Choose One Chair

1 John 2:28-3:10

Italian Opera singer, Luciano Pavarotti, became one of the most well-known tenors of all time earning himself the honorific title, “King of the High C’s.” He sold over 100 million records and the first Three Tenors record became the best-selling classical album of all time. As Pavarotti thought about his success, he shared advice from his father.

“When I was a boy, my father, a baker, introduced me to the wonders of song. He urged me to work very hard to develop my voice. Arrigo Pola, a professional tenor in my hometown of Modena, Italy, took me as a pupil. I also enrolled in a teachers college. On graduating, I asked my father, 'Shall I be a teacher or a singer?

We often turn to our fathers when we have a difficult choice to make. Fernando Pavarotti looked at his son and said, “Luciano, if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair.” Pavarotti took his father’s advice. He commented,

I chose one. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance. It took another seven to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I think whether it's laying bricks, writing a book--whatever we choose--we should give ourselves to it. Commitment, that's the key. Choose one chair.

The Apostle John, our Spiritual forefather, offers us the same advice. For life, you must choose one chair. You must either sit with the God the Father or the father of lies, the Devil. You can’t choose two chairs. If you try to sit in both, you will fall and great will be the fall.

         As we work through the text, I want to ask you a series of questions to help you discern which chair you have currently chosen and by God’s grace through his Word, to exhort you to choose the right chair and deepen your commitment to stay there.

Are you Confident or Fearful?

         John is a tender spiritual father. He knows the church is going through a difficult trial. Several of the members of the body have chosen to leave the community and believe false things about Jesus Christ. He warned how these people stand against Christ and are trying to deceive them. He continues to fatherly reminds us of the reality of eternity that awaits us. 1 John 2:28–29

[28] And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. [29] If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

Most of you have made a decision to follow Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, but you must continue to make that decision every day. The life of discipleship is now a one-time decision, but decisions you make one at a time for a lifetime. John Flavel wisely writes, “The greatest difficulty in conversion, is to win the heart to God; and the greatest difficulty after conversion, is to keep the heart with God.” John’s language of discipleship or in keeping your heart with God is to abide with him as we see in verse 28.

         Our abiding with Christ will reveal whether we are confident or fearful at the return of Jesus Christ or when we meet him in death. John reminds his readers that Jesus Christ is going to return as Jesus reminded his disciples that he was going to return. If Jesus returned this afternoon, would you be confident and joyful at his return or would you be ashamed and shrink back in fear? Your answer may reveal which chair you chosen. As child did you ever hear from your mother, “Wait to your father gets home.” The statement itself can either be a good or bad thing depending on the action that preceded it. If you skipped school and didn’t do your chores you may get the stern pronouncement of judgement, “Wait to your father gets home.” But if you studied hard and got an A on the test and went out of your way to rack your neighbor’s leaves, you may get the joyful pronouncement of hope, “Wait to your father gets home.”

         John shows us that how we think of the future and Christ’s return will indicate how we live today. “If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.” You can determine if you belong to Christ and if been born of him, if you act like him. If he is righteous, then you should be righteous. One of the greatest burdens I have as a pastor is that people have a false and misplaced confidence faith. Imagine a kid in elementary who boldly and confidently goes to answer a math question on addition on the board in front of the whole class only to realize the question is multiplication and the student has no clue on his timetables. He is going to slink back and shrink in his seat because his confidence was misplaced. Many people are confident in Christ even though their lives are not characterized by righteousness. Jesus warned the crowd in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:17–23,

[17] So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. [18] A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. [19] Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. [20] Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

[21] “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. [22] On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ [23] And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Jesus connects knowing him and how we live. Workers of lawlessness do not know God. Those who make a habit of sinning have not been born of God. On the other hand, those who do good and live for righteousness can be confident that they know him. Ask your heart, “If Christ were to return today, would you be confident or would you shrink back in shame?” Are you confident or fearful?

Are you Known or Unknown?

         The believer can have confidence on Christ return because we are loved by God and adopted as his children. It is almost as if John is writing this letter and he becomes overwhelmed with how God has loved us in Christ and he wants those he loves to bask in God’s love with him. 1 John 3:1–3,

[1] See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. [2] Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. [3] And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Sinners are welcomed as saints. Rebels as friends. The lost as found. Orphans as children.

What love could remember, no wrongs we have done,

Ominscient, all-knowing, He counts not their sum

Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore

Our Sins they are many, His mercy is more

John 1:11-13, “Jesus came to his own, but his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” You can be born of God by receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

If you are not a follower of Jesus, let me explain why Christians have chosen the one chair of being a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ. The love that God has poured out to us is undeserved. We were disobedient children. We deserved judgment and yet God sent Jesus to take the judgment for us. Jesus lived a perfect and died a sinner’s death. He paid the penalty for all the sins, past, present and future for everyone who would turn from their sins and trust in Him. He died and was buried but overcame the grave. Jesus was raised from the dead to the glory of God the Father and now forever stands as our advocate with the Father. His resurrection assures ours. Jesus died to know us not merely as Creator but as Redeemer. He died and was raised so we who were lost could be found in him. We are no longer enemies and no longer fear death or judgment because God is our Father, Jesus is our Older Brother, and we are his children as we have been born again by the Holy Spirit. I would encourage you to learn more about the deep, deep love of Jesus.

Beloved, we are God’s children now. We are not fully what we will become, but we are God’s children now. We are known by God and therefore unknown by the world. If you are known by the world, you are unknown by God. Jesus was unknown by the world. John 15:18–21,

[18] “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. [19] If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. [20] Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. [21] But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

Remember the church is struggling and dealing with people leaving the congregation and hating them. They feel isolated and alone. They are weary and beat down. They are persecuted and squeezed from the world. And John and Jesus want them to know that their treatment from the world is a sign that they belong to Jesus for the same treatment was given to him.

         If we share in the sufferings of Christ, we can be confident we will share in the glories of Christ. We shall be like him. Upon our death or Christ return, God will take our lowly bodies and transform them to be like his glorious body. We should be encouraged to press on in the midst of persecution because one day this world will be in the rearview and we will be with God. Does that stir your heart? Do you long to be with the Lord Jesus?

         Sadly, too many churches and Christians do not want to stand apart from the world but with the world.  The world and its desires are passing away and yet too many confessing Christians are trying to choose two chairs. They are trying to choose the world along with choosing Christ. You cannot have two masters. You cannot love the world and have the love of the Father. The life with Jesus will be hard on earth, but it will be eternally glorious. These light and momentary afflictions are preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

Are you Practicing Sinning or Righteousness?

         It is impossible to walk in two directions. We were made to walk one way. We would made to choose one chair. To follow Jesus is walk with Jesus; to abide with him. John could not be clearer in this passage about sin and righteousness. 1 John 3:4–8,

[4] Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. [5] You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. [6] No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. [7] Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.[8] Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

John has already said that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. He also has said that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. And if we confess our sin, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. When we hope in Christ, we are purified. When we look to Christ, we become like Christ. We become what we behold.

         Jesus Christ came in order to take away sins. Jesus wants to forgive sins, to cleanse sins, to wash sins away, and to cast sins as far as the east is from the west. Jesus Christ came to deal with sin so we could become children of God. Beloved, we must behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus has no sin and therefore if we are in him, we are positionally without sin as we declared righteous and we should want to progressively be without sin. If we are not progressively without sin, we may not positionally be without sin. John is not saying we will be sinless as Christians but as we grow in Christ we will sin less.

         We have to take sin seriously. Sin is lawlessness. Sins are not habits, hang-ups and hiccups. Sin is an offense to a holy God. It is against the created order. It is contrary to his revealed law. Sin cannot be taken lightly. Sin is so serious that the Father sent the Son to be slaughtered for the sin of sinners. If you make a habit of sinning, you practice lawlessness. Remember Jesus words, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” If you make a practice of sinning, you are in eternal danger. If you live in sin, you are in danger of the fires of hell. Nothing could be more serious.

         As a spiritual father, John tells us to choose the right chair. “Little children, let no one deceive you.” We live in an upside-down world. Right is wrong. Wrong is right. One can say we live in a Romans 1 world where we do not live in gratefulness to God but we exchange the glory of immortal God for worthless idols. The end of Romans 1 shows what happens when people do not honor God but make a practice of sinning. Romans 1:28–32,

[28] And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. [29] They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, [30] slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, [31] foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. [32] Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

And don’t be too quick to point fingers for Paul adds,

[1] Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. [2] We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. [3] Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? [4] Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? [5] But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. [6] He will render to each one according to his works: [7] to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; [8] but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. (Romans 2:1–9)

Sin is a major theme in the Bible and a major problem in the church. If people choose to sit in chair of sin, you are in grave danger.

         John wants you to have confidence on the day of judgment. Remember 1 John 5:13, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” Those who have eternal life are not those whose life is characterized by sin, but by righteousness. You can know that you belong to God if you deserve to please him. If you are in sin, you cannot remain there. If you are truly a believer in Christ, your sin is making you miserable. You cannot remain it. You feel the weight of conviction. You sense God’s gracious invitation back to Himself. He is beckoning, pleading, urging, you back to his grace. And if you are unmoved by your sin, unaffected, sensing no conviction, happy in your sin, the Bible would say, you are not of God.

         Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. To be one with Jesus is to want to destroy the works of the flesh in your own life and in the world. The world wants to deceive you. It wants you to minimize sin. It wants to seduce you into its grasp. The world and the devil want you in hell so they want you to make a practice of sinning. Do no minimize sin. Is your life characterized by sin? Are you known more for your sin and for your righteousness? Are you walking Jesus? Would Jesus be happy with your thought life and your private life when no one is around? Would there be one sin that defines? Are you a gossip? Are you a liar? Are you an angry person? Are you rebellious to your parents? Are you practicing sexual immorality? Are you a drunkard? A thief? Are you making a practice of sinning? Are you choosing the chair of sin or the chair of righteousness? You can only choose one chair.

Are you a Child of God or the Devil?

         We cannot give birth to ourselves. No one should look down on others when they are caught in sin. If God has freed us from sin, it is God that has freed us from sin. We only choose him because he has first chosen us. If we have been chosen by God, if we are a new creation in Christ, if we have been born again by his Spirit, we cannot continue in sin. We have a new nature and our new nature will be at war against our old nature. If you are struggling with sin, you are in a good place. If you have stopped struggling and given yourselves over to sin, you are in danger. 1 John 3:9-10,

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.[10] By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

 We will not overcome sin immediately. We will struggle against our flesh, but we will not remain in our flesh. The seed of God that abides in a believer will continue to grow and grow and grow and change our desires. If we have been born of God, we cannot continue in sin.

         Jesus Christ came to save thieves and adulterers. He came to save slanderers and the self-righteous. He came for sinners of all kinds. But he didn’t come merely to save sinners but to transform into his image so we would look like him. We are God’s children now. We are not yet what we will be but we are no longer what we were. I love how Paul put it in 1 Corinthians 6:9–11,

[9] Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, [10] nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. [11] And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Jesus came to destroy the works the devil. He came to destroy the sin in you. He came to wash you, to sanctify you, and to justify you by the glory of his name and by the power of the Spirit of God. He did not come merely to save you, but to transform to be like him.

         Charles Spurgeon wrote a sermon on the last three words in 1 John 3:1, “And we are.” We are children of God. He asks in that sermon, “Am I a child of God?” then he answers,

Am I a child of God? Then listen: I have a love to my Father. If you are truly born from above, your heart goes out in longings after him to whom you owe your heavenly birth. If you are no child of God, you can live without him; indeed, you will try to do so. To the most of men God is virtually non-existent. They look up to the skies, and view the wondrous lights of heaven, but they never think of him who shines through them. They do not believe that there is such a Being; or else they own that there must be a design and a designer, and there is an end of the matter with them. Whether there is a God or not is no matter of importance to them. How different is it with the regenerate! To us God is all in all. To love God is the great fact of my life. The tears run down my cheeks when I think of him. He is everything to me.

Now, the true child of God not only shows love and trust, but he also suffers sorrow when he has grieved his Father. If you grieve over sin, if you grieve over error, if you grieve over your omissions, if you go to God with tears in your eyes because you are not what he would have you to be, this sorrow proves that you are one of his children. He that can sin without sorrow will one day sorrow without hope. A broken heart is one of the surest signs of sonship. We have this grief, and this proves that we are sons of God, “and we are.[1]”

Beloved, is God everything to you? Abide in him. Are you grieved over your sin? Repent and abide in him.  If you have called upon Jesus as Savior and Lord, if you know he is righteous and pure, then we can boldly say, “what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And we are.” In Christ, we are a child of God. We are born again, adopted in this family, given the seed of righteousness that will blossom in time.

The question is not what chair we have chosen to sit in, but what chair we are sitting in today? Choose Christ today. Abide in Him. Beloved, what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we, sinners of all kinds, should be called children of God. And we are. Let us live up to that glorious title. Child of God.

[1] https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/and-we-are-a-jewel-from-the-revised-version-3/#flipbook/ accessed 11.7.20