Matthew 3:15 - It Is Proper For Us To Do This

The Story
It was difficult for John to wrap his arms around baptizing Jesus since his was a baptism of repentance, and Jesus had no need for repentance. Jesus, however, addressed John’s concerns by stating the following:

The Words of Jesus
Mat 3:15 NIV Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. 

Background
Jesus submitted to baptism, and emphasized His desire to do so with the words - “it is proper” [or fitting, or appropriate]. He said He wanted to be baptized to “fulfill all righteousness”. A similar word is used in Luke 1 and it describes Elizabeth and Zechariah as “righteous” because they were “observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly”.

Luke 1:5-6 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commands and decrees blamelessly. 

In essence what Jesus is saying is, “let it be so now...it is fitting and appropriate for us to observe all the Lord’s commands.” In this brief comment He inspires a glorious motivation for obedience.  

What would happen if our motivation for obedience was to glorify the Father? What if we sought to obey Him simply because it is right, proper, fitting and appropriate? Jesus forever tied obedience to bringing glory to God in John 17:4 when He said, “I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.”

In Tit 2:5-10 we find these motivations for walking in obedience and encouraging others to do the same.

• vs 5...so that no one will malign the word of God.
• vs 8...so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.
• vs 10...so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.

Application When we think of obedience to God - do we think of it as a boring duty?...a joyful task?...a tactic for gaining His acceptance? Why not begin to think of it as a way to honor Him [His word, His ways and His wisdom]...a way to comply and surrender to Him...and pray that our motivation is stirred by a commitment to do what is proper for the glory of His name, so that in every way WE / I will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.