Baptism of the Son II
Notes
Transcript
Please turn to Luke 3 / Philippians 2
Jesus was about 30 years old when He began His public ministry. Before He began His ministry, there was this “inauguration” ceremony - He was baptized in water and with the Holy Spirit.
Question - If Jesus was the Son of God, why would He need to receive the Holy Spirit?
Let’s find out.
Don’t need to turn there, but remember we are in Acts 1:1-5. And for sake of time read on that on your own. We are continuing our study of water and spirit baptism - setting the stage for the rest of Acts. And in Acts 1:1-5, we find a reference to:
1) The Promise of the Father
2) The Baptism of the Son
3) The Baptism of Believers
We’ve already covered the promise of the Father and the water baptism of Jesus - so if you've missed those, I would encourage you to go back and listen so that you’re caught up.
Now remember baptism is about being completely immersed in or surrounded by water - and it really means being “all in.” So,
Baptism is less about the water and more about the commitment. It is a pledge - an oath of loyalty.
Water baptism is about making a pledge or an oath of total loyalty to Yahweh, the God Most High and Jesus Christ the Lord. It's a public declaration that I'm turning my back on the gods of this world and I am living in absolute allegiance to God. Again, it's about being “all in.”
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a similar. We consecrate ourselves entirely to God and by faith we receive the Spirit - are completely immersed with the Holy Spirit so that no part of our lives is untouched by God’s presence. Or no part of our lives that is off-limits to God.
Back to the question - If Jesus was God in the flesh, why would He need to receive the Holy Spirit? To answer that, let’s turn to Luke 3:21 and look at His baptism.
Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened,
and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
Jesus received the Spirit for at least 2 reasons: Jesus received a …
1) Divine Commission to Commence the Mission
There are three offices or roles of Jesus - Prophet, Priest, King. Water baptism (last week) initiated Jesus’ role as our High Priest - that He would offer Himself as the ultimate sacrifice - once and for all. His receiving the Spirit initiated His role as prophet.
A prophet speaks on God’s behalf. They proclaim the truths of God. Throughout Scripture, genuine prophets of Yahweh were always commissioned by a divine encounter with God before they began their ministry. Moses and the burning bush. Isaiah in the throne room of God. Jeremiah, Ezekiel etc. - they all experienced divine personal encounters. These divine encounters served as a commission from God to commence or begin their mission.
So, the giving of the Holy Spirit to Jesus was God’s commissioning service for Christ. We see this in
you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed:
how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
Look at what happened after Jesus received the Spirit.
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness
And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country.
Scripture is telling us that this man, Jesus was commissioned by God and the proof of His commissioning was the infilling of the Spirit.
Second reason Jesus received the Spirit is this - He needed …
2) Divine Power to Complete the Mission
Not only was the Spirit given as a sign to commence with the mission, but also to empower or enable Jesus to complete the mission. Again, why would Jesus need to be filled with the Spirit or with supernatural power to complete the mission? After all, was He not God in the flesh?
Turn to Phil. 2.
who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
Stop there. First, the word grasped. This particular Greek word
Grasped (Aρπαγμός, harpagmos) means to violently hold tightly by force to one’s rightful property.
I think we've all been there -especially as children. Some other kid tries to grab your toy. “This is my toy!” And you're doing everything you can to hold onto your toy.
It says here that Jesus did not do that, but he let something go. What did he let go? For a lack of a proper word, He let go of His “Godness” or His Divine powers. Jesus Had every right to hold onto is equal status as God, but for the sake of humanity He willingly let it go. Jesus refused to hold onto or use His God status.
Jesus just didn’t let it go - He took it a step further.
but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
To Empty (κενόω, kenoō) means to void out, to render ineffective, or to divest oneself of position.
In 1980, Superman II hit the theaters. At the beginning of the movie, Superman gave up all of his superpowers in order to become a normal man so he could enjoy a loving relationship with Lois Lane. Gets into a fight at a diner - bloody mouth ….
That's a good analogy of what Jesus did when He emptied Himself - He gave up all of His superpowers (omniscience, omnipotence …) so that he could walk as a normal man - and He did it out of love.
But He had a mission to complete -
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
There is only one way Jesus as a man (He emptied Himself) could make it to the cross, complete the mission, defeat the enemy, be the Savior of the world and show us all how God wants us to live - The only way possible for all of that to happen is through the empowerment or the infilling of the Holy Spirit. There was no way Jesus could have done what he did without the Spirit of God. And if Jesus needed the Holy Spirit to complete the mission, how much more do you and I need the Holy Spirit to complete our mission? We too have a mission to complete, disciples to make, witnessing to do.
This is not a charismatic or Pentecostal or denominational issue - this is a reality issue. Again, if Jesus needed the Holy Spirit to complete the mission, how much more do you and I need the Holy Spirit?
And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent;
or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”