Current scripture scope: Matthew 1-4

For Today:

1.  Go around the room and have everyone share about their week.

2.  Open up for prayer requests.  Once everyone has shared, have class prayer in whatever manner you choose.

3.  Read today’s scripture focus and background, found below.

4.  Ask the following discussion questions, letting as many answer each one as would like.

• What were some characteristics of John mentioned in today’s scripture?
• Why do you think Jesus was baptized?
• Why is baptism important for Christians?

Matthew 3

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

¹In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea ²and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” ³This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the desert,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’ “^[a]

⁴John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. ⁶Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹“I baptize you with^[b] water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹²His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

The Baptism of Jesus

¹³Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. ¹⁴But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

¹⁵Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

¹⁶As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Background

“In those days” (v1) doesn’t refer to the same time frame as chapter 2, as Matthew fast forwards through Jesus’ childhood to the moment of His first public actions.  In prophetic literature and speech, “in those days” always refers to the time of the promised savior and king.  Chapter 3 introduces us to John the Baptizer, whose ministry prepares the way for  Jesus in all four gospels. Here’s what we know about John from Matthew – he lived a very simple lifestyle and preached a very hard message. The impression we get is of a shouting wild man. Though he preached in the wilderness, the “city folks” in Jerusalem flocked to hear him, even the super conservative Pharisees and the ultra liberal Sadducees.  John called them “vipers” (poisonous snakes) and warned them to turn their lives around quickly or risk complete destruction.  This is the first sermon recorded in the gospel record.

How often do we hear truth and think it’s for everyone but us?  It’s easy to “amen” straight forward sermons when they address the other fellow’s sin, and in so doing miss the points of the message that apply to our lives.  The truth is we need to know the demands of God’s law, for we are all guilty of breaking them!  Truth that is all grace and no judgment is only half truth, and may make us feel good about ourselves, but is perilous to our spirit.  To repent means to “turn your life around”.  There is none so spiritual that their life doesn’t need the GPS of God’s truth to redirect it.

Baptism was a sign of repentance.  It was an act normally reserved for converts to Judaism, so for children of Abraham to submit to baptism was radical indeed.  For Jesus, it was unthinkable, at least in John’s opinion.  We can almost picture Jesus using a still, small voice to calm his rowdy cousin – “It’s alright.  This is necessary to meet the demands of righteousness.”  Righteousness is Jesus’ term for right behavior in Matthew.  Jesus sought baptism for two reasons – for God and for us.  According to the normal mode of baptism in that day, John would have remained on the bank of the Jordan and directed Jesus to submerge himself.  God gives three signs that Jesus is indeed the One John has prophesied would come – the open heavens, the Spirit-dove, and the loud Voice.

In John we see the demands of God, and in Jesus we see the supply.  Jesus’ baptism shows that when we submit to God’s will, we then and only then have the power to live the life He requires.  Baptism is a symbol of burial – the old life is gone, and the new is come.  In scripture, water baptism was always connected with Spirit baptism.  It is the power of the Holy Spirit that enables us to be adopted by God, becoming His beloved children with whom He is well pleased.  As stated above, we all need the truth of God’s law, but a law given without the remedy of grace is once again a half-truth.  Matthew 3 is in many ways a fulfillment of the entire Old Testament, with John representing the Law, and the baptism of Jesus introducing a new way.