[Note: This sermon begins the systematic exposition of the Lord's teaching from the beginning of Matthew, filling a gap in the recorded series. The recordings of this church's exposition of Matthew began from chapter 6 onwards, thanks to Brother John Chin of 4M who brought heavy reel-to-reel recording equipment every Sunday despite not being a member of the congregation. The first few messages were not recorded; this sermon returns to fill in that gap, beginning at what is described as the first official teaching of the Lord Jesus.]
We return to Matthew 3, verse 15 — the occasion of the Lord's baptism. Matthew 3:13-17 reads: 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. And when Jesus was baptized he went up immediately from the water, and behold the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And lo, a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.
These words sum up the spirit, character, and direction of the Lord Jesus' ministry. They reveal the secret of his power as man and as our Redeemer. Theologically, the obvious question is: why did Jesus need to be baptized by John? John's baptism was repeatedly described as a baptism of repentance — a sign of cleansing for those who had repented of their sins. But Jesus had no sins of which to repent. So why did he submit to this baptism?
Watchman Nee's answer — that baptism prefigures death and resurrection, and the Lord Jesus at the beginning of his ministry was showing that his ministry would be one of death and resurrection — is not satisfactory, because it reads the significance of Christian baptism backwards into John's baptism. Acts 19:1-6 makes clear that John's baptism and Christian baptism are of different character; Paul baptized those who had only John's baptism again in the name of Jesus. An honest expositor of the word must not let his dogma govern his exposition by importing meanings that do not belong.
The more correct explanation is that the Lord Jesus submitted to John's baptism in order to identify himself with sinful mankind. His very words confirm this: he said not "it is fitting for me" but "it is fitting for us." By using the word "us," he identified himself with John the Baptist and with humanity generally. He was not ashamed to call us brethren. He came to be one of us, and we are sinners. Beyond this, one can ask: could not Jesus have identified himself with us without going through the baptism? Perhaps — but the deeper spiritual principle at work here is this: the greater submitted to the lesser.
Can you see the beauty of it? John the Baptist himself recognized that Jesus was far greater than he was, saying "I should not be baptizing you, you should not be submitting to my baptism — I should be submitting to you." And yet the Lord Jesus not only accepted John's baptism but pleaded to be accepted into it. He could have said: this is a baptism of repentance, I have no sin, I don't need this. Instead he said to John: suffer it now — tolerate this, even if you do not like the idea, allow me to be baptized by you. The greater submitted and pleaded to be accepted under the ministry of the inferior. That touches the heart.
This is in stark contrast to the spirit of Christians who say: I believe in Jesus, why do I need to be baptized? Jesus, who genuinely had no legal obligation to be baptized, submitted anyway. But these sinners, who most urgently need baptism, do not regard it as important. They have not yet understood the spirit of Christ. The central disease of the church today is the refusal to submit — and it shows in a hundred ways. Wives ask: we live in the twentieth century, why should I submit to my husband? Others wonder why they must submit to an elder who seems no more qualified than they are. Every argument against submission is in essence simply the self saying: I do not want to submit. Our whole nature rebels against it.
There is something deeper that the Lord Jesus was doing at the Jordan: he was opening himself to serious misunderstanding. By standing among the sinners to receive a baptism of repentance, he gave the impression of confessing himself to be a sinner. People might say: you accepted John's ministry, so you confess John's greatness — why should we follow you rather than John? His greatest and purest motive — to identify with us — was open to being twisted into something that could cripple his ministry. But the Lord Jesus was not afraid to be misunderstood. Those in training for God's service need to hear this clearly: your greatest and purest motives will be misinterpreted. A verse of scripture put on a bathroom wall as a personal reminder can be twisted by a troublemaker into something sinister. Do not let it worry you and do not let it discourage you.
The reason the Lord Jesus could do this — submit without fear of misunderstanding — is found in Philippians 2:5-11. Have this mind among yourselves which was in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, humbled himself, obedient unto death, even the death on a cross. Therefore God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name. Why did Jesus receive the name above every name? Precisely because he refused to take any glory to himself. He humbled himself, submitted to a servant inferior to himself, was misunderstood — and God vindicated him with a voice from heaven: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
# Submission — Matthew 3:13–17 (Part B) — Misunderstanding, the Charismatic's Laying On of Hands, and John the Baptist's Wavering
[Note: This is Part B of the sermon on submission in Matthew 3:13–17, continuing directly from Part A.]
The Lord Jesus was not afraid to be misunderstood. In accepting John's baptism, he left himself open to the interpretation that he was confessing himself to be a sinner. He placed himself visibly among the sinners. And yet he went ahead. Brother Xiang Hanqing in New York was deeply upset because he had preached a message out of the purest motives, and it was twisted against him. The advice given to him was simple: do what is right before the Lord, no matter how people take it, and do not be discouraged. When you serve the Lord, you will be misunderstood time and again. That is the pattern of his master.
A few years ago, the pastor was invited to preach at a charismatic meeting in England. The word of God was graciously received, and one brother invited him to stay at his home. That brother then asked if he might pray for the pastor with the laying on of hands. Another friend — a doctor and a very committed believer — was angry at this suggestion and rebuked the man, saying it was like Timothy offering to pray for Paul with the laying on of hands; the comparison was too arrogant. But the pastor intervened and said: please, please pray for me, I would be so happy if you would. He submitted to the laying on of hands of a brother who was in many respects his inferior, and it was a great blessing. That is the spirit of submission. The attitude of thinking "I am a pastor and a servant of God, who are you to lay hands on me" has no part in the spirit of Christ.
John the Baptist himself was not without weakness. In Matthew 11:2-6, as he languished in prison, John sent a message to the Lord Jesus asking: are you he who is to come, or do we look for someone else? The great servant of God wavered at the critical moment. Perhaps he had hoped that Jesus would open the prison gates and set him free, and when nothing happened, he took offense. The Lord Jesus himself had to say: blessed is he who is not offended in me. And yet notice that the Lord's estimate of John the Baptist did not change because of this wavering — he still spoke of John as a mighty servant of God. The Lord does not estimate us according to our weaknesses and our failings. We may change towards him; he does not change towards us.
The Lord Jesus submitted to John's baptism not because John was an incomparably wonderful person without faults, but because John was a servant of God and because God's ordinance at that time was being fulfilled through John's ministry. The ministry, not the person, was the object of submission. And the proof that this was right came immediately: as Jesus rose from the water, the heavens were opened and a voice declared, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. God vindicates the one who submits. Trust him to sort out the misunderstandings. When you walk with God and live in submission, trust him to work it all out.
One further point worth noting: the Lord Jesus never asked anyone to do something that he himself did not do. When he called others to repentance, he himself had made a fundamental and real change of life — he gave up his secular work as a carpenter, left his home, and went forth to preach the gospel. That was his own act of repentance in the sense of metanoia, a complete turning. It was the change from one mode of life to another, the beginning of his public ministry. He submitted to every ordinance of God — the Passover, Mary's offering of purification, the redemption of the firstborn — every single requirement, even those to which as the sinless Son of God he had no need to submit.
This secret sounds simple: submit to every ordinance of God, every day yield your life afresh and more fully to him. But the result is astonishing. Those who have wondered why God seems so real and so alive in certain Christians' experience will find the answer precisely here. As you live in submission, God answers prayer beyond what you can ask or think. The word of God is testable. It is not a theoretical gospel but a gospel that can be put to the test — and when you follow it in this way, you will see that it is true. Let us be quiet before God in prayer.