The God Of Entertainment Series

A. How many of you have seen the 2005 romantic comedy called Fever Pitch?

1. It is a funny story about a guy who is a Boston Red Sox fanatic.

2. Here’s an interesting tidbit that you might not have known: Fever Pitch was actually first released outside the United States and Canada with the title The Perfect Catch, because it is actually a remake of a 1997 British film by the same name that was about soccer not baseball.

3. Anyhow, the movie Fever Pitch is about a guy named Ben who is a 30 year old single guy who meets a workaholic gal named Lindsey.

4. Lindsey finds Ben to be so sweet and charming, and he is so attentive to her.

5. She couldn’t figure out how he with his personality could still be single, but then baseball season rolled around and Ben’s obsession with the Red Sox became an obvious problem, as his whole life then revolved around the Red Sox.

6. Lindsey saw Ben on ESPN in Florida acting like an idiot at the Red Sox Spring training.

7. Later, when Lyndsey gave Ben the opportunity to go to Paris with her, he turned it down, because Seattle was coming to town to play the Red Sox who were 3 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees and Ben said that the Red Sox need him.

8. The most offensive part of the movie is that Ben uses toilet paper, which bears the New York Yankees insignia – That just so inappropriate!

9. The movie has a sweet ending, as most romantic comedies do, but it provides a good picture of how the god of entertainment can take over our lives and bring about chaos and destruction.

B. In our world as a whole, and certainly in American culture, one of the biggest idols that has consumed people’s hearts and minds is the god of entertainment.

1. We look to the god of entertainment to make us happy, fulfilled and alive.

2. The god of entertainment consumes our time, our money, our devotion, and our minds.

3. Television, computers, smart phones, gaming systems, Alexa and google assistant bring the idol of entertainment right into the privacy of our own homes so it can be adored and followed every single day.

4. Sports has so engulfed our culture and lives that our favorite sports team controls our schedules and our happiness, and so our mood is determined by whether our team is winning or losing.

5. Sadly, many people know more about their famous star’s life than they know about God and His Word.

6. All this is evidence that our minds, hearts and lives have become distorted by our obsession with entertainment.

C. Before we go any further in this lesson, allow me to clarify the fact that entertainment is not wrong in and of itself.

1. Interestingly enough, for centuries the church stood solidly against every form of worldly entertainment, recognizing it for what it was – a device for wasting time, a refuge from the disturbing voice of conscience, a scheme to divert attention from moral accountability.

2. And so, churches and preachers railed against going to the theater, or watching moving pictures, or playing with face cards.

3. Perhaps the church went too far in coming down so completely against entertainment, but the dangers are clearly there and it is a hard thing to keep in the right balance and perspective.

4. Just like the other two things we have discussed in our series – food and sex – entertainment can also be a good gift from God, but Satan takes God’s good gifts and twists them into something that draws us away from God.

5. So, it isn’t wrong to watch television, or to go to a movie, or to be a fan of a sports team, but all these things must be put in the right perspective with our relationship with God.

D. One indication that the god of entertainment has taken precedent over God the Father is the way that many people give far more time, attention, money and effort toward their entertainment, than toward their relationship with God.

1. Kyle Idleman opens his chapter on this subject with this revealing illustration.

2. Try to imagine a world where on Sunday mornings, people set a backup alarm clock to their alarm clock to be sure they get up on time and don’t miss church.

3. When Sunday comes, they load up the car and head to church hours before service begins.

4. They do this because getting to the church early is a must, and the later they go the further they may have to park, sometimes a mile away from the church.

5. When they park their car in the parking lot, many other church members are already there tailgating with their portable grills and lawn chairs.