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The inauguration! Matthew 3-13-17Brief intro to Matthew series… Please join me in prayer… Sermon introduction.. Listen to this excerpt from a January 2013 article titled, “Congratulations Mr. President and thanks for the Cheez-Its.” “President Obama’s second inauguration featured both the opulent, like 3,000 calories of lobster and grilled bison, and the humble, like bowls full of Cheez-Its. … how much did all of that cost?Probably around $180 million. It will be months before we know the exact price of the inauguration, but the cost of these events in recent years has risen at roughly the same rate as inflation. President Bush’s 2005 inaugural cost $158 million, which is $173 million in 2009 dollars… If the trend continues, the 2013 festivities will cost about $10 million more. If you had to bet, you might expect this year’s inauguration to come in a little bit lower. Nearly twice as many people (1.8 million) attended the 2009 swearing-in, when there were 10 inauguration balls, compared to just two this year. The swearing-in itself is a relative bargain, costing just $1.24 million in 2009. It’s the logistics and the carousing that add up. Security, transportation, and emergency services cost $124 million four years ago, paid almost entirely by the federal government… The parties and balls that followed the inauguration totaled roughly $45 million, paid entirely by private donations to President Obama’s inaugural committee. It appears that donations ran a little short this year, which might explain the inaugural Cheez-Its.” Our presidential inaugurations are a big deal because they mark the formal beginning of a new presidency. If you look up the word inauguration in a dictionary you will find that it means a formal beginning, an installation, or an initiation into something. Even though millions of dollars are spent on presidential inaugurations they are insignificant in their importance compared an inauguration that took place 2000 years ago. 2000 years ago Jesus Christ was inaugurated for his public ministry and this is described for us in Matt 3:13-17. This is an event that we must pay attention to because it affects all of us. We will look at three aspects of Christ’s inauguration… John’s baptism inaugurates Jesus public ministryThe Holy Spirit inaugurates Jesus public ministryThe Father inaugurates Jesus public ministry First, John’s baptism inaugurates Jesus public ministry John inaugurates Jesus public ministry by baptizing him, which raises a question. Why was Jesus baptized? Not because he was sinful!Matthew 3:13–14 (ESV) — 13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Since John’s baptism symbolizes repentance John does not want to baptize Jesus because he knows that Jesus has no need to repent. John knows that Jesus is perfect. There is nothing he needs to repent of. The text does not tell us how John knows this but somehow he knows it (John 1:29). At the same time that John recognizes Christ’s sinlessness he recognizes his own sin, which is why he says to Jesus, “you need to baptize me, I should not baptize you.” If Jesus was not baptized because he was sinful… Why was Jesus baptized? To fulfill all righteousness! Matthew 3:15 (ESV) — 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. In other words Jesus says to John the Baptist, “let me be baptized now at the start of my public ministry for it is good for me to fulfill all that God requires of me.” What seems obvious from this text is the reason that Jesus got baptized. He got baptized to fulfill all righteousness. In other words he got baptized to obey all that the father asked him to do. What is not as clear from this text is what Jesus baptism meant or symbolized. We know that Jesus did not need to get baptized to wash away his sins. So what did Jesus baptism mean? Here are a few options put forward by scholars- Jesus baptism validated John’s ministry of repentance. Jesus baptism was John’s way of introducing Jesus to the Jewish nation. Jesus baptism by John anticipated Jesus baptism of suffering on the cross. Jesus baptism allowed Jesus, although sinless, to identify with sinful Israel. (Wiersbe, 20-21) These are all valid options and probably all true to some extent. Because the text does not tell us what Jesus baptism meant or symbolized we can’t say for sure what it meant but we can say for sure that when Jesus got baptized he fulfilled all righteousness. That is he obeyed his father’s command. Christ fulfilling righteousness has significant application for us. From the very beginning of Christ’s ministry, at his inauguration, we are reminded of the fact that Jesus obeyed all that the Father required of him. Fortunately for you and me Christ had been obeying the father’s commands perfectly since the day of his birth. Does the Bible teach this in other places? Yes… 2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV) — 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Hebrews 4:15 (ESV) — 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. This is simply astonishing. As a two year old Christ never demanded things from his parentsAs a three year old Christ did not scream at his siblings in angerAs a 13 year old Christ did not complain about his clothes, his food, his lack of media time, or his acneAs a 15 year old he never lusted. As a 19 year old he was never anxious, perfectly humble, and always joyful. He always exhibited the fruit of the Spirit. He always obeyed the great commandment. As a 25 year old he ran his business with absolute integrity, he paid taxes, and did not text while he drove around town. He never over ate, he always said please and thank you, he never wasted time, he never worked to hard… Etc… Jesus always obeyed from the heart, joyfully, cheerfully, quickly, motivated by the glory of God, while sleeping and while awake. Theologians call this the active obedience of Jesus Christ. I have mentioned this several times but I’m going to keep mentioning it until the day that I die because it is such good news. This is good news because when we become Christians we benefit from Christ fulfilling all righteousness. This perfect record of law keeping is credited to our account. We need to be clothed in Christ’s righteousness. Illustration: This week it was very cold. I think it got below 5 degrees. Imagine running outside in the middle of the night with nothing on but shorts, a t-shirt, and your flip-flops. How long do you think you would last? Maybe ten minutes if you’re really tough. Maybe 30 minutes of you’re a Navy Seal. After a while I think you would lose control of your bodies ability to stop shaking. I’m not sure how long you could survive before dying of hypothermia but I can’t imagine you would be able to survive for more than 60 minutes. If you have to be outside, what is the solution? You need to be clothed head to toe in an 8 inch down body suit. This would be your only hope. Trying to survive with your own righteousness before a holy God is like trying to survive in ten-degree weather wearing a shorts and a t-shirt. This will lead to major problems. We need to be clothed in the robes of Christ’s righteousness. When Christ was baptized at the start of his public ministry he fulfilled all righteousness! Application: This week you and I will sin, last week we sinned, and we will sin two years from now. In fact, we will sin until the day we die. Fortunately, because Christ fulfilled all righteousness, God always sees you as clothed in his son’s righteousness. But Dave I keep committing the same sin over and over again. I keep getting angry at my children, I still struggle with anxiety, I grumble and complain, I don’t pray, and I’m really proud. If we are Christians all of our sins were placed on Christ and his perfect record of law keeping is credited to our account. We are simul Justus et peccator!!! His active and passive obedience become the grounds of our justification. If we look to anything else as the grounds of our justification we are in deep trouble! How fitting for Jesus to begin his public ministry with a reminder that he fulfilled all righteousness. First, John’s baptism inaugurates Jesus public ministrySecond, the Holy Spirit inaugurates Jesus public ministry How does the Holy Spirit inaugurate Jesus ministry? By resting on him! Matthew 3:16 (ESV) — 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; The heavens open up and the Holy Spirit comes to rest on Jesus. Much is made in the commentaries on the imagery of the Dove. It is probably a reference to Genesis 1:2 (The Spirit hovering over the waters) and Genesis 8:8-12 (Noah’s dove is sent out over the waters) but we can’t be dogmatic about this. Here is the important thing to see. It appears as though the Holy Spirit comes to rest on Jesus permanently. Right after this story we read… Matthew 4:1 (ESV) — 1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. In the parallel account we read… John 1:32 (ESV) — 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. (notice that the Spirit remains on Christ) Luke 4:1 (ESV) — 1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness (notice that Jesus is full of the Spirit and the Spirit is leading him) This brings up a question!!! Why does the Holy Spirit rest on Jesus? Jesus needs the Holy Spirit’s to carry out his ministry. This should not surprise us since this was prophesied in the OT in Isa 11, 42, and 61. Right after Jesus baptism and temptation in the wilderness we read this story. Luke 4:16–21 (ESV) — 16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, (Isa 61:1ff) 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Jesus proclaims that he fulfills the Isa prophecy therefore the Spirit of the Lord is resting on him. By why does Jesus need the Holy Spirit? Isn’t he fully God? Yes. He is fully God and fully man. In his humanity he lived by the power of the Spirit. He had to do everything perfectly as a man in order to earn for us a record of law keeping. He did all of this as a man by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus preached by the power of the Spirit Matthew 12:17–18 Jesus cast out demons by the power of the Spirit Matthew 12:28 (ESV) — 28 Jesus healed by the power of the Spirit (Acts 10:37-38) Jesus resisted the devil by the power of the Spirit (Matt 4:1-11) Christ came as the second Adam, the seed of Abraham, and the son of David. He came as one who was fully man! The Holy Spirit adds nothing to the Deity of Christ but it adds everything to the humanity of Christ. It is hard to sum this up better then Bruce Ware- “What can the Spirit of God add to the deity of Christ? He can add nothing, since the deity of Christ is infinitely full and perfect. But what can the Spirit of God add to the humanity of Christ? He can add everything of supernatural enablement! Yes, Jesus, the Spirit-anointed Messiah, lived his life as a man, accepting the limitations of his human existence, and relied on the Spirit to do in and through him what he could not do in his human nature.”

(Ware, The Man Christ Jesus) The Holy Spirit inaugurates Jesus ministry. Application: we have the same spirit… Acts 10:37–38 (ESV) — 37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. Compares this to Acts 1:8 (this is no coincidence) Acts 1:8 (ESV) — 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” The exact same resources given to the human nature of Jesus are given to us! This is amazing!!! He relied on the word of God, he prayed, and he relied on the power of the Holy Spirit to live his life as the perfect man. We have the word of God, we can pray, and have the Spirit of God dwelling inside of us. This week I was lying in my bed at 6:30 am. My alarm went off and I was still lying in my bed. It must have been about 10 degrees outside and felt very cold in my bedroom. I had the thought… Dave you should pray for the Holy Spirit’s help to get out of bed. But then I knew if I prayed that I would get out of bed!!! What do you need the Holy Spirit’s power for this week? Getting up on time, dealing with an unruly three year old, courage to evangelize a coworker, grace to serve your boss, strength to read your Bible and pray, etc… We need to repent of trying to do far too many things in our own strength. Illustration: several years ago I borrowed my brother in laws tent trailer for a season. We stored it in our small drive way. It was an old house with a very small driveway so once the trailer was in place I was not able to pull it out with the truck. I had to actually pull it out by hand and try to maneuver it in such a way that I could hook it up to the truck. We decided to use it one weekend so it went outside and tried to move it into place… I pushed and pulled and heaved and yanked and probably said some things I should not have said. This thing was heavy and it took me several minutes to situate it to where I could hook it up to a friend’s truck. It was hard work. Imagine me trying to push and pull the tent trailer 90 miles down the road to our campsite. This would be crazy… crazy because I had access to a truck that had no problem pulling it. Isn’t this often how we try to live the Christian life? We try to pull our tent trailers 90 miles down the road, which is impossible for us to do, when we have access to a truck. We try to do things on our own that we were not meant to do on our own when the Holy Spirit lives inside of us… John inaugurates Jesus public ministry The Holy Spirit inaugurates Jesus public ministry… Third, the Father inaugurates Jesus public ministry How does the father inaugurate Jesus public ministry? The Father encourages his Son!Matthew 3:17 (ESV) — 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” These words are most likely an echo of psalm 2:7 and Isa 42:1 Psalm 2:7 (ESV) — 7 I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. This is a coronation psalm for the Davidic king, thereby showing that the anointing of Jesus by the Spirit was a Messianic anointing for the king of kings (Rev 19:16). (Osborne, 125) There is also a clear reference to Isaiah 42:1 Isaiah 42:1 (ESV) — 1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. God is very pleased with his son. He is the Davidic king who has the anointing of the Spirit to carry out the task of bringing salvation, peace, and justice to the nations. But he will be a suffering King before he is a conquering king (context of Isa 53). At the very beginning of Jesus public ministry he is identified with the Messiah, the king, and the suffering servant. Here is the main point of this verse… God is very pleased with his son because of whom he is and what he is about to do. God the father is a proud father on the day that his son’s public ministry is inaugurated. I can’t imagine a father being more proud of his son. Illustration: being proud of Peter at camp side by side for jumping off the 40 foot platform… Application: If we are Christians we are in Christ, which means that God treats us like he treats his son. Because of Christ God is saying to you, “you are my son or daughter and with you I’m well pleased.” Maybe you doubt this reality this morning. God is not pleased with me!!! I have done a lot of nasty rotten things. If you are in Christ God is pleased with you if you are united to his son. Not only is God pleased with us because we are in Christ we can genuinely please God with our actions. What a privilege. Ephesians 5:10 (ESV) — 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 1 Timothy 2:1–3 1 Timothy 5:4 Not only does God tell Jesus that he is his son with whom he is well pleased. God tells us the same thing. Romans 8:16–17 (ESV) — 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Conclusion: We have looked at the inauguration of Jesus Public Ministry… John the Baptist inaugurates Jesus ministry by baptizing him thus fulfilling all righteousness. When Christ fulfills all righteousness he does this on our behalf. The Holy Spirit inaugurates Jesus ministry by coming to rest on him. The same Spirit dwells inside of us giving us power to please God. The Father inaugurates Jesus ministry by proclaiming that he is well pleased with his son. If you’re in Christ this morning the Father is well pleased with you. Lets pray… ................
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