Theme: This is My Son, the Chosen One
Text: Gen. 15:1-12, 17-18; Phil. 3:17-21, 4:1; Lk. 13:31-35
The first thing we usually know about a person is his or her name. We all know the significance of names in our culture and everyone here automatically receives a name that depicts the day on which that person was born. This is one of the things that make Ghanaians unique as everyone knows the day of his or her birth. Bible names also have meanings and the many names and titles given to Jesus Christ reveal who He is. His most common names are ‘Jesus’ and ‘Christ’. Jesus is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew Yeshua meaning ‘He shall save’. This was the reason why Jesus came to earth. He came to save because sinful man could not save himself from sin and its consequences. This is because no matter how good we may appear to be we cannot get rid of the sinful nature inherited from Adam and Eve. Only Jesus could do that. He did not come to help people save themselves but to be their Saviour from the power and penalty of sin. Christ is the Greek word that means ‘the Anointed One’ or ‘the Chosen One’. Christ is actually a title rather than a name. The Hebrew word for Christ is the Messiah, God’s Anointed One. Jesus is also known by the title ‘Son of God’ and ‘Son of Man’ and this draws attention to the fact that Jesus Christ was both fully God and fully man at the same time. Jesus Christ would not allow anything stand in His way and prevent Him from doing the will of His Father and this is the reason why the Father could say of His Son “This is my Son, the Chosen One”.
Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the chosen One - the anointed One. He is the source of the anointing and the purpose of the anointing is to reveal God. It is the revelations we have about God that leads to a special relationship with Him. Jesus Christ, the anointed One received the Holy Spirit without measure and makes this also available to us. The anointing is part of the operation of the Holy Spirit when it operates without measure. It results from a deep, inward and personal infilling of the Holy Spirit. Jesus constantly demonstrated this anointing in His life and ministry by transforming lives - healing the sick, setting the captives free and giving hope to the hopeless. God desires the anointing to do the same thing in our lives today. It not only brings God to us but also brings us to God and makes God’s holiness, love and power available to us. The anointing brings a new dimension of reality and depth to the Christian experience as it removes burdens and destroys yokes. It is this reality that glorifies God and makes us focus on Him no matter our situation and gives us the right perspective to life. The anointing also reveals God’s word and will and is accompanied by the power to fulfil it through the Holy Spirit. God is a God of power and purpose and there is a purpose for our creation. It is to glorify God and we can only do this in His power and in His way. It is a humbling experience to realise that God desires to fill us with His power.
The anointing is God’s special gift to his servants to equip them for service. The anointing makes the impossible possible and I daresay that it was the anointing on Abraham and Sarah that made it possible for Isaac to be born in spite of the advanced ages of Abraham and Sarah and the fact that Sarah had long passed the age of having children. Abraham and Sarah were anointed as they had a divine role to play in preparing the world for the Messiah. The Virgin Mary was definitely anointed. How else could the miracle of her conception take place leading to the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? And as the name ‘Messiah’ implies Jesus was anointed to fulfil His divine destiny. Each one of us needs the anointing to serve God fully as it is the anointing that brings us into the presence and will of God. This is only possible when we allow the Holy Spirit without measure into our lives. Christ wants to anoint us so that we experience the reality of His power in our lives. It is this reality that will make us want to glorify God at all times, in all places and in all situations. He makes the Holy Spirit and the anointing available to us when we accept Him as our personal Saviour and Lord and through Him transforms our bodies to be like His glorious body.
It is not enough to be anointed, the anointing must be maintained. To maintain the anointing requires sincerity in our relationship with the Holy Spirit. A relationship is either sincere or it is superficial. Only a sincere relationship can be deep and enduring. These are the relationships that stir up our spirits and leave a lasting impact on our lives. We decide what kind of relationship we want. We can either open or close our inner being to one another and to the Holy Spirit. To maintain the anointing is to keep an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit. When we speak about the Holy Spirit we are speaking about a person who speaks to us personally and makes Himself real to us. Although we do not necessarily see Him, He is God, the third person of the Trinity. He is real and can make a great impression on our lives through our inner being.
Just imagine walking down the street and you come across someone you know but to be truthful you cannot stand. What do you do when that person greets you? You cannot just ignore the person and pretend he or she has not said anything. You respond to the greeting, smile, say a few words and probably shake hands. Although some form of exchange took place, no deep personal encounter really took place because you had already decided to keep yourself closed to that possibility. On the other hand imagine seeing someone on the same street who was your friend. You greet each other with the same handshake and the same conversation but something very different happens. It is as if a deep spiritual meeting had taken place. Perhaps it is only for a minute and then you leave but it seems as if part of you had gone with the person. The Holy Spirit as a person has the same capacity to open Himself into a situation or to withhold Himself from it. He is right inside our life situations, communicating with us, opening Himself to us and looking for us to open ourselves to Him in response. Does our friendship and openness to the Holy Spirit show a depth of personal and sincere commitment?
Believers, as citizens of heaven, are to manifest the anointing by healing the sick and freeing those in bondage to sin and Satan. The anointing will open the eyes of the blind and make the lame walk. Jesus the anointed One healed the sick, the hurting and the lonely. When He healed them He sent them away in the power of the Holy Spirit with a new strength so that they no longer needed to live in their infirmity. This is what God wants to do for each of us and through us. The anointing not only restores, it also brings peace and fulfilment. When we do the will of God we will surely experience His peace in our lives.
The anointing enables us to live a life of faith, a life of total dependence on the Lord. What the enemy therefore uses to derail this life is to introduce fear. In fact fear is the most frequent used method to prevent us from fulfilling God’s purpose in our lives. Jesus did not entertain any fear because He was anointed and only followed God’s will for His life. We all need the anointing of the Holy Spirit to be freed from fear and Christ anoints every believer for them to know the reality and power of the Holy Spirit, bringing life into the centre of their being and strength into their lives. Indeed the Scriptures make it clear that without the anointing we can never live in the power of God or know God’s strength for our daily lives. The presence of the anointing in our lives is a great gift from God, which is absolutely necessary for the full enjoyment of our human existence. Our lives can be compared to drinking glasses. These were made for a specific purpose – to hold water so that we can drink from them. Some glasses will hold a little water others more but only the glass that is overflowing will be able to satisfy completely. Similarly, the purpose of our lives is to hold God – to be filled with the Holy Spirit - not only partly filled but filled to overflowing. God made us to be channels and expressions of His life here on earth. He made us to live in His power, to work in His power and to operate in His power for the good of all creation. Sin weakened us and as damaged vessels we could no longer hold the power of God within us. God was no longer able to fill us with the Holy Spirit until some restoration had taken place. Think of a cracked glass that is stained and dirty inside. You would never use such a glass to offer anybody a drink of water neither would you accept a drink of water in such a glass. That glass needs to be restored, washed and cleaned before it could be used. It is just the same with us. Many people cannot know about the power of the Holy Spirit because their lives are like dirty glasses. They need to be restored and made clean before they can be filled and used. God has made this possible through Jesus Christ. He restores and cleans us from all filth and then fills us to overflowing with the pure water of the Holy Spirit. No matter how dirty or how cracked the glass is, Jesus does not throw it away. Life and circumstances can often deal severe blows to us to the point that we seem unable to recover, but God in His power can touch and restore us. All we need to do is come to Him and as He has promised He will restore and cleanse us.
We all need the anointing to guide us to do God’s will. We, however, have an enemy that is doing his utmost to prevent us from doing God’s will. He will try to frighten us and thereby lead us away from doing God’s will. When he fails in his attempt to prevent us from doing what is contrary to God’s Word and will he will try to put obstacles in our way. These obstacles could be financial problems, marital problems, family problems, or health problems. The purpose of these obstacles is to make us act contrary to God’s will. During these times we need to continue trusting God and doing His will as Christ did. We should stand on His Word and not allow fear to direct our lives. We can only do this when we are anointed, that is having the Holy Spirit without measure, and our focus is on God and His Word. God wants to change the lives of those who are hurting and broken. He has done all that is needed in Jesus Christ and all we have to do is accept Christ as our Saviour and Lord. A glass that has never held water has never fulfilled the purpose for which it was made. We are to be filled with the Holy Spirit without measure. A person who has never known the fullness of God’s power through the Holy Spirit in his or her life has never fulfilled the purpose for which he or she was created. You were made to be filled with the Holy Spirit without measure. Accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord and fulfil your destiny as a child of God. Amen!
