How’s your Love Life? No I’m not referring to your
relationship with your spouse, or for those of you who are single, that special someone.
I’m talking about your relationship with God. Are you growing closer to Him each day?
Or is it kind of a ho hum relationship? Are you ashamed of Him? Or do you tell everyone
about how cool He is? Do you obey Him totally? Have you learned what it means to die to
self?
I would like to talk to you about four Chairs. These chairs
represent different places you might be in your relationship with God.
1. Chair One – The Committed Growing Christian
Chair one is the Goal. This is where we should want to be.
The person in this chair is a totally committed Christian
This person is radically fired up over Jesus Christ
He reads his Bible every day and even more. He wants to learn as much
as he can from the Word. He can’t get enough of it. When he reads the Bible he reads
with all five senses. When he reads about Jesus feeding the five thousand, he sees the
crowd, hears the noise of all those people, He feels Philip’s frustration when Jesus
tells him, "You feed them"? He sees the shy little boy hand Jesus his lunch,
even when he had no idea of whether he would get any of it or not. He smells the fish and
bread as Jesus breaks it. He tastes the fish and wonders how Jesus multiplied so little
into so much. He feels the weight of the basket as he returns with the scraps that are
left over. He stands in awe of Jesus on seeing the miracle. Who is this man? That’s
reading the Bible with all five senses.
The first chair Christian prays. He intercedes for others. He pours
out his heart to the Lord. If Satan is going to attack the first chair Christian he will
attack their prayer life.
The first chair Christian also spends time worshiping God, both
publicly and privately.
The person in this first chair will witness to others about
God’s love and salvation in Christ. They may be afraid when they witness. But they
are not ashamed to share Christ. They are excited about their relationship with Christ and
want others to have the same.
Don’t get confused. You don’t become a first chair
Christian by reading the Bible, prayer, and witnessing. You can do those things and not be
a first chair Christian. That is just image – and image is nothing.
Attitude is everything! The person sitting in this chair has
the attitude of wanting to love God; wanting to know him more; wanting to get better.
The Key to the first chair is Growth! The first chair
Christian is a growing Christian. They may be a baby Christian. They may have been a
Christian for 60 years. But no matter where they are it in their walk with the Lord, they
haven’t stopped. They are growing. Longing to become more like Him every day.
This person Loves God. They Love God with all of their heart, all of
their soul, and all of their strength. They will sometimes do crazy things and may even
appear weird. People do crazy things when they are in love.
Adrian Despres said that when he and his wife were dating in
college, he wanted to show her that he loved her. So he bought her a bouquet of flowers
and went outside of the classroom she was in. When the bell rang and the students started
to come out, he got down on his knees and started to sing at the top of his lungs,
"You are so beautiful, to me, can’t you see." He said that he started to
walk forward on his knees towards where he thought she was. The other students all backed
away saying to each other, "He’s not singing to me. Don’t look at me."
The crowd just split and at the other end she stood. She was as red as a beet. He timed it
so that he reached her just as he finished the song. As he handed her the flowers, she
bent over and whispered, "I’m going to kill you for this."
In the same way we need to be willing to do something crazy for God
when he asks us to, just because we love him. Others will make fun of us. But we
won’t care what others think of us. We only care about what He thinks of us.
They obey God’s commands. Jesus says in John 14:15, "If
you love me, you will obey what I command."
The joy of the Lord is their strength.
This person is bearing fruit. This is the person that Jesus talked
about in the parable of the vine and the branches when he said,
John 15:4-5 "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No
branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit
unless you remain in me. 5"I
am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much
fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
I believe that in this passage Jesus gave one of the keys to getting
into the first chair and staying there. Get as close to Jesus as you can and stay there.
The most important thing to God is your relationship with Him. You need Him to grow, to
live. He is our source of strength and sustenance.
2. Chair Two – The Apathetic Christian
This second chair represents the Apathetic Christian.
This person is a Christian. But they are complacent. They have very
little desire to grow. And what desire they have isn’t enough for them to do anything
about it.
This person has grown used to God. They know all the Bible stories.
"Yeah, sure, I know that Jesus fed the five thousand. So What?"
This chair is a real trap for those of us who grew up in the church.
Second and third generation Christians will quite often occupy this chair.
They may do things for God. But they are not growing closer to Him.
They may be a Sunday School Teacher, work with the youth, or be on the board. There are
probably even a few pastors in this chair. But doing is not the same as being.
They do things for God. And that is good. But why do they do it? The motivation and
attitude behind it makes all the difference in the world. They are not being in a growing
relationship with Him. Moreover, while the second chair person is doing things, they miss
doing the things that count to build their relationship with God. The Pharisees had this
same problem and Jesus was constantly after them for it.
Matthew 23:23
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of
your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of
the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without
neglecting the former.
In the Old Testament God got after the Israelites when they
continued to bring the offerings and sacrifices while not living in a right way with him.
Jeremiah 7:21-24
" 'This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt
offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! 22For when I brought your
forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt
offerings and sacrifices, 23but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be
my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you. 24But they did not listen
or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts.
They went backward and not forward.
Your relationship with God is the most important thing. All else
hinges on it.
Rev. 2:2-5I know your deeds, your hard work and your
perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who
claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3You have persevered and have endured hardships for
my name, and have not grown weary. 4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5Remember the height from which you have
fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will
come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
It takes work to be in the first chair. The second chair person
isn’t willing to do the work.
"I believe in Wife Beating." I’m not very good at it
yet. But I’m working on it. I want to beat her to doing the dishes, beat her to doing
the vacuuming, beat her to doing the laundry, etc.
The person in the second chair is a lukewarm Christian.
Rev. 3:14-16"To the angel of the church in Laodicea
write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's
creation. 15I know your
deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm--neither
hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
Jesus is not saying that he wants people to be cold towards him. What
he is talking about is usefulness. He want’s us to be useful, productive Christians.
I’ve been told that outside the city of Laodicea there were some
hot springs. The water from these springs was channeled to the town to provide hot water.
But often the water would lose its heat and reach the town lukewarm. It was then to warm
to drink, but not really warm enough to do anything with. It was useless.
The second chair person is not useful to God. He is not productive.
He is not bearing fruit. Jesus said that the branches on the vine that don’t bear
fruit are cut off.
Do you realize what God’s reaction is to the uselessness of the
second chair Christian. It makes him want to vomit. That’s what the words, "spit
you out of my mouth" mean. You make him sick.
Quite often the second chair person is deceived and thinks that they
are in the first chair.
It is said that the most introverted person will have an impact on
10,000 lives during their life. The problem is that the second chair person has no impact
on those 10,000 lives.
They are carnal, fleshly, Christians.
3. Chair Four – The Unsaved Person
I’m going to skip the third chair and move to the fourth chair.
This person is not a Christian and they know it.
This person is often not a Christian because they are turned off by
the brand of Christianity they see coming from the second chair Christian.
The world is full of people in this fourth chair.
4. Chair Three – Lost Person who Believes they are a
Christian
This is the saddest of chairs.
This chair represents the person who believes that they are a
Christian, but they are lost. They don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus
Christ.
It is often hard for someone else to see the difference between the
second and third chair. They both will attend church. They may even get involved. But
neither are being fruitful; one because of apathy; they other because they don’t even
belong to the vine.
Matthew 7:21-23"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord,
Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is
in heaven. 22Many will say to
me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out
demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you
evildoers!'"
Billy Grahm said "I believe that at least 70% of our evangelical
churches are filled with the third chair Christian."
This is the great deception of America. Opinion polls show that 90%
of Americans believe they are going to heaven.
There is only one way to become a Christian, by receiving Jesus
Christ as your savior. You don’t become a Christian by going to church any more than
going to McDonalds makes you a hamburger. You don’t become a Christian because you
were born in America; because you are a good person; or because your parents were
Christians. If you have never asked Jesus Christ to be your savior; If you have never
taken his free gift of salvation – where he paid your penalty for you; Then you are
not a Christian.
Conclusion
I have two questions:
1. The first question is: "Which chair represents your
relationship with God?"
Are you in the first chair with a growing, active relationship with
God?
Are you in the second chair? You have your salvation, but you’re
not producing fruit.
Are you in the third chair, fooling yourself into thinking you are a
Christian, when in fact you are not.
Or are you in the last chair. You know that you are not a Christian
2. The second question is: "Which chair do you want to be
in?"
You can go directly from any of these chairs to the first chair. All
it takes is commitment and desire to grow closer to God each day, obeying him in all
things.
Get as close to Jesus as you can and stay there. The most important
thing to God is your relationship with Him. You need Him to grow, to live. He is your
source of strength and sustenance.
If you are in the 3rd or 4th chair you need to
start by becoming a Christian.
Confess to God that you are a sinner.
Repent of your sins and turn to God to help you live a life free from
sin.
Believe that Jesus is the Son of God and died for your sins.
Most importantly – Receive Jesus Christ as your personal savior
through prayer.
I am going to give two invitations.
First, if you have never received Jesus as your savior and want to
do so today, I invite you to do so.
For the second invitation, I want to make this as hard as possible,
because it will be a hard commitment to keep. I only want you to respond if you are
serious and willing to pay the price.
If you would like to make the statement I just read your
commitment…
If you want to make a commitment today to be a first chair Christian
…
If you are willing to pay the price to grow in Christ and to know
God.
Whoa! I don’t think you understand. Do you know what it takes
to be in this first chair? You have to give up your rights. You have to die to your
dreams, your desires, your wishes. This chair requires hard work. You may have to spend
hours with God in prayer and in His Word. You may be required to die for Christ. But I
know for sure that if you sit in this chair you have to live for Christ.
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