"there has only ever been one perfect man, the Lord Jesus, and we killed him. I only missed a putt."
Second Commandment
You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God Exodus 20:4,5Let us first of all remind ourselves why God does not want us to have a physical image of Him. It is because we are that image! Genesis 1:26 says, Let us make human beings in our image. Adam was to be God's representative in the Garden of Eden. He was to work it and take care of it (Genesis 2:15).
We are God’s representatives in the world of sport. We are to be in the world of sport, in his image, working in it and cultivating it in the same way Adam was in the Garden of Eden.
For most of us a physical image of God is not something we are likely to encounter. We are unlikely to worship an image of stone or wood instead of the living God. But is there not a danger that we will allow money, sex, our status, achievements, ambitions – even sport - to become a god?
The point of this commandment is that all God's gifts are good and to be enjoyed – including sport. But none of them must be allowed to take God's place.
In some parts of the world a Christian may be confronted by the physical image. When Oscar Ewolo, played his first game for Congo, he was told that all the players touched a fetish before the game to bring them luck in the game. As a Christian Oscar did not feel that he could do that. He explained that he trusted in Jesus and could not participate in a ceremony of homage to another god – if necessary he would not play in the game.
Few of us will have such a stark choice to make but the temptation to allow money, power or sex to take God’s place may be more insidious.