It’s Super Bowl Sunday, one of the few events enjoyed(?) by a large majority of Americans. This year’s “Game of the Century” features the Philadelphia Eagles versus the Kansas City Chiefs, trying to win their third straight Super Bowl, something that’s never been done before.

As in the College Football Championship, there are Christians on both sides. The Kansas City Chiefs chaplain, Marcellus Casey, says this about Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes:

Pretty simple life. Loves his wife. Loves his kids. Studies God’s word. Prays. Works hard. Lives with humility. Admits mistakes. Supports teammates. Gives glory to God in victory.

Jalen Hurts, the Eagles quarterback said:

I’m a man of God. Waking up every morning and having a routine where I can gain some wisdom, learn His Word, and just walk by the Spirit, I strive to do that daily. And I challenge myself to spread that Word organically. – Sports Spectrum

So I think God will get a shout-out in the post-game interviews no matter who wins.

All that said, my main topic today is teamwork. Football is the ultimate team sport. Those quarterbacks don’t block for themselves, and they don’t throw the ball to themselves. And when each quarterback is on the bench, they have to rely on their team’s defense to to shut down the other guy. But even though it’s a team game, some football players like to draw attention to themselves when they make a good play. “Look what I did!” I’m not saying that’s wrong, but it is something that happens.

Here’s a story from another arena where that didn’t happen…

The movie Exodus about the founding of the state of Israel after World War 2 came out in December 1960. An epic movie (three hours and 28 minutes long!), it won only one Academy Award: Best Music Score. The Julliard-trained piano duo Ferrante and Teicher recorded it immediately, and it was #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1961. Click the picture below to listen to it: only three minutes.

I was a freshman in high school when it came out. I remember vividly the following summer sitting in someone’s house in my grandmother’s tiny town in West Virginia with a 45 RPM record learning that song. I developed my own arrangement “inspired by” Ferrante and Teicher, and I’ve played it ever since. A few years ago I played it for my son David’s piano students at a recital. One of the parents told us that when “Theme from Exodus” was #2 on the pop chart, it was behind an Elvis Presley song. Can you imagine?

Back to teamwork. When I was a student at Clemson University, Ferrante and Teicher came for a concert. They walked out on stage and said something like:

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. We are glad to be with you tonight. And we know that everyone wants to know, you know, who we are. (pause) We are Ferrante and Teicher.

And to this day, I don’t know who was who at that concert. Think about it. If it sets up like that, there’s no point to try to outshine the other guy! Their individual identities were irrelevant. That’s a team.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2.3, 4, NKJV)