This weekend our minister taught me a wonderful lesson. He came onto the platform with a wooden chair in each hand. He placed one on each side of the pulpit, and each one had a sign hanging on its back which we could not read from our places in the congregation.
Then the pastor asked a young man to come up and sit on the chair on the right side of the pulpit.
When the young man got close to the chair, he paused a moment and read the sign before taking his seat on the chair to which the minister had pointed him.
Then the pastor began to read Hebrews 8:1–7:
Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
He stopped at verse seven and asked the young man, “Are you comfortable in that chair?”
The young man smiled and wiggled a bit and said, “Yes, sir.”
“Is your faith in that chair strong?” the pastor asked, and then he continued, “You really don’t know who made that chair!”
The pastor than pointed to another young man and invited him to sit in the other chair on the left. side of the pulpit. He came up, read the sign—and wouldn’t sit down! He stood behind the chair on the left!
We in the congregation all twittered a few giggles. Then the minister, with very kind eyes, smiled at us.
He re-read verse six in Hebrews 8 and continued in verse seven:
But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
Then the minister walked over and took the sign off the chair on the left, turned it over, and showed us what it said: FAULTY CHAIR.
Next he walked over to the chair on the right, took off the sign on its back, and turned it around so we could read: BETTER CHAIR.
Then he made this statement: “God made both chairs (covenants). One, Mt Sinai’s, was based on human obedience and effort. The other, Jesus’s New Covenant, was based on Jesus’s obedience and effort.”
He continued, “If our faith is weak in Jesus, we can sit in the faulty chair thinking our obedience will make the chair strong enough to support our eternal destiny. But our obedience will never support or ensure our salvation. Place your faith on Jesus’s obedience and effort; not your own!”
Only by trusting in Jesus alone and not our own obedience will we be eternally secure! †
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Well said! So profoundly simple and profoundly true. Thank you