The Call You've Been Putting Off

Most of us have one. It's the phone call we keep meaning to make.

It might be a brother you haven't really talked to since that conversation went sideways. It might be an old friend who stopped calling, and you've never been quite sure why. It might be somebody at church you've learned to step around without either of you saying a word about it. Every so often their name comes up, and you think, I really ought to call. Then something else needs doing, and the moment passes.

Jesus had something to say about that call. He said it in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, and He picked about the most surprising setting He could have chosen:

So if you are offering your gift on the altar, and there you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift, Matthew 5:23-24.

Read that again and notice who Jesus sends. He doesn't send the person who was hurt. He sends the one the other person is upset with. He doesn't stop to ask whose fault it was, either. He simply says, Go.

This month at Cornerstone we've been in a series called Nothing Between Us, built on Ephesians 4:31-32: Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.

Last Sunday we looked at Hebrews 12 and the way a root of bitterness grows quietly underground until it shows up in a whole church. We ended by asking who ought to make the first move. This Sunday Jesus answers that question, and His answer may not be the one we were hoping for.

We'll start with what Jesus says about anger, the kind we keep and the words that come out of it. Then we'll stand beside a man who has traveled a long way to worship, waited his turn, and finally reached the altar with his offering in his hands, and we'll hear Jesus tell him to set it down and leave.

We'll talk about why Jesus puts the burden on the person who remembers. We'll ask what His words mean for a congregation that gathers at the Lord's table every week. And we'll look at a short line about settling things quickly, while you're on the way, because some roads don't stay open forever.

Then we'll turn to the cross. Long before Jesus told us to go to our brother, God came to us. Paul says that while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son (Romans 5:10). The One who had every right to wait for us didn't.

Read Matthew 5:21-26 this week, and read it slowly. Then sit with one question: Is there anyone who has something against me?

If a name comes to mind, you don't have to wait for Sunday. You can make that call today.

You're welcome at Cornerstone this Sunday, whether you've been with us for years or you've never walked through our doors. We begin with a devotional in song at 9:30 a.m. Bible classes for all ages start at 9:45, and worship begins at 10:45.

We're at 5051 Wilmington Pike in Centerville. Come as you are. If there's something between you and somebody else, this is a good Sunday to come hear what Jesus says about it.