Day 3 - The Baptism of Jesus

Well, good morning, and thank you so much for joining us for on Thursday, March third, for our second day of our Lenten devotions.

Today we're looking at Matthew Chapter three, and just as we did yesterday, we would encourage you to spend some time on your own reading through the entire chapter of Matthew Chapter three.

But for this devotion we'll look specifically at verses thirteen through seventeen, which say Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.

But John tried to deter him, say, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?

Jesus replied, Let it be so now.

It is proper for us to do this, to fulfill all righteousness.

Then John consented.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water.

At that moment heaven was open, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.

And a voice from heaven said, This is my son, whom I love.

With him I am well pleased.

In this passage, Jesus has come to the Jordan River in order to be baptized by John the Baptist.

John protests that Jesus should be baptizing him instead.

Imagine being John and being asked to baptize the Savior.

John knew he was the one that needed to be baptized.

John's was the reaction of a sinner in the presence of a holy God.

This event is considered the beginning of Jesus' ministry.

At this time, Jesus convinces John to baptize him since it must be done in order to fulfill all righteousness.

This little phrase has huge implications as it refers to all of God's plan to reconcile his lost creation, us, to himself.

Jesus demonstrates his willingness to humble himself and to comply fully with his Father's plan.

He displays his total obedience.

It begins with his baptism but will end on the cross in an empty tomb.

In verse 16 through 17, we see all three aspects of the Trinity as the heavens open up.

The Father confirms Jesus as his Son.

The Son is the mediator who will allow all of us to go to heaven to be with the Father, and the Spirit descends on Jesus.

The Spirit descending is a picture of what happens to each of us when we believe we are given the Holy Spirit to help us in our walk.

This does not happen when we are baptized, though.

It occurs at the moment of salvation.

This passage gives us the gospel.

As Matthew Henry writes, out of Christ God is a consuming fire, but in Christ a reconciled Father.

Without Christ we are separated from God and cannot do anything to redeem ourselves.

Christ lived a sinless life in obedience to his Father that culminated in his death and resurrection, which enabled us to be reconciled to God.

It opened the heavens for us just as the heavens were opened on the day of Jesus' baptism.

This is the beginning of the story of Easter.

Why we celebrate.

So our action this morning is this.

If you have accepted Christ but have not experienced believers' baptism, prayerfully consider being baptized.

Baptism does not save, but it is an important event that publicly demonstrates your desire to follow Christ.

He was baptized as an example to us.

If Christ chose to be baptized, shouldn't his followers be also?

Baptized believers should pray for more humility as Christ humbled himself in order to fulfill the will of his Father.

Lord, I thank you for the scriptures that clearly show us the humility and obedience of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Thank you for sending your Son and His total obedience to your plan, which enables us to be reconciled to you.

I pray that you will search my heart just now and impress upon me any areas of my life that I have not surrendered to you.

I desire to be more humble and more obedient so that I might become more like Christ.

Amen.

Well, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

We pray that this devotion was meaningful and beneficial to you and your relationship with Jesus.

We would encourage you to continue to read through the entire chapter of Matthew chapter three.

And if you would like to make a step of faith today and make Jesus your Lord and Savior, we would love to have a conversation with you about that.

You can email us or reach out to us by calling our office.

And if you have yet to be baptized, we actually have a special baptism service scheduled for this Sunday, and we would love for you to be able to sign up and be a part of that event.

If that's you, we would love to again to talk to you.

Please email us or reach out to us through our church office.

We love you guys, and we'll see you back tomorrow morning.