This is My Beloved Son

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg.

The Baptism of Jesus and the Father’s Testimony

The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the third chapter. 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, 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. And behold, a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. This is the gospel of the Lord.

Christ Humbles Himself and God Exalts Him

In the name of Jesus. Jesus said, The one who exalts himself will be humbled. The one who humbles himself will be exalted. And boy, oh boy, Jesus practices what he preaches. And that's really what's going on, at least in part, in our gospel text today.

Jesus comes from Galilee to the Jordan to John the Baptist to be baptized by him. Remember, Jesus says of John the Baptist, Of those born of a woman, none is greater than him. And John would have prevented Jesus saying, Hey, I need to be baptized by you.

And you know what? John's right. Note the humility, the humbleness of John here. He doesn't somehow exalt himself over Jesus. He recognizes his place. He recognizes his sinfulness. And Jesus does something no one expects.

Not even John the Baptist. We use the phrase when somebody one-ups another person. So, you know, you jump four feet, I jump four feet, two inches. You weigh 235, I weigh 255. Right? We one-up people, right?

Well, what does Jesus do? He one-downs John the Baptist. He goes lower. And it's vital that he does. Because up to this point, Jesus has not been anointed to be the Messiah. He's not been ordained to that office yet.

You'll note, up to this point Christ hasn't preached any sermons. He hasn't done anything like that. He's not acting in the office of Messiah. And we learn from the book of Acts that there were some fellows who tried to put themselves into that office, by the way.

Which is a scary thing if you think about it. Because God says in Deuteronomy 18, he says to prophet Moses that I will raise up a prophet like you and I will put my words in his mouth and to him the people must listen.

Right? Which kind of begs the question, well, how do we know who that guy is? Well, here's the issue. Other people throughout the history of Israel rose up claiming to be people. Claiming to be people.

Can you imagine that? Claiming to be somebody? I am somebody important. In fact, we hear this in the book of Acts chapter 5. John and Peter had been arrested. An angel sprung them from the clink. And then they went back to preaching at the place where they were arrested.

And they were brought before the high priest in the Sanhedrin. And here's what it says, starting at verse 27. When they had brought them, they set them before the council. High priest questioned them saying, we strictly charged you not to teach in this name, the name of Jesus.

Yet here you fill Jerusalem with your teaching and you intended to bring this man's blood upon us. I would like to say, too late for that. You know, Jesus' blood is right there on you. But Peter and the apostles answered, listen, we must obey God rather than men.

The God of our fathers raised Jesus whom you killed by hanging on a tree. And listen to the words, God exalted him at his right hand. And we're going to see from one of the cross references to our gospel text that God the father also exalted Christ with those words, you are my beloved son.

But no, God exalted Christ at his right hand as leader, archagon in Greek. It's so much more than leader. It's like supreme, the guy who's king of kings and lord of lords. God has exalted him as leader and savior to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins.

Ooh, yeah, love that part because that's what we need. And we are witnesses to these things and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him and off in the distance you can hear the volcano rumbling and then boom, Krakatoa goes off.

So when they heard this they were enraged and they wanted to kill them. But a Pharisee in the council by the name of Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in high honor by all the people, he stood up. He gave orders to put the men outside for a little while and he said to them, men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men for before these days Thutis rose up claiming to be somebody.

Thutis. Thutis. That's T-H. It's in the text right here, yeah, Thutis. He claimed to be somebody. And a number of men, about 400 people joined him. He was killed. All who followed him were dispersed and they came to nothing.

And then after him Judas the Galilean rose in the days of the census, drew away some of the people after him. He too perished and all who followed him were scattered. Note that the world is not, well, lacking in men who exalt themselves, who think they are somebody.

I think of today's vision casting leaders in so-called megachurches. I am sent by God. It happens to be that my father was the pastor before me but nepotism is not really a thing here. But I am sent by God and I have a vision and it's your responsibility to make that vision come to pass.

This is how they talk. And you are to listen to them. And of course now we have people running around claiming, I am an apostle I am a prophet. And what are they doing? They're claiming these things. But you'll note that none of Jesus' apostles dare take that name upon themselves.

Christ exalted them in that office. The prophets of old, they were minding their own business when the word of the Lord showed up. And many of God's prophets of the Old Testament, when the Lord showed up to put them in the office of prophet, they said, I'm not so sure about this.

Moses himself said, send someone else. But we live in a day where anybody can claim anything. I am important. I am sent by God. Really? Are you really? Truly? Hmm? And so what happened to those men? Well, they perished.

They weren't really sent by God. And so here we have Jesus in our gospel text. He one downs John the Baptist. He goes to the lowest position. And while 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, coming to rest on him. And behold, a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. No guesswork needed. God the Father isn't expecting you to kind of figure out, well, this guy claims to be from me.

This guy claims to be from me. This guy claims to be from me. This guy claims to be from me. See if you can sort it out. God the Father said, no. This is the one. He's the one. That's him. No guesswork necessary.

Christ has humbled himself. God the Father has exalted him. Here's the cross reference. Hebrews 5, verse 5 says, so also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, you are my son.

Today I have begotten you. As he says also in another place, you are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. And it's important to note that that same theme also occurs in our Old Testament text.

In Joshua chapter 3, Moses is dead. Chapter 1 begins with Moses, my servant, is dead. And what does God say about Joshua, the man now chosen to come after Moses? God says in verse 7, Yahweh said to Joshua today, I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel.

No man dare to put himself into Christ's shoes, or claim to be the Messiah, or sent by God when they are not. It is a very dangerous thing. And here's the thing though. We human beings want to be important.

We want to be the center of attention. We hate it when other people receive the accolades and we don't. When I was growing up, do you know what the worst day of the year was? You're sitting there going, Christmas?

No, that was a good day. I got presents. Worst day of the year. My brother's birthday. Alright? Think about this. It was terrible because everybody was singing to him. Right? And guess what? He got presents.

Not me. It wasn't my birthday. And the worst bit? He got the GI Joe with the Kung Fu grip and I did not. And I wanted it so bad. I couldn't stand it. Worst day ever. My brother's birthday. Alright? But what does that tell us about me?

About you? Right? We want so badly to be important and this all comes from the devil. If you think all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Oh, God doesn't want you to eat of that tree because he knows that when you eat of it, you're going to be just like God.

Right? We who are by nature not God, thought that equality with God was something to be grasped. Something to be eaten. And it's plunged us into the misery that we are in. And so I think then Christ in his baptism, it kind of invokes several scenes from the Old Testament.

One is the ordination of Aaron and his sons. The other is the anointing of King David or of one of the other prophets. You get the idea. In fact, I think it's good in this context to reacquaint ourselves with the ordination of Aaron.

Aaron was one of these guys that God also chose. Why? Because Moses didn't want the job because he said he didn't talk too good. Right? He was a little nervous about the public speaking thing. He says, fine.

Aaron speaks well, so God called Aaron too. And it just so happens that on their way to the promised land, after the tabernacle is built and God has revealed the Old Testament worship and sacrifices, God chose Aaron to be the first high priest.

And here's the bit. His uniform was spectacular. Made of the best stuff. Absolutely beautiful, regal, and whoa. Listen to what it says in Leviticus 8. So Yahweh spoke to Moses saying, take Aaron and his sons with him and the garments and the anointing oil, and the bowl of the sin offering and the two rams and the basket of unleavened bread and assemble all the congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

And Moses did as Yahweh commanded him and the congregation was assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Moses said to the congregation, this is the thing that Yahweh has commanded to be done.

Who's commanded it? God. Who chose Aaron and his sons? God. Who is the prophet at this point? Moses. And I love what happens next. So Moses brought Aaron and his sons and listened to the words and he washed them with water.

He did what? Uh-huh. That sounds like an allusion to baptism. And then he put the coat on him. I love this part. Did Aaron clothe himself that day? No. Moses, the prophet of God, clothed Aaron. He put the whole uniform on him.

Moses put the coat on him, tied the sash around his waist, clothed him with the robe, put the ephod on him, tied the skillfully woven band of the ephod around him, binding it to him with the band, and he placed the breastplate on him and the breastplate he put the urim and the thumen and he set the turban on his head and on the turban in front he set the golden plate, the Holy Crown, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

What is Aaron doing at this point? Holding still. Right? He's passively being clothed. He is passively being installed. He is passively being ordained. You know, I think about the fact that we have an ordination ceremony that goes for men who are rightly called to the pastoral office.

And those who bristle at the concept that men are actually called by God and that they are ordained, they besmirch the rite itself. And rather than calling it ordination, they besmirch it by calling it a coronation.

And it is not. It is not that in any sense of the word. Just like Aaron's ordination was not his coronation, he was called by God and placed into the office of high priesthood. No man dare to put himself into that office or even the office of pastor.

He must be rightly called. So then Moses took the anointing oil and he anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it. He consecrated them. He sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times and anointed the altar and its utensils and the basin and its stand to consecrate them.

And then he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to consecrate him. And Moses brought Aaron's sons and clothed them with coats, tied sashes around their waist, bound caps on them as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

So you'll note Moses is doing all the work. He's the prophet of God. Aaron is passively receiving and now he's had his head anointed with oil and you could just see the oil running down his beard and dripping and oh, amazing sight.

But here's the thing. There were other sons of Levi who had well, they had the stink eye. They were looking on greedily, jealously, upset. And they after, not long after the ordination of Aaron and his sons, they put together a little rebellion.

And boy, listen to this one. From number 16, Korah the son of Ishar the son of Kohath, son of Levi. So he's a Levite as well. And Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab and On the son of Peleth the sons of Reuben.

They took men and they rose up before Moses with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly well-known men. I want you to think about this here. God called Moses.

God called Aaron. God called the sons of Aaron. God made Moses prophet. God had Moses ordain Aaron. Did these men call themselves? No. Well, there's Korah like young Chris Rosebro not happy that his brother has received birthday presents and is just as angry as all get out.

But he's a little more subtle than I am and quite, quite deadly. He's decided to get 250 chiefs because we all know that you gather 250 leaders of your people. They can't be wrong, right? That's the thing.

You laugh and you chuckle, but in the reality, the whole purpose of the 250 chiefs is to squelch anybody who would dare to speak out. You think you're better than these 250 chiefs? You think you know better than Luther, Chemnitz, Jerome?

You think you know better? Who do you think you are? Right? 250 chiefs of the congregation chosen from the assembly. They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and they said to them, you have gone too far.

All the congregation are holy. Every one of them. And the Lord is among them. It's the priesthood of all believers, man. We don't need no pastors. Those men are exalting themselves above us. We're all holy.

We can all teach. We can all preach. Uh-uh. That ain't how it works. Why have you exalted yourselves above the assembly of Yahweh? Moses heard this. He fell on his face. You have to wonder, was he thinking he needed to duck so he wasn't going to get struck by lightning?

So he said to Korah and all his company, in the morning Yahweh will show who is his and who is holy and will bring him near to him and the one he chooses he will bring near to him. So take censers, Korah and all of his company, put fire in them, put incense on them before Yahweh tomorrow and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one.

You've gone too far, you sons of Levi. You've gone too far. Well, as the account unfolds, they finally do show up before the tent of meeting and here's what happens in verse 25. Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram and the elders of Israel and followed him.

He spoke to the congregation saying, Depart from these tents of these wicked men. Touch nothing of theirs lest you be swept away with all of their sins. They got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan and Abiram and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents together with their wives and their sons and their little ones and Moses said, Hereby you shall know that Yahweh has sent me to do all of these works and that it has not been of my own accord.

If these men die as all men die or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then Yahweh has not sent me. But if Yahweh creates something new and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised Yahweh.

And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart, the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their household and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods.

What did Korah do? He exalted himself. Oh, under the pretense of we're all holy, how dare you exalt yourself? Yet God is the one who calls men and here's the important bit. In our gospel, Christ shows up.

He doesn't show up in royal robes. He's probably wearing the ordinary garb of a day-laboring carpenter, construction guy from Nazareth, probably has the calloused hands to prove it. He's not what anybody expects.

He's not riding a horse. He comes humbly and John says, dude, I need to be baptized by you. I'm the sinner. You're the Savior. And Jesus goes, no. No. Let it be so for now. It's fitting to fulfill all righteousness.

And he goes straight to the bottom. And who exalts him? None other than God the Father. This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. I would note that the accolades that David received from God, David is a man after my own heart.

I mean, that's nice. But remember, David, you know, a murderer, adulterer, a little bit of blood on his hands, a few issues, if we're saying it politely. And God says he's a man after my own heart. But of Jesus, he says this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.

And that voice of the Father on the Mount of Transfiguration goes even farther in that account and says, listen to him. It's in that context then that we are chastened because of our satanic vainglorious ambitions.

And our denial that God is the one who calls men and places them into office and that God himself is the one who placed Christ into his office as Messiah. Philippians says, do nothing, not something, nothing from selfish ambition or vain conceit.

In humility count others as more significant than yourselves. But if I do that, then how is anybody supposed to know how great I am? The problem is you're not. I'm not. Let each one of you look not only to his own interest, but to the interest of others.

Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was by nature God, he didn't count equality with God a thing to be grasped. He emptied himself, taking on the form of a slave, being born under the likeness of men and being found in human form.

He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. And you're going to note this, that in order to fulfill all righteousness so that you and I can be forgiven, Christ serves us.

Everything he does in his ministry, he does it for you. He does it for me. He's not seeking his own glory. He's not seeking his own power. He's seeking you. And he bears your sin in his body on the cross as your slave, taking down to the dregs the wrath of God so that we can be forgiven and pardoned.

And because of this, Christ, the most humble of us all, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Our Calling in Christ and the Shame of Boasting

It's in this regard, then, that we should reexamine our epistle text because it also flows from this. Paul here preaching about and talking about, well, the scandal of the cross. I chose to know nothing among you except for Christ and him crucified for our sins.

Even Paul notes that he doesn't come to people in power, in great wisdom or anything according to the worldly view, right? Consider your calling, then, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards.

Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. I would note this, that after I sent in my DNA to Ancestry .com, I did not get a call from Buckingham Palace to let me know I was the lost royal, okay?

In fact, after having that done, I'm sure they've redoubled their security, alright? We do not come from noble birth. We are common everyday sinners. Scripture describes us in our sin as being worthless.

Get over yourself. You're the problem. But God chose what's foolish in the world to shame the wise. He chose a poor carpenter's son from Nazareth. God chose what's weak in the world to shame the strong.

Jesus, who committed no sin, submitted Himself to a sinner's baptism to fulfill all righteousness. He made Himself the weakest of the weak. He didn't even defend Himself when He was on trial for His life.

But He willingly laid down His life for you and me. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

Could you imagine just how insufferable that would be? A human being daring to boast about himself in the presence of God. The last being that did such a thing, well, was cast down to the earth. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus.

Have you noticed that throughout the New Testament, you see that phrase all the time, in Christ Jesus, in Christ Jesus. You are in Christ. What does Paul say in Romans 8? There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

And here's the best bit. Christ's baptism is the first of the Christian baptisms. And when we have been baptized, as we sang in our hymn, we have been baptized into Christ. Think of Christ as like the ark, Noah's ark.

When you were baptized, you were tucked safely into Jesus and saved through water. You have been baptized into Christ, into his death and into his resurrection, and he, the one whom God has exalted, he will raise you up on the last day.

There's nothing that we have to boast of. So he is the source of our life in Christ, whom God made our wisdom. God has made Jesus our righteousness. He's made him our sanctification. He's made him our redemption.

Sounds like Jesus is our all in all, and isn't that the point? And so then we learn that the one who humbled himself, God has exalted, and he hasn't exalted us apart from him. We are in him. And so let us repent of all of our vain gloriousness and our jealousy of those whom God does exalt.

And if we're going to boast about anything, let us boast in the Lord, the one who so richly has forgiven us and given us life in Christ. In the name of Jesus, amen.

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