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Following Jesus – A Message of WOE! (Sermon Audio)

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This is the audio from the July 13, 2025 sermon, “Following Jesus: A Message of WOE!”, shared by Tom Lemler at the Deer Run Church of Christ.

Text: Matthew 23

 

“See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done.” 
2 Corinthians 7:11 (NIV)

As one called by Jesus to “Come, follow me”, Matthew gives us great teaching on what it looks like to live a life which follows Jesus.  As Jesus continues teaching on His way to the cross, He gives a message of . . .

  • Warning:  Matthew 23:1-12

    • As Jesus speaks to the crowd and His disciples, He gives a multi-part message of warning.  The first part of the warning is for all of us to pay attention to the authority of God’s Word and to do what it says.  The second part of the warning is to not be led astray by the actions of those who should know the right thing to do and yet fails in doing so.  Our obedience and allegiance is to God.  It is the responsibility of every believer to not only know and do the will of God, but to live with an integrity which doesn’t lead others astray when they follow our actions.  The message of woe that we hear from Jesus should be a message of warning so that we would not wander from the truth. 

  • Observation:  Matthew 23:13-36

    • Jesus follows up the message of warning with examples from His observation of the religious leaders of His day.  The religious leaders had become very good at creating loopholes for themselves to justify their disobedience to God’s Word.  It is through this message of observation that we learn that Jesus is aware of all our thoughts and all of our action, as well as to the motives behind each.  We may fool others, and we may even fool ourselves, but we will never fool God.  God’s observation of us  is an involved observation that is not done to try and catch us doing something wrong in order to condemn us, but rather it is an observation being made in order to correct us so that we would return to the right path.

  • Embrace:  Matthew 23:37-39

    • The real purpose behind this message of woe is to communicate just how much God longs to embrace every individual.  Even when proclaiming extreme sorrow and distress upon the religious leaders based on the accurate observation of their lives, Jesus makes it clear that it was always His desire that they would draw near to Him and encounter His embrace . . . but they were unwilling.  Whether the woe we experience is of our own doing or has been caused by the sinfulness present in the world we live in, God wants that experience to turn our hearts toward Him in order to receive the embrace He desires to give.

Today, how will you heed the message of WOE?