Anointed for a Purpose

Epiphany 3 (24^th January 2010)

Theme: Anointed for a Purpose

 

We speak a lot about “anointing" nowadays.  When we say someone "is an anointed preacher", or when we refer to an experience as "an anointed moment" - it means it was set apart.  It is a reference to God having his hand on something to make it rather special or having powerful effects on our emotions. 

Just now we heard Jesus making a proclamation:  ¹⁸"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour."

The words of Jesus are not just referring what happened to him when the Holy Spirit came upon him.  They remind us that when the Spirit of God comes upon us, we too are anointed, and when we are anointed there is a reason or purpose.  Anointing is really "setting apart".  When God anoints something He sets it apart.  It becomes "holy" - separated for His use.  When a new king was anointed in Israel the prophet would take a horn full of oil and pour it over his head.  They would do the same thing when there was a new High Priest. The symbolism was that this person was "set apart" - to be a man of God and to be used by God.

In the Old Testament, the Tabernacle, the furniture and utensils used for worship in the Tabernacle had to be anointed before they could be used. They had special oil for this anointing, made from a recipe that God gave them (Exodus 30:22-30).  The recipe for this oil gives a picture of what we need in our lives to know God’s anointing; and so, let us spend a short time looking it. 

The main component is olive oil and added to it are 4 ingredients: liquid myrrh, sweet cinnamon, sweet-smelling cane (calamus), and cassia.  Now let us look at each of the ingredients. Myrrh was used to prepare bodies for burial. It has to be crushed so that it can produce its beautiful sweetness.

Myrrh speaks of death. There is no anointing without death. If we want to know God’s anointing we have to die to ourselves. It means that we need to forgo our own agenda, our own desires and dreams that are in conflict with God’s will.  Sometimes we don’t want to let go of all these things, but if we are asking for God’s anointing at the same time he may have to bring "crushing" circumstances into our lives in order to shake us off what we have been holding unto.  So when bad thing befalls us, don’t be too quick to say it is the devil’s work.  It may be God’s way of trying to attract our attention and to prepare us for his anointing so we can be used by Him. 

The second ingredient, sweet cinnamon is used for flavouring because of its pleasant smell.   Cinnamon speaks of sweetness. If we want God to take us up and anoint us to use us, there has to be sweetness about our lives.  It is so easy to allow circumstances of life to make us bitter.  Or we may feel very sorry about ourselves because the world is treating us badly. Don’t allow these things to take away the sweetness out of your life.  Develop graciousness within you and deal with others with grace.  God will anoint you and use you if there is sweetness about you. God will never anoint just anything or just anyone. The anointing of God is much too valuable to simply make it available to anyone or any thing. God will look upon the heart, always.   God does not anoint people with pride, arrogance, jealousy or hate. He does anoint humility, kindness and servitude.  This is what the fruit of the Spirit is all about in Galatians 5:22-23. It says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…”   You don’t find this fruit in people who are always grumpy, angry and unforgiving.

The third ingredient, sweet-smelling cane or calamus: to get this plant to produce smell you have to beat it. The more you beat it the better it smells.  If you like your comfort zone, that is all that you get.  A lump of clay that is never beaten up and squashed will remain useless lump of clay.  But once it is beaten up, moulded and burnt in fire, it becomes a beautiful vase. Sometimes God’s anointing requires us to pass through difficulties and hardships: that is where God fashions our character.  So when we respond to them as God wants us to, he is fashioning us for anointing.

The fourth ingredient, cassia, is a spice that grows only at elevations above 8000 feet. You have got to get up on the mountain to get it.  It reminds us that if we desire God’s anointing, we have got to reach up to the heights. There is no shortcut to the anointing: we have got to pray.  That was what Jesus did to stay anointed: he maintained a close walk with the Father in prayer at all times.

Finally, all the ingredients were mixed with olive oil.  And it was the mixture that was called "holy".  In the Bible, oil symbolizes the Person of the Holy Spirit, and anointing is primarily to do with the work and moving of the Holy Spirit.  So when God anoints, it is the outpouring of His Spirit.

Now you have this picture of all the ingredients mingled together with olive oil, producing the anointing compound that was called “holy”.  A lot of time we picture holy as something peaceful, nice, calm, and beautiful.  Honestly speaking, I don’t like problems and crisis. How I wish things in Church to be nice, simple, easy and non-confrontational.  That is not what life really is.  God commanded the priests to use the 4 ingredients for the making of the holy oil to remind them what anointed life is all about. It is a combination of all the good and difficult things; and the Holy Spirit works in the midst of it.  It is a reminder that you cannot receive God’s anointing by running away from the day to day challenges, difficult responsibilities, or by staying in your comfort zones. 

As I said a few weeks ago, “many of us think that God’s blessing is something that drops from the sky while we say prayers in church”. It is not; and so is anointing.  One of the great problems we Christians have is the idea that we can live any way that we please, and then come to church and simply ask for the anointing of God.  You may be enlightened a bit by our sermons, encouraged by words of prayer, inspired by the songs and impressed by the many activities. And these are all good experiences, but they do not necessarily imply that God’s anointing is at work.   Remember that myrrh is the symbol of death to our old selves; cinnamon reminds us to cultivate sweetness in dealing with others, calamus reminds us that pain and hardship has their purpose in life, and cassia reminds us that we need to seek God daily in prayer and fellowship with the Holy Spirit.  When God starts to anoint it may not be a nice experience: in fact it can be very upsetting for many people. That was why when Jesus started his ministry all the religious leaders got angry with him, and sometimes they kicked him out of the synagogue.  He was disturbing and upsetting all the good things. 

You already knew about cases of arson in some of the churches in Malaysia.  One of them was Metro Tabernacle Church in KL. Eight men threw petrol bombs into the church and burnt the ground floor. It was a bad day for the congregation, but miraculous things happened after that.  The church had waited a long time to get approval to move to their new building in Batu Caves; and it was after their buildings were burnt that they got the permission to move.  They were in financial difficulties, but the government gave them half-a-million Ringgits to compensate for their losses, and some more donations were received from other people. From an unknown church they became famous worldwide almost overnight.  In this case God anointed the church with petrol-bomb fire.  Sometimes I wonder what God is going to do to when he anoints our Church.

Let’s go back to the anointing oil again: what do you do with it?  It is set apart for one special purpose only.  So if something or someone is anointed by God they too are “set apart”.  For what purpose?  It is for the service of God. Another point that we often miss when we talk about anointing is this: that God only anoints what he intends to use to bring about his purposes and plans. If you believe that God anoints Christians, then God must have special purpose for us.  We are anointed for a purpose.  Jesus has said that he was anointed to preach good news to the poor; to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind; to release the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.  What are we anointed for?

Our mission and our plan must be exactly the same as that of Jesus because we are his disciples.  I don’t stand here just to say all the nice things you want to hear.  We are to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.  And it must also be shared with people out there who are lost.  But I know if I am to preach outside this church I shall get into trouble. That is why every week I make the effort to prepare the newsletter with the summary of my sermon for you to take home, so that the message can be shared with those who don’t come to church.  The newsletter is not meant to be put back on the table after service: it is for you to use when you share your message with your friends and family members.   

The message we preach is for the brokenhearted, that they may be healed!  It is a message for souls who are crushed under the load of sin, whose lives are wrecked and ruined by the powers of darkness, and who have no knowledge of what Jesus can do for them! It is our duty to tell them about Jesus and to believe God for miracles of salvation, healing and deliverance.

We are also called to bring light and enlightenment to the darkness of those who are without light. The lost are walking around in darkness: they cannot see their sin, and they cannot see their way to Christ and find the path to salvation.  Jesus has given that great responsibility to you and I and we must not fail in doing our part.  If you are anointed and have the light, you need to let your light shine among them. That is a part of our mission and a part of our game plan.

Finally, we are called to tell others that Jesus can set them free from the chains of darkness that hold them in such a powerful grip!  There are many people out there bound by chains of sin that are unbreakable and heavy to bear. Everywhere they go and in everything they do, those chains are there, bruising their love and turning it to hate; destroying care and turning it to greed.   They don’t have the strength to break the chains of sin, so we need to tell them that Jesus can do it.

If the Spirit of the Lord upon us, within us, empowering us: for what purpose is he there?  It is so that we can do the work and accomplish what Jesus has called us to do!  We are to preach the gospel to the poor; to tell them that Jesus can heal the brokenhearted, deliver those in bondage, and to make the blind see.  That is our purpose.