"Take a Seat" Lesson 154

Take a Seat

A young Christian man from Africa came to the U.S. to attend school. When he arrived at the University, the school’s President asked him what room he wanted. The young man replied; “If there is a room nobody wants, give it to me”. Later the President commented; “I turned away with tears in my eyes, asking myself whether I would be willing to take what nobody else wanted”. There are things in this world that nobody wants and worse yet there are people in this world that nobody wants. It is human nature to want the best and most do not mind pushing and shoving to get it. When it comes to the “best seat in the house” we pay top dollar, except for the best seat in the church. That would be the back row and it is free as long as you get there first and woe be to the poor fellow that beat you to it.

The disciples James and John were not above asking Jesus for the best seat and more or less demanded that He do for them whatever they asked (Mark 10:35). “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory” (Mark 10:37). Now when the other ten disciples heard about this they became indignant with James and John (v 41). Remember, woe to the one who beat you to it? I can’t decide here if the “others” were indignant out of shame and embarrassment for their friends or the fact that they did not think to ask Jesus this question first. Jesus explained to all of them that this request was not His to grant and they had some “growing and serving” to do before they would qualify to sit anywhere near His Father. Jesus knew they had already argued about who was the greatest in Mark 9:33-35, and had explained then that “if anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last and the servant of all” but some take just a little time to catch on.

Jesus was invited to the house of a prominent Pharisee for dinner and there noticed how the guest picked the places of honor at the table. He explained in parable form that if they were asked to move from the place of honor, they would be humiliated. However, if their host invited them to move up to a better seat then they would look important to the other guests. Notice that at this high classed Pharisee banquet there was a man suffering from dropsy. It is unlikely that this poor afflicted man was a friend of the Pharisee but instead was probably invited to put Jesus to a test. Jesus never fell into their traps (and they set many of them) but turned to them and asked; “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not”? Upon healing the man Jesus answered His own question with another question which He so often did. “If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out”? And again, the Pharisees were speechless in the presence of Righteousness (Luke 14:1-14).

There are lots of “seats” in the Scriptures, starting with God’s instructions for making the Tabernacle and everything within. They were to make a mercy seat of pure gold and place it above the ark. “And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat” (Ex 25:17, 21-22 KJV). By this we understand that the “best seat” is for God also understanding that our seat is bowing before the mercy seat in the presence of our Lord. Two of Aaron’s sons offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, His fire consumed them and they died there before the Lord (Lev. 10:1-2). God sent a message through Moses to Aaron that he was not to enter the Most Holy Place whenever he chose or he too would die; “for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat” (Lev. 16:1-2 KJV). The message to us for today is to be careful how we approach God. Job, at one time, occupied the seat of honor in the public square (Job 29:7) before his afflictions. Even though Job was blameless and upright this seat of honor did not last.

There are seats listed in the Scriptures that you do not want to sit in. Do not sit in the seat of mockers (Ps. 1:1), pass quickly by the woman Folly who sits on a seat at the highest point of the city (Prov. 9:13-18), the seat of violence (Amos 6:3-7), the Pharisees sat in Moses seat but only to laden men with burdens (Matt. 23) thus bringing on Jesus’ pronouncement of woes. Do not sit in the judgment seat against your brothers for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ (Rom. 15:10-13), and for sure we do not want to sit in the seat of Satan (Rev. 3:13). God will put down the mighty from their seats and exalt them of low degree (Luke 1:52), Ezekiel was shown the seat of the image which provoked jealousy (Eze. 8:3-6), and Jesus went to the Temple and overturned all the tables and the seats of those who were making it a den of thieves (Matt. 21:12-13). Neither do we want to be in the seat of favoritism, giving the well dressed man the best seat in the hours and the poor man a place to stand (James 2:1-9).

So, you want to do something really big for the church and God and you believe you are well prepared for the “first chair”. I read a story about a young seminary graduate that had these thoughts. He came up to the pulpit very self confident and smug knowing he had what it took! He began his well prepared sermon in his first church before his first congregation, but when he started to speak the words simply would not come out. Humiliated, he burst into tears and ended up leaving the platform obviously humbled. There were two old ladies on the front row (you know them). One remarked to the other: “If he had of come in like he went out, he would have gone out like he came in”! Start humbly and God will move you up. Start arrogantly and God will move you down. When you get that move upward, remember the one whale’s warning to the other: “When you get to the top and start to blow, that is when you get harpooned”! “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you” (Rom. 12:3). Jesus took the “humble seat”, hanging out with criminals (Matt. 9:10-11), enduring persecution (John 5:16-18) and false accusations (Matt. 26:59-68). Because He humbled Himself, God exalted Him to the right hand of His Father (Acts 2:32-33, Mark 16:19, Eph. 1:20, Phil. 2:9, Heb. 1:3).

The Pharisees and teachers loved the best seats at banquets and the front seats at the meeting places. Jesus said they were show-offs and they were in for trouble. Actually He asked them how they would escape being condemned to hell (Matt. 23:33). I don’t know why people choose the seats they sit in but I do know that a certain seat can get to be a habit. I see nothing wrong with sitting in the same pew each and every time you go to worship if you are not hindering or being a stumbling block to others. Just a couple of questions that you may ask yourselves: Would you give up “your seat” to someone with a poor dress code and poor hygiene? Would you move over and let them sit beside you? Would you talk to them about Jesus or talk about them to your neighbor after you went home? Do you notice that a “first timer” is sitting alone and casually join them? Maybe a young mother with more than one child could use a little help! Perhaps a handicapped person that needs to sit on an aisle seat and there are none available! Be sensitive, alert and ready to lend a helping hand and when you finally find your seat, wherever it ends up being, you will feel good about yourself.

Jesus is now sitting on the only seat that matters in the position of our High Priest. The only way for us to “reach” Him as He sits there is on our knees in prayer. “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Heb. 4:14-16, 8:1-2). He will sit on the Judgment Seat of Christ when this old world ends (2 Cor. 5:10, Rom. 14:10) and at that time the Scripture says: “Every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God” (Rom. 14:11). I don’t see any mention of chairs, seats or pews here, first or last, good or bad. I am going to step out and declare that there will not be “a bad seat in the house” when Jesus comes. Every eye will be able to see Him (Rev. 1:7) and every ear will hear that trumpet sound (1 Cor. 15:52). I surely hope that none of us are fighting over “the best seat” when He comes!