The Christian’s Relation to Amusements

Learning Objectives

By the close of this lesson the hearer should be able to:

1. Define amusement biblically as a servant of life, not the master of it.
2. Reject both extremes — the asceticism that condemns all recreation and the worldliness that lives for pleasure.
3. Apply a concrete set of scriptural tests to decide whether a given amusement is fit for a Christian.

Thesis

A Christian is not forbidden recreation, but he is governed in it; the same Lord who owns his worship owns his leisure, and every amusement must be measured by whether it can be carried on to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31).

Burden

Few questions reach more quietly into a believer's daily life than this one. We rarely sin in the assembly; we more often lose our footing in our free hours, where no one is watching and the conscience is easily talked down. The danger of amusement is not that it is loud but that it is unguarded. A man will pray over his work and never think to pray over his play — and it is precisely there, off duty, that the world makes its steadiest appeal. This lesson asks the Christian to bring his leisure under the same Lordship as the rest of his life.

Introduction

The words we use — "rest," "recreation," "diversion," "play" — are not evil words. Scripture itself honors gladness of heart: "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine" (Prov. 17:22); "A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance" (Prov. 15:13). God made man for work and also for rest. The question is never whether a Christian may be glad, but how, and at what cost, and to what end. Boles framed the matter plainly, and his frame still holds: do Christians need amusement, what attitudes do men take toward it, what kinds are there, and by what rule shall we judge?

I. Do Christians Need Recreation? (Prov. 17:22)

Our manner of life has changed. More of our labor is mental and sedentary than in generations past, and the body and mind both require genuine rest. Scripture does not despise this; the God who appointed the Sabbath rest under the Law and who said to weary disciples, "Come ye yourselves apart... and rest a while" (Mark 6:31), made us to need renewal.

But two extremes must be refused:

1. The Stoic error — that the spiritual man is grim, that "Christ never smiled." This cannot be proved from Scripture and slanders the Lord who attended a wedding (John 2) and was called the friend of sinners.
2. The Epicurean error — "Eat, drink, and be merry" (cf. 1 Cor. 15:32; Luke 12:19) — pleasure made the aim of living. This Christ condemned in the rich fool.

The Christian walks between them: glad but governed, refreshed but not ruled.

II. The Attitudes Men Take Toward Amusement

Boles names three:

1. Some hold all amusement to be a misuse of time and a danger to morals.
2. Some are indifferent, treating it as harmless and useless.
3. Some hold that wholesome recreation is necessary to the right development of children and the best work of adults.

The first proves too much, the second too little. The third is nearest the truth — provided "wholesome" is defined by Scripture and not by appetite.

III. The Kinds of Amusement

Not all amusements stand on the same ground. They fall into three classes:

1. Good — clean recreation that refreshes and harms no one.
2. Evil — that which is sinful in itself or inseparable from sin.
3. Doubtful — that which is not plainly wrong but carries real risk.

The good may be enjoyed with thanksgiving; the evil must be refused outright; the doubtful is where most Christians actually stumble, and so it needs a rule.

IV. A Rule to Determine the Kind (Phil. 4:8; Rom. 14:21-23)

Boles supplied a set of searching questions; they are simply Scripture turned into self-examination. Before an amusement, ask:

1. Is it right in itself?
2. Do godly people generally approve of it?
3. Will it interfere with my duties — school, business, the Lord's work?
4. May it form bad habits in me?
5. Will it lead me into doubtful company?
6. Will it lead me into places of questionable character?
7. Will my example injure a weaker brother (Rom. 14:21)?
8. Can I afford it in time and money, as a steward?
9. Will my pleasure trample the rights of anyone in person or property?

And when all else is uncertain, three final questions settle it:

• What would Jesus do if he stood in my place?
• Would this be pleasing to him?
• Would I be content to be found doing this when he comes (1 John 2:28)?

Application

The Christian does not need a rule for every game and gathering; he needs a governed heart that can apply one rule everywhere: "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). Make the test personal this week. Take the one amusement you would least like examined, and walk it through these questions honestly. Recreation that survives that scrutiny is yours to enjoy with thanksgiving; recreation that cannot survive it was never rest — it was a slow leak in your discipleship.

Conclusion

Amusement is a good servant and a cruel master. Held in its place, it restores us for the work of God; allowed to rule, it quietly displaces him. The same hand that is lifted in worship on the Lord's day must be the hand that governs our leisure on Monday. A Christian is the Lord's in all of life or in none of it.

Invitation

The deepest question this lesson raises is not "What may I do for fun?" but "Whose am I?" If you have never given your life — leisure and labor alike — to Christ, the gospel calls you now to believe him, to repent of living for yourself, to confess his name, and to be baptized into him for the remission of your sins (Acts 2:38; Rom. 6:3-4). If you are a child of God who has let your free hours drift from his Lordship, return to him today; he is faithful and just to forgive (1 John 1:9). The invitation is open while we stand and sing.

Word Study

• "Merry / merry heart" (Prov. 17:22, Heb. sameach): glad, joyful — God-approved gladness, distinct from the "laughter of fools" (Eccl. 7:6).
• "Recreation": literally re-creation, the restoring of strength for service — not the squandering of it.

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