“I love college football!”

Later tonight I will deliver a talk to the football teams of Greenville University and Olivet Nazarene University at the banquet for the NCCAA Victory Bowl. The game will be played tomorrow, November 23 in Greenville, Illinois.

An outline of my talk is below. I hope the ideas therein challenge your thoughts about sport and its value to Christians in sport.

“I love college football!”

Introduction: Think about what you love about college football... 

· For 26 seasons now I have been our team’s chaplain and get-back coach. 

· Untold hundreds of man-hours of preparation by dozens of people, across six days of each week’s practice, training, video review, teaching, and scheming; all compressed into 150-180 six second explosions of fury and orchestrated chaos. 

· Each step, each glance, each hesitation, each moment of insight, each explosive movement has immense weight and importance for the success or failure of any given play. 

· The teamwork, comradery, selflessness, attention to detail, concentration of will, and tolerance of discomfort needed to excel in this sport are uncommon traits in our society. 

· And, it’s fun! 

· I love college football for another, far superior reason as well. It is an environment and an endeavor in which we may experience the presence and pleasure of the Lord Jesus as an act of worship. 

Text – Romans 12:1-2 (4 big ideas) 

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” 

1. I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God… 

a. This is not a suggestion, 

b. Not a wish, 

c. Not a hope, 

d. He urges, he exhorts, he beseeches his brothers… 

e. By the mercies of God. The ground upon which we consider his next thoughts are the mercies of God. 

f. By the mercies of God, he urges his brothers… 

2. Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 

a. The presentation of your bodies is a: 

i. A living sacrifice, not a dead one. It is a daily, hourly, play by play, practice by practice sacrifice. 

ii. A holy sacrifice, set apart for God. Football is not played behind God’s back. It’s set apart for Him. 

iii. An acceptable sacrifice, not something tolerated by God, rather it’s an acceptable, well-pleasing sacrifice. You can expect to experience God’s pleasure as you present your body as a sacrifice through sport. 

iv. This is your spiritual service of worship. Beyond an activity that God would tolerate until you can get to worship at church on Sunday; football itself is an environment for and an activity in which we worship the Lord Jesus. 

b. When you step onto the field to train, to practice, or to compete in football, you have the privilege of presenting your body as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 

3. Do not be conformed to this world. 

a. The world would have you separate who you are as a Christ-following man from who you are as a football player. 

b. You the excellent student, the loving son, the loyal brother, the faithful friend, vs. you the raging, almost out of control, barbaric, maniacal football player. Which is the real you? 

c. Greek thinking, prevailing cultural dualism would have you experience life as two separate people. 

d. Hebrew thinking, God-honoring integrity would have you be the same man, all the time, regardless of environment or circumstance. 

e. Do not be conformed to this world. Rather… 

4. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. 

a. Transform the way you think about football, about competition. 

b. To compete is to strive together. Together, not against. 

c. If we have no opponent for competition, we only have practice. If we don’t turn on the score board, we just have another practice. 

d. To compete is to test each other as we both strive to be our best, to grow, to develop, and ultimately to become all God has purposed for us to be. 

e. As we compete we prove or test what the will of God is and we find it to be: 

i. Good – we find the will of God to be good for us. 

ii. Acceptable – we find the will of God to be well-pleasing to us. 

iii. Perfect – we find the will of God to be perfect or complete. 

5. Football players, Coaches, Support Staff, may I challenge you with the Apostle Paul’s words? 

a. I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God… 

b. Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 

c. Do not be conformed to this world, but… 

d. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. 

I love college football because it is an environment and an endeavor in which we may experience the presence and the pleasure of the Lord Jesus as an act of worship. 

I pray you also experience our Lord’s presence and His pleasure tomorrow and each time you prepare, train, practice, and compete.