Matthew-006

Today, we turn to the Word of God, and begin at what is spoken of as the first official words of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 3:15,

By saying “official,” I don’t mean to forget what he said at the age of 12, “I must be about my Father’s business.” The spirit of those words is actually included here in the Lord Jesus’ words at his own baptism in Matthew 3:15 as we shall see. We will read the entire paragraph from Matthew 3:13-17.

Why did Jesus submit himself to John’s baptism of repentance?

These words sum up in essence the spirit of the Lord Jesus, his character, the direction of his ministry, and therefore it contains a very important spiritual principle which indicates the secret of the Lord Jesus’ power as our redeemer.

I have to warn you that theologically speaking, it becomes very complicated to expound this passage, but I am going to keep it as clear and as simple as possible, and avoid technical and highly com­plex theological questions. The theological questions arise basically from this question: Why did Jesus need to be baptized by John the Baptist? Or if he did not need to be baptized by John, why did he submit himself to John for baptism?

As you well know, the baptism of John was repeatedly described in the New Testament as a “baptism of repentance.” That is to say, when a person repented of his sins in response to John’s preaching of the kingdom, he would receive baptism as a sign of his cleansing, of his being forgiven by God. He would be cleansed from his sins by the water of baptism. This cleansing, this baptism would be a sign that he was now washed clean from his sins which he had repented. But here arises precisely the question, Jesus had no sins to repent, therefore why did he submit to this baptism? Why did he need to be baptized? Or if he did not need to be baptized since he had no sins to repent, why did he accept this baptism? As I say, here we come into the deep things of the theological discussion.

Jesus’ baptism characterizes the Christian baptism

Watchman Nee tries to give the answer as: baptism prefigures death and resurrection, so the Lord Jesus shows from the very beginning of his ministry that it would be characterized by death and resurrection, therefore, he submitted to the baptism.

Now this answer is not satisfactory for one reason: he is reading the significance of Christian baptism into John’s baptism. As an exposi­tor of the Word of God, you must not let your dogma govern your exposition. It is very important that we are careful and honest exegetes of the Word, and we don’t read things backwards where they don’t belong. So with all due respect to Watchman Nee, we have to point out that John’s baptism is not identical to Christian baptism.

This distinction is clearly made even in Acts 19:1-6, that Paul baptized again those who were baptized with John’s baptism in the name of Jesus. He pointed out to them that the baptism of John was of a preliminary character. It was not equivalent to and not adequate for Christian baptism. Therefore, this is where Brother Nee makes something of a slip when he reads backwards the Christian meaning of baptism into John’s baptism. We must remember that this is John’s baptism we are talking about, not Christian baptism, and therefore, to enforce the meanings of death and resurrection with Christ is not proper exegesis.

Jesus identified himself with sinful man

Therefore, why did the Lord Jesus accept this baptism? It was in order to identify himself with sinful man. That is now much more the well-accepted explanation among western theologians, and this explanation is correct as far as it goes.

It finds its justification in the words of the Lord Jesus’ reply when John the Baptist prevented him, “It is fitting for us.” He did not say, “It is fitting for me,” but “It is fitting for us.” By using the word “us,” he identifies himself with John the Baptist and with mankind generally. It is quite correct to say that he accepted this baptism as man. He identified himself with sinful mankind generally, because unless he did identify himself with us, how would he die for our sins? He had to be a man to die for us. “He is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Heb. 2:11), to be associated with being one of us. Although we are sinners, he identified himself with sinners.

Spiritual reasons for Jesus’ submission to John’s baptism

I don’t wish to concern with these theological questions. I wish to go into the practical aspect and to see whether there is a spiritual principle we can learn from this. The question I want to ask again, without looking for the theological answer is this: Could Jesus not be identified with us all the same without going through the baptism? I suppose the answer to that would have to be probably yes, for identifying himself with us does not necessarily mean that he has to be baptized, does it?

1. Jesus submitted to the baptism of repentance to fulfill God’s ordinance

Let us first think of the Lord Jesus whom God sent into this world to die for us. The only way he can do this is to be without sin, and he is without sin. We see here, “the Lamb of God” at a little over thirty years old, relying totally on the power of God in him to live a life without sin.

The Bible tells us that in a day where people were already wearing linen and other kinds of fabric, John the Baptist was living in the wilderness, wearing animal skin with a rough leather girdle around his waist. In addition, he had unkempt, long hair, as he has never shaved himself since he was a Nazirite from birth, and as such he had a wild-looking appearance. He was eating wild honey and locusts, not exactly a very tempting diet to our minds; and preaching in the wilderness, not associating himself with the rest of sinful society.

Now he was an impressive figure of a man – a prophet of Israel, and they had not seen a prophet in Israel for over 400 years. No wonder this man caused quite a stir. But he himself confessed, not only was he not the Messiah, but also unworthy even to be a slave of the Messiah, to untie the leather latches of Jesus’ sandals. He only recog­nized himself as being a servant who prepared the way for the Messiah. You read this in the passage just before the one we are studying now, where he spoke of his own ministry. Then, when he saw Jesus, he recognized him as someone whose righteousness was greater than his own. When Jesus came to him, he said, “I should not be baptizing you. You should not be submitting to my baptism, to my ministry. I should be submitting to you, to your ministry.” He recognized that Jesus was far greater than himself.

The question is: Why does the greater submit to the lesser? The Lord’s teaching, “Let it be so now for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” shows us his character and the spirit in which he was to become the God-sent Savior of the world. If only we can capture the spirit of Jesus.

When we study the Bible, instead of seeking theological explana­tions, our focus should be on entering into the spirit of what God wants to reveal to us. So often, we get so tangled up with words and sentences, we miss the spirit. The apostle Paul says, “the letter kills (and it can kill) but the Spirit makes alive” (cf. 2 Cor. 3:6). You can study the Old Testament in such a way that the Old Testament could kill you. Or you can study the Old Testament in such a way that the Spirit of God in the Old Testament can make you alive.

Can you see the beauty of the spirit revealed here? The greater submits to the lesser. That is the pattern of Jesus’ ministry all along: the greater submits to the lesser. He could easily have said, “This is a baptism of repentance. Which of you convicts me of sin? You admit that I have no sin, therefore, I don’t need this baptism.” But Jesus will submit to the baptism of repentance if it is an ordinance of God.

The central disease of the church: Refusal to learn submission

Let us try to capture the spirit of this which is in contrast to the spirit of so many Christians. And that really bothers me. Christians often come to me and say, “I believe in God and in Jesus Christ, but why do I need to be baptized? I don’t need baptism.” What a striking con­trast! Jesus, who really did not need to be baptized in the sense of a legal obligation, yet committed to baptism. But these sinners don’t feel that they need to be baptized because baptism is not essential. Do you see the contrast between these attitudes? It is a world of difference! The one who really does not need to be baptized none­theless submits to baptism, and those who most urgently need to be baptized do not regard it as important for themselves to be baptized. They have not yet understood the spirit of Christ. Can you see the spirit? Can I suggest to you how different is the spirit?

This is the central disease of the church today. The refusal to learn submission is why so many Christians are without power in the church, without the fullness of joy in the Christian life; why God cannot use them abundantly.

We still have to go through elementary questions like wives asking, “We live in the 20^th century, why should I submit to my husband? That was in Paul’s days, but we are now in enlightened days so we are equal. They are so equal now that they are being drafted into the army in the United States. Do women want to be equal? Then when the enemy machine gun is spitting bullets away, women should also charge. It shouldn’t just be men who die on the battlefield, let the women go and die too. Do you want to be equal? Then you have to have it both ways.

The funny thing is that so many of those who want equal rights are upset about having to go to the army and fight. I am not at all sug­gesting that women should go to fight, not because they cannot fight. I have seen men squirm childishly when there is talk about killings and blood and so on, and women did not blink. When I say that men are in no way braver than women, I don’t mean this in any satirical way, although I very much doubt that the action on the battlefield is really the role for women. But of course, if women feel that they should be equal with men there, I think the men will welcome them very much and say, “By all means join us! Charge at the enemy with the bayonets! Charge at the machine guns!”

I have seen women go before the men when there were calls for going into the jungles for the sake of God. It seemed that the jungle did not frighten the women, whereas the men seemed to squirm more about mosquitoes and snakes. Even though women often appear to be more afraid of snakes than men, for some unknown rea­son, they are still willing to venture into jungles and other places. I really admire that.

There is something in our nature that refuses to submit, that will always argue: “Why is this and that necessary? Why does God make this ordinance? It’s not fair that wives should obey husbands. Why shouldn’t it be the other way around? It’s not fair that I have to obey this fellow in church.” Or, “I’m certain that I am just as capable as him, yet he is selected as an elder while I am not. That’s unfair.” What we mean by fair is that we really don’t want to submit, and we use fairness as an argument against submission.

My daughter is very good at that. She always pleads this question of fairness. “It’s not fair! Why do I have to go to bed and you can stay up?” If you try to explain that it is because she is a child, then she says, “Well, it’s not fair to children.” When you try to explain that children need more sleep than adults, she thinks that is also not fair. In this case, I’m not responsible for that fairness.

I think we need to learn about the spirit of the Lord Jesus. He refused to take any glory to himself. Rather, he humbled himself. He did not say to John the Baptist, “I am greater than you. Why should I submit to your baptism?” On the contrary, when John objected, he pleaded with God’s servant, “John, tolerate it now. Even if you don’t like the idea of my submitting to your baptism, please accept it all the same. Allow me to be baptized by you.” Oh, that touches to the heart! The greater submits and pleads to be accepted into the ministry of the inferior.

Jesus was not afraid to be misunderstood

Notice carefully that in doing this very thing, Jesus left himself open to very serious misunderstanding that could cripple his ministry. Did you realize this? What do I mean? He opened himself to misun­derstanding that he was confessing himself to be a sinner like all the other sinners who were coming to John the Baptist to receive baptism. He placed himself among the sinners! People will say, “If you accept the baptism of John, we might as well study with John and not with you, because you confess John’s greatness by accepting baptism at his hand. If he had any disciples at all at this point, they could easily have turned away from him and said, “We’ll follow John.” Or else the others may not have to listen to his preaching because he seemed to admit that he was a sinner since he accepted the baptism of repentance. I would like you to notice this point. But Jesus is not afraid to be misunderstood.

In serving God, you will often be misunderstood

This is another thing I would like you to bear in mind very strongly. In serving God, you are going to be misunderstood, time and time again. Your purest motives will be misinterpreted. When you preach from the purest motives, even your preaching will be misinter­preted.

In our bathroom in Liverpool, I put the words of John 10:3-4, “My sheep hear my voice and they follow me” underneath a beautiful picture of Swiss mountains with sheep, one following the other. And my prayer was: “Lord Jesus, help me always be your sheep, ever listening to your voice following after you, just as you follow after your God and Father.” Well, it was incredible to me when one troublemaker in the Liverpool Church slandered me by saying that I was trying to make the church follow me because I put up these words in my bathroom. I don’t know how many people use our bath­room upstairs in Liverpool, but I must say that it really astonished me how twisted a person’s mind can be! Such a thought never even crossed my mind! After all, when you put these words in a bathroom, it’s not exactly put up there for public consumption. They were there to remind me every day as I wash my face, that I would listen to the voice of God’s Holy Spirit that day, and continue to follow him through that day.

The Lord Jesus was not afraid to be misunderstood. People will distort what you do or preach out of the purest motives, to attack against you. Don’t let it discourage you.

So the Lord Jesus left himself open to misinterpretation in accepting this baptism. “Aha! You accept John’s baptism. You confess that you are a sinner, do you?” No, he didn’t confess that he was a sinner, but he accepted John’s baptism. He humbled himself to accept the minis­try of an inferior. Even John the Baptist recognized his greatness, but Jesus pleaded to be accepted under his ministry for baptism. Ponder over this scene again: Jesus came to be baptized, standing amidst a great crowd of sinners repenting of their sins. I ask you to get this picture clearly into your minds. How many of you would say, “Oh no, you shouldn’t do that! You’ll be misunderstood!”?

2. Jesus’ submitted as the greater to the lesser

“That’s all right,” Jesus said, “I will accept this baptism because I want to fulfill all righteousness.” Jesus was concerned with right­eousness. He wanted to fulfill God’s righteous ordinance of repentance, which can only be achieved by submission to John’s baptism of repentance. Have you got this heart of submission? If not, don’t be in God’s work because there is no future whatsoever for you there. If Jesus had not entered into his ministry with a complete willingness to submit to God and to John the Baptist, who was inferior to him but still a servant of God, he would not have been chosen by God to become the Savior of the world. You must learn this attitude of submission if you are going to serve God, and to experience God’s fullness and power in the Christian life.

I smile when I think back on my being invited to preach at a meeting of the Charismatics when I was in England some years ago. I trust you know who the Charismatics are. They are people who believe in speaking in tongues and in all the signs of the Spirit. I accepted the invitation and ministered the Word of God. The Word of God was very graciously received, and I was also received with great hos­pitality. Then one of the brothers at the meeting invited me to live in his home when he discovered that I had nowhere to stay in London that night. I smile because after this loving brother had taken the trouble to drive a long distance to take me to his home, he said to me, “I would like to minister to you in some way.” And I said, “I would be very happy if you could.” He said, “I would like to pray for you with the laying on of hands.”

At that suggestion, my other friend became very angry. I smile when I recall his anger. Both of them were doctors, and very dedicated to God’s work. My other brother rebuked this brother saying, “How dare you propose to pray for him with the laying on of hands? Your suggestion is like Timothy saying to Paul, ‘I would like to pray for you with the laying on of hands.” This is unthinkable! It’s too arrogant!”

I don’t know why this dear brother had such a high regard for me and drew a comparison between Paul and me. From my perspective, it didn’t seem like I was necessarily Paul and he was Timothy. I intervened and said, “Please, please pray for me with the laying on of hands. I’ll be so happy if you could do so.” And so this brother did this very thing. To me, it was a great blessing that someone was willing to serve God in this way, and I was happy to submit to his laying on of hands. It was truly wonderful!

So we must learn this attitude of willingness to submit. We should not have the attitude to say, “I’m a pastor and a servant of God. You may love God, but you are neither a pastor nor a servant of God in any full-time sense. How can you think about laying hands on me to pray for me?” Perhaps someone might feel offended in this way, but God forbid that we should think like this. If the Spirit of God moved him to suggest that he would pray for me with the laying on of hands, I would happily submit to that. Let us learn this attitude of submis­sion from the Lord Jesus, and not think, “I am greater than you.” How can we dare to think that we are greater when even the Lord Jesus did not when he had every right to do so? Let us always ask for God’s help to always treat the other as better than ourselves. This is the attitude of submission.

God clears the misunderstanding for Jesus

What about being misunderstood then? When we walk with God, trust him to work out all the misunderstandings. And that is precisely what God does. Notice what happens when the Lord Jesus comes out of the water as he is baptized. A voice from heaven speaks, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Some people thought it was thundering. It was God speaking! God put his seal upon Jesus. Why? It’s precisely because he submitted so completely as a servant to the servant of God.

3. Jesus’ humility: submitting to John the Baptist, a sinful man

Notice the Lord Jesus’ humility as he came voluntarily to John the Baptist and asked to receive his baptism. That deeply impresses me. The more I ponder about the Lamb of God receiving baptism at the hands of a sinful man, the more I am humbled!

John the Baptist was a great servant of God, but he had very serious faults, if I may be allowed to mention that, because the Bible mentions it. In Matthew Chapter 11, we notice that John completely faded in his spiritual courage. It is disappointing to see, but it’s nonetheless true. In Matthew 11:3, you will read that as John the Baptist sat in prison, somehow he wavered, and he sent a messenger to the Lord Jesus saying, “Are you he who is to come or do we look for someone else?” Alas! The great servant of God, John the Baptist wavered! He took offense in Jesus at the critical moment so that the Lord Jesus had to say in verse 6, “Blessed is he who is not offended by me.” John the Baptist was languishing in prison. Perhaps he had hoped that the Lord Jesus would open the prison gates and set him free. Why didn’t the Lord Jesus do something to rescue the Baptist? The Lord Jesus did not move, and it must have been because he did not see his God and Father move. So John the Baptist was offended. “Don’t you see me sitting here in jail with my life at stake?” Even this great servant of God had his weaknesses and failings.

The Lord Jesus still held John in esteem even though he wavered (cf. Mt. 21:25). He still spoke of him as that mighty servant of God. Jesus reveals Yahweh God who lives in him, who does not estimate us according to our weaknesses and failings. God remains constant and unchanging towards us, while we may change in our relationship to him. Isn’t that beautiful!

The Bible tells us frankly, that John the Baptist, great as he was, hesitated towards the end. But still, the Lord Jesus came to this man of God and submitted to his ministry, not because John the Baptist was an incomparably wonderful person with no faults and failings. Not at all! But it was because he was a servant of God, and because God’s ordinance of repentance was being fulfilled through John the Baptist’s baptism. These things are deep for us to understand.

4. Jesus called for repentance as he submitted to a baptism of repentance

Bear one more thing carefully in mind: The Lord Jesus never asked anyone else to do something that he himself did not do. When Jesus called others to repentance, he himself had submitted to a baptism of repentance. Repentance means a total change of mind. The Lord Jesus does not need to change his mind totally in regard to sin, but he did make a change at this point. From this point on, he gave up his secular job as a carpenter, he left his home and made a very fundamental change – the time had come for him to go forth to preach the gospel.

5. Jesus’ consistent obedience to God’s will fulfills all righteousness

However, he need not have bothered to do this unless this spirit of submission had been in his life. I would like to conclude on this very note. This is the key note which marks the whole of the Lord Jesus’ ministry, and he preached it not so much in words as by his life in submitting himself to a servant of God far inferior to himself. He submitted all the same in order to fulfill all righteousness. Righteousness was the central concern.

How do you fulfill all righteousness? It is fulfilled only through total submission to God and to all his ordinances, to his servants, to his people. That is something to learn because our whole nature rebels against it. We want to stand up for ourselves. We want to be number one. In fact, “number one” is the term for “you” in today’s language. The natural man thinks of himself as number one.

Jesus submitted himself to every institution and ordinance of God. It has been noticed for example, that although Jesus was without sin, he partook of the Passover sacrifice nonetheless, isn’t it remarkable? Although God sent him to be the Redeemer, Mary offered the prescribed offerings for sin: the redemption of the firstborn. He fulfilled every ordinance of God. Although he had no sin, he sub­mitted to the baptism of repentance, but that did not import sin into his life, did it? Of course not! What it shows is his obedience to the will of God.

Obey the will of God, and God will become real to you

Let us learn this secret. It sounds simple, but it’s not easy to do. Practice obeying the will of God in your life, then you will experience a new joy, a new power, a new fellowship with God.

Over these past weeks, I have enjoyed such sweet fellowship with God in a deeper way. People often ask, “What is your secret that it always seems that God is so alive to you?” We should continuously submit ourselves to every commandment of God, and submit more fully to him. That secret may be hard to practice, but it’s so simple. You will find that if you do this, there will be power in your life, and joy of fellowship with God. God will become real to you.

He will answer your prayers

Some people also ask the question: How does God answer prayer? Why does he answer some but not all? Well, there are many answers, but one of these answers lies precisely here. Can you say that when you pray, you live a life of true submission to God? Try living in submission, and God will answer your prayers beyond all your expectations! He overwhelms you with his kindness as you live in submission to him.

The Word of God can be proven whether it is true or false. I do not preach a gospel which is theoretical, but a gospel that can be put to the test. God is real because if you follow in his way, you will see that he is true.