Be The Light - Led by the Spirit
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Be The Light - Led by the Spirit
Be The Light - Led by the Spirit
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
“Then” - What happened before?
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.
If John’s baptism was for repentance of sin, Why did Jesus need to be baptized?
What if the missing element of baptism is - Commissioning?
Jesu said “it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”
What is the righteousness that needed to be fulfilled?
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
In the Jewish tradition the law and the prophets proclaimed and represented the righteousness of God
Righteousness here is to be read as justice of God.
An example of the prophecies that Jesus is coming to fulfill is that of Isaiah.
Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
a bruised reed he will not break,
and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not grow faint or be discouraged
till he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his law.
Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
a light for the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
I am the Lord; that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols.
As followers of Jesus we are called into this ministry of righteousness.
Righteousness of God means working for the justice of God.
Baptism is a commissioning.
The baptized are called to ministry, to do the work of God.
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 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.
Newness of life - Brings a NEW ASSIGNMENT IN LIFE
(Example)
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; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
A beautiful picture!
Jesus was baptized…
Important Keys -
“The heavens were opened to him”
“He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove” - It never said it was a dove
Your Spiritual experience is yours!
Rest on Him - Luke said it filled Him!
Affirmation - A voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
Baptism means for us exactly what it meant for Jesus that day he stepped into the River Jordan and was washed by John.
He was beginning his public life, his mission.
His baptism was his initiation, his entrance into that mission.
He emerged from the water commissioned by the Father to do his work.
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Jesus was Led up by the Spirit… - Jesus is teaching us to follow the leading of the Spirit…
Into the wilderness - He was alone in the wilderness…
Isolation can produce clarity
Commissioned for an assignment
But I need the wilderness experience!
“To be tempted”
Tempted: to test v. — to put to the test in order to ascertain the nature of something, including imperfections, faults, or other qualities.The Greek word is peirazein.
And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written,
“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
The tempter has two assignments in this text:
To attack our Identity
To confuse your commission
The test wasn’t for Jesus! The test was for me and you…
Test was to expose His BS!
Matthew was attentive to detail....
Mark / Luke were not disciples of Jesus