Why Can’t Every Sunday Be “Super?”

I turned 28 this past year and have probably heard this sermon line (or one like it) just as many times…

Did you hear how many people will watch the [insert big sporting event or pop culture event here]? Why can’t people get that excited about church? Why don’t we have that many people here? Where are our priorities?”

It’s an oft-used line because in the short-term it works. It cuts to our hearts. As we hear it we must admit that we spend so much time on trifles and frivolities when God’s holy Word sits gathering dust on our shelves. We worship daily at the altar of anything else but our heavenly father because we find it more exciting, flashy or appealing.

The insinuation, however, is not always only that our hearts deserve to be turned less toward earthly things and more toward God, but also that this sinful world, which delights to revel in anything but the light of our Savior, needs to get their hindquarters into church on Sundays rather than to the big game or the sold out concert.

If only we could get millions and millions of people to hear our pastor’s sermon this week instead of spending their prime time with television!

But here is the kicker (no pun initial intended), Christ our Lord told us it would never be this way. He may have at times preached to large crowds, but he also reminded us that “the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20) He didn’t build a Superdome of a synagogue to preach to packed houses every night. No, he preached from town to town, marching ever onward toward Calvary.

We look wistfully at the massive crowds at sporting events, awards shows or the like while thinking: “Why wouldn’t someone want to listen to the message of forgiveness found in Jesus rather than watch a football game?” We think: “Wouldn’t it be great if that many people packed into our church rather than the auditorium of the latest and greatest pop star?”

But, the question is which one is free viagra tablets better among these three options. Abdominal massage online pharmacy levitra is also helpful in treating postcholecystectomy symptoms. So you need to take care before the procedure for the better diagnosis. purchase generic viagra downtownsault.org A man, when suffering from ED, has to give up during the act in spite of having viagra generika those humiliating moments in the bed. The answer to the”why” is the same answer as to the “what”–it is the difference between what draws people to sporting events and stadiums packed for pop stars and what draws people to the foot of the cross.  One is glory. One is a cross. We preach Christ crucified, first and foremost (1 Cor 1:23). As Christ our Lord carried his cross on that march toward his death, so also do we recognize when he says that we must carry ours (Mark 8:34).

The Super Bowl is all about glory. It’s what young men grow up dreaming about and what old men reminisce about. It’s a spectacle. It’s magnificent. It’s an assault on the senses.

It’s everything the life of a Christian often is not.

Why can’t our churches be more like the Super Bowl? Well, because Christ promised us it wouldn’t be that way. No, instead he said that we would be hated because of him (Matthew 24:9). Paul called this concept, “The foolishness of God,” (1 Cor 1:18) reminding us that our message is not necessarily what people want to hear as much as it is what they, like we, need to hear.

Yet, the story does not end there. As you’re flipping through scripture on Sunday morning, take a few seconds to thumb toward the book of Revelation—more specifically, Revelation 21 (though, the whole book is worth your time). There are a lot of theories about the last book of the Bible, but this we know: It’s Jesus’ victory march…a picture of the glory that we cannot/should not have in this life. In a way, it’s a look toward our Super Bowl Sunday, parade and all.

On that day, the crowds will be not only enormous but everlasting. We won’t just feast on a bunch of salty and sweet calorie-filled appetizers, we will join in the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. We won’t be cheering merely for first downs or touchdowns, we will we praising the one whose victory is mine and whose trophy is me.

Now that will be a Super Sunday!