Part Three: The Church of the Harlem Globetrotters

~

Welcome back to Church is Fun, a three-part series showing how the church is called to great fun in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In Part One, we discovered how the story of Queen Esther is a great picture of the celebration of victory we’re called to experience. 

The week following the release of that article, I came across a book titled Jewish Comedy: A Serious History by Jeremy Dauber. In the book, Jeremy actually makes the argument that the book of Esther is the origin of Jewish comedy, and one of the earliest forms of comedy that we can find in the history of the world. Incredible! 

He makes the point that there is a sense of irony that Haman, the enemy of the Jews, was hung on the same gallows that he personally prepared for Mordecai. This is a wonderful and humorous picture of the gospel as well, as satan was ultimately crucified and stripped of his power on the same cross that he tried to destroy Jesus on. 

We truly live in the comedy and humor of God! There is insane joy and laughter for us as His children. We are foolishly saved by the miraculous hand of our Father.  

“When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy”

(Psalm 126:1) 

In Part Two, we realized that Jesus is our Michael Scott and that we are the church of The Office. Our boss consistently brings joy into the mundane moments of our daily lives. He values each and every one of us, and the community of the saints is one of love and joy. 

This month, in Part Three, we’ll discover the church of the Harlem Globetrotters. One of the most fun shows on earth, the Globetrotters have been bringing joy to the world through the game of basketball for over 90 years! So how does the church relate to the Globetrotters? Let’s dive on in! 

The Chief End of Man

In his prolific book Desiring God, John Piper famously argued that the “chief end of man” is to “glorify God by enjoying Him forever.” His point was that the best way for us to bring glory to God, is to enjoy Him. To enjoy Him is to recognize how good and glorious He is. This book has been hailed as the foundational book of “Christian hedonism,” which is the belief that we are indeed called to seek pleasure, and that the greatest pleasure in the world is the pleasure of Christ. In God’s presence there is fullness of joy and at His right hand there are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11). 

I would like to make a point that I’ve made over and over again, which is that joy and fun go hand in hand. So I would add to John Piper’s thesis and say that the “chief end of man” is to “Glorify God by having fun in Him forever.” When we genuinely have fun serving Christ, it means that our heart’s in it. It’s the very thing the Pharisees were missing. They wanted to serve God, but their hearts were far from Him (Matthew 15:8). It was more of an outward performance than an inward joy. How amazing is it that God created us to glorify Him by having fun with Him forever? 

Psalm 67:4 reads, “Let the nations be glad and sing for joy.” The destiny of the world is tied to finding fun and joy in God. And this is why we can understand ourselves as the Church of the Harlem Globetrotters. They trot the globe in order to bring joy to the nations. They play their game in countries all over the world. This is what the church is called to do. We bring the “good news of a great joy which will come to all the people” (Luke 2:10). We play the game of faith by being witnesses of Christ in countries all over the globe. 

360-degree dunks, crazy dribbling, and alley-oops are all part of the Globetrotters show. They bring a real “wow” factor. They display something that brings awe and wonder to the people. In the same way, the church brings all kinds of signs, wonders, and miracles to the world. Healings, prophecies, hope, love, the list could go on and on. There is something intrinsically supernatural about the community of those who believe in Jesus. They operate in a Spirit that is different than the spirit of the world. Where the world has fear and hopelessness, the church has faith and hope. And for those with eyes to see and ears to hear, they recognize the “game” the church plays. A game filled with joy and wonder. 

And this brings me to my final point. The Harlem Globetrotters do in fact play a game. And one thing about games is there are rules. Now rules are sometimes seen as hindrances to fun, but I believe that when you really think about it, rules actually enhance the fun. The basic rules of basketball provide the structure wherein a huge amount of fun can be had on a daily basis all around the world. Without the rules, the game would cease to be a coherent game. It wouldn’t be anything. 

In the same way, there are rules to church. I’m not talking the law of Moses here; we are free from that (Romans 7:4) But there are rules within the church that we live by, from the heart. We don’t murder, lie, live in sexual immortality, etc, etc. Of course people will stumble from time to time, but Jesus lives in us and He empowers us to live holy. In fact, He calls us holy and declares that we are truly holy from the start, because of His blood (Hebrews 10:10). And therefore we live holy. We play by the basic rules, so to speak. 

But being holy is fun! There’s a real sense of crazy joy knowing that we are free from sin. Living washed and cleansed by the blood of Jesus. The Globetrotters play a game, within the rules, but with an insane amount of fun. The church of Jesus Christ, plays a game, within the rules, with an insane amount of fun. 

One of the most famous things the Globetrotters do is when they bring an unsuspecting kid out of the stands. The team’s theme music will start playing–a fun tune with a guy whistling. One of the players will start spinning the ball on his finger and he will miraculously relay the spinning ball to the little finger of the child, and it will continue to spin! The kid is amazed, as well as the stadium filled with fans. Moments ago, the kid was just a regular kid sitting and watching the game. Now he’s front and center, and he’s doing the miracle of spinning the ball on his own! 

Do you believe that Jesus made children feel that same way? I do. Seeing Him heal people, speak in funny parables, live with joy, and challenge Pharisees, no doubt brought that same amazement to the kids of His day. And Jesus has passed the ball to us. Wherever we go, the ball is spinning on our finger, and it’s our joy to pass the ball along to the fingers of the children of the world. To pass along this good news that leaves the world amazed with joy. And it is through enjoying God, that the world will glorify Him forever.