INTRODUCTION:

I am sure you have all met people who want to get involved in every body else’s business. They are really interfering busybodies, and they can really be a source of great irritation to us, can’t they. How many times have we not said to people like that: "Mind your own business!"

The thought struck me: "What is God’s business?" Sometimes we like to put God in a box and say: "This is your business – but leave the rest to me!" Well, according to Psalm 11, God’s business is PUTTING THINGS RIGHT!

We kind of live in a society where for all of us, things seem to go wrong. Some days are worse than others! When things go wrong, don’t you find that it affects every area of our lives? It affects our relationships – we growl at people instead of being nice. It affects our work, it affects our home life, it affects the way we feel about ourselves, and yes, it affects our relationship with God. Somehow, God always gets the blame when things go wrong – YET, my Bible tells me that his business is not to make things go wrong, but to put things right. When we are out of sorts with people, we find it difficult to look them in the eye. When we are out of sorts with God, we find it difficult to look Him in the eye! But psalm 11 says: "God’s business is putting things right; he loves getting the lines straight, setting us straight. Once we’re standing tall, we can look him straight in the eye!"

In what area do we see God carrying out his business? Perhaps the most obvious one is in the area of sin. His business is to offer

1. FORGIVENESS:

God created man in his own image – man was good, he was destined for a wonderful life on earth. After God had performed his work of creation, we read in Genesis 1:31 "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good!" Man had everything at his fingertips. All the animals fell under his care, every tree in the beautiful garden which bore fruit was available to him except one, he had a beautiful relationship with his maker, enjoying fellowship as they strolled around in the garden of Eden. He could not have had it better. He did not have to work – everything was there for him. His wife did not even have to go near the sewing machine to make or mend clothes, because they did not have any. Life was pretty perfect.

BUT – that tragic word that we sometimes hate to hear. BUT the were not satisfied. They had to do the one thing that God said they must not do. They ate of the fruit of the tree that God had forbidden them to touch. Did it give them all that they hoped it would? The propect of doing that one thing that was so wrong seemed so good. Adam and Eve knew exactly what God required, they knew exactly what God expected – and that was to be obedient. God said: "Don’t eat the fruit from that tree? It is wrong!" Satan messed Eve’s mind up and said: "Did God really tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?" You can imagine Eve milling it over in her mind? Surely there is an exception to every rule. What difference will it make if I just break God’s instruction once. But then she remembered, "God said I would die if I did that". Satan said: "Come on, God would not do that. He is just making idle threats here. It is not so wrong to have one of those fruit. God is just afraid that when you eat that fruit, you are going to be just like him! Man, then you will be the greatest. If you think your life is good now, wait till you have tasted that fruit!"

That was when thing went wrong. They went so wrong that Adam and Eve hid away from God. They went so wrong that they failed to keep their appointment with God – because they could not look Him in the eye! BUT GOD’S BUSINESS IS PUTTING THINGS RIGHT! Although Adam and Eve tried to avoid God, he came looking for them. "What’s gone wrong here, Adam and Eve? Where are you? What’s happened?" He wanted to put things right! He wanted his relationship with his children to be right! He wanted to be able to look them straight in the eye again.

They had to live with the consequences of their sin – and that was hard! But God was going about His business. He was putting thing right, getting the lines straight, setting them straight. But God’s business never got finished on that occasion. There were people right down through the centuries who have gone and done things wrong, and he has had to set them right. His ultimate course of action was to send Jesus to carry out His business on earth. Jesus came and said to the people: "The food that keeps me going is that I do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started". (John 4:34)

Today, in may of our lives, things have gone wrong. We have sometimes deliberately gone against what we know to be the will of God. Satan plays tricks with our minds still, creating all sorts of doubts – and like Adam and Eve, what we hoped would be ours after our wrong action - has been anything like what we hoped it would be. Tonight, the Holy Spirit is here to carry on the work of God in setting things right, in getting the lines straight, in setting us straight. Can you look Him in the eye? If not, his business is not yet complete in your life!

Another area where we see God carrying out His business is in the area of

II. HEALING:

I want you to notice how many times we find the Son of God going around and reversing things that had gone wrong in people’s lives. In fact, when Jesus stood in the synagogue one day, he read a verse that said: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to set free the oppressed and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people".

You follow Jesus’ ministry from that time on! He healed the sick, he enabled lame people to walk, blind people to see, demon possessed people to be freed from the power of satan, he healed a woman who had had a blood disease for 12 years, he straightened out the withered hand of man – all the things that were wrong, he made right!

I do not doubt that God is still able to do those things today. I have heard of many who have been physically healed by God. But I believe that a lot of those miracles in the Bible were given that we might be able to see a deeper spiritual meaning. Those who are sick spiritually, who are heading in the wrong direction, he sets them straight. Those who are spiritually blind, he makes things right again so that they can see. Those who are battling in their spiritual walk, he puts things right so that they can leap and run and praise the Lord. Those who are spiritually crippled and unable to serve, God straightens their hands so that they can work for him. Those who are possessed by a spirit other than God, God puts things right.

On Monday I was reading from Luke’s gospel about how Jesus called Levi, the tax collector to follow him. Levi then threw a big party with all the wrong elements present – and Jesus attended that party. He took a lot of flack from the Pharisees and the teachers of the law because he was associating with sinners and tax collectors. Jesus’ reply to them was: "People who are well do not need a doctor, but only those who are sick……"

I want to ask tonight if there are any people here who recognise that they are sick. You have things in your lives that hinder you in your relationship to God. Things are not right! I want to introduce you tonight to the God whose business it is to put things right! He wants to get the lines straight, setting you straight in the process!

The third area in which I see God carrying out His business is in the area of:

3. DEATH:

Do I sound like Job’s comforter? We read of three occasions when Jesus raised people from the dead. He raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead, he raised the son of the widow of Nain to life again; he raised Lazarus from the dead after he had been in the tomb four days. I believe that there were more people he raised from the dead which are not recorded. In Matthew 11 we read that John the Baptist sent word to Jesus asking him if he was the one to come, the Messiah. Jesus sent this message back: "Report to John what you see and hear: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor".

We read that Jesus Himself, who was dead in the tomb for 3 days, was raised to life again. God is in the business of raising dead things to life again. Churches that are spiritually dead, he brings back to life. Relationships that are dead, he restores them to life. People who are dead spiritually, he brings them back to life. The Bible speaks about the fact that those who have died in Christ will be resurrected with him and meet him in the air. But before that happens, God has a full time job in bringing people and churches and relationships with Himself and one another back to life again. You see, Christianity is all about life and living. God needs people who are "op en wakker" – not people who are dead on their feet. He has a work for us to do.

CONCLUSION:

Tonight God wants to do business with you! He has no special business or trading hours – He is available for business 24 hours, 7 days a week.

I want you to look into your own lives and ask yourself the question: In what area am I preventing God from doing business with me? Is it in the area of sin and forgiveness? Is it in the area of healing? Is it in the area of death or life? Are you willing to allow him to get the lines straight in your life – setting you straight?

You see, in every business deal, there has to be two parties. The same applies in the business which God wants to conduct with you. He needs you to work with him, to co-operate with him, so that he can set things right!

Remember one thing tonight: – "God’s business is putting things right; he loves getting the lines straight, setting us straight. Once we’re standing tall, we can look him straight in the eye".

I want you to be able to stand tall tonight, to be able to look God in the eye, and know that there is nothing that stands between you and Him.