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| He must increase and I must decrease |
Matthew 3:13-15 - (13) Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
(14) But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest
thou to me? (15) And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for
thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
Why did Jesus need to be baptized of John? Since Jesus did not sin, the point of
this baptism was different than that of others coming to John. It wasn’t to
repent, it was to fulfill all righteousness. Since Jesus was baptized, remember
just how much of an honor it is to also be baptized.
Here’s another important question: Why didn’t John join Jesus in His ministry?
Couldn’t the two of them gone out and accomplished so much? After all, Jesus
knew how great he was (Luke 7:28), and John knew that Jesus is the Son of God
(John 1:34). The reason why is found here : Joh 3:30 “He must increase, but I
must decrease.” If John would have went with Jesus, there
would have been less focus on the Son of God, and many would have kept looking
to John, who was already considered a great prophet. Instead, Jesus went out and
chose twelve ‘nobodies’. REMEMBER THIS: Every servant of God, must have this
mindset: “He must increase, but I
must decrease.” Man loves to gain honor for himself. But God will
not send a servant out who would bask in his own glory. He does not want a bunch
of power-filled people going around getting popular. What He wants is people who
exalt Him in the eyes of the world. The Christian is the light of the world and
this must be your first goal when serving God. What is man’s chief end? Man’s
chief end is to glorify God. |
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