Direct Amends Wherever Possible

In one paragraph

This message was the ninth installment in the pastor's series working through the twelve steps of recovery with a biblical foundation. The focus landed on step nine, making direct amends to those we have harmed, wherever doing so is possible without causing further injury. Jesus's teaching from Matthew 5 on anger, reconciliation, and settling with your accuser while you still have the chance...

Read together

1. 1 John 1:9 cited to explain confessing sins, agreeing with God, and receiving forgiveness and purification
2. James 5:16 quoted about confessing sins to one another and praying for each other so that you may be healed
3. John 5 the man at the Pool of Bethesda, used to illustrate step six and willingness to be made well
4. Matthew 5:21-26 Jesus on anger equaling murder, and leaving your offering to be reconciled to your brother before returning to worship
5. Romans 12:18 cited as saying as much as it depends on you, seek to live at peace with all
6. 1 John 1:1-3 quoted as benediction, that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that your fellowship may be with the Father and his Son Jesus

Talk about it

1. The pastor talked about how steps one and two need to come close together, because admitting powerlessness without believing there is a power greater than yourself that can restore you is just depression. Where have you seen that pattern play out, either in your own life or someone close to you?
2. The fearless moral inventory in step four uses an objective standard rather than comparing yourself to other people. What makes it so tempting to measure ourselves against others instead of against God's word, and what does that habit cost us?
3. Step five involves admitting the exact nature of our wrongs not just to God and ourselves but to another person. The pastor said there is a different kind of accountability that comes from saying it out loud to someone with skin on them. Have you experienced that difference, and what made it hard or helpful?
4. In Matthew five, Jesus says to leave your offering at the altar and go be reconciled to your brother first. What gets in the way of doing that quickly, and what has it cost you or someone you know to delay it?
5. Ken Sandy's story about rereading his own letter five years later and weeping over the spirit behind it stuck with the pastor enough to close with it. Have you ever looked back at something you did or said and realized the motivation behind it was uglier than you had admitted at the time? What did you do with that?