The gospel is…the word about Jesus Christ and what he did for us in order to restore us to a right relationship with God. – Graeme Goldsworthy

Thursday, February 13, 2014

The Michael Sam Story: Brothers and Sisters, We Must Be Consistent

Michael Sam, the All-American defensive end from the University of Missouri, recently declared he is an “openly, proud gay man.” Michael Sam will enter the NFL draft in April. This is a big story. The acceptance of homosexuality has gained unprecedented social momentum in just a short period. Joining this to the cultural force of the NFL – America’s most popular sport – will only amplify its acceptance.

The argument you’ll hear repeatedly moving forward about Michael Sam – or any gay athlete – will inevitably be, “If he helps us win, why does his sexuality matter?” This “whatever it takes to win” mindset is the fundamental doctrine of the worldview of sports. And the Michael Sam story shines a new light on this sacred canon (i.e., “winning is all that matters”) of the central sacrament of American’s new civic religion – NFL football.

But is this how a Christian is called to think? Simply put: no. Winning – while ignoring (any sort of) immorality to do so – is never the goal of the Kingdom of Christ. But this is precisely where our hypocrisy as American evangelical sports fans is plainly exposed through this story. Yes, we should take a courageous and compassionate stand against homosexuality being accepted in society or on the gridiron. And, yes, we must not cheer a man (on the field or off) who proudly states his sinful sexual orientation – because that orientation is clearly condemned in Scripture (Rom. 1.27; I Cor. 6.9). Yet – and search your hearts on this, brethren – how many times during an NFL season do we cheer men who are proudly enslaved to other sins the Bible also strongly and clearly condemns – like drunkenness (Gal. 5.21; Eph. 5.18), sexual immorality (Rom. 13.13; I Pet. 4.3), and murderous anger (both on and off the field; Matt. 5.21-23; Col. 3.8; James 1.19-20)? I would suggest that the reason we turn a blind eye to these “other” sins (when the reality is our favorite team[s] is [are] full of such men) is that we – not unlike the culture – have swallowed the chief tenet of “winning is all that matters” in our own souls as well.

Brother and sisters, we must be consistent. Before we cry out against the homosexual boast of a would-be NFL draft pick, let us consider the log in our eye that cheers for players who are boasting of/committing sins that aren’t made public (because those sins are either [a] not head-line worthy – but "just the way it is in the life of a famous athlete" – or [b] not made known to protect the athlete committing those sins as well as the organization he represents). Even worse, sometimes we cheer men whose sins are made public (I'll refrain from listing examples for brevity's sake). Would we wear his jersey if we knew he was a serial adulterer? a man who regularly gets drunk? a man who who sometimes verbally or physically abuses his wife/girfriend? who is addicted to illegal drugs? Would we, as Christians, cheer him during the fall any different knowing such things? This requires pensive thinking in our hearts and regular conversations in our local churches – and maybe even repenting for many of us whose enjoyment of pigskin competition has blinded us to such hypocrisy (I being one).   


While the Michael Sam story presents some challenges to the church of the Lord Jesus in Western culture, this much is clear: whatever the unrepentant sin and wherever the context in which it manifests, two clear consequences of believing the gospel are (1) obeying God’s Word and (2) loving our neighbor – neither of which means accepting a man’s sin, whether he is the man in the mirror, a ferocious pass-rusher, or faithful member of our local church. Love – true, biblical love – compels us to preach the One who died and rose again, in order that we and others might (continually) trust in Jesus, be forgiven by God, and turn away from any and every sin – not boast about it. For those gripped by the gospel, our only boast is in our Savior’s cross, not in our sexuality, for it is our crooked sexuality (homosexual and heterosexual) – among a multitude of others sins – that sent our Savior to the cross to purchase our salvation.

4 comments:

  1. Pastor Ryan,

    Thank you for the blog. I've been waiting to hear how orthodox Christians would respond to this. I agree with your call for consistency. However, I think I personally need to understand how better to proceed forward with this issue. You said above:

    "Before we cry out against the homosexual boast of a would-be NFL draft pick, let us consider the log in our eye that cheers for players who are boasting of/committing sins that aren’t made public (because those sins are either [a] not head-line worthy – but "just the way it is in the life of a famous athlete" – or [b] not made known to protect the athlete committing those sins as well as the organization he represents). Even worse, sometimes we cheer men whose sins are made public (I'll refrain from listing examples for brevity's sake). Would we wear his jersey if we knew he was a serial adulterer? a man who regularly gets drunk? a man who who sometimes verbally or physically abuses his wife/girfriend? who is addicted to illegal drugs? Would we, as Christians, cheer him during the fall any different knowing such things? This requires pensive thinking in our hearts and regular conversations in our local churches – and maybe even repenting for many of us whose enjoyment of pigskin competition has blinded us to such hypocrisy (I being one).

    I think I understand what you are saying about sin that isn't made public. For example, oftentimes rampant greed and power trips are dismissed as the "free market" or "capitalism" . I see this often on ESPN and in popular culture about this "going and getting mine" attitude or when athletes or other people of renown by cars that cost more than a persons total net value. It would be impossible to keep up with the spending habits and lifestyles of major athletes on an individual basis. But I understand when you say that we endorse these things with a blind eye, as a whole.

    My question is should I endorse the Broncos for having Von Miller in their lineup? Obviously his character over the past year isn't to be lauded. Am I to be a patriot if there are certain people in America who misrepresent it and are just as corrupt as athletes? I used to root for Bruce Irvin at WVU and he had character problems in the past and currently with Seattle. Have they repented? I don't know. I find that when I root for players on Saturday or Sunday I root for them in particular with regard to the outcome of the game. I say that they made a "good tackle". In a sense I root for a player because he is a "skilled tackler" not because he is a morally good, skilled tackler. I think if one is going to be consistent about the issue of not rooting for players or organizations that contain bad morality in this way, across the board, they may need to boycott Football as a whole.

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  2. Maybe the word "root" or "cheer" here needs to be defined. In a sense I "root" for Barack Obama. I "root" that he would make godly decisions and lead our country in the right direction. I "root" that he would know true morality and Jesus Christ specifically. I laud him when he makes a good decision and protest when he makes a bad one. I cheer him for some diplomacy, but I boo him on homosexuality and abortion. I think maybe here you are defining "root" or "cheer" as worship. As the Psalmist cheers when justice goes forth he also laments when justice is perverted. He worships God alone. Likewise I cheer when any sort of true morality breaks forth in our country, but I boo and weep when it is perverted.

    You see, I root for no man in a particular way. I see no man as morally good and therefore I cannot root for even Peyton Manning in this respect. I do not "root" for the Broncos as a whole, in and of themselves, and say what good boys they are. I cannot root or worship Peyton Manning in and of himself. The degree to which Peyton Manning reflects Christlike character is something I can encourage and something I can worship God for, but I cannot even give Peyton Manning the credit for this. However, I can boast and cheer in the cross of Jesus Christ.

    I think that football shows the Church the enthusiasm with which we should cheer and root on Sunday morning. The secularists worship football in a way which looks attractive. I think the Church's worship should put college student sections to shame. And I think it does if we would let it. Maybe we can all lift our hands in worship a little more,and do it a little less at the game.

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  3. The rest of your article I understand and totally agree with such as the "winning is all that matters" portion and the main premise of the article which was summed up in the last paragraph. Maybe just some clarification your 3rd and 4th paragraphs. I like blogs for this reason :)))

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  4. Pastor you hit the nail on the head. I think hypocrisy is a big one when it comes to sports which all Christian men should really stop and evaluate themselves I being one as well. Like the NBA is a big one for me yet I know that I celebrate my favorite players and teams and these men are publicly sinful men... At the end of the day I think we should five God the glory for his diversity and blessing these men with the talents and genetic uniqueness they possess and when guys like Michael Sam or any other athlete publicly displays their sinfulness to the world Christians should stand up and declare Christ. I personally do not like the fact that ESPN is stoppin regular programming for breaking news about a man "coming out of the closet". They didnt stop regular programming to allow Michael Jordan to get up and declare he loved women has a wife and new born twin girls.. The honosexual agenda is crazy in America right now and there is a lot of hypocrisy going on and we should be filled with mercy grace and love as well as be compelled to declare the cross of Christ to a dying world.

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