This week I read about a small country church that had just concluded a revival meeting and was conducting a baptism service in the local river on a cold January day. After baptizing the first person, the pastor turned to the man and asked him if the water was cold. “Naw,” the man replied. One of the deacons who was there shouted, “Dip him again, preacher. He’s still lying.”
That story illustrates just how much confusion there often is, even within the church, when it comes to baptism. So this morning, as we continue examining the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, we’ll see if we can’t clear up some of those misconceptions as we focus on the account of the baptism of Jesus. Although all four of the gospel writers provide us with some information on that important event, we’re going to use the most complete account we have, which is found in Matthew 3:
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Matthew 3:13-17 (ESV)
As we read this account, the first question that comes to mind is this:
Why was Jesus baptized?
That’s a good question, one that John asked as well. Earlier in the chapter we see that John is calling people to repentances and that as people were begin baptized they were confessing their sins. Since we know that Jesus was completely sinless, He certainly didn’t need to be baptized for that reason.
This week I read o lot of commentaries and people’s ideas about why Jesus was baptized, but we really don’t have to wonder why Jesus took part in that event because His own words give us the answer.
The last time we saw the words of Jesus recorded in any of the gospel accounts was when He was 12 years old in Jerusalem for the Passover. You’ll remember that when we looked at that account a couple of weeks ago, when Mary and Joseph ask Jesus where He’s been, Jesus answers with these words:
Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?”
Luke 2:49 (ESV)
Now, 18 years later, in the next recorded words of Jesus, He tells John exactly why He wants John to baptize Him:
• to fulfill all righteousness
But we need to dig a little deeper this morning to find out exactly what Jesus meant by those words. From the text, we can identify three ways in which Jesus fulfilled all righteousness through His baptism.
How did Jesus “fulfill all righteousness” at His baptism?
1. He submitted to His Father’s will
Jesus’ answer to His parents at age 12 revealed that He was totally committed to submitting to His Father’s will, and nothing has changed in the intervening 18 years. We see clearly by the audible response of God the Father to the baptism of Jesus that Jesus was fulfilling the Father’s will for His life by being baptized by John. That is why, at least in part, that the Father proclaims that He is “well-pleased” with His Son.
And this was not something that Jesus just did because it was convenient. Verse 13 seems pretty straight forward: Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. But when we consider what Matthew records there carefully, we begin to see the effort that was required for Jesus to submit to His Father’s will. We don’t know exactly where on the Jordan River Jesus was baptized, but it would have probably been between 60 and 70 miles from Jesus’ home in Nazareth and it would have required a difficult journey of several days on foot for Jesus to come to John.
When Jesus submitted to the baptism by John, He was giving the people who witnessed that event a visual picture of His submission to the will of His Father. As we discussed a couple of weeks ago, that submission to His Father’s will that was already well established by the time He was 12 became the driving force behind Jesus’ earthly ministry, all the way to the cross.
These words of Jesus, as He spoke to the Jewish religious leaders in the Temple one day, confirm that which Jesus pictured through His baptism:
And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.
John 8:29 (ESV)
2. He identified Himself with those He came to save
When John is reluctant to baptize Jesus, notice that when Jesus replies He says that “it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” That little word “us” is really significant there. Although Jesus recognizes John needs to be repent and be baptized by Jesus, Jesus tells John that together they are going to fulfill all righteousness through John baptizing Jesus.
I’m really struck here by the humility of both men. John is humble enough to recognize that he needs to do exactly what he is calling others to do – repent and then be baptized as a public affirmation of that decision. And because of that, he feels completely unworthy to baptize someone who is absolutely sinless and has no need to repent.
But Jesus also demonstrates His humility here by submitting to John’s baptism. Although Jesus has no need to repent and be baptized because He is sinless, he nonetheless submits to the act of baptism in order to identify with those He came to save. Jesus was leading by example by submitting to something that He would later require of all those who chose to become His disciples.
In effect, this is the beginning of Jesus’ humiliation for our sakes. He enters into the water completely clean and sinless, but rises out of the water stained by the muddy waters of the Jordan that symbolize the ugly stain of sin that He begins to take upon Himself – a task that will eventually take Him to the cross where He will bear those sins for the benefit of all mankind. Jesus will later confirm this idea with His own words:
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Mark 10:45 (ESV)
By submitting to the baptism of John, He is acknowledging to His Father and to the world that He is willing to humble Himself and to take upon Himself at the cross the sins of those He came to save.
3. He was ending one phase of life and beginning another
Throughout the Bible, we see that God often calls His people to engage in some symbolic act that demonstrates that God is calling them to move from one stage of life and ministry into another:
o For Abram and Jacob, it was a change of name and the new name that God gave them was a reflection of His plan for their lives from that point forward.
o When Aaron and his sons were called to the priesthood, Leviticus 8 records the ceremonial washing they went through and the sacrifices that were made as they entered into that service.
o In the New Testament, when men were set apart for service to God in some way, others laid hands upon them
When Jesus replied to John and said, Let it be so now…”, He is indicating that this is the time that God has ordained for Him to essentially end one phase of His life so that He could move on to another. For 30 years Jesus has been living under the roof of His earthly parents, and as we have seen previously, living in submission to their authority. Under Joseph’s tutelage, He has developed a trade as a carpenter and spent his days building houses.
But now it is time for Him to begin building the kingdom of God. This is a new phase of His earthly ministry that will come to culmination in just a few short years with His death on the cross and His resurrection. So Jesus engages in a symbolic act that demonstrates to His Father and to the world that He is about to move from one phase of His life into another, much more intensive period of ministry.
This certainly is not an inclusive description of how Jesus fulfilled all righteousness through His baptism, but these three elements certainly capture the essence of why Jesus was baptized. But even more importantly for us, they also help us to answer this essential question:
Why is baptism so important for the Christ follower?
Most of us are probably familiar with the final recorded command of Jesus to His followers in the gospel accounts:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19, 20 (ESV)
First of all, this is clearly a command of Jesus. It is not a suggestion or an option for those who are His followers. We are all to go and make disciples. And Jesus gives us an outline of several important steps in that process. I think it is quite instructive to us that the very first action to be taken in the process of discipleship is to baptize His disciples. For Jesus that was even a higher priority than teaching people to observe His commands.
So if Jesus placed such a high priority on baptism for His followers, then how can we not do the same? So we could just say this morning that baptism is important for the Christ follower because it is a command of Jesus and leave it at that. But there are several aspects of the baptism of Jesus that help us come to a deeper understanding of the importance of baptism in our lives.
• It is a symbolic action…
For Jesus, His baptism was clearly a symbolic action. The baptism itself did not make Him right with God nor did it equip Him physically for His ministry. Even for the others that came to John to be baptized, the baptism itself was only a symbolic action that followed the decision they had already made to repent of their sins.
As we’ll explore some more during “Connections”, baptism in the New Testament always followed a person’s decision to commit his or her life to Jesus. The act of baptism itself never saved anyone then and it still doesn’t do that today. There is nothing special about the water itself – it doesn’t wash away our sins. In fact, if someone gets baptized without having committed his or her life to Jesus, all they are going to do is to get wet.
• …that publicly affirms:
The purpose of the symbolic act of baptism is to publicly affirm a commitment that has already been made. And for a Christ follower, the affirmation that is being made has some striking parallels to the ones that Jesus made at His baptism:
1. Our submission to the will of God
I know a lot of people who will argue that a person does not have to be baptized in order to have eternal life. And in a technical sense, they are right. Clearly the example of the thief on the cross shows that if someone commits his or her life to cross and doesn’t have an opportunity to be baptized that is not going to prevent them from spending eternity in the presence of Jesus.
But on the other hand I know of no better way to publicly demonstrate our submission to God than to let someone dunk us under the water and trust God that they’ll bring us up out of the water again. I still remember observing a baptism at the first church where I had a ministry position and wondering if the elderly pastor who was performing the baptism was going to be able to get the rather large person being baptized back out of the water.
When we are baptized, we are confirming to others that we have made a decision to submit to the will of God in every area of our lives. And if we’re unwilling to submit to the clear command of Scripture regarding baptism, then my fear is that we’re going to have a difficult time doing so in the other areas of our lives where God’s will may not be quite as clear.
2. Our identification with Jesus
Jesus willingly identified with us at His baptism and He calls us to identify with Him at ours. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that baptism is the very best means the Christ follower has available to demonstrate our identification with Jesus. That’s not just my opinion; it is the clear testimony of God’s Word.
In two different places, Paul writes about how we identify with Jesus through baptism. The first is found in Romans 6:
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:3, 4 (ESV)
When we are baptized, we are identifying with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Paul confirms this principle in his letter to the church at Colossae:
In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
Colossians 2:11, 12 (ESV)
Once again, we see clearly that in baptism, we identify with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
This seems like the appropriate time to address the means by which Scriptural baptism is to take place. Unfortunately there has been much controversy about this in the church, which is really unnecessary if we strictly stick to the Bible text.
The main controversy deals with how baptism is to occur – either by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersion. And a related issue is whether babies can be baptized with a Scriptural baptism.
From our passage this morning, there is little doubt that Jesus was baptized by immersion since Matthew records that He “went up from the water.” That in itself should be enough evidence that is the method that we are to use as well.
But even the Greek word that is used here – the word “baptizo” literally means “to dip”, “to immerse”, or “to submerge”. Unfortunately, most of our English translations have chosen to just transliterate that word into “baptize” rather than to translate it “immerse” or “submerge” – thus giving rise to much misunderstanding and controversy.
But even if we were to ignore those two facts that show that baptism is to be by immersion, the two passages we just looked at that show how we identify with Jesus through baptism would require baptism by immersion. Only immersion would give the visual picture of identifying with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Pouring or sprinkling just won’t give us that same picture.
3. Our ending of one life and beginning another.
Much like it was for Jesus, our baptism is a symbolic act that shows we are passing from one life into another. We are going from a self-absorbed life of sin into a life that is submitted to Jesus where we seek to please only Him. Paul described that change in this familiar passage:
For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:19, 20 (ESV)
What better way to affirm that change in our lives publicly than through baptism? As we go down into the water, we symbolically die to that old way of life and as we come up out of the water we symbolically become alive to a new way of life.
This morning, I want to encourage all of us to respond to what we’ve learned from God’s Word. Although there are almost limitless ways in which God might be calling you to respond, let me suggest three possible ways you might want to respond this morning.
First, if you’ve never committed your life to Jesus, then I want to encourage you to do that today. Perhaps you’re a bit like John who was out there baptizing everyone else as they repented of their sins. But when he came face to face with the sinless perfection of Jesus, he recognized that He, too, needed to repent and submit His life to Jesus. If you’re sensing that God may be calling you to do that today, then I want to encourage you to discuss that with someone who has already made that commitment in his or her life so that you have a complete understanding of what that commitment involves.
Almost anyone here this morning is capable of explaining what it means to become a Christ follower. I’d love to do that if you’d permit me to do so and I know that any of our elders stand ready to do that as well. Just see one of us after the service or fill out the information on the flap of your bulletin and place it in the offering plate or hand it to one of us or one of our greeters after the service. Someone will be in contact with you in the next few days to sit down with you and explain how you can commit your life to Jesus.
Secondly, perhaps you have already committed your life to Jesus, but you’ve never been obedient to His command as it relates to baptism. You’ve never taken the opportunity to publicly proclaim your submission to God’s will, your identification with Jesus and the passing from one phase of life into a new one. If that’s the case, then I want to encourage you to follow through and allow the rest of us in this body the privilege of rejoicing with you. Again, you can talk to any of our elders or fill out the flap of the bulletin to let us know of that decision.
Thirdly, and this is probably where most of us fit this morning, if you’ve already committed your life to Jesus and testified to that relationship through Scriptural baptism, then I encourage you to evaluate your walk with Jesus and ask God to reveal any areas in your life, where your actions might not be consistent with that new life that you have entered into. And then confess those things to God and commit to Him to repent and, with His help, to make the changes that are needed in your life.
