CAN THE CHURCH PROVIDE RECREATION AND ENTERTAINMENT?
By David J. Riggs
Intro.
A. Many churches are zealously providing recreation and/or entertainment today; e.g.,
they have their kitchens, fellowship halls, and athletic buildings.
1. They seem to think that the end justifies the means; however, we can not do evil
that good may come. Rom. 3:8
B. In this lesson, we want to look at why the church (from its treasury) cannot furnish
recreation or entertainment. (See chart below).
I. IT IS NOT THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH.
A. Jesus did not come to entertain. Luke 19:10 Jesus himself said, ["for the Son of
Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."] THIS IS THE MISSION
OF THE CHURCH.. To seek and save that which is lost.. We will be studying
some of the specified, and, authorized WORKS to carry out this MISSION..
1. The gospel is God's power to save.
Rom. 1:16 ¶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of
God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the
Greek.
2. A specified work of the church is to uphold, defend, and proclaim the truth which
saves men's souls.
1 Tim. 3:15 but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to
conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the
pillar and ground of the Truth .
a. The church is to edify. Eph. 4:16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit
together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by
which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of
itself in love.
b. It is to aid its own members. 1 Tim. 5:16 If any believing man or woman has
widows, let them relieve them, and do not let the church be burdened, that it
may relieve those who are really widows.
II. THERE IS NO AUTHORITY FOR IT.
A. We must respect the silence of the Scriptures. 1 Pet. 4:11; If anyone speaks, let
him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the
ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus
Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
2 John 9-11 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ
does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and
the Son.10 ¶ If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not
receive him into your house nor greet him;11 for he who greets him shares in his
evil deeds.
1. We are not to think of men above that which is written. 1Cor. 4:6 Now these
things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your
sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none
of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other.
2. Rev. 22:18 - For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of
this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues
that are written in this book;
Not only is "rewriting" the Scriptures wrong, but to teach something as though it
came from the Scriptures is also adding to the word.
3. Heb. 11:30 - By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for
seven days. The Israelites trusted that if they did it God's way, it would
accomplish the divinely intended results.
B. Some say, "It is not expressly forbidden."
1. They are looking for: "The church CANNOT provide recreation and entertainment."
a. The Lord only stated what he wanted, not all the things He does not want.
b. The assumption that we can do whatever is not expressly forbidden opens the
doors for anything under the sun.
c. Lets use an example of a mother sending a child to the store to get milk
and bread.. she gives the child a 20 dollar bill to pay for the bread and milk.
Well the child figures that cookies go good with milk so he got some..
Lunch meats go good with bread so he got some.. He wound up spending all the
20 dollars..
Did He do his mothers will ? NO- he did his own will.. He ADDED to what his mother
had told him.. Brethren, God has given us a pattern, A blue print, Specifications on
what He built His church for and what it is to do to carry out that mission..
To deviate from it is death, separation from God.
2Jn 9 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does
not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and
the Son.
An example of two who did that which God did not command..
Lev 10;1-2 ¶ Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. 2 So fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.
III. IT IS NOT "CHURCH BUSINESS."
A. The church does have a "business."
Jesus told his parents in Lk 2;49 And He said to them, "Why did you seek Me? Did
you not know that I must be about My Father's business?"
Acts 6:3 "Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good
reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this
business;
1. Paul made a difference between the social and the spiritual.
1 Cor. 11:22,34 WHAT! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you
despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say
to you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise you. 23 ¶ For I received from
the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night
in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke
it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in
remembrance of Me." 25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper,
saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink
it,in remembrance of Me." 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this
cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. 27 Therefore whoever eats this
bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body
and blood of the Lord.28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the
bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner
eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.30 For this
reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.31 For if we would judge
ourselves, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened
by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.33 Therefore, my
brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 But if anyone is
hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I
will set in order when I come.
2. Foot washing belongs to the social things of the home.
1Tim. 5:10 well reported for good works: if she has brought up children, if she has
lodged strangers, if she has washed the saints' feet, if she has relieved the afflicted,
if she has diligently followed every good work.
a. Likewise, this is where recreation and entertainment belong.
IV. IT IS TO PUT NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE HOLY AND THE COMMON.
Ezek. 22;26 "Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they
have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known
the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes
from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
A. The church providing recreation and entertainment is not in the New Testament
which was sealed by the blood of Christ.
Matt. 26:28;
"For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for manyfor the remission of sins.
Heb. 9:16-18 Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood.
19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the
law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop,
and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,
1. All things used in God's service must be sealed with the blood.
B. The church providing recreation and entertainment is "common" and cannot be part
of the work and worship of the church.
V. IT LEADS AWAY FROM SPIRITUALITY.
A. It substitutes:
1. Food for the stomach for food for the soul.
2. Play and laughter for worship and spiritual songs.
3. Fun and frolic for meditation and prayer.
B. Phil. 3:19;
whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory isin their shame-- who set their mind on earthly things.
2 Tim. 3:4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of
God,
1. "If you win them on a hotdog, you've got to keep them on a hotdog."
VI. THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS A SPIRITUAL KINGDOM.
Rom 14;17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and
peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
John 18:36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of
this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews;
but now My kingdom is not from here."
A. One lady said that she would not let her children ride on the "church" bus anymore
because, "It's too hard on my children's teeth."
1.The "liberals" were offering candy to entice children to ride on their bus to services.
B. Jesus did not approve of the people who were seeking Him to obtain food.
John 6:26-27 Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek
Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were
filled.27 "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to
everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set
His seal on Him."
1."Churches today are more interested in healing the sores on Lazarus, than changing
the heart of the rich man."
2. "Jesus didn't come to get the people out of the slums, but the slums out of the
people."
VII. THE BIBLE TERM "FELLOWSHIP" IS NEVER USED IN REFERENCE TO
RECREATION OR ENTERTAINMENT.
A. It is a spiritual fellowship based on gospel teaching.
1 John 1:3-4 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also
may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with
His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.
1. Jesus died on the cross to bring spiritual fellowship, not to bring people together
to drink coffee, and to eat donuts.
2. A man of the "liberal" persuasion complained, "The smell of food distracted me
from my worship."
a. The problem was that some were preparing the food during the services for their
"fellowship" meal which was to follow immediately after the services.
3. Remember Paul's words.
1 Cor. 11:34. But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together
for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come.
a. The Lord's church is not a social club, but a soul-saving institution. SEEKING AND
SAVING THAT WHICH IS LOST..
VIII. CHURCH-FURNISHED ENTERTAINMENT AND RECREATION HAS NOT ADDED
TO THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCHES GIVEN TO SUCH.
A. Bemoaning the fact of slow growth, someone said, "Maybe it would not be out of
order to stop cooking in our church kitchens; stop playing in our athletic buildings;
and call for an old-fashioned prayer meeting, get back to God, back to the
Bible, on fire with real love in our hearts for lost souls."
B. The entertainment projects go over big for a time, but in the final analysis, they
introduce worldly things into the church.
1. It encourages worldliness in the hearts of people.
1 John 3:17 But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and
shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
IX. IT IS A NEW THING.
A. Several years ago church-furnished entertainment was opposed by
gospel preachers in terms nobody misunderstood.
1. B.C. Goodpasture, in an editorial in the Gospel Advocate, May 20, 1948 said, "It is not the mission of the church to furnish amusement for the world, or even for its own
members...The church would come off a poor second, if it undertook to compete with institutions established for the express purpose of entertaining people. Only as the church becomes worldly, as it pillows its head on the lap of Delilah, will it want to turn from its wanted course, to relatively unimportant matters."
2. Old time gospel preachers would ridicule the denominations by saying, "You have started a new office."When they asked, "What new office?" they replied, "A church cook!"
Concl.
A
. Our forefathers wrote the constitution of our country in such a way that there wouldalways be separation of church and state.
1. Today, modern man has the problem of wanting to join church and home.
2. The results are more devastating than joining church and state.
a. Church-provided recreation and entertainment has caused a loss of spirituality
among the churches. It has brought a flood of worldliness into the churches.
b. The end result is that souls are ruined, lost, and damned eternally.
B. Let us seek the old paths which have been set forth by our Creator, and not the
ways of our own devising.
Prov. 16:25; ¶ There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of
death.
Jer. 6:16; Thus says the LORD: "Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old
paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'
Jer 10;23 O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who
walks to direct his own steps.
John 4;24 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and
truth."
"Chart:"
Why The Church Cannot Provide Recreation & Entertainment
Not the Mission of the Church
Silence of the Scripture Forbids It
It is not "Church Business"
Putting no Difference between Holy & Common
Kingdom of God is Spiritual
Leads Away From Spirituality
Term "Fellowship" is Never so Used
Has Not Added to the Growth of Churches
It is a New Thing
Let us do what the Lord has said and not add to or take away from, Because Jesus said in Matt 7;21 ¶ "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
He also said in Jn 12;48
"He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him--the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.