I Have Come To Do It All

Matthew 3:13-17: I HAVE COME TO DO IT ALL

In the name of Jesus, who was baptized as part of his plan to fulfill all righteousness for you, for me, and for the whole world. Dear Friends.

Isn’t it frustrating, sometimes, when you’re not able to get everything done that you want to do? There’s always something that should have been done, but you just didn’t have the time or energy to do it. Life is like a juggling act, and you’re always dropping something. You have to work, you want to spend time with your family, it’s good to exercise, you’re supposed to keep up your home, you would like to be a good neighbor to people, maybe get involved in the community somehow, you know that God wants you to spend time in his Word, and spend time praying to him, and you’re also supposed to fit into your life somewhere some rest and recreation.

And when you look back on the day, or the week, you can always find something that you didn’t do, that you should have done. There’s always another phone call that you should have made, or another person that you should have visited, or another event you should have attended, another errand you should have run. Who has time to do it all? Trying to do everything is like coming home with 10 bags of groceries, and you try to fit them all onto one little TV tray – not everything fits.

And the same thing is true about life. And the same thing is true about Christianity. As Christians, there is so much more that we would like to do, and that we really ought to do, for God. But how do you do it all? We all want to glorify him. We all want to grow in our understanding of his Word, and our understanding of what his will is for our lives. We all would like to become more and more Christ-like in our lives. We all would like to witness more. But once again, who has time to do it all? And who has the ability to do it all well? It’s easy, as Christians, to look back on our lives and feel pressure to do more, and then you feel guilty because you didn’t do enough, or you didn’t do it well enough.

This morning, we’re going to look at a moment in the life of Jesus, and see how that moment can bring you and me a great deal of comfort and encouragement in our lives as Christians. Thank God that Jesus, our Savior, came, and he came to do it all, and he did it all, very well, for us. Let’s look at Matthew chapter 3.

It must have been very surprising for John to see Jesus come around the corner and asked to be baptized at the Jordan River. It was a normal day for John the Baptist, as he did his work, preaching and baptizing, until Jesus arrived. From John’s point of view, Jesus didn’t need to be baptized. After all, he was the Son of God, he was the Christ. He was without sin. What did he need baptism for? John even said to Jesus, “I need to be baptized by you. And do you come to me?” If anyone needs to be baptized, John said, it was me. I’m the sinner. I’m the one that needs salvation. Why don’t you baptize me, Jesus?

But look at Jesus’ answer in verse 15: “Let it be so now; it is proper to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. John didn’t realize what a big moment this was, in God’s plan of salvation. Jesus’ baptism was the official beginning of his public life, and his public work on behalf of all mankind. Before his baptism, Jesus lived privately. He kept a low profile. He wasn’t out, preaching, teaching, performing miracles, and confronting the Pharisees. But now, the time had come to do his work. And his baptism marked the beginning.

And what a great way to mark the beginning of his public ministry! He received what he wanted every Christian to receive, and that’s baptism. In a sense, Jesus started his ministry by saying, “I’m one of you. I’m human like you. I live on this earth like you. And now, I have been baptized, like you.” Jesus identifies with you here. He was baptized, like you.

And notice how Jesus describes his baptism: “It is proper to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” In other words, if you can think of all the righteous things that God wants people to do while they’re on this earth, I, Jesus says, I have come to do it all, and that includes being baptized. I have come to do everything.