Sermon for Jan. 12, 2020

This morning I'll be reading Matthew chapter 3 verses 13 through 17.

And I'll be reading the Holman Christian Standard Bible.

Matthew begins with the genealogy of Jesus,,, then the information surrounding Jesus' birth and the first few years of Jesus' life. All of this is covered in the first two chapters of Matthew. Chapter 3 begins with John the Baptist who was preparing the way for Jesus and this leads to the verses that we will study this morning.

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14 But John tried to stop Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and yet You come to me?” 15 Jesus answered him, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him to be baptized. 16 After Jesus was baptized, He went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on Him. 17 And there came a voice from heaven: This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him!

God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord, as we begin this morning, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.

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As we continue with our second Sunday of the New Year,,, I was reminded as I read this scripture about the word from God for us as we begin this year,,, to "Listen and Obey".

And in this scripture as always,,, Jesus is the best example we can follow.

Jesus spent His whole life listening and obeying,,, and we are expected to follow His example.

There is also some other information that we can take from these verses as well.

We will spend our time looking at ways that we can continue to learn how to "Listen and Obey" and the other things as well.

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Beginning in verse 13 it says: 13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.

Jesus went to John to get him to baptize Him even though Jesus had never sinned.

This was what God wanted Jesus to do and He was obedient as always.

As we see in the next verse though,,, John tries to talk Jesus out of doing this.

(2:54)

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In verse 14 it says: 14 But John tried to stop Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and yet You come to me?”

John knew who Jesus was and he knew that He was without sin.

He told Jesus basically,,, that Jesus was doing it backwards.

It's like John was saying "Jesus,,, you really just don't understand".

And how many times do we have the same thoughts that John had?

How many times have we prayed about something,,, and we don't get the answer we want or it's not fast enough,,, or we just don't understand why,,, and then we say, "Lord,,, you just don't understand".

When the whole time,,, we are the ones that just don't understand.

We don't understand because we don't have the whole picture.

We don't see what God can see and we don't know everything that God knows or what He is actually doing all of the time.

In these verses,,, John didn't know or understand,,, but Jesus gives him an answer in the next verse.

(4:06)

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In verse 15 it says: 15 Jesus answered him, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

My Bible Knowledge Commentary says that John recognized Jesus did not fit the requirements for his baptism, since his baptism was for repentance from sin.

Jesus had never sinned.

According to a few examples found in - 7:26 and ,,, all of these state that He never sinned,,, so He could not be officially entering into John’s baptism even though He was seeking to be baptized by John.

Some feel Jesus was confessing the sins of the nation like Moses, Ezra, and Daniel had done on previous occasions.

However, another possibility is suggested in this verse.

Jesus’ response to John was that it was fitting for Him to take part in John’s baptism at this time in order to fulfill all righteousness.

So,,, what did Jesus mean?

Prior to John the Baptist, baptism had already existed in Jewish culture,,, to a certain extent.

Some believe it was associated with the cleansing of the priests with water before performing their priestly duties,,, found in and .

There are also some references to the Essenes which John is supposed to have associated with during this time,,, but there is no evidence in the Bible of this.

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls drew attention to the ways that John's mission and the Essenes were similar.

But John neither belonged to nor intended to found any organized community, he did not stress study of the Mosaic Law, and his message was more widely directed,,, for example,,, to the poor, to sinners,,, than was that of the Essenes.

So,,, regardless of whether either of these were the origin of baptism,,, Jewish history shows that Jewish cleansing ceremonies that resembled baptism clearly existed before it was used by John the Baptist.

His ministry likely used this existing practice as a method to call the general public to repentance prior to Christ's ministry.

So,,, John’s message was a message of repentance,,, and those experiencing it were looking forward to a coming Messiah who would be righteous and who would bring in righteousness.

And if the Messiah was to provide righteousness for sinners,,, He must be identified with sinners.

It was therefore in the will of God for Him to be baptized by John in order to be identified with sinners.

We in turn,,, as we were baptized,,, were identified with Jesus' death,,, burial,,, and resurrection.

Baptism is a personal identification with death to sin,,, and resurrection to a new way of life.

says: 4 Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life.

This is our public profession of faith identifying ourselves with Jesus.

As we are baptized,,, we outwardly profess,,, both,,, that our sins have died,,, and now we are resurrected into the new life that we have now which allows the Holy Spirit to guide us each and every day.

We aren't saved by baptism but it is an outward act of obedience that shows others that we are saved,,, because by doing so we are identified with Christ.

(8:02)

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In the first part of verse 16 it says: 16 After Jesus was baptized, He went up immediately from the water.

Almost all that disagree with our belief of baptism,,, (and when I say that,,, I mean those that disagree with us on sprinkling,,, and pouring),,, usually use the part of the verse that says "He went up immediately from the water".

They are convinced that means that Jesus was immersed.

However,,, when you get to comparing the way these verses are interpreted,,, it also becomes obvious immediately,,, that there is no clear cut answer.

According to many scholars,,, it is interpreted that Jesus is coming up from the water,,, as in being immersed.

Also,,, according to other scholars,,, it is interpreted that Jesus is coming up from the water,,, as in walking out of the water onto the bank.

One example I read,,, by Matt Slick,,, used his day at the beach to describe this,,, by saying that when his children were in the water at the beach,,, sometimes if the waves became large,,, he would tell his children to "come out of the water.

They weren't immersed in the water,,, they were only in the water up to their knees when he tells them to come out.

He says that Jesus could have been doing the same.

There is also the example in where Philip was baptizing the eunuch after explaining the scriptures to him.

Beginning in verse 38,,, it says: 38 Then he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer. But he went on his way rejoicing.

In this example they are both coming up out of the water,,, which to me looks like they are both walking out of the water,,, not being submerged at the same time.

And its not just these verses or these words but other verses and words that are interpreted differently by different people.

Most of the time,,, those saying that immersion is the only way of baptism,,, are saying that to be "saved",,, we must do something,,, or we aren't saved!

We,,, as Methodist,,, put our faith in God's work,,, not man!

In other words,,, we believe that we are baptized in "obedience" to God's word,,, not because our baptism saves us.

To us as Methodist,,, God does the work,,, not you or me!

Going back to the different views of the interpretation of the words in scripture,,, that’s part of the reason why we,,, as Methodist recognize all three methods of baptism.

These methods are also recorded as being used by the early church at different times and are therefore acceptable ways of baptism today.

The three methods that we recognize are sprinkling,,, pouring,,, and immersion,,, with the important part being that,,, water is used and that a person is baptized “in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” as Christ commanded. ()

We recognize sprinkling because it was used in the Old Testament,,, one example shown in , "And thus you shall do to them, for their cleansing: sprinkle purifying water on them, and let them use a razor over their whole body, and wash their clothes, and they shall be clean."

We use pouring because it was used in the Old Testament also,,, one example found in: which is an example of pouring oil,,, but like the example found in ,,, they were both used,,, the first as a cleansing action and the second as an anointing action.

We recognize immersion because it was used in the early church history along with sprinkling and pouring.

We as United Methodist believe that baptism is an outward proclamation of an inward conversion.

In other words, baptism is a ceremonial act undertaken after a person accepts Jesus Christ as his or her Lord and Savior.

This is usually done in the presence of the church body as a public proclamation of one’s faith.

According to our Church’s official document on baptism: “Grace brings us to an awareness of our sinful predicament and of our inability to save ourselves; grace motivates us to repentance and gives us the capacity to respond to divine love.

In the words of the baptismal ritual: ‘All this is God’s gift, offered to us without price.’”

These words came from "By Water and the Spirit”—A United Methodist Document on Baptism.

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The rest of verse 16 and 17 says: The heavens suddenly opened for Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on Him. 17 And there came a voice from heaven: This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him!

(13:22)

This is one of the times in scripture where you have the "Trinity",,, all together,,, at one time.

In these verses we have the Spirit of God descending like a dove,,, God speaking from heaven,,, and Jesus.

All three are present in these verses,,, the Father,,, the son and the Holy Spirit!

God spoke and said that "This is my beloved Son. I take delight in Him!"

God tells us that He is pleased with Jesus,,, and we should be pleased with Jesus as well,,, because His sacrifice is why we are able to have our own personal relationship with God!

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The reason that God was pleased with Jesus was because of His obedience to God!

He was always listening and obeying.

That's true for us as well.

We must be sure that we are always listening and obeying.

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Hopefully,,, these verses will help us to remember the reasons why we believe the way that we do about baptism.

Also they should help us to remember to be like Jesus and listen and obey each and every day.

(14:31)

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So as we sing our final hymn,,, let me remind you that the alter is always open,,,

If you feel God speaking to you,,, don't hesitate to come,,, maybe you just have questions,,, God will answer,,, you just have to ask Him,,, whatever the need may be,,,

As we sing the final hymn,,, come if needed!

Oakdale - Hymn Page -

Seminary - Hymn Page - 382

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