Worship & Sport

Worshiping God through sport

We were created for one all-encompassing purpose: to bring glory to God in all that we do. In his book Don’t Waste Your Life John Piper puts it this way: “God created me—and you—to live with a single, all-embracing, all-transforming passion—namely, a passion to glorify God by enjoying and displaying his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life.”1 The goal of our lives is worship. Scripture calls us to live in such a way that everything we do and say is worship to God! Worship is not simply the songs we sing on Sunday morning. Worship extends to every facet of our lives. Eating a steak or slurping a milkshake or, as Scripture says, “whatever” we do can be a form of worship. That most certainly includes playing, watching, and talking about sports.

Consider this for a moment. Scripture tells us that everything we do is to be done to the glory of God. Every jump shot and every slap shot. Every single and every strikeout. Every victory and every defeat. Whether we ride the bench or start every game of the season, all of it is to be done to the glory of God. (Altrogge)

For me there has been two parts of my sporting life where I worship God.

Coaching

Coaching has always been something I had a huge passion for and it’s just one way that God let’s me use my gifts to serve him. I have a coached footy for a while now and really enjoy the different aspects of working with different teams. My first year i coached a team of refugee kids who could not get to games unless we took them . Now I am coaching at the school in work with and they are mainly middle class white and Indian kids.

For me, I like to look at coaching and the sport I play, with the a thing I call the ‘Legacy Effect’ this is something I live by. I don’t actually know if it’s a real thing but it is to me. Legacy means something that happened in the past or that comes from someone in the past. As I read the definition often. I still wonder how and why I live by this. For me the legacy effect is about leaving something in someone else’s life. It could be words, or a role model. That a person will remember for the rest if his life. For example my Dad making the saying for Ignite Sport ‘Born to Play’ this will always have a lasting effect in my life. It’s been a key moment and saying in my life and I still remember the first time I heard him say it. So the question is how as athletes, coaches or even referees leave a legacy in someone else’s life.

Playing

We should desire that people would be amazed at God, not at us. To hunger for the praise of others is to desire what belongs to God alone. Take a moment to ask yourself, do I play sports in a way that draws undue attention to myself? Do I desire that people would be amazed by my abilities? Am I impressed with myself? If you answered yes to any of these questions (and I answered yes to all three), then pride has taken root in your heart, and you are stealing the praise that belongs to God alone (Altrogge)

As I was reading this book, this paragraph came up. As I read it, this is exactly what it means to worship God through sport. It’s about praising god. It’s showing god his glory during the sports you play. Audience of One. God is the audience we play for. We don’t seek praise from other players. As we read before “Scripture tells us that everything we do is to be done to the glory of God. Every jump shot and every slap shot. Every single and every strikeout. Every victory and every defeat. Whether we ride the bench or start every game of the season, all of it is to be done to the glory of God.” When playing for God we need all that we do needs to be done to the glory of god

For me personally, before each game of sport I play. I have got into a habit to do two things. The two things are important to me when I think of worshipping god through sport.

One is pray, as I walk on to the field of both cricket and footy. I say a very very simple but meaningful pray to God. “Hey Lord, please give me the confidence, strength and concentration to bring your kingdom glory”

As I said before it’s worshiping god through sport is about giving God his glory. This simply pray let’s god know that what you do on the sports field is for God rather than for your coach, peers or parents. As we discussed before we are performing for an Audience of One.

The second thing I do is. As I get ready, when I am putting on my gear. For cricket putting on my pads when wicketkeeping and batting and for footy when I put my shinpads on. I say three bible quotes which I will tell you soon. But these quotes have meant something to me and the sport I play. My shinpads have these verses written on them. For me saying these quotes in over and over in my head. Makes me feel like God is with me during the game. I understand what these quotes mean for my life and my sport.

The first one is

Phil 4.13

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

For everyone this is pretty obvious what it means. But knowing Christ is with you during sport helps you to gain strength when struggling or succeeding during sport. For me this was the first sporting quote that I found. It changed my perspective on sport. Sport and I just worked, it was like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Once I realised that I could possibly worship God through sport I was confused. This quote help me to realise that God gave me the ability to play sport. He gives me the strength to get through sport and life during the good and bad times.

Col 3.23

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

This was the third quote I found. This one really reminds me of how the Audience of One works. Darren Moore a former professional football player and now a coach at West Brom. This quote was his go to for him. As he read it, it would make him realise that if he wants to give god’s kingdom glory. He will need to work hard at whatever he does and do it for God rather than his coach. This quote reminds me of Jeremy Lin’s quote/hash tag  “Audience of One”. This verse and quote are meaning the a very similar thing. For me, it’s been a realisation for me to work as hard as can when playing sport. But the reasons why we do this is important. For me I now understand that God gave me gifts to play sport at a high level so why not play a hard for him. As you can see this verse and the last relate in different ways.

The second sporting verse I found has been the most important one for me. I have never understood why but it just has. 1Tim 4.8

“Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”

I love physical training, I love the gym and turning up to training and working on my footy skills. But how many people train for godliness? For me from a young age I struggled with this and some days I still struggle with this. I didn’t understand why I would need to put in extra time to God when I was turning up to Church and youth group. But I realised that a relationship with God is 24/7, it’s not the little things we do at church or youth group. It’s everyday. Putting time in for learning more and developing a better relationship with God will bring better benefits in your life but also in the life that will come. Putting time and effort into developing a  relationship with God will help your overall well being. The benefits will be better than just physical training.

As I have gotten older, I realised that worshipping god through sport is a simple thing to do. It’s about honouring god with your gifts and giving God the glory he deserves.

As we finish, remember

“Scripture tells us that everything we do is to be done to the glory of God. Every jump shot and every slap shot. Every single and every strikeout. Every victory and every defeat. Whether we ride the bench or start every game of the season, all of it is to be done to the glory of God.”