Last night, my wife and I watched an episode of "Friends" off our Season 3 DVD. Episode #50... The One Where No One's Ready... is a true classic (in fact it's the #5 episode according to TV.com). In this episode, Chandler and Joey fight over who gets to sit in a chair in the girls' apartment. Of course, the fight escalates to the point of insanity... which is why it's so incredibly funny.
Unfortunately, it's not as funny when things like this happen in real life. In some churches, long-time members fight over "their" seats in the sanctuary, or "their" parking places, or "their" position on some committee, or "their" style of music, or "their" anything-else-that-has-no-real-eternal-significance. The natural tendency in life is take care of ourselves and put ourselves first, but all of this fighting over "my" things distracts us from what's really important. It's funny on TV, but when it happens within God's family, it's ridiculous.
Instead of worrying about "my" seat or "my" parking spot, I should be concerned about "my" mission field and the spiritual condition of "my" friends and the hopelessness of the people within "my" circle of influence. I am responsible for the people that God puts around me and it is more important that I live out Christ in front of them, then that I sit in the same spot each week. If you attend Church At The Grove, thanks for modeling this idea of missional responsibility and forgetting the arguments about "my chair." If you're not part of things here, what are you modeling in your own life? What's most important... your "chair" or your "mission field"?
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