We love games.
We love to play. 
Monopoly, Operation, Chutes & Ladders, Connect 4…
Football, Baseball, Golf, Soccer…
From early ages, we learn to play games. We can even use our imaginations to make up new ones.
I remember playing lots of games with my cousins at Mamaw’s house.
Our favorite required that she give us each a towel and safety pin it around our necks as our capes.
Then we’d go out and fight imaginary crime as Batman and Robin and Batgirl.
(I never got to be Batman, but fortunately I was never forced to be Batgirl, either!)
So, there is no question. We love games. But what happens when we turn something that is not a game into one?
“I know, let’s create a new game.”
“OK, but what will we call it.”
“How about… “church”?
God tells us that the Christian life is serious. That it costs you your life. That even if you are never required to be a martyr for the Christian faith, you are to have made the decision that your commitment to Christ is greater than your commitment to your own beating heart. That we should hold tighter to Jesus than to our own lives.
God tells us that we are to be about His business and that His business isn’t a game. In fact, He tells us that if we are serious about His business, it will lead us to encounter persecution. And if we encounter real persecution, we will know that real Christianity is not a game. And yet, here in America where we don’t experience much persecution for our faith, we have learned how to “play church.”
God never said that living for Him would be easy. In fact, He promises that it will be quite difficult.
He tells us that our own family members will turn against us; that others will hate us for our beliefs; that we will be slandered; that we might even physically have to die for our faith in Him. Jesus tells us that being a real Christian will bring a sword into your life.
But it doesn’t often seem to be the case for American Christians, where we seem to think that being a Christian will make life easier and more comfortable as God pours out blessings and safety and protection. That is quite a contrary message to what Jesus says in the Bible.
And then we look at people living in other areas of the world…. Some people are still living in countries where Christianity is persecuted. Persecution for Christian beliefs is still extremely strong in other places in the world.
Some missionaries are still going into countries where their lives are in danger, but because they are more concerned with people going to hell than with their own lives, they go in order to fulfill the Great Commission.
Do you think we would be more serious about God if we had to weigh whether we might die for our beliefs? Do you think we would value the Bible more if it was illegal to own one or teach from one?
Perhaps God has blessed us so much in, and given us such freedoms, in order that we might use these things to share more freely with others. Maybe we should be praying: “God thank you for loving me so much and placing me in America where I have so many freedoms, including freedom of religion. In response to your love for me and the blessings you have provided me I am going to make knowing you and your Word the #1 priority in my life and share my love for you with others. No matter the cost.”
Instead of taking that type of attitude, we hoard our resources and use them to please ourselves. And then we hear about “the danger” of missions and the persecution in the rest of the world and we just hope God doesn’t call us to missions – let someone else do that dirty and dangerous work. Not me.
And God, definitely don’t call my children to go!
So, even though many of us “dedicate” our children to the Lord in some worship service, we are actually unwilling for God to them as He sees fit!
While we are fearful of someone thinking we are eccentric or extreme because of our faith, some people around the globe are actually having to consider prison and death as a real possibility of what it means to accept Christ – and yet they still choose Jesus and aren’t afraid of death.
We love games. Games are fun. But church should never be a game.