READ | SERMON NOTES
Summary l Our identity is tied to our traits and determines our purpose. Who you are determines what you do.
The baptism of Jesus reveals His identity and invites us to respond as His disciples.
1) Righteous Saviour
John preached repentance and baptism as a call to repent and receive God’s forgiveness. He was puzzled when Jesus who is sinless asked to be baptised (V14).
Why baptism?
a) Express obedience to fulfil all righteousness (V15). Righteousness encompasses both moral uprightness and right relationship with God and others, i.e., we do this because this is right, this is what God requires and out of obedience to God. Jesus identifies with our need for right relationship with God. He became like us so that we can become like Him (2 Cor 5:21). Matthew 3 records Jesus’s first act in ministry which is to identify with us in His commitment to be our Saviour.
b) To usher in the new kingdom (Mt 3:2). Heaven was opened (Mt 3:16) or torn apart (Mk 1:10) symbolising no going back to the old as what is ripped apart cannot be put together. Baptism symbolises turning the old to new. It marks a new beginning as the kingdom of God has come. Baptism was Jesus’s submission to God’s purpose for Him to be our Saviour.
Our Discipleship Response – do what is required to be right with God.
What does God require of you? Jesus submitted to John though He did not need to. Is God asking you to submit and humble yourself? Submission may require you to give up your rights and make sacrifices. Jesus identified with us, but do we identify with someone who is grieving, hurting or take time to create space for him? Jesus collaborated with John and together their obedience brought about God’s plan of salvation. Do we collaborate with others to fulfil God’s plan? Is God asking you for submission, identification or collaboration? Jesus did all that at His baptism.
2) Anointed Servant
Jesus commits to obey and God anoints and equips Him with the power of the Holy Spirit (Is 42:1). In Gen 1, the Holy Spirit hovers above the water. Now Jesus’s anointing anticipates the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit falls on all who put their faith in Jesus. Though He is the King of kings, Jesus is also our Servant King (Mk 10:45) anointed not for His own benefit but for Him to take up the Cross, serve and love (Lk 4:18,19). He healed multitudes till he was fatigued yet continued to feed the five thousand people who followed Him. Anointing of the Holy Spirit enables true mission and true service.
Our Discipleship Response – we seek and serve with the Spirit’s power.
Anointing is postured on humility and hunger for the Spirit’s filling. Will you humble yourself to ask the Holy Spirit to fill you? Only God can produce the fruit of the Spirit which is always other-centred. We need the Holy Spirit to serve and love the least and the last, especially difficult people.
3) Beloved Son (V17)
To be well pleased with someone is to take delight and pleasure in him. Though a Servant King, Jesus is first and foremost God’s beloved Son. On the two occasions when God spoke directly ( at Jesus’s baptism in Mt 3:17, at the transfiguration in Mt 17:5), He affirmed Jesus as His beloved Son with whom he is well pleased. The Father’s declaration of pleasure in Jesus is a mark of their intimate relationship (divine love that exists between Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and His profound assurance to Jesus who is the chosen One to carry out His salvation plan for mankind (Is 42:1). Timothy Keller proposes that Jesus was affirmed because testing will follow immediately after His baptism (Mt 4) and He will enter into a three-year ministry journey to the Cross during which He will be judged, rejected, ridiculed, betrayed and denied. At the transfiguration, Father is telling the Son that He is pleased and not to give up.
Our Discipleship Response – rest in God’s pleasure as we trust and obey.
John Piper – “our obedience is God’s pleasure when it proves that God is our treasure”.
Without faith no one can please God (Hb 11:6).
We are God’s beloved (1 John 3). Serving and obeying God is not easy. The pleasure of the Father keeps Pastor Ray and many pastors going. May we seek righteousness in the Son, our righteous Saviour, power of the Holy Spirit to offer a life filled with fruit and rest in the pleasure of the Father to persevere to trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there is no other way.
Who is Jesus to you? What will you do?
(Sermon notes by Woo Choi Yin)
PONDER | REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- Study Scripture
a. Read the text of Matthew 3:13-17. What stands out to you? - Recall Sermon
a. Why did Jesus choose to be baptized?
b. What is God calling you to do in order to be in a right relationship with him?
c. What is the significance of the Spirit descending upon Jesus like a dove?
d. What empowerment do you need from the Spirit in this season of life and ministry?
e. Why is Jesus the Beloved Son?
f. Why is God’s pleasure so important as we obey and serve him? - Relate Personally
a. What about the message that really spoke to you?
b. What is one discipleship lesson gleaned from the sermon? - Commit to Action
a. In what ways is God calling you to act in response to the message?
b. What steps will you take this week to apply the lessons learned from the sermon?
