We began our year with prayers that God would open our eyes to help us find Jesus. Today we continue that prayer asking God to help us follow Jesus.
Psalm 25:4-5 “Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.”
In Matthew 3 there is a voice calling in the wilderness, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.” Today we need to prepare the way for the Lord in our hearts, our lives. Not just know about Jesus, but to Know Him and to allow Him to direct our path. It was the ministry of John the Baptist to prepare the people for the ministry of Jesus. John was an attention-getter! His was a message of repentance.
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”
Matthew 3:1-17 John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
All of the Gospels record the baptism of Jesus, but only Matthew reveals the discussion between John and Jesus about his baptism. John felt he should be baptized by Jesus! We would agree! Jesus, however, has a bigger picture in mind – he is being baptized to fulfill all righteousness.
If we are praying for God to open our eyes to find Jesus and to follow Jesus, how would that prayer be answered?
1. We Would Follow Jesus in Humility. (Matthew 3:11, 15)
The humility of John. Unworthy to carry the sandals of Jesus. “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30).
The Humility of Jesus (Matthew 3:15).
The Divine Son of God submitting to an act designed to demonstrate cleansing, repentance and forgiveness. Jesus got down into the muddy river to show us how to be clean. Jesus presented himself for baptism as an act of solidarity with a nation and a world of sinners. Jesus simply got in line with everyone who had been broken by the “wear and tear” of this selfish world and had all but given up on themselves and their God. When the line of downtrodden and sin-sick people formed in hopes of new beginnings through a return to God, Jesus joined them. At his baptism , he identified with the damaged and broken people who needed God. – Robert M. Brearley
The Humility of Us. Humility admits the reality of sin. We are all sinners without the ability to remove even one sin on our own power.
Luke 18:10-14 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
If we are going to follow Jesus we will have to humble ourselves and submit to His Lordship. Admitting that we need God’s help requires humility. A prideful spirit will never let us submit.
2. We Would Follow Jesus in Baptism
The baptism of Jesus… Jesus is not baptized to have sin removed! He is baptized to identify with sinners. He is submitting to the will of the Father. He is embracing the mission of God on Earth. He did it for us … to teach us … and to point us to the Heavenly Father.
1 Peter 2:21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
The subject of baptism is significant in the NT and we could study many verses about the way that God uses this act of submission and faith in saving us. But one significant truth is that even Jesus was baptized … and that should be enough for us.
“Baptism is the biblical, visible, public picture of saving identification with Christ.” – David Platt
3. We Would Follow Jesus in Approval (Matthew 3:16-17)
When Jesus in humility was baptized, the heavens opened up and God expressed his love and approval of Jesus. We should now live as Abba’s Children.
Galatians 4:6-7 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
Conclusion: God, open our eyes to find and follow Jesus.
Follow Him in Humility – the first and greatest quality … that calls us to submit to Him as Lord of our lives.
Follow Him in Baptism – a living proclamation of faith, of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, of our desire to serve Him as Lord.
Follow Him in Finding Approval of our Heavenly Father.
After Jesus’ resurrection came the amazing Day of Pentecost. When Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke to the crowd he told them to follow Jesus, he was now Lord. 3000 people understood that to find and follow Jesus involved being baptized. The church was born and calls all people to find and follow Jesus!
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LifeGroup Discussion Questions
1. Share with the group a time when someone you love was baptized.
2. In connection with John’s preaching people were confessing sin and being baptized. Does confession of sin have a place in the church today? Why or why not?
3. John is preaching in the wilderness a message of baptism and repentance. What does it mean to “bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” (Matthew 3:8)? What is the fruit of repentance? How would you counsel someone who professes Christ but shows no marks of repentance? (Platt)
4. When we left Jesus in the last chapter he was a very young child. Now Jesus appears here as a grown man (about 30 years old). We know very little about Jesus’ childhood. What is one thing you’d like to know about the childhood of Jesus?
5. Matthew is the only Gospel to record the conversation between Jesus and John just prior to his baptism. What do you think is the purpose of Matthew in revealing this to us?
6. What is the difference between resolving to be good before salvation and resolving to obey God after salvation? (Platt)
7. When you think about baptism, is there a particular Bible verse that comes to mind that has been important to you? Share it with the group if you will.
8. The response of God and Holy Spirit in the baptism of Jesus forms one of a few Trinitarian passages in the New Testament. Matthew says that Jesus saw Heaven opened, saw the Holy Spirit as a dove, and heard the voice. In what ways do you think this affirmation was important to Jesus? Consider the first verse of chapter 4 (next week’s text).
A few of these questions were taken from the Christ Exposition Commentary, Matthew, by David Platt.
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Bulletin Article to Go Along With Sermon
I Need To Be Baptized By You
John the baptizer was preaching near the Jordan River. The Bible says that people were responding to his preaching, “Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him…” (Matthew 3:6). It was a stunning moment when Jesus of Nazareth approached John to be baptized. John had been preaching about the coming of Jesus, urging people to get their lives in order. “But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry…” (Matthew 3:11). In a moment of utter humility, John acknowledges the greatness of Jesus. “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (Matthew 3:14) In this amazing encounter between cousins, men, but also God and Man, we can learn much.
Jesus was willing to experience baptism as a human. He had he had no sin to wash away. He had nothing in his heart or life of which he needed to repent. He simply described his reason by saying, “it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). He heard the word of the Lord through God’s prophet John, and he did what all hearers were expected to do.
Jesus experienced the coming of the Spirit of God. Gospel writers express that He appeared as a dove alighting upon Jesus. Just as promised later in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit is a gift to all those who lay down their objections and declare, “I need to be baptized” (Acts 2:38).
Jesus experienced the approval of His Father. “This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). It is fitting that in this moment of glorious expression of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit are in sync with the truth being presented. Jesus’ ministry would now take on a visible trend and John would fade into the background of the story.
If you are reading this and you have not been baptized, I would urge you to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. He is our greatest example of the life to which God calls us. When we are baptized we signal repentance from any ways that do not glorify God and we experience forgiveness as we identify with his death, burial and resurrection. Like Jesus, we are doing the right thing, experiencing the coming of the Spirit of God to live within, and receiving the approval of the Father.
There may be many reasons why we delay baptism, but there are so many reasons to take this step of faith today. Primary among them is that even Jesus came to be baptized by John the baptizer. Will you be baptized today?
John Dobbs
