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Jesus, Competitive Sports, and an End-Time Prophet
Should Seventh-day Adventists engage in interschool competitive sports?
Larry Kirkpatrick ++ Mentone Church of Seventh-day Adventists ++ 1 November 2003
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. (Philippians 2:3).
Introduction
The Bible speaks to us clearly concerning many things. Sometimes it is clear and explicit in detail; sometimes the clarity comes in the principles. Then they must be applied. We take many things around ourselves for granted; we count them normal. We are very busy and rarely take time to question many of the assumptions by which we live. There are many things that are deeply ingrained in our society that we need to consider anew. The Christian is to operate under a new value-system so very different from that by which he used to live. His very approach to life is to undergo sweeping changes.
Seventh-day Adventists run the largest Protestant school system in the world. We have separate schools because we have unique goals in education. The goal of education as understood by our people is best enunciated by Mrs. White in her book, Education, p. 16: “It means that in the whole being—the body, the mind, as well as the soul—the image of God is to be restored.” An authentically Adventist education is going to restore the image of God in us, “in the whole being.” Then it must be God's plan to educate us in how to go about that project in the Designer's own way. It is His instruction that we want for this adventure we have embarked upon with the Holy Spirit.
We learn even more. Again, true education is “the harmonious development of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual powers” (Ibid., p. 13). Therefore we realize also that an untrue or a faulty mode of education would result from a disharmonious development of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual powers. The growth of a person must be with everything in its proper order. The physical must not be treated so that it loses harmony with the spiritual. For a person to experience true education, we need not just any old activity physically, mentally, and spiritually, but God's plan for activity physically, mentally, and spiritually.
The whole being is on the divine operating table; the whole being is being treated by the great physician, Jesus. He has a prescription for the body, a prescription for the mind, and together they harmonize as a treatment for the soul, the whole being. If we follow the treatment plan of Jesus then the “image of God” will be restored “in the whole being.” Are we ready to do that?
I am not so sure. I fear that in our schools we have intermingled God's prescription with a prescription from a different source—one perhaps not so anxious to see the picture of Jesus reflected in us.
Character Perfection—Now is the Time
We are concerned today especially in regard to competitive sports occurring in Adventist schools. Does competitive sport build Christian character? Inspired writings say “No,” as we shall see. But the issue is more than some definite prohibitions presented to us in inspired writings. Why are such prohibitions presented to us in inspired writings? Permit me to up the ante. Let us go further and ask, Do competitive sports lead to perfection of Christian character?
What does perfection of character mean? One helpful passage for me was this one from Ellen G. White's, Great Controversy, p. 623:
Now, while our great High Priest is making the atonement for us, we should seek to become perfect in Christ. Not even by a thought could our Saviour be brought to yield to the power of temptation. Satan finds in human hearts some point where he can gain a foothold; some sinful desire is cherished, by means of which his temptations assert their power. But Christ declared of Himself: ‘The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.’ John 14:30. Satan could find nothing in the Son of God that would enable him to gain the victory. He had kept His Father's commandments, and there was no sin in Him that Satan could use to his advantage. This is the condition in which those must be found who shall stand in the time of trouble.
That's where God wants to take you and me right now. We understand from Revelation seven that we are, presently, in the time of sealing. Now is the time when we must let go everything that could hinder our spiritual development. So, if you say, “You're taking your position on the basis of your eschatology,” I will agree completely. Our beliefs determine our beliefs. That is, our beliefs concerning how the plan of redemption works, what its goals are, and where we are in the progress of God's prophetic timeline, guide us in understanding what is and what is not healthy spiritual behavior for this hour.
A Biblical Plan for Christian Behavior
Among the elements of Christian behavior presented in the Bible is a special care for how what we do impacts what we become. We notice the counsel of Paul:
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. (Philippians 2:3).
The passage continues by showing how Jesus voluntarily descended from the glories of heaven to the humble state of fallen humanity. He “made Himself of no reputation,” He emptied Himself of His divine power. Why? To set us an example. He would behave voluntarily as we must behave involuntarily. He would rely upon no power which we ourselves cannot access. But the trend of sports is what? It is anything but making oneself' of no reputation! It is very difficult to see how having the mind of Christ can mesh with having the mind of an athlete bent upon defeating his foe through strength of might and through various plays which trick your opponent. As one dryly has put it, “It is highly debatable whether or not this mock warfare arena, with its self-glorification, rivalry, and killer-instinct requirement (taking advantage of your brother's mistakes and missteps) is within the spirit of the gospel. Strange setting indeed for sharing sacred truths!” (George Akers, “Adventist Varsity Sports?” Adventists Affirm, Spring 1990, p. 56).
We have to ask, is there the slightest hint from Jesus that He would have us feed the kind of nature that inclines us to selfishness? “It is Satan's work to excite pride and ambition, selfishness, and love for supremacy” (Ellen G. White, Medical Ministry, p. 48).
Now perhaps one will say, “There we go again, that trouble-causing doctrine of character perfection has reared its head again and is interfering with our lives.” Yes indeed, and I have no apology for that to make, not one line. The kind of emotional and spiritual imbalance that can occur in the human psyche because of artificially heightened passion through sport operates against the perfection of character.
Remember other Biblical statements of principle also:
Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted (Matthew 23:12).
Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many (Matthew 20:26-28).
For he that is least among you all, the same shall be great (Luke 9:48).
The Christian would have a difficult time competing if he held to the Christian philosophy of humility outlined in such statements. Whereas modern competitive sport is by nature a zero-sum game, the Christian worldview operates outside that box. In a zero-sum activity, all the numbers even out at the end. If you have a competitive event between schools, you will have one team that wins, and one team that loses the same match. One positive added to one negative equals a sum of zero. There is always a winner, and there is always a looser. But in the Christian worldview, all who strive for God's will can win; there need be no losers. There is a fundamental disconnect between the gospel of God and the gospel of sports. Following the words of Jesus in Luke, being least, would result in a poor showing in competitive sports.
Paul's Use of Imagery From Grecian Sports Competitions
But what about Paul's use of imagery borrowed from Grecian sports competitions? Some have insisted that we can develop “a philosophy of sport” on the basis of such texts. Is this so? Let's consider some of them.
First, we turn to 1 Corinthians 9:24-27:
Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
Paul points out the giant cleavage, the great contrast between the Grecian competition and the Christian life. Many run in a Grecian competitive footrace, but there is only one winner. Like a race, there is something to be obtained at the end of the Christian pathway. We too are to be active so that we may successfully obtain that. But in what particular way are we to be active? As the runners strive for mastery, they engage in a careful, temperate lifestyle to reach peak performance. And if they win, what do they receive? A corruptible crown. What do we in the Christian walk receive? An incorruptible crown. In other words, the contrast is between a temporal victory as passing as the wind, or an eternal result in value beyond measure.
Paul insists then that he is not running uncertainly, not competing for a prize which odds are, he is unlikely to obtain. The value of the prize before him in mind, Paul runs, he fights, he exercises self-discipline. He is very alert to the necessity of maintaining control over the sin nature. He knows that it is ever ready to rise up and express itself in evil poured out of us and into the world, shaming our Christian witness for God.
Is there anything here—anything—upon which to build up an artificial philosophy of sport? The whole thrust of Paul's argument is that if even the non-Christian is willing to go to so great lengths to obtain a temporary crown that wilts, how much more should the Christian strive to live-out the fullness of Christianity! There is no advocacy here for a Christian participation in competitive sports. A lesson is being drawn from a non-Christian practice and used in the context of a letter written to a church composed mostly of people from the Greek culture. That is all.
Then there is Paul's use of Hebrews 12:1, 2:
Wherefore seeing we also 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, Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Paul again likens the Christian journey to a running race, although this time to a readership which is predominantly Jewish. He points to the victory of Christ at the cross, and our part as well, our patient running of the race, our steadfast striving to lay aside every sin. He shows us that our eyes must focus on the finish-line, Christlikeness. He points to Christ's suffering, not to obtain a laurel-wreath crown, but eternal life for the believer. The suffering of Christ is put in the center rather than the suffering of the Christian as he participates in the journey home.
The cloud of witnesses are the faithful of the ages who have been called to mind in Hebrews chapter 11. Again, the goal here is one that involves a moral imperative, the renunciation of sin, and an eternal reward for the believer. There is nothing here to create a philosophy of Christian sport from. The Christian must be active, he must actively submit to God so that sin may be put away. No advocacy of participation in competitive sport can be found here.
If time permitted this morning, we would look also at Galatians 2:2 and 5:7, 2 Timothy 2:5 and 4:7, and Philippians 3:13, 14, all texts where similar illustrations are used by Paul. But time does not permit.
A usage of images from Grecian athletic competitions in some illustrations is no license or library from which to develop a “philosophy of sport.” Man cannot develop a moral philosophy out of an amoral human philosophy. We can no more create a Christian philosophy of sport than we can develop a Christian philosophy of adultery, a Christian philosophy of car-theft, or a Christian philosophy of murder. Remember, the physical must be kept in harmony with the spiritual, or the education in process becomes misshapen, disharmonious, untrue as education.
If this statement is correct: “In all who are under the training of God is to be revealed a life that is not in harmony with the world, its customs, or its practices” (Ellen G. White, Desire of Ages, p. 363), then how can our approach be, as some would have it, that because “it is too entrenched in our society,” we must incorporate competitive sports into our schools? It is precisely because it is so firmly entrenched and so generally destructive to the process of character growth that we must turn the bright light of truth on the phenomenon. If it shrivels under the glare, that is more a sign of its fundamentally empty nature than of any vicious streak in the truth of God.
God is too wise to err, and too good to withhold any good thing from His saints that walk uprightly. Man is erring…he does not always ask for the things that are good for himself, or that will glorify God… He [God] gives us the things that are for our best good and His own glory. (Ellen G. White, Testimonies, vol. 1, p. 120).
A Timeline for Competitive Sports, Christianity, and Adventism
Before we finish with a look at the counsel of Jesus through Ellen G. White, we may want to ponder the progress of sport through the annals of history to our day. Consider the timeline we have made available (download this PDF format file at http://www.greatcontroversy.org/pdf/cstimeline.pdf).
Now to comment one at least some of the items there. Arthur L. White recounts what happened at the Battle Creek College in 1893:
As the sports program developed in the schools of the world, it developed in our college at Battle Creek. We had our football teams, our baseball teams, our basketball teams. There was even some boxing. Seventh-day Adventist youth with their background in healthful living and with their lives free from alcohol and tobacco were able to perform well. But it was not long until the games with other teams of the town, and the teams of other towns, led to great excitement. The interests of a large part of the student body began to diverge from the objective of making every effort count toward an adequate preparation for service, to the cultivation of excitement and pleasure. Had this program continued without being checked by messages from the Lord, our educational program would have been largely offset by the sports program which was beginning to make its way among us. (Arthur L. White, “Sports in Seventh-day Academies and Colleges,” p. 2)
You will observe in the timeline that in spite of repeated efforts by the General Conference to prohibit interschool competitions, the practice has gone on until at present virtually all SDA colleges and academies have an active program of competitive interschool sports; there are few exceptions to the trend.
An End-Time Prophet Speaks
It was the foremost feature of Christ's character to follow the will of His Father. When the Father sent word, Jesus embraced it. He could not have represented His Father without embracing His Father's word.
But God's word never stopped coming. It still comes to us through the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. If the Bible were somehow unclear on the topic of competitive sports (what don't we understand about “Let nothing be done through strife and vainglory”?), the Spirit of Prophecy is abundantly clear. Remember now—what we are about to hear is the word of Jesus to us through His messenger for those who would live at the end of time:
There have been things written to me in regard to the movings of the Spirit of God at the last conference [1893], and at the college, which clearly indicate that because these blessings were not lived up to, minds have been confused, and that which was light from heaven has been called excitement. I have been made sad to have this matter viewed in this light. We must be very careful not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in pronouncing the ministration of His Holy Spirit a species of fanaticism. How shall we understand the workings of the Spirit of God if it was not revealed in clear and unmistakable lines, not only in Battle Creek but in many places?
I am not surprised that anyone should be confused at the after result. But in my experience of the past forty-nine years I have seen much of these things, and I have known that God has wrought in a marked manner; and let no one venture to say this is not the Spirit of God. It is just that which we are authorized to believe and pray for, for God is more willing to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him than parents are to give good gifts unto their children. But the Holy Spirit is not for the human agent to work; it is to work and use the human agent. That God did abundantly bless the students in the school and the church, I have not one doubt; but a period of great light and the outpouring of the Spirit is quite generally followed by a time of great darkness. Why? Because the enemy works with all his deceiving energies to make of none effect the deep movings of the Spirit of God on the human subject.
When the students at the school went into their match games and football playing, when they became absorbed in the amusement question, Satan saw it a good time to step in and make of none effect the Holy Spirit of God in molding and using the human subject. Had the teachers to a man done their duty, had they realized their accountability, had they stood in moral independence before God, had they used the ability which God had given them according to the sanctification of the spirit through the love of the truth, they would have had spiritual strength and divine enlightenment to press on and on and upward on the ladder of progress reaching heavenward. The fact is evident that they did not appreciate or walk in the light or follow the Light of the world.
It is an easy matter to idle away, talk and play away, the Holy Spirit's influence. To walk in the light is to keep moving onward in the direction of light. If the one blessed becomes negligent and inattentive and does not watch unto prayer, if he does not lift the cross and bear the yoke of Christ, if his love of amusements and strivings for the mastery absorb his power or ability, then God is not made the first and best and last in everything, and Satan comes in to act his part in playing the game of life for his soul. He can play much more earnestly than they can play, and make deep-laid plots for the ruin of the soul.…
The results after the working of the Spirit of God in Battle Creek are not because of fanaticism, but because those who were blessed did not show forth the praises of Him who called them out of darkness into His marvelous light; and when the earth is lightened with the glory of God, some will not know what it is, and from whence it came, because they misapplied and misinterpreted the Spirit shed upon them. God is a jealous God of His own glory. He will not honor those who dishonor Him. Some persons living in the light ought to have instructed these souls young in experience to walk in the light after they had received the light. —Letter 58, 1893. (Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, vol. 1, pp. 130, 131).
Strong material, that. A revival had come, the Holy Spirit was moving the people. But something stopped it, something stunted it. What was it? “When the students at the school went into their match games and football playing, when they became absorbed in the amusement question, Satan saw it a good time to step in and make of none effect the Holy Spirit of God in molding and using the human subject.… It is an easy matter to idle away, talk and play away, the Holy Spirit's influence… If the one blessed becomes negligent and inattentive and does not watch unto prayer, if he does not lift the cross and bear the yoke of Christ, if his love of amusements and strivings for the mastery absorb his power or ability, then God is not made the first and best and last in everything, and Satan comes in to act his part in playing the game of life for his soul.” The way this revival was quenched is laid out for us. The students became caught up in an absorption with the games, they became inattentive, they ceased from carrying the cross, love for amusements took center place in the life, and Satan then had his way, the Holy Spirit was sent packing. A true revival from God was ended.
That should have been enough. But hardly seven years later, now at Avondale on the other side of the world, sport is brought forward again. Here was her reaction to that event:
I do not condemn the simple exercise of playing ball; but this, even in its simplicity, may be overdone.
I shrink always from the almost sure result which follows in the wake of these amusements. It leads to an outlay of means that should be expended in bringing the light of truth to souls that are perishing out of Christ. The amusements and expenditures of means for self-pleasing, which lead on step by step to self-glorifying, and the educating in these games for pleasure produce a love and passion for such things that is not favorable to the perfection of Christian character.The way that they have been conducted at the college does not bear the impress of heaven. It does not strengthen the intellect. It does not refine and purify the character. There are threads leading out through the habits and customs and worldly practices, and the actors become so engrossed and infatuated that they are pronounced in heaven lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. In the place of the intellect becoming strengthened to do better work as students, to be better qualified as Christians to perform the Christian duties, the exercise in these games is filling their brains with thoughts that distract the mind from their studies.…
Is the eye single to the glory of God in these games? I know that this is not so. There is a losing sight of God's way and His purpose. The employment of intelligent beings, in probationary time, is superseding God's revealed will and substituting for it the speculations and inventions of the human agent, with Satan by his side to imbue with his spirit.…The Lord God of heaven protests against the burning passion cultivated for supremacy in the games that are so engrossing. (Ellen G. White, Adventist Home, pp. 499, 500).
I don't really know what else to say. That counsel requires little comment. Again, what is it that we don't understand about “No”?
There are a series of arguments put forward in favor of interschool competitive sport in this church, many items which we have not addressed here. But this talk can be a primer, a beginning point, for some who might not ever have considered the question. It does seem really plain that this kind of activity has a plain result:
I shrink always from the almost sure result which follows in the wake of these amusements. It leads to an outlay of means that should be expended in bringing the light of truth to souls that are perishing out of Christ. The amusements and expenditures of means for self-pleasing, which lead on step by step to self-glorifying, and the educating in these games for pleasure produce a love and passion for such things that is not favorable to the perfection of Christian character.
Conclusion
We are running the race, not of earthly things, but of spiritual. We dare not succumb to false philosophies that are damaging to Christian character development. We dare not push our children into participation in such operations. They have enough challenges without us pushing them into this pit. Remember, “In the whole being—the body, the mind, as well as the soul—the image of God is to be restored.” We dare not make the physical misshapen and put it in opposition to the spiritual. “In all who are under the training of God is to be revealed a life that is not in harmony with the world, its customs, or its practices” (Ellen G. White, Desire of Ages, p. 363). That is where we need to stand. Sport may have a ubiquitous place in society, but it is not so firmly entrenched that we must surrender the gospel of God. Let us beware of this insidious disease filtering into our midst, and reject altogether the concept of interschool competitive sports. Let us be open to the guidance of the Spirit in the church.
