ANOINTED TO SERVE

WHAT IS ANOINTING?

Anointing is pouring of oil on God’s servants to equip them for the task ahead of them. Anointing serves at least four purposes in the Bible: 1. to make oneself beautiful (Ruth 3:3) “Therefore wash yourself and anoint yourself, put on your best garment and go down to the threshing floor; but do not let yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking” , 2. To promote healing (Jas. 5:14) “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” 3. To prepare the dead for burial and 4. to dedicate an object or a person to the service of God. Prophets, priests and kings were all anointed (1 Kgs. 19:15) “Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, Anoint Hazael as king over Syria. Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place.” (1 Sam. 16:13) “Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.” and one of the titles for a king was “the Lord’s anointed.” (1 Sam. 26:9) “But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can stretch out his hands against the Lord’s anointed, and be guiltless?” The most important anointing in the Bible is that of Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ (the Anointed One). Jesus’ anointing, prophesied in the Old Testament, was marked by the descent of the Holy Spirit on Him at His baptism. During His life He functioned as a prophet, priest and king (see Acts 17:3) “explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.” Jesus Christ is God’s Anointed One, who functions as prophet when He speaks God’s Word, as Priest when He sacrifices Himself and as King when He rules. Though equal with God, He became man, conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. Bible- believing Christians have always acknowledged that Jesus Christ is fully divine, and fully human (see John 1:1) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  And (Heb. 4:14-15) “Seeing that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus Christ came to do His Father’s will, namely, to suffer and to give His life by dying on the cross to reconcile us with God. God raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand. Someday Jesus will return to judge the human race. Those who believe in Christ bear His name as Christians. Christians also are anointed with the Holy Spirit, suggesting that we must live in the power of the Spirit as prophets who boldly proclaim God’s message of grace and life, and as priests who offer ourselves as “living sacrifices” and as kings who sensitively rule over creation on God’s behalf.

ANOINTED TO SERVE- Isaiah 61:1

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” The Holy Spirit anoints for service. The anointing and the impartation of the gift of the Spirit are synonymous. As Christ humbled Himself and became incarnate, He was anointed for His ministry by the Holy Spirit. This anointing was necessary because the service of ministering the Word belongs to the Third Person of the Trinity. Christ, who is head of all those who proclaim the Word, was anointed by the Spirit for the accomplishment of His task, just as His servants are anointed. Those “anointed” are endued with the gifts necessary for performance of their office. The graces and gifts of the Spirit impart the abilities which each calling demands. The “anointing also gives the authority for the assigned task. Authority to announce the good news of salvation and to proclaim freedom from sin is founded upon this anointing. One who has not been furnished with the necessary gifts by the Holy Spirit should never try to proclaim the Word. Only through the empowering of the Spirit can the Word be effective.  Matthew the apostle wrote, “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has downed” (Matt. 4:16). The psalmist prophesied the Jesus anointed by the Holy Spirit (Ps. 2:2- 3) “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His anointed saying, “Let us break Their bond  in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.” And Daniel wrote thus concerning the anointing of Jesus (Dan. 9:25-26) “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street  shall be built again and the wall, Even in troublesome times. And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and until the end of the war desolations are determined.”

CHRISTIANS ANNOINTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT TO SERVE

Being a servant implies being submissive to a master’s will. And as Jesus being our Master here brethren; let us emulate Him and pursue a genuine righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law because Jesus our Master is seated at the right hand of God the Father, having sent down to us the helper to guide and lead us throughout the task that He assigned to us. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus described his ideal for His disciples. The name Christian; is Christ like, living and serving as He did, and following in His foot-steps. As He expected His disciples to be forgiving, honest and genuine, humble and kind to the needy; let us also follow suite. True Christians after the anointing, will proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God, worthy of all praise and worship, Lord overall and Savior of repentant sinners. Jesus our Master turned the values of His day upside down when He suggested that serving is the road to greatness. Jesus was obedient to His Father’s will all His entire life, even to His death on the cross. His loving death paid the price for us, freeing us to give total obedience to the Loving Lord and Father of all creation.  Jesus as our Master, He wants us to serve Him by serving others, recognizing that whatever we do for one of God’s Children we do for Him. In our service as the anointed of the Lord, we are to have the same humble, gentle, perseverance, giving attitude that characterized Jesus. Apostle Paul affirms in (2 Cor. 1:21, 22) that, “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” John His counterpart has seconded in his first epistle (1 John 2:20-27) thus, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us- eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.” 

CHRIST- LIKENESS

In the gospel according to (Matt.  10: 24, 25) says, “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household?” Receiving Christ’s Word and becoming like Him in our conduct will unavoidably mean being treated by the world in the same way it treated Christ. “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (John 17:14). The believer is privileged to participate in the fellowship of His suffering (Phil.  3:10) “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death”, and it is only as we are willing to bear His reproach and suffer for His sake that we are promised that we will reign with Him (2 Tim. 2:12) “If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.” Jesus Himself was blasphemously accused of being demon-possessed. They hated Him without a cause (John 15:25). The believer like Christ must be willing to be misunderstood and to have his good works maligned. Since our best efforts in serving Christ are maligned with sin and human imperfection, it should come as no surprise that our motives and behavior will be misinterpreted because of our forthright identification with Him. “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12). A mark of the world is to call evil good, and good evil (Isa. 5:20) “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”.

I part with Peter’s word that  as Christians, anointed and ambassadors for Christ, let  us all rejoice to the extent that we partake  of Christ’s suffering, that when His glory is revealed, we may also be glad with exceeding  joy (1 Pet. 4:13).

“Grace to you and Favor from our God and Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen and Amen and Amen.”