February 5, 2017 is the fifty-first edition of the NFL Championship Game, commonly known as the Super Bowl.  The first such game was played on January 15, 1967 in Los Angeles, CA, and pitted the NFL champion Green Bay Packers against the AFL champion Kansas City Chiefs.  At the time of that first game no one was sure that the public would embrace it.  Certainly no one could have foreseen what this annual event would become.  Today, the Super Bowl is arguably the biggest sporting event of the year, and the Sunday on which it is played is called “Super Sunday.”

This game has become so popular that for many people the world stops, or at least gets put on hold, on Super Bowl Sunday.  Normal activities are rescheduled to accommodate viewing the game, and Super Bowl parties are commonplace.  Some business even alter their normal schedules to allow their employees to view it.  In recent years some churches have rescheduled their assemblies, or even canceled them, so their members may view the game.

Those who are not fans of American football may wonder what all the fuss is about.  For them, the idea of a Sunday being super because of a sporting event seems incredible.  While some pundits have attributed the potential for economic growth in that year to who wins the game, we all know the outcome of this game has no real impact in the big picture of life.  The day of this game is super only because of the hype surrounding it.

On the other hand, an argument can be made that every Sunday is a super Sunday.  From a biblical perspective, every Sunday is super because every Sunday is the Lord’s Day.  We call it the Lord’s Day because it belongs to Him.  It belongs to Him because it is the day that He came forth from the tomb (Mt. 28:1-6).  It is the first day of the week, and it is the day in which the church which bears His name was established (Acts 2:38-47).  It is His day because this was when the first Christians met to commemorate His death on the cross (Acts 20:7).  This was also the day in which He gave the great vision that we call the book of Revelation to John (Rev. 1:10).

As significant as Super Bowl Sunday is to the vast majority of people, there are some for whom it is not super at all.  They do not participate in any Super Bowl-related activities, and they do not watch the game, or care how it turns out.  For these, Super Sunday is no different than any other Sunday.  Their lives and activities are not affected by the hype surrounding this event.

In a similar way, there are many who refuse to treat the Lord’s Day as anything other than another day.  They do not take time to acknowledge and to worship the Lord who died to save them from their sins.  They do not honor His sacrifice, or give thought to the great love He showed by going to the cross.  Their attitude and actions declare that they see nothing super about the Lord’s Day.

If we refuse to join in the hype about the Super Bowl, it doesn’t really matter in the big picture of life.  However, there are consequences if we refuse to acknowledge the Lord on His day.  Heb. 10:25-31 warns that those who are willfully absent from the worship assembly have trampled under foot the Son of God, have regarded His sacrifice as unclean, have insulted the Spirit of grace, and they will incur God’s wrath.  This passage ends with the chilling statement, “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (v. 31).  Knowing this, let’s each do our part to make every Lord’s Day a Super Sunday by honoring Him with our worship and devotion.