies....
To the degree that you have based your life on something other than the Lord, to that degree God’s love and the hope of the gospel will not comfort you. You will not be comforted because you are hungry for another kind of bread. You long for a king who will give you the bread you crave....
As we look at our own lives and all that we are living for, we need to ask, Whose dream, which bread do we seek?...
Perhaps many of us, even though we have not physically forsaken the King, have lost our enthusiasm for his grace and mercy because following him has not led to the fulfillment of our dreams....
This can be something as "silly" as a Superbowl win or something more subtle but just as superficial. You can find your satisfaction in physical bread, or you can find it in Christ, the living Bread. You can pursue your own dream, what you think will make you happy – or you can pursue Christ and His dream for you -- "the good portion, which will not be taken away from [you]" (Luke 10:42).