SOAP, Matthew 3: Friday, September 2, 2022 

Welcome to the Daily SOAP from New Hope. This is Paton Cadwallader, your guest host for today. 

Today we will be reading from Matthew 3 and focusing on verses 11-17. If you haven’t already done so, please take the time to read the entire chapter to get the full context. It is a short chapter (17 verses all together) and it is probably something you have read or heard before since Matthew 3 focuses on the ministry of John the Baptist. It shares how John was preaching and baptizing to prepare the way for Jesus, and the chapter ends with the baptism of Jesus. Today, I will be reading from The Message version. It begins with John the Baptist speaking… 

11-12 “I’m baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character in this drama—compared to him I’m a mere stagehand—will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.” 

13-14 Jesus then appeared, arriving at the Jordan River from Galilee. He wanted John to baptize him. John objected, “I’m the one who needs to be baptized, not you!” 

15 But Jesus insisted. “Do it. God’s work, putting things right all these centuries, is coming together right now in this baptism.” So John did it. 

16-17 The moment Jesus came up out of the baptismal waters, the skies opened up and he saw God’s Spirit—it looked like a dove—descending and landing on him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: “This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life.” 

I chose The Message version for today, because I enjoyed the fresh take it provided, and I found myself drawn to the use of the term “kingdom life”. In our sermon series of late, we have been talking a lot about kingdom life and kingdom heroes. This passage in Matthew emphasizes that a “kingdom life” is a changed life. It is a change that begins on the inside when a fire is lit within you by the Holy Spirit. This fire, once sparked, should spread quickly and become evident on the outside as well. When you are living a life focused on God’s kingdom, “everything true will be put in its proper place before God” (verse 12). People will be able to see the spark, the light within you. You are a new creation in Christ with a passion enflamed by the Holy Spirit. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we were all living out a passionate life, a life on FIRE for our Savior on a daily basis? So often though, life and busyness get in the way. Are you on fire? Or do you feel like your spark has dimmed or is lying dormant? What specific steps can you take to activate your faith and spark the flame within you? Thankfully, the words of John the Baptist still ring true today. All we simply need to do is call on our Savior. Jesus will “ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out.”  

Let’s close in prayer.  

Dear Jesus, 

We cry out to you in desperation because we want to be on fire for you. Ignite the kingdom life within us, ignite the fire within us, fill us with your Holy Spirit and change us from the inside out. Come Holy Spirit and light us on fire for your kingdom so we can be your light in this world!  

In your holy name we pray, 

Amen.