What Chair Are You Sitting In?
Introduction:
When I was small, I used to play a game with my friends called musical chairs. Do you remember it? The object of the game was to be in possession of a chair when the music stopped. All through life it often seems we’re caught up in this game. Sometimes without even knowing it; the decisions we make and the paths we choose place us in different chairs so to speak. Examples of different chairs:
• The principles office chair
• The kitchen chair
• The rocking chair
• The recliner
• The dunce chair
• The electric chair
I want to focus o three chairs tonight. Which chair are you sitting in?
1. THE CHAIR OF COMPLACENCY
• Complacency- Self satisfied or self satisfaction
• The Chair of Self
• The Chair of Comfort
• The Chair of a Lukewarm life
2 Timothy 3:1-2 says…
3:1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
NIV
Galatians 5:19-21 says…
19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
NIV
Galatians 5:19-20 says…
19 But when you follow your own wrong inclinations, your lives will produce these evil results: impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, 20 idolatry, spiritism (that is, encouraging the activity of demons), hatred and fighting, jealousy and anger, constant effort to get the best for yourself, complaints and criticisms, the feeling that everyone else is wrong except those in your own little group-and there will be wrong doctrine,
TLB
For Example: Greedy people, wayward celebrities
2. THE CHAIR OF COMPROMISE
• Compromise- Concession, giving in, lowering your standards
• A Chair without Character or Boundaries
• The Chair of “Maybe Just Once”
• The Chair of the Last Days
“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything!”
1 Timothy 4:1 says…
4:1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
NIV
2 Timothy 4:3 says…
3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
NIV
For example: People that just want a feel good message with no real conviction. (Scientology)
3. THE CHAIR OF COMMITMENT
• Commitment- To entrust, to give charge to
• God’s Favorite Chair
Luke 9:57-62 says…
57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."
58 Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
59 He said to another man, "Follow me."
But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
61 Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family."
62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
• A Costly Chair
Philippians 3:7-11 says…
7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
NIV
For example: For years, superstars have been a poor model for people in many ways but especially in relationships. (Brittney Spears 12hr. marriage)
“Everything is fixable. Nothing in life is ever set in stone. At the end of the day, there’s no reason to panic. If you take the wrong job, you can always quit. If you marry the wrong guy, you can always divorce him.” - Christina Ricci (actor) Seventeen Magazine, July 2002
Conclusion:
STAYING IN THE RIGHT CHAIR
• Make a commitment to Christ- Sell Out!
• Set an example by your lifestyle- 1 Tim. 4:12
• Right Environment
• Stay fresh with God
• Prayer
• Study God’s Word
Philippians 3:12-14 says…
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
NIV
Have Prayer
