INTRODUCTION
We’re talking this week about the One who anoints. What is anointing? Is it really a big deal? Do I really want it? What do I do with it once I have it?
Three retired pastors
I was with a few of my friends from the congregation with whom I meet regularly for mentoring and accountability. All of them happen to be retired pastors. I figured they should know, so I asked them, “What is anointing?”
One of them immediately said, “I can sure tell you when it ain’t.” Another gave me his definition: It is the inspiration of God by which we say and do something on God’s behalf. We all agreed that inspiration included, in the case of anointing, not just motivation but also authority and power. Ultimately, they all agreed that anointing comes more from knee-ology than from theology.
“Christ-ian”
Consider the word Christian. What does it mean? Followers of Jesus were first called Christians at Antioch (Acts 11:26). The word Christian has been around ever since.
Christian comes from the word Christ. Where does that come from? Some of you will say, “Well, that’s easy. That was Jesus’ last name: Jesus Christ. You know, Mr. Christ.” That’s not exactly it. Christ is a title. It’s the Greek version of a Hebrew title: Messiah. Both Christ and Messiah mean the same thing. They mean, “Anointed One.”
This idea of anointing is so important that it is the most recognized characteristic of the Promised One who was to come, in the line of David, to save His people. They were awaiting the Messiah or, in Greek, the Christ. Jesus came as the Anointed One.
That has ramifications for us as Christians. Christian means: One relating to, belonging to, or resembling the Anointed One. You could say it means little anointed ones. The reality of anointing is very significant in Who Jesus is and who we are as Christians. We carry the name, but do we carry the reality?
1 John 2:27 (NKJV)
27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you…
A STEADY ANOINTING
Zechariah’s vision
The prophet Zechariah was ministering to God’s people as they had returned to a destroyed Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple and their city. He was ministering at the same time as the prophet Haggai. The high priest was Joshua and Zerrubabel was leader of the people.
The work of rebuilding had been difficult and met with opposition. The altar of the Temple was errected in 537 BC. The following year work on the Temple itself began, but then was quickly abandoned until 520 BC (sixteen years). The work was reinitiated and sustained by these prophetic voices. The Temple was completed in 515 BC.
The people needed something to snap them out of sixteen years of discouragement and neglect. They needed something that could give them hope for real success. They needed the same thing we need today: confidence in God’s anointing.
Zechariah 4:1-6 (NKJV)
1 Now the angel who talked with me came back and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. 2 And he said to me, “What do you see?” So I said, “I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. 3 Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at its left.” 4 So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, “What are these, my lord?” 5 Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” 6 So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts.
Zechariah 4:11-14 (NKJV)
11 Then I answered and said to him, “What are these two olive trees—at the right of the lampstand and at its left?” 12 And I further answered and said to him, “What are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains?” 13 Then he answered me and said, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” 14 So he said, “These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.”
This vision was universally recognized by its hearers as anointing. Anointing is spiritual fuel. It keeps the fire burning. In this vision there is a single large lampstand with many pipes, or branches (picture a menorah), all receiving fuel, “the golden oil,” dripping straight in from the olive branches.
1. Go straight to the source.
There is nothing like going straight to the source.
Oregon Rain
I’ve always thought it was a little weird to buy water in a bottle. It’s all around us. How do we know those bottled water companies don’t just hold their bottles under their kitchen sink at home, fill them up, and sell them us?
I was at our small group gathering the other day and there was bottled water there called ‘Oregon Rain.’ Apparently the people who sell it collect Oregon Rain and then sell it to us. I get all I want for free. (But it was good water, I must admit.)
That is going right to the source. It falls from the sky and we drink it. It doesn’t become a snowcap; melt off and run down a mountain; collect in a reservoir or leech underground; go through a processing plant adding chemicals and minerals and then show up in your sink. It comes right from heaven and we drink it.
Go right to the source
The only way to receive the anointing from God is to go right to the source. Sermons are great. Books and tapes can be helpful. But they are all processed materials. You’ve got to go to God to keep your fire alive. Go right to the source through daily time in His Word, prayer, and being anointed by the Holy Spirit.
2. Keep it steady.
A steady flow is the key. Notice in verse 12 it talks about the olive branches which drip the golden oil into the receptacles. Sometimes we come to God and say, “Give me a big blast right now. Get out Your firehose of anointing and let me have it.” That’s not the way it goes. That can put out the flame or make it destructive. It only takes a little bit with consistency.
My brother and the gas can
My brother can tell you it only takes a little bit. When he was a young boy he was trying to figure out if there was much gas in a particular gas can. He looked in, but it was too dark and he couldn’t see. Luckily, he knew where there were some matches. He lit a match, held it close to the opening and looked inside. The small explosion that ensued left him without any eyelashes or hair around his face for quite some time.
Dalene and the hose
Dalene and I were out in front of our house working on the yard. She got the hose out and put a small power nozzle on the end of the hose. The power nozzle doesn’t have anything to turn it on or off so I helpfully said, “Honey, you can take the on/off attachment from the back hose to use on that if you want. That’s what I do.” “No,” she replied, “I’m just going to do it like this.” I went back to what I was doing. She walked over to the outside faucet and turned it on. She left the end of the hose just sitting there. When the water reached the end of the hose it just started taking off like a little water rocket. It was flying around, getting everything all wet. She had to grab it like one of those wildlife shows catching a big snake. It was awesome.
It is a steady and sure anointing which has the greatest effect. Sometimes people, under the name of anointing, jump around like that garden hose. They come on big and flashy for God. Jesus said people who come on fast and furious end up having a shallow root. I have known many people who seem to have a double or triple dose of anointing, but in reality have very shallow roots. Go deep. Keep it steady.
3. Share it.
Anointing is for a purpose. And that purpose doesn’t stop with you.
Notice in the picture there was not one flame but many. There was one lampstand but seven lamps and seven pipes leading to the lamps. The golden oil that fueled one fire was then distributed through the pipe to another flame, and then to another flame. What if one bowl kept everything for itself? The lampstand would not function properly.
Did you know it was actually illegal in the old testament to make up anointing oil for your own purposes? It could only be used for what God said it could be used for.
THREE TYPES OF ANOINTING
There are three basic, important types and functions of anointing in scripture:
There is a relational anointing for hospitality and reconciliation.
Psalm 23:5, Psalm 133, Luke 7:46
This is reflected near the end of that wonderful pastoral psalm, Psalm 23:5, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.”
Anointing someone’s head with oil was an act of reception and hospitality.
A woman anoints Jesus’ feet
Jesus went to a Pharisees house to eat. The Pharisees name was Simon. A woman interupted their dinner by washing Jesus’ feet with her tears, drying them with her hair and pouring perfume on them. Simon criticized Jesus for letting her do it.
Jesus said, “Simon, when I entered your house you didn’t even anoint My head. Yet this woman has anointed my feet. Her sins are many and she has been forgiven much.”
Part of our anointing is a relational anointing for hospitality and reconciliation.
There is a medicinal anointing for comfort and healing.
Mark 6:13, Luke 10:33-34, James 5:14
Jesus sent His disciples out two by two, and one of the things that they did was anoint the sick and heal them. James says that we are to anoint the sick today for healing.
The Good Samaritan
This is also seen in Jesus’ story about the Good Samaritan. When the Good Samaritan saw the man in the ditch who had been beaten and left there to die, he went down to him and poured onto his wounds oil and wine. Anointing and compassion made him well.
There is a positional anointing to make you ‘fit for use.’
Exodus 30:26, Leviticus 4:16, 1 Samuel 16:13, 1 Kings 19:16, Isaiah 21:5, Rev 1:6
Maybe the anointing that we think of most is the positional anointing. In the Old Testament there were three different positions that received an anointing for office: prophets, priests and kings. There is a close tie between this positional anointing and Jesus’ title as Messiah (‘Anointed One’) since He was the only person who ever filled all three anointed offices of Prophet, Priest and King.
Inanimate objects were also anointed to accomplish ordained purposes. The articles in the tabernacle or in the Temple were to be anointed to fulfill a sacred purpose. In Isaiah 21:5 there is the phrase “anoint the shield,” which refers to anointing a leather shield with oil so that it would be ready for use in battle. (I use to anoint my baseball glove.)
God has given you this anointing because you have God-ordained positions to fulfill and purposes to accomplish. You can receive God’s anointing to fulfill the role that He has placed you in: as husband, or wife, or father, or mother, or boss, or worker, or minister, or Youth Worker, or Greeter, or Worship Team Member, or however God has called you.
Because the Holy Spirit has been given to us, this anointing stuff is for us everyday.
CONCLUSION
Rosi’s anointing
Many of you know Rosi Hinton. Rosi is part of our congregation but she hasn’t been with us for a while because she is suffering the affects of cancer. Rosi personifies the teaching of today. When you’re around Rosi, you can’t help but get a little of this anointing oil splashed on you. It becomes obvious that she has been with the Lord recently and steadily.
I have been with Rosi a couple of times over this last week. Once when I was there she called rather urgently for her bible and gave it to me because she wanted me to read something. When I got the bible she shouted to the others in the room, “Be quiet now. My pastor is going to read the word.” I asked her what she was wanting me to read and she calmly said, “Read anything. It’s all good.”
Rosi loves prayer and loves kids. She does whatever she can to love and teach kids. She has taught many of your kids to pray. She has been a teacher for years at an alternative school for troubled kids. Those are her kids. She loves those kids.
Pastor Tom and I went to see her on Thursday because she wasn’t doing well physically. Her spirit and her joy, like always, were soaring. We were told by Rosi and by her caregiver that some of the kids and school officials were over to see her the night before. The school is moving into a brand new facility next year and everyone is excited about the move. They told Rosi that when they move into their new school that they are going to give the school a brand new name. They are naming it after her: Hinton High School. Some of the kids don’t even want to graduate this year. They want to get held back and graduate next year so they can go to Hinton High.
Impact like that comes one way, through God’s anointing on our lives.
TRUST IN YOUR ANOINTING!
We’re talking this week about the One who anoints. What is anointing? Is it really a big deal? Do I really want it? What do I do with it once I have it?
Three retired pastors
I was with a few of my friends from the congregation with whom I meet regularly for mentoring and accountability. All of them happen to be retired pastors. I figured they should know, so I asked them, “What is anointing?”
One of them immediately said, “I can sure tell you when it ain’t.” Another gave me his definition: It is the inspiration of God by which we say and do something on God’s behalf. We all agreed that inspiration included, in the case of anointing, not just motivation but also authority and power. Ultimately, they all agreed that anointing comes more from knee-ology than from theology.
“Christ-ian”
Consider the word Christian. What does it mean? Followers of Jesus were first called Christians at Antioch (Acts 11:26). The word Christian has been around ever since.
Christian comes from the word Christ. Where does that come from? Some of you will say, “Well, that’s easy. That was Jesus’ last name: Jesus Christ. You know, Mr. Christ.” That’s not exactly it. Christ is a title. It’s the Greek version of a Hebrew title: Messiah. Both Christ and Messiah mean the same thing. They mean, “Anointed One.”
This idea of anointing is so important that it is the most recognized characteristic of the Promised One who was to come, in the line of David, to save His people. They were awaiting the Messiah or, in Greek, the Christ. Jesus came as the Anointed One.
That has ramifications for us as Christians. Christian means: One relating to, belonging to, or resembling the Anointed One. You could say it means little anointed ones. The reality of anointing is very significant in Who Jesus is and who we are as Christians. We carry the name, but do we carry the reality?
1 John 2:27 (NKJV)
27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you…
A STEADY ANOINTING
Zechariah’s vision
The prophet Zechariah was ministering to God’s people as they had returned to a destroyed Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple and their city. He was ministering at the same time as the prophet Haggai. The high priest was Joshua and Zerrubabel was leader of the people.
The work of rebuilding had been difficult and met with opposition. The altar of the Temple was errected in 537 BC. The following year work on the Temple itself began, but then was quickly abandoned until 520 BC (sixteen years). The work was reinitiated and sustained by these prophetic voices. The Temple was completed in 515 BC.
The people needed something to snap them out of sixteen years of discouragement and neglect. They needed something that could give them hope for real success. They needed the same thing we need today: confidence in God’s anointing.
Zechariah 4:1-6 (NKJV)
1 Now the angel who talked with me came back and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. 2 And he said to me, “What do you see?” So I said, “I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. 3 Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at its left.” 4 So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, “What are these, my lord?” 5 Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” 6 So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts.
Zechariah 4:11-14 (NKJV)
11 Then I answered and said to him, “What are these two olive trees—at the right of the lampstand and at its left?” 12 And I further answered and said to him, “What are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains?” 13 Then he answered me and said, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” 14 So he said, “These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.”
This vision was universally recognized by its hearers as anointing. Anointing is spiritual fuel. It keeps the fire burning. In this vision there is a single large lampstand with many pipes, or branches (picture a menorah), all receiving fuel, “the golden oil,” dripping straight in from the olive branches.
1. Go straight to the source.
There is nothing like going straight to the source.
Oregon Rain
I’ve always thought it was a little weird to buy water in a bottle. It’s all around us. How do we know those bottled water companies don’t just hold their bottles under their kitchen sink at home, fill them up, and sell them us?
I was at our small group gathering the other day and there was bottled water there called ‘Oregon Rain.’ Apparently the people who sell it collect Oregon Rain and then sell it to us. I get all I want for free. (But it was good water, I must admit.)
That is going right to the source. It falls from the sky and we drink it. It doesn’t become a snowcap; melt off and run down a mountain; collect in a reservoir or leech underground; go through a processing plant adding chemicals and minerals and then show up in your sink. It comes right from heaven and we drink it.
Go right to the source
The only way to receive the anointing from God is to go right to the source. Sermons are great. Books and tapes can be helpful. But they are all processed materials. You’ve got to go to God to keep your fire alive. Go right to the source through daily time in His Word, prayer, and being anointed by the Holy Spirit.
2. Keep it steady.
A steady flow is the key. Notice in verse 12 it talks about the olive branches which drip the golden oil into the receptacles. Sometimes we come to God and say, “Give me a big blast right now. Get out Your firehose of anointing and let me have it.” That’s not the way it goes. That can put out the flame or make it destructive. It only takes a little bit with consistency.
My brother and the gas can
My brother can tell you it only takes a little bit. When he was a young boy he was trying to figure out if there was much gas in a particular gas can. He looked in, but it was too dark and he couldn’t see. Luckily, he knew where there were some matches. He lit a match, held it close to the opening and looked inside. The small explosion that ensued left him without any eyelashes or hair around his face for quite some time.
Dalene and the hose
Dalene and I were out in front of our house working on the yard. She got the hose out and put a small power nozzle on the end of the hose. The power nozzle doesn’t have anything to turn it on or off so I helpfully said, “Honey, you can take the on/off attachment from the back hose to use on that if you want. That’s what I do.” “No,” she replied, “I’m just going to do it like this.” I went back to what I was doing. She walked over to the outside faucet and turned it on. She left the end of the hose just sitting there. When the water reached the end of the hose it just started taking off like a little water rocket. It was flying around, getting everything all wet. She had to grab it like one of those wildlife shows catching a big snake. It was awesome.
It is a steady and sure anointing which has the greatest effect. Sometimes people, under the name of anointing, jump around like that garden hose. They come on big and flashy for God. Jesus said people who come on fast and furious end up having a shallow root. I have known many people who seem to have a double or triple dose of anointing, but in reality have very shallow roots. Go deep. Keep it steady.
3. Share it.
Anointing is for a purpose. And that purpose doesn’t stop with you.
Notice in the picture there was not one flame but many. There was one lampstand but seven lamps and seven pipes leading to the lamps. The golden oil that fueled one fire was then distributed through the pipe to another flame, and then to another flame. What if one bowl kept everything for itself? The lampstand would not function properly.
Did you know it was actually illegal in the old testament to make up anointing oil for your own purposes? It could only be used for what God said it could be used for.
THREE TYPES OF ANOINTING
There are three basic, important types and functions of anointing in scripture:
There is a relational anointing for hospitality and reconciliation.
Psalm 23:5, Psalm 133, Luke 7:46
This is reflected near the end of that wonderful pastoral psalm, Psalm 23:5, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.”
Anointing someone’s head with oil was an act of reception and hospitality.
A woman anoints Jesus’ feet
Jesus went to a Pharisees house to eat. The Pharisees name was Simon. A woman interupted their dinner by washing Jesus’ feet with her tears, drying them with her hair and pouring perfume on them. Simon criticized Jesus for letting her do it.
Jesus said, “Simon, when I entered your house you didn’t even anoint My head. Yet this woman has anointed my feet. Her sins are many and she has been forgiven much.”
Part of our anointing is a relational anointing for hospitality and reconciliation.
There is a medicinal anointing for comfort and healing.
Mark 6:13, Luke 10:33-34, James 5:14
Jesus sent His disciples out two by two, and one of the things that they did was anoint the sick and heal them. James says that we are to anoint the sick today for healing.
The Good Samaritan
This is also seen in Jesus’ story about the Good Samaritan. When the Good Samaritan saw the man in the ditch who had been beaten and left there to die, he went down to him and poured onto his wounds oil and wine. Anointing and compassion made him well.
There is a positional anointing to make you ‘fit for use.’
Exodus 30:26, Leviticus 4:16, 1 Samuel 16:13, 1 Kings 19:16, Isaiah 21:5, Rev 1:6
Maybe the anointing that we think of most is the positional anointing. In the Old Testament there were three different positions that received an anointing for office: prophets, priests and kings. There is a close tie between this positional anointing and Jesus’ title as Messiah (‘Anointed One’) since He was the only person who ever filled all three anointed offices of Prophet, Priest and King.
Inanimate objects were also anointed to accomplish ordained purposes. The articles in the tabernacle or in the Temple were to be anointed to fulfill a sacred purpose. In Isaiah 21:5 there is the phrase “anoint the shield,” which refers to anointing a leather shield with oil so that it would be ready for use in battle. (I use to anoint my baseball glove.)
God has given you this anointing because you have God-ordained positions to fulfill and purposes to accomplish. You can receive God’s anointing to fulfill the role that He has placed you in: as husband, or wife, or father, or mother, or boss, or worker, or minister, or Youth Worker, or Greeter, or Worship Team Member, or however God has called you.
Because the Holy Spirit has been given to us, this anointing stuff is for us everyday.
CONCLUSION
Rosi’s anointing
Many of you know Rosi Hinton. Rosi is part of our congregation but she hasn’t been with us for a while because she is suffering the affects of cancer. Rosi personifies the teaching of today. When you’re around Rosi, you can’t help but get a little of this anointing oil splashed on you. It becomes obvious that she has been with the Lord recently and steadily.
I have been with Rosi a couple of times over this last week. Once when I was there she called rather urgently for her bible and gave it to me because she wanted me to read something. When I got the bible she shouted to the others in the room, “Be quiet now. My pastor is going to read the word.” I asked her what she was wanting me to read and she calmly said, “Read anything. It’s all good.”
Rosi loves prayer and loves kids. She does whatever she can to love and teach kids. She has taught many of your kids to pray. She has been a teacher for years at an alternative school for troubled kids. Those are her kids. She loves those kids.
Pastor Tom and I went to see her on Thursday because she wasn’t doing well physically. Her spirit and her joy, like always, were soaring. We were told by Rosi and by her caregiver that some of the kids and school officials were over to see her the night before. The school is moving into a brand new facility next year and everyone is excited about the move. They told Rosi that when they move into their new school that they are going to give the school a brand new name. They are naming it after her: Hinton High School. Some of the kids don’t even want to graduate this year. They want to get held back and graduate next year so they can go to Hinton High.
Impact like that comes one way, through God’s anointing on our lives.
TRUST IN YOUR ANOINTING!
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