Which chair are you?
Yesterday I had the privilege of attending an “Iron Sharpens Iron” event in New Lenox, Illinois. We saw a host of speakers and had the options to spend 75 minutes in between to talk with other speakers in breakout sessions. The morning Keynote Speaker was Mr. Adrian Despres and who spoke on the principles of four chairs. The first chair is what a true disciple of Christ would be.
He would be an individual who is walking by faith, praying and living by the very words of what Jesus calls us to do – Trust and Obey and to follow his precepts and to be totally and completely reliable on Him for our daily bread. In other words, the first chair Christian allows Jesus to be Lord over his entire life.
The second chair Christian is one who is more of a “pew sitter” instead of a “heavy hitter” for the Kingdom (aka “The first chair”). The second chair is what the Book of Revelation calls the lukewarm Christian. Remember what Jesus said, that He would rather have that Christian be cold or hot, but as lukewarm, he considers the second chair as puke in his mouth and would rather spit you out. Adrian, then skipped the third chair and referred to the fourth chair as the unsaved chair. Maybe he is someone who is seeking the Kingdom of God and wants a relationship with Christ, but because of the examples of the second and third chair he could become disgusted with the “body” of Christ (that church) and walk away calling chair number one and two – unloving, judgmental, hypocrites who practice Truth more than Grace. Now, chair number three, Adrian referred to as the most dangerous chair in the body of Christ.
This is someone who may have grown up in the church, knows Scripture better than most and has pretended to play church their entire life. This person may, at Judgement, say to Jesus, “Lord, Lord, save me” And Jesus will say, “Depart from me, for I never knew you.” This chair is a fake and this life is not reflecting any of the Fruit of the Spirit that we find in Galatians Chapter 5. Here is the thing, whatever chair you are in right now, that doesn’t matter to God, because He still loves you. He loves you so much that He gave His only son for you. You have to make an honest confession right now with what chair you are sitting in and not only repent to God and give that up if you are in #2, #3 and or #4. If you are in #1 then get serious, stay focused and work on changing the second and third and reaching the fourth chair. If you are #2, #3 and or #4, then repent. Confess your sin to God and move over to Chair #1. To God be the Glory forever and ever, Amen.
By the way, if you get a chance to see this great Evangelist, then by all means look him up!