It’s not uncommon to hear a sportsperson say that in order to be successful they have to be selfish. But is there a different way to operate in our sports? A different motivation?
Christians in Sport
Day 1
Scripture: Philippians 2:1-5
It’s not uncommon to hear a sportsperson say that in order to be successful they have to be selfish. One of the most famous of all, Michael Jordan, literally said just that:
“To be successful you have to be selfish, or else you never achieve….”
But is there a different way to operate in our sport? A different motivation?
When you read this, it is either Easter weekend or the week after where we’ve been considering Jesus’ death and resurrection.
In Philippians 2, Paul calls the church to look at Jesus’ attitude and see it as an example for us in our relationships saying: “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.”
What does this look like?
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
Sport is often an inherently selfish environment. A likely apocryphal story quotes Michael Jordan’s coach telling him he’s being selfish, saying “there’s no I in team,” to which Jordan replied, “but there is a me!”
Jesus’ example goes entirely counter to this way of thinking.
Christians are people who want to be like Jesus.
Jesus was born to set us an example of how to live and flourish in this world, he is to be our model. Jesus is the perfect man – full of love and goodness, perfectly displaying love and mercy in every interaction he had, in every thought he thought.
He is, of course, more than that – his example is also what condemns us as we see clearly that we can’t live up to his standards. This ultimately is why we need him to humbly look not to his own interests, but to ours, when he descends from the comfort and glory of heaven to live on this earth and ultimately die in our place.
He is more than our example, but not less than it.
So, what would it look like for us to be like Jesus in your sport today? To not do anything out of selfish ambition or vein conceit? To value others above ourselves?
It will look like dying to self. To put the needs of others above your own. You may have moments today when you need to do this. Your status and your goals are put aside as you serve others first.
You use your words to build others up, not make yourself look good.
You play and compete in such a way that aids others, not only promoting yourself and stamping down others in your wake.
Now none of this is anti-competition or saying you can’t strive hard to beat your opponents. Competition at its purest is a striving together which pushes your opponent on to use their talent to the maximum. You serve them by playing hard but fair.
This is hard though. So, why would you do that?
Paul tells us:
“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.”
We can do this encouraged by our union with Christ, the comfort of his love, and the reminder that we share his Spirit, helping us day by day to put others first.
What’s incredible about this – is Paul then claims this is what brings us joy.
Putting others first ultimately leads to joy, the joy of being like Jesus.
So, in your sport today, ask for God’s help to be like Jesus, put others first, and experience the joy promised as you live like the perfect man.
Pray
Dear Lord,
Help me today to be like Jesus – to have his mindset and attitude in my relationships with others and to put their needs above my own.
Amen
Finally take a few minutes now to pray for those in your club or team who don’t yet know Jesus, that you’d have an opportunity to speak to them about Jesus this Game Day.
Day 2
Scripture: Philippians 2:6-8
There was a student called John who was desperate to be part of the football team. For half a season he turned up whilst not getting picked until a few injuries found him on the coach to an away game and in the team.
On the way to the game there was an accident and the minibus got stuck in traffic. Cutting it fine to be on time for the game, the captain instructed they all get changed in the bus. It was at that moment the captain realised he’d forgotten his boots.
John played the same position as the captain, so the assumption was he’d now get to start the game. However, without hesitating John said to the captain “Mate, you’re the same size as me, take mine.”
The captain was gobsmacked. “What are you going to do though?”
“It’s alright I’ll go on the bench,” John replied. “It’s more important that you start than me, so take my boots.”
The captain ran onto the pitch but at half-time, he stopped the team talk and interrogated John. He couldn’t understand why he would give him his boots.
They finished the game and on the bus on the way back the captain sat next to John and asked him what motivated him to act in the way that he did. For two hours on the way back John got to share with the captain about his faith in Jesus, the perfect man, who took on the nature of a servant.
In Philippians 2 we are told:
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Jesus became a servant, a slave, for us. The whole of his life lived out this posture of servanthood as he submitted to his Father’s will all the way to being obedient to dying a cruel and agonising death on the cross.
The life and death of Jesus is way more than an example to us – only Jesus is able to be our Saviour and the world is not saved by people being like Jesus, but through trust in Jesus. But Paul here tells us Jesus’ humble servanthood, which took him all the way to the cross is still to be an example to us.
John could have chosen to stay quiet, play the game, and seek to use the opportunity to his own advantage. Instead, he asked himself, “What is good for the captain and the team?” and he acted on that question despite the personal cost to himself.
How can you answer this question ‘what is good for other people’ in my world of sport today?
How can you serve and love others above yourself today?
Pray now, asking God’s help to make you more like Jesus in your attitude today.
Pray
Dear Lord,
Thank you for sending Jesus, not just as an example, but as our Saviour. But now, as those who have been saved by Jesus, help us to be like him in how we interact with those we compete with or against today. Help us to serve and love others above ourselves.
Amen
Finally take a few minutes now to pray for those in your club or team who don’t yet know Jesus, that you’d have an opportunity to speak to them about Jesus this Game Day.
Day 3
Scripture: Philippians 2:9-11
We love the story of a comeback in sport. It’s golden entertainment to see the fallen hero redeem themselves and be exalted and heralded once again. Think Tiger Woods at the 2019 Masters as a broken man, physically and emotionally, returned to savour victory at the most famous of golf tournaments.
Maybe we love these stories of struggle and failure followed by exaltation because they mirror the story at the heart of the universe.
Jesus “made himself nothing…becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross” before “God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.” Philippians 2:6-9
Jesus went as low as he could go – condemned and cursed by the Father. He fell in the fullest sense. Remarkably though, unlike stories of sporting redemption, Jesus’ fall was planned and deliberate. He chose to die.
In Philippians 2:9 we are told it is because of Jesus’ humility in dying that he is exalted. It is because of his obedience and his love that God honours him and restores him back to the highest place, alongside his Father.
And where is Jesus now? From the lowest of the low to the highest of the high:
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.”
Jesus rules and reigns in heaven, and the comeback is complete.
Before Jesus ascended, Jesus said to his disciples:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.” Matthew 28:18-19
Jesus’ ascension, and his place now in heaven is the basis for our mission today.
We go to our clubs and teams with the greatest news in the world and we’re called to share it. We call people to bow to Jesus and acknowledge him as Lord because Christ has been given all authority.
Our motivation for evangelism is not just that people need saving, but that Jesus deserves to be honoured.
So today, and in the coming weeks, as you go into the sport God has placed you, you are calling on people to recognise that God has exalted Jesus to the highest place.
You may stumble over your words and wish you said things differently but be encouraged that you go with the authority of the one who has been given all authority.
And be encouraged that because of your union with Christ, you also are secure and safe in your salvation. If you have trusted in Christ, despite all those times you do mess up, there is a confidence in knowing you will be raised to the place Jesus is.
So this Game Day, go and speak with confidence of Jesus, the risen and exalted one, the ultimate comeback King.
Pray
Dear Lord,
Thank you that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to you, Lord Jesus and so we can go and speak of you with confidence. Help us today to speak boldly of you in our clubs and teams.
Amen
Finally take a few minutes now to pray by name for those in your club or team who don’t yet know Jesus, that you’d have an opportunity to speak to them about Jesus this Game Day.
Day 4
Scripture: Philippians 2:13-18
The best sportspeople are always trying to improve and unlock more of their potential. Sports coaching expert Timothy Gallway describes coaching as “unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance.”
Someone once asked the great sculptor Michelangelo how he approached a large chunk of marble as he went about turning it into an intricate work of art. He described his work as “liberating an angel from the stone.”
In Philippians 2 Paul encourages us by reminding us that we are not finished works.
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose.
God is shaping and moulding us more and more into his likeness and helping us “fulfil his good purpose” in our lives. He gives us all we need to do this.
To “work out your salvation” could be better read as “live out your salvation.” One way we do that is through seeking joy by becoming like Christ in our attitude to life when it is tough:
Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
Paul is mainly speaking about relationships within the church and amongst other Christians, but this flows out into our life in the world. We are called to be radically content. As we trust in our heavenly Father, even when we face hardship, we can find joy.
Anyone who has been in a sports club knows how hard this is to do. We love to moan.
We love to moan at our teammates, either directly to them or more likely, behind their back. We big ourselves up by subtly dissing our teammates:
“She shouldn’t be training with us!”
“If I was in charge they wouldn’t be playing in that position.”
We love to moan about and to our coaches:
“Why am I not on the team?”
“What a stupid decision to do that!”
We love to moan about officials and referees:
“How on earth did they get such a simple decision wrong?”
“They always penalise us more than the opposition!”
Sport is full of moaning. How radical and distinctive would it be to be known for contentment and joy? To someone who recognises others as flawed, as we are, but who values them as those with inherent dignity as those made in God’s image.
Imitating Christ will see us imitating his joy even in the most difficult of circumstances and so bringing others into that joy. There are often legitimate things to complain about and this passage doesn’t say we shouldn’t raise injustices with the right people, but we will more than likely ignore more than we raise as we consider Christ and his humility.
Humility, a ‘you-first’ attitude is one that leads to joy and it’s an attitude that we are not permitted, nor should want to, leave in the changing room. We need to strive for joy. We need to fight to see the good in others. We need to look to Christ and see his attitude and pursue joy.
Pray
Dear Lord,
Thank you for the reminder that I am not a finished work but you are working in me to make me more like Jesus every day. Help me to be content in all circumstances, finding my safety and joy in you daily within my sport.
Amen
Finally take a few minutes now to pray for those in your club or team who don’t yet know Jesus, that you’d have an opportunity to speak to them about Jesus this Game Day.