I Am Anointed

I’d like to start by reading the text, because I want my message to be founded and grounded on it.

A bit of context. This passage is about David being anointed as king of Israel. At the time, Saul was the anointed king, but through a series of events Saul becomes proud and refuses to trust God. So God strips the kingdom away from Saul and tells the prophet Samuel, “I want you to go and anoint someone else.” That new person is David, and God sends Samuel to Jesse and his sons to anoint him.

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”

But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”

The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”

Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”

Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”

“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”

Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.

Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”

So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.

— 1 Samuel 16:1–13

Will you join me as I pray?

Father in heaven, thank you that you have anointed us with your Holy Spirit. Thank you for pouring out your presence so liberally that anyone can accept it. Anyone has access to your Holy Spirit. May we be open to what you want to do in our lives today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

A functional faith

I believe the church is not a building but a gathering of people. Even so, one thing I really appreciate about this church is the building. There’s an aesthetic to it. Things make sense, and it looks good.

That’s quite foreign to me, because growing up in an Asian household, I’ve realised we’re not very good with aesthetics. We think more about practicality and function. When I visit friends in Western households, there’s a theme going on. The table matches the bench, the chairs match the table, the textures and colours go together.

In my household it’s more random. We have our kitchen bench, and then a white fold-out table pushed up in front of it, with office chairs and maybe some blue plastic chairs around it.

You might laugh, but it’s actually very practical. You can eat at it, you can do your homework at it. It’s better than those nice bar stools. Bar stools are overrated. Office chairs in front of a fold-out table: super random, but it works.

As a family we’ve sometimes talked about making the house a bit more aesthetic, making the colours match. It doesn’t help that three out of four people in my family are colour-blind, including me. Every time, we conclude, “Nah, it’s not worth it.” We’re happy with the way things are. It’s functional, it works for our way of life, and even if we tried, we don’t have the gift.

I think many of us have settled into a relationship with God that is merely functional. It’s practical. It gets us through the day. It’s beneficial. But if we’re honest, it doesn’t really stand out. It doesn’t add meaning and beauty to the world or to our lives. It keeps us Christian, but it doesn’t unleash everything God wants to do in us.

I believe God wants to bring a new aesthetic into our lives: a new way of life where our hearts are fully changed, where the Holy Spirit lives in us and empowers us to be everything he created us to be.

What anointing means

So today we’re looking at the topic of anointing. If we want to move beyond a functional relationship with God, we need to realise that a special anointing is available to us. God wants us to accept it, and he wants it to flow through us into the lives of those around us.

When someone was anointed, oil was poured on their head. They’d be drenched from head to toe. Why oil? In Exodus 30 God gives Moses instructions for the sacred anointing oil: liquid myrrh, fragrant cinnamon, fragrant calamus, cassia and olive oil. It was made from plants. It was a concentrated product of garden trees and garden oils, all the good stuff compressed together.

So when someone was anointed, they gave off the fragrance of a garden. There’s an Eden-like imagery here. An anointed person was meant to bring a bit of Eden back into this world, to push back the effects of sin and a fallen world.

It wasn’t only people who were anointed. The sanctuary was anointed too. These were “heaven and earth” places and people. Generally three groups were anointed:

• Kings, who represented the rule and wisdom of God to the people.
• Priests, who mediated between God and the people.
• Prophets, who carried the word and will of God to the people.

Anointing gave them a special power and authority to carry out those tasks, to bring a bit more of Eden, a bit more of heaven, back to earth. Your anointing was never for yourself. It was to bring beauty back into the world.

That was David’s calling. Israel had fallen under Saul’s leadership, and David was anointed to bring it back to a place of glory.

God is the one who anoints

Notice verse 3. God says, “I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.” It was God who did the anointing, not people. Samuel was the vessel, but God chose. He was the ultimate authority on who received it.

I think we often wait for other people’s approval before we step into our anointing. We wait for validation before we’re willing to do something for God. But God has already anointed us. If we accept that and move in it, he can do amazing things through us.

David went from a humble shepherd boy to fighting Goliath, and he didn’t stop there. He went on to defeat the Philistines. When God chooses you, the need for other people’s approval shrinks, because your identity and validation are in God alone.

God has a soft spot for the underdog

Then come those famous words: “People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” God passes over all the older brothers and chooses the youngest.

Do we have any younger siblings here? Put your hand up. There’s a reason you’re last! I’m the oldest child, and yes, I know the Bible says the first will be last and the last will be first.

But it’s true. Throughout Scripture God seems to choose the younger one. Isaac comes after Ishmael and receives the greater blessing. Jacob is the younger twin and receives the blessing. Joseph is close to the youngest, and he gets most of the second half of Genesis written about him. As an oldest child, that worries me a little!

Here’s what you need to understand. Culturally, the oldest was the powerful one. The firstborn inherited the wealth and carried on the family name. But God has a soft spot for the underdog. It isn’t that God has favourites. He tends to work through the unexpected, the weak and the disenfranchised. He flips social norms upside down. He casts down the great and lifts up the lowly.

God’s willingness to anoint doesn’t depend on your competence. No one thought David deserved to be king, not even God’s prophet. Samuel looked at the oldest brother and said, “Surely this is the one.” God chose the one nobody expected, so that he would get the glory and be seen as someone who works through the weak.

Humility attracts anointing

David’s life shows that humility attracts anointing and fosters it.

The kingdom was torn away from Saul because pride got to him. He relied on his own self-sufficiency instead of depending on God, and he became almost anti-anointed. So God gave the kingdom to a humble shepherd boy whose name no one was cheering.

Here’s a bit of Hebrew for you. The word for anointing is mashach. It means to smear, to immerse, to be drenched from head to toe. David was drenched in oil, and that signified the change that had happened in him.

That’s what happens when we receive this anointing. Things shift. Life turns upside down, because God is now working through us and empowering us to do things we never could have done. That’s why the Spirit came on David and gave him strength to face Goliath, even when his brothers said, “You can’t. You’re too small.”

Verse 13 says Samuel anointed David in front of his brothers, “and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David.” Anointing was the equivalent of receiving the Holy Spirit. So here’s a definition:

Anointing is the Holy Spirit working in human beings so that they can live the life they were created to live.

From one to many: Jesus, the Anointed One

Many of us look at David and think, “I wish I had what David had.” People in David’s day probably thought the same thing: “David’s doing amazing things for God, and here I am just sitting around.”

Under the Old Testament pattern, God would choose one person from among the many in order to reach the many. The anointing was restricted. It came and went. A king received it, and everyone else cheered from the sidelines.

Then Jesus steps onto the scene with a title: Christ. Christ isn’t his surname. It means “Anointed One.” Jesus arrives as the new David, the new King, and he isn’t content to keep the anointing to himself. He gives his disciples authority to heal the sick and cast out demons. Bit by bit, the anointing becomes available to more people.

In John 16:7 Jesus says, “It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you.” And he says you’ll do even greater things, because the Holy Spirit will be available to every single person, whatever your background and wherever you’ve come from.

Not long after Jesus left, Pentecost happened. (Paul spoke about this last week.) God’s presence was poured out on the world. Peter stood up and said, “Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). If you believe in Jesus and accept him as Lord, you receive this anointing by faith.

Little anointed ones

As David was anointed king, we share that anointing too. Peter writes, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9). David was a kind of royal priest, an anointed figure. Now we are royal priests. We get to go out as ministers of reconciliation, bringing a bit more of heaven and a bit more of Eden back into a broken world.

In Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. “Christian” means “little Christ,” and since Christ means anointed one, Christians are little anointed ones. We get to point people to God and make him known. We share in David’s anointing, and even more so, because the Spirit has been released without limit to every one of us.

We often assume some people are anointed and others aren’t. I look at leaders and pastors and think, “If only I could preach like that, lead like that. They’re so anointed.”

I have an uncle who’s a well-known church planter, recognised around the world, which makes family gatherings interesting. Once on a family trip we had devotions, and he gave this deep, existential devotion on creation. When he finished he said, “Jeremy, you can do the devotion tomorrow.” As we walked out, my younger brother said, “Have fun with that. You’re already four-nil down. You’re just going for a consolation goal so it isn’t a whitewash.” That’s younger-sibling stuff for you.

But the same Holy Spirit that’s in my uncle is in me, and the same Spirit that’s in me is in you. Standing up here preaching doesn’t mean I have a holier anointing than you do.

If we want to see revival in the church, we need to realise that this anointing isn’t restricted to pastors, leaders or elders. It’s available to every person, because we are all royal priests. Too many Christians live under the old idea that only some are anointed. God is not stingy with his Spirit. The anointing isn’t somewhere far off that you have to struggle to reach. It’s in you when you accept Jesus, and it’s waiting to flow out of you.

Ask, and keep asking

There’s a tension here. The Spirit is given to stay in us, and yet we’re told to ask for the Spirit daily. So why do I sometimes feel spiritually bankrupt if the Spirit is in me?

Luke 11 says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” We often read that as being about prayer requests in general, but in context it’s about one request in particular: “how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13).

Ephesians 5:18 says, “Be filled with the Spirit,” and in the Greek that’s continuous: keep on being filled. We’re meant to ask for the Spirit every day.

David’s anointing wasn’t a one-off either. After his private anointing in front of his brothers, he was publicly anointed over Judah, and later anointed king over all Israel at the age of thirty. (Jesus also began his ministry at thirty. A little nugget for you.)

The Spirit is a gift received by faith, but it’s also a seed that grows through surrender. It needs nurturing.

I used to do disability support work, and one of my clients had perfect pitch. I discovered it when he named the notes I was playing just by hearing them. So I had him turn around. “What’s this?” “That’s an F.” “What’s this?” “B flat.” Only about one in ten thousand people have perfect pitch.

You might ask why I was teaching him music if he had a gift I don’t. The answer is that perfect pitch doesn’t make you a great musician. The gift had to be nurtured. He had to keep working at it and putting in the labour to make the most of it.

It’s the same with the Holy Spirit. We’ve been given the gift, and it needs to be nurtured. The question isn’t so much us having more of the Holy Spirit as the Holy Spirit having more of us. And when the Spirit has more of us, we have more of him.

How does the Spirit get more of me? I don’t want to give you twenty steps. I want to give you one word: surrender.

David’s secret: he kept coming back

David’s anointing grew in private, when no one was cheering him on, and it kept flowing as long as his heart stayed humble before the Lord: “God, I need you. I depend on you.”

In his younger years he did mighty things. Later in life he settled into complacency. When kings were meant to be out at war, David was wandering around his palace, comfortable, and that comfort became a breeding ground for sin. He committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah killed. It began when he stopped depending on God and moved away from surrender.

I read that and think, “David is so guilty.” And yet the Bible calls him a man after God’s own heart. How is that fair? I think if you asked David, he’d agree he was guilty. But the pattern of David’s life is that he always came back to surrender.

We know this because of Psalm 51, written after that sin:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin… Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow… Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me… My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.

— Psalm 51 (selected verses)

David understood that he needed to be filled with the Spirit again. He wasn’t blameless because he never sinned. He understood God’s mercy, and he knew that if he kept returning to surrender, God could fill him again and wash him whiter than snow.

An invitation

It doesn’t matter what you’ve done or where you’ve come from. God wants to create a new heart in you. He doesn’t stop there either. He wants to give you the gift of his Spirit, which will change you, flow through you, and let you live the life you were created for.

You don’t have to watch from the sidelines, looking at people on stage and thinking, “If only I had what they have.” God wants to do something great through you.

Maybe you’ve never accepted Jesus. He wants you to, and with him comes the gift of the Spirit, a gift that lets you bring beauty and meaning into the world and into other people’s lives.

Maybe you accepted Jesus once, and it meant something, but now it’s dried up. There’s no life or energy in your walk anymore. The good news is that God can renew that too. This anointing isn’t a one-off. It’s a gift that keeps giving, and you can be filled again and again.

So I want to encourage you to ask for the Holy Spirit. Get on your knees, surrender, and say, “God, I need more of you.”

Prayer

Father in heaven, thank you for the Holy Spirit. Thank you that your anointing isn’t restricted to one person or a few, but is available to everyone through the death of Jesus. May we accept that anointing, and may we keep asking for more of it to flow through us.

You could do this whole church thing yourself. You could spread the message of the kingdom on your own, or through angels. But you choose us, broken people who fail and sin, because you delight in using the lowly. You take the humble and make them great. You make the last first.

So, God, may we humble our hearts before you. May we keep going to our knees in surrender and saying, “We need more of you.” Use us. Come, Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name, amen.