Matthew 23 – From Woes to Worship

  1. There are 3 kinds of people: those who can count and those who can’t.
  2. Consciousness: that annoying time between naps.
  3. Give me ambiguity or give me something else.
  4. Very funny, Scotty. Now beam down my clothes.
  5. Be nice to your kids. They’re likely going to choose your nursing home.
  6. Sometimes I wake up grumpy; other times I just let her sleep.
  7. We are Meta. Resistance is futile. You WILL be assimilated.
  8. Be fishers of men…. You catch ’em, He’ll clean ’em.
  9. A family altar can alter a family.
  10. Lord, protect me from your followers!
  • Hypocrites (7x!) 
  • Sons of Hell
  • Blind Guides 
  • Fools
  • Blind Men
  • Whitewashed Tombs
  • Lawless
  • Sons of those who murdered the prophets
  • Serpents
  • Brood of Vipers

8 “Woes” of Jesus

  1. Obstruction  (v. 13)
  2. Extortion  (v. 14)
  3. Pollution  (v. 15)
  4. Misprioritization  (v. 16-22)
  5. Misapplication  (v. 23-24)
  6. Externalism  (v. 25-26)
  7. Pretension  (v. 27-28)
  8. Persecution (v. 29-35)

Matthew 23 reminds us:

  1. The God of the Bible abhors hypocrisy even more than we do.
  2. Hypocrisy in others doesn’t invalidate Jesus’ call to holiness for me. 
  3. Jesus desires to save hypocrites. I’m good with that.

“The church is the place where we come to find out what we are doing that is right; it is a place of affirmation. The church is the place where we come to find out what we are doing that is wrong; it is a place for correction. The church is the place where we come to hear the promises; it is a place of motivation. No Christian community can do without any part of this message. We need affirmation, we need correction, we need motivation.” 
– Eugene Peterson, Reversed Thunder

Jesus can be your welcomed king now, or your consuming judge later.

“In the end, that Face which is the delight or the terror of the universe must be turned upon each of us either with one expression or the other, either conferring glory inexpressible or inflicting shame that can never be cured or disguised.” 
– C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

“Let us leave the subject with the comforting reflection that with Christ nothing is impossible. The hardest heart can be made willing in the day of his power. Grace beyond doubt is irresistible; but never let us forget that the Bible speaks of people as responsible beings, and that it says of some, ‘You always resist the Holy Spirit!’ (Acts 7:51) Let us understand that the ruin of those who are lost is not because Christ was not willing to save them, nor because they wanted to be saved but could not, but because they would not come to Christ.” 
– J.C. Ryle, Matthew 

Are you among those who will say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord?”

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