The Anointing: What It is and What It is Not
Notes
Transcript
Introduction: God’s Man vs. Man’s Man
Introduction: God’s Man vs. Man’s Man
As many of you know, I serve at Columbia International University, a Christian college that is celebrating its 100th year. CIU has had 7 presidents and is currently conducting its presidential search for its 8th president. I have the privilege of serving on the presidential search committee and as a result have been in deep prayer concerning our next president. As a member of this committee, I have the responsibility of providing input and advice on the characteristics and qualities we should expect from our incoming president.
As we work with our search firm, a helpful article was shared, entitled Searching for a David. In this article the search firm outlined a list of characteristics that they felt are necessary for the next president. These characteristics included:
Self-confident
Understand one’s limitations
Mature motivation
Respect for leadership/authority
Teachable spirit
“Man (or woman) after God’s own heart”
Authentic, transparent
Not self-serving
An example
Demonstrates passion, causes contagious enthusiasm in others
Trusted, trustworthy
Others wish to follow
Honest, has integrity
An overachiever
Takes calculated risks
Comfortable in the limelight, yet doesn’t need it
Humble
Charismatic
Has high “EQ” (Emotional Quotient)
Willing to ask for support-counsel, connections, financial (boldness)
Self-awareness
Has a strong work ethic yet balance to life
Strong self-discipline
Has courage, will do the right thing even in the face of opposition
Life-long learner
Has wisdom
Solid people skills, good at team building
Has business acumen
Results oriented
Values feedback/criticism, seeks to learn from, improve
Does things with excellence
To the credit of our search firm, they have emphasized, from the beginning, the need to endure in prayer and fasting to select the “David” from our potential candidates. They cited the biblical character, David, as an example of a person no one would hardly select if one was selecting by what could be seen naturally. David proved to be an exemplary leader, despite his short comings. However, as leaders are seleted these sort of characteristics are often minimized and hardly considered.
Even in our text, the wise prophet Samuel made the common mistake of selecting the most visibly qualified leader. Ironically, the most visibly qualified leader was the first leader Samuel placed his eyes on. This shoud serve as a caution for us as we go through the process of selection for our next leaders. The quickest process is not always the best process. Searching for God’s leader often takes time and diligence. To short cut this process is to place the community at risk. Thankfully, Samuel would not place the anointing on anyone until he was granted permission from God. So, he did not anoint Eliab.
The Anointing: What is It?
The Anointing: What is It?
John Walton et al. in IVP Bible Background Commentary OT provides a wonderful synopsis on what the anointing is all about. They write,
Anointing a king was common practice in some parts of the ancient Near East. Among the Egyptians and Hittites, anointing was believed to protect a person from the power of netherworld deities. Much of the evidence comes from Hittite sources describing enthronement ceremonies. There is no evidence of kings being anointed in Mesopotamia. In Egypt the pharaoh was not anointed, but he anointed his officials and his vassals. This anointing established their subordinate relationship to him and indicated his protection of them. In the Amarna texts there is reference to a king of Nuhasse (in modern Syria) being anointed by the pharaoh. This model would fit the idea of David being anointed as a vassal to God. In 2 Samuel 2:4 it is the people who anoint David. This anointing suggests some sort of contractual agreement between David and the people he will govern. In Nuzi, individuals entering a business agreement anoint one another with oil, and in Egypt, oil anointment is used in wedding ceremonies. For information on royal coronations see comment on 11:15. The spices used for anointing purposes were myrrh, cinnamon, cane and cassia (see recipe in Ex 30:23–25). Oil symbolized the gifts of God to the people and the responsibilities now laid on their leaders through this ceremony. In Israelite practice, anointing was a sign of election and often closely related to endowment by the Spirit. Additionally, throughout the ancient world anointing symbolized an advance of a person’s legal status. Both concepts of protection and change of status may correlate to the king’s anointing, for it would offer him protection on the throne and identify him with the divine realm. (Matthews, V. H., Chavalas, M. W., & Walton, J. H. (2000). The IVP Bible background commentary: Old Testament(electronic ed., 1 Sa 16:1). InterVarsity Press.)
The process of anoiting was two-fold:
Anointed by God (1 Samuel 16:13)
Anointed by those you will lead (2 Samuel 2:4)
There have been a variety of problems concerning modern ideas about the anointing. As Kyle Blevins puts it, the anointing is about three things: (1) being set apart, (2) being empowered, and (3) being protected. Most of the modern ideas concerning the anointing is not about any of these things. Furthermore, many bypass the anointing of God and seek the anointing of those they wish to lead. Likewise, the anointing is an emotional expression that is felt between the declared leader and those being led. Essentially, the anointing is about, first, God’s designation of one’s purpose and His selection of one’s course of life. This process is established for not only people, but for things as well.
Because the anointing is about purpse and selection, the only difference between that thing or person this is anointed and that which is not is the ability to cause God’s intended impact in a particular realm. Notice, I did not say impact. The anointed will cause God’s intended impact—the impact that God wants in any given function or area. We see this in David’s life. However, we see it more in the life of Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 61:1 prophesied the coming of the Messiah who would be sent to the poor, brokenhearted, captive, and prisoners. Luke 4:14-30 shows how Jesus fulfilled this anointed call. Every bit of the anointed ministry of Jesus’s life involved manifesting a specific function in the ultimate plan of God. Essentially, this is the work of the anointing and the anointed.
Called to Live an Anointed Life
Called to Live an Anointed Life
The biggest myth concerning the anointing is that we must be special to be anointed. No one person has a monopoly on being anointed or on who gets to be anointed. The Bible teaches us that we are, now, all given the privilege of being anointed through the work that has been completed by Jesus Christ.
Now it is God who strengthens us together with you in Christ, and who has anointed us. He has also put his seal on us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment.
The call to live an anointed life is greater now than ever before. The anointing is particularly important when fighting the spirit of the Antichrist. We see in the first century, the spirit of the Antichrist was prevalent, and it was the anointing placed on the believers that provided them a divine understanding through teaching that prevented the efforts of the forces of darkness.
As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you don’t need anyone to teach you. Instead, his anointing teaches you about all things and is true and is not a lie; just as it has taught you, remain in him.
Accordingly, believers need to have the confidence that they are anointed by God to endure and opposed the forces of darkness that are trying to frustrate the plan of God. We need Christians knowing they are are anointed for this task. They have been separated and chosen to do this work.