When A Person's World Is Right

One Saturday morning a minister was busily trying to prepare his sermon under the most difficult conditions. It was a rainy day, and his young son was restless and bored, with little to do. Finally, in desperation, the minister picked up an old magazine and thumbed through it until he came to a large brightly colored picture. It showed a map of the world.

He tore the page from the magazine, ripped it into little pieces and scattered the scraps all over the living room floor with the words, “Son, if you can put this page together I’ll give you a dollar.”

The minister hoped that this might take his son most of the morning, but 10 minutes later there was a knock on his study door His son had completed the puzzle. The minister was amazed to see that his son had finished the project so soon, with the pieces of paper neatly arranged and the map of the world back in order.

“Son, how did you get that done so fast?” “Oh, said the boy, it was easy. On the other side there was a picture of a man. I just put a piece of paper on the bottom, put the picture of the man together, put a piece of paper of top and then turned it over. I figured that if I got the man right, the world would be right.”

His father smiled and handed his son a dollar.

“Not only have you earned that dollar, but you’ve given me my sermon for tomorrow: ‘If a man is right, his world will be right.’”

My title this morning: If you are right then your world will be right.

Now we have to define what it means to be “right”.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “right” is an adjective that means “morally or socially correct or acceptable”, “agreeing with the facts or truth: accurate or correct”; “speaking, acting, or judging in a way that agrees with the facts or truth”.

Notice the “or” in the definition: morally or socially, facts or truth, accurate or correct.

Now I point this out for a reason. Why is this significant?

• People decide what is morally or socially correct or acceptable for them. Do you see a problem with this statement? The problem, ladies and gentlemen, is that we make ourselves the final authority of what is morally or socially correct. Do you see this?

Is it any wonder, ladies and gentlemen, that we now have states where you can legally purchase marijuana? You know why? It’s because we have decided that we can determine what is moral and what is not moral and what is acceptable and not acceptable.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me say this: there is no way on planet earth that those states that now have marijuana as a legal substance could have done that without the support of Christians. We are the ones, ladies and gentlemen, that God looks to when things like this happen.

The Bible says judgment begins where? In the house of God. Where are you? You’re in the house of God. This is where the judgment starts ladies and gentlemen.

God doesn’t expect those who don’t know Him to respond to Him like those of us who are supposed to know Him.

Those of us who call ourselves sons.

Those of us who call ourselves Christians.

Those of us who call ourselves disciples.

• The reason the, that we are the ones who decide what is morally or socially correct is because we make decisions – we make decisions – with a “what’s best for me” mentality. This is the cornerstone for how they view and interact with the world.

I’m talking about Christians ladies and gentlemen. I’m not talking about the men and women who don’t know God. I’m talking about those of us sitting in the pews or watching via the Internet who have the life and nature of God living on the inside of them. We still make decisions that are in our best interest.

I’m not saying anything that surprises any of you if you’re honest about it when light of truth shines on your life. We’ve all at one time or another have made decisions that best for us, not best for the kingdom.

• Webster’s talks about facts and truth. In general, very few people see a distinction between fact and truth. Very few makes this distinction because, for them, their facts are their truths.

I’m going to pick on Barry again. Barry is battling arthritis. It is a “fact” that I’m battling. The Bible says that the “fact” that I’m battling – the truth will set me free. And the truth that sets me free: the Bible says that by Jesus’ stripes I am healed. That’s the truth that sets me free from this fact.