The Chair Story.

My father was a Solicitor. He worked in an office on Grey Street in Newcastle for many years. His office was piled with files and papers on every available surface. Every now and then Secrataries would come in and sit down while he dictated a letter to them, which they would take back to the typing room on the second floor and type out, ready to be signed and sent. Clients who wanted legal work done would come to see him from time to time. At lunchtime he would walk up the street to Carrick’s cafe for his lunch. At the end of the day he would walk down to the Central Station and get the train back home.

That tells you a little about John Williams. It certainly tells you what he did, but it doesn’t tell you much about what he was like. There was something else about John Williams that revealed something more of his character – what he was like.

At home John had a workshop. It was attached to the garage and was very small. It was only about 10 foot by 6 foot. It was a bit like his office in Newcastle, in that there was stuff on every available surface. So, what did he do in his workshop? Well, he made furniture. He made a sideboard, he made bedside tables, he made table lamps, he made cabinets and cupboards. I have one pice of furniture in my house that he made many years ago. It is this dining chair.

For years, I never realised that my father had made this chair. I always assumed that it had come from a shop. Now here’s the point. As I look at the chair I can tell something about the kind of man John was. (This is an interesting process for me, because growing up, I didn’t know my father very well at all. He was very quiet and, in a way, quite distant).

When I look at the chair I can see that John was careful and meticulous. The chair is not bashed together with screws and instant glue. He has cut out all the joints carefully and perfectly. There is no filler hiding mistakes. He obviously had an eye for detail and for beauty, regardless of the extra work involved. The front legs and the side pillars for the backrest are carved as “barley-twist” on his lathe. His lathe by the way was home made, and the motor that drove it was taken out of an old vacuum cleaner. The seat and the back rest were properly upholstered and finished with leather. (I just had it re-covered recently)

The chair tells me a lot about it’s maker – about his patience, his innovation, his skill and eye for detail, his quiet determination, his pursuit of perfection. When you look at the chair you learn something about John.

In Galatians 4 v 19 Paul talks about Christ being fully formed in us.

Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives. 

Gal 4 v 19

What does this mean? Well, put simply, it means that Gods plan is that Jesus should be revealed properly in each of us individually and also in us believers whenever and wherever we are together (and I don’t mean in church services). Father’s plan and desire is that whenever people look at us (singly or in groups) they will see clearly the handiwork of His Son – that they will see the life and character of Jesus.

Just as the chair tells you a bit about John (the creator and designer of the chair) so looking at you or me is meant to reveal not just you or me, but the One who stands behind us, Jesus. The One who is in us, fills us and makes us who we are.

The Father’s desire has always been to exalt, honour, and lift up Jesus – to display Jesus’ glory. Where? How? In us.

Father has already decided that all creation should stand in awe of the Son. Amazingly, He has arranged things so that Jesus’ full glory and majesty will only be fully appreciated and revealed when we too are revealed and are open to view. Because Father’s plan is that Jesus, His nature and His character are fully formed in us; that is fully revealed in us.

Look at my chair, and John’s skill and character is revealed. Look at us, and Jesus’ skill and character is revealed. Take away the chair and you take away that which points to John….

If you take away us….. or to put it another way, if we decide not so much to be “changed into His (Jesus’) likeness”, then we interfere with Father God’s eternal plan to glorify Jesus.

No wonder Romans 8 v 19 says that the whole of creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God (us) to be revealed. Only when we are revealed as the ones who bear the image of Jesus and bear it as a good representation of Him, will Jesus properly receive the glory and honour that is rightfully His.