![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/03\/LittleLeague.jpg\")
Last Sunday, as most of you probably know, I was in Marietta, Georgia doing a seminar on “Worship” at the Piedmont Road congregation. That morning, before we left the hotel and headed to the building, I went to the hotel lobby to eat breakfast. I was stunned and heartbroken by what I saw when I stepped off the elevator – wall-to-wall children in baseball uniforms and all of their parents and chaperones preparing to play baseball.<\/p>\n
“But it’s Sunday,” I thought. “It’s the Lord’s Day,” I said to myself. “Oh my, how our culture has changed,” I continued to think as I shook my head.<\/p>\n
There was a time – not too long ago, in fact – when scheduling Little League ballgames on Sunday morning was unthinkable. It never even crossed our minds. Sunday morning was when we honored the Lord’s command to gather with the church to worship God, remember the death and resurrection of Christ, and encourage one another. Back then Sunday Little League games would have never worked because far too many people would have refused to put baseball over God.<\/p>\n
But that was then and this is now in America. For the majority of Americans, it is clear that Sunday morning has no real spiritual significance. At least it is not so significant that going to church on that day is the\u00a0number\u00a0one\u00a0priority.<\/p>\n
As I sat there and ate my cinnamon roll, I pondered the spiritual condition of our culture. The obvious disregard for the Lord’s Day by so many people made me think about my preacher friends in western Europe who tell me about the challenges they face. I thought about how they often tell me that the vast majority of western Europeans have no interest at all in spiritual matters, and then I thought about how much like western Europe we have become.<\/p>\n
And then it hit me – no, we are not really like western Europeans,\u00a0but I think we may be worse off spiritually as a culture than they are.\u00a0\u00a0Here is what I mean.<\/p>\n
While most Europeans may have\u00a0no interest\u00a0in spiritual matters, most Americans only have a\u00a0superficial interest\u00a0in them. In other words, while most Europeans are “ice cold” about Jesus, most Americans\u00a0are\u00a0\u00a0“lukewarm”\u00a0about\u00a0Him.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And when it comes to having a\u00a0relationship with God “ice cold” may actually be a little\u00a0better off than “lukewarm.”<\/p>\n
Do you recall those bone-chilling words in Revelation 3:15-16 which Jesus directs to the church at Laodicea? “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth<\/em>.”<\/p>\n Do not be deceived. God is not interested in superficial faith. He will not save those who put other things before Him. Jesus wasn’t just blowing smoke when He said in Matthew 10:37:\u00a0“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of me.<\/em>” May I add that the principle found in this verse includes not just father, mother, son, and daughter, but also Little League baseball and anything else?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Dan Chambers Last Sunday, as most of you probably know, I was in Marietta, Georgia doing a seminar on “Worship” at the Piedmont Road congregation. That morning, before we left the hotel and headed to the building, I went to the hotel lobby to eat breakfast. I was stunned and heartbroken by what I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-59889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-faith"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":94703,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-lords-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":59889,"position":0},"title":"The Lord’s Day","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Marvin L. Weir The devil never sleeps or fails to take advantage of any situation he can exploit. COVID-19 may turn out to be something Satan uses to lead brethren astray. Some brethren have not attended church services in over a year. Is there a special day the church\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88174,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-sin-to-not-attend-on-sunday-night\/","url_meta":{"origin":59889,"position":1},"title":"Is it a sin to not attend on Sunday night?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was raised in and am a member of the church of Christ.\u00a0 God blessed me with faithful parents who didn't just \"take me to church,\" but lived it.\u00a0 I am 66 years old and have struggled with an issue for most of my adult life. It is the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2557,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-only-worship-on-sunday-because-constantine-changed-the-day-of-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":59889,"position":2},"title":"You only worship on Sunday because Constantine changed the day of worship","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 13, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: It seems to me that you would find any mention of the first day of the week and anything that happened on that day is used to support the idea of worshiping on Sunday. Mainstream Christianity worships on Sunday only because the Roman Catholic Church and Emperor Constantine changed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8996,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-acceptable-to-take-the-lords-supper-at-the-evening-service\/","url_meta":{"origin":59889,"position":3},"title":"Is it acceptable to take the Lord’s Supper at the evening service?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 13, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I work shift days and nights. I go home on Sunday morning, sleep, and then get up and go to church on Sunday night to take the Lord's Supper. I hope this is good in God's eyes. Answer: This particular question has been the subject of intense discussion. Up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46302,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-about-the-next-sunday\/","url_meta":{"origin":59889,"position":4},"title":"What About the Next Sunday?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 16, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Some people meet with the church on \"Easter Sunday\" and hardly ever anytime else. That is out of tradition, not out of thinking seriously about doing the will of God. Tradition has been in the family to at least go to church one time a year,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48527,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-a-man-be-appointed-a-deacon-when-he-only-attends-sunday-morning-services\/","url_meta":{"origin":59889,"position":5},"title":"Should a man be appointed a deacon when he only attends Sunday morning services?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I emailed you before about a topic, and you had an answer that I did not agree with at all, but today I have an unrelated question. At our church, we are in the process of selecting new deacons. Is it wrong for me to think it is a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}