Reasons why the Soccer World Cup reminds us of the Christian Life
Introduction
The world cup just started!
I love soccer!
These days I don’t play it - I watch it!
But did you know that the World Cup reminds us of the Christian life?!
1. There’s a Prize to Win
The dream of every Soccer player is to hold that cup in their hands. The goal is to win.
And it’s the same for us too...
In Philippians 3, the apostle Paul says this: “I press on toward the goal to win the prize...”
Peter talks about this kind of thing in 1 Peter 1:9, “you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
For us winning means receiving salvation from God.
It means being with Jesus for all eternity.
Because we have faith in the One who died for our sins and rose again.
But there’s a big difference between Soccer and the Christian faith.
To win the world cup you’ve got to be good enough.
But to win Jesus Christ and be saved, you’ve got to be bad enough!
You’ve got to admit that you are a sinner and that only he can help you and save you from sin and its consequences.
Admit you're a sinner then you’re a winner!
Trust in Christ and you win the prize!
2. There’s a Team to Play on
The Christian life is also like Soccer because there is a team to play on.
No match can be won by one person alone.
It’s about teamwork.
It doesn’t matter if it’s Messi, Ronaldo, Kaka, Dempsey, Rooney or whoever;
If it was just them on their own they would never win a match.
Even the best of the best need other players.
The Bible says that when we put our faith in Jesus we become part of a team.
The Bible uses a different way of saying that.
It says we are all part of the body of Christ.
We all play different parts, and we all need each other.
(1 Corinthians 12:12)
Don’t keep the ball to yourself!
Be a team player!
Never forget that when you become a Christian you join a team!
3. There’s Training to be Done
Thirdly, any winning Soccer team has to train hard.
You may see them doing great on the pitch.
But you haven’t seen them training throughout the year, day by day.
Building up speed, muscle endurance, strength, and coordination.
If they train well, they do well.
They have to train hard to win.
But in the Christian life it’s a bit different.
Our training starts after we’ve won salvation.
Just like the apostle Paul told Timothy,
“train yourself to be godly. For physical training has some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise both for the present life and the life to come.” (1 Timothy 4:8)
Day by day we learn to say no to what is wrong.
When we say no to what is wrong we build up our godly muscles!
When we choose to do what is right in God’s eyes we build up our godly muscles!
We pray, we get together in church and home groups, we study the Bible, we worship and pray...
Every time we obey God our muscles get built up.
How’s your training going?
4. There’s a Captain to Follow
Off pitch the Coach is in charge.
But on pitch, it’s the Captain.
And when you are a Christian you have a Captain.
He’s called Jesus.
In fact, he is called ‘Lord Jesus’.
The word Lord is a bit like the word Captain, but stronger!
The job of our Captain Jesus is to keep us playing well.
We have to listen every command he gives us.
We have to do everything he tells us to.
Sometimes we forget we have a Captain and think we can do whatever we want.
Sometimes the match is hard and we feel like we’re losing.
That’s when the Captain encourages us and urges us on.
There’s a Captain to follow.
So the World Cup reminds us in different ways of the Christian life...
We have a prize to win.
A team to join.
A training to be done.
And a Captain to follow.
Have you joined the winning team?
[Show 2 minute video clip of Kaka interview where this Brazilian world cup winner talks about belonging to Jesus... Clip available from the BMS website... http://www.bmsworldmission.org/index.aspx?id=436836]
Let’s pray together...
