The Anointing of God
10/07/2007
Shannon Lewis
Bayou Community Church
1 Samuel 16:1-13
Over the last several weeks you were invited to pray with us concerning 3 things which we feel is essential to our success as a church. Today we will begin a 3 part series that will look at each of these 3 areas, God’s anointing, God’s presence and finally God’s will. Today we’ll be considering God’s anointing.
In Pentecostal circles we talk or refer to the “anointing” a great deal. Some would even seem to suggest that we have the monopoly on God’s anointing. I would strongly disagree with that. I know many non-Pentecostals that are quite anointed of God. What is paramount to the anointing is having a good understanding of it. I think the first thing we need to do is to get a clear picture of what the Bible says about “anointing”. To gain a better understanding of what anointing is we should first attempt to understand what anointing is not.
In much of today’s church world, you don’t always get a clear understanding of what God’s anointing really is. Sadly, the anointing of God has been reduced to a Pastors performance in the pulpit, how good the sermon is or how loud he shouts. In some circles, large numbers and a wealth of programs are considered as clear evidence that God’s anointing is upon a particular church. If a song brings chill bumps on your arms, then it has to be anointed. If the choir sounds heavenly, they must be anointed. If after you have left church and you feel good about your experience then surely it was anointed.
Let me be very clear. I like good preaching and good singing as much as the next person but I also understand what I call good isn’t necessarily what God calls anointed!
Very often in God’s word we see God anointing people or things that upon first glance, leaves us scratching our heads. If something or someone is anointed by God they are “set apart for the service of God.” When you strip everything else away, that is what you’re left with, “set apart for the service of God”. God only anoints what he intends to use to bring about his purposes and plans.
I think it’s safe to say, not everything we see and hear in today’s church world is anointed! I’ll leave this for you to fill in the blanks. Suffice it to say, not everything is set apart for the purpose of bringing glory and honor to God.
The Anointing of God, let’s consider it together this morning.
TEXT
David Anointed King
1 Samuel 16:1-13
The first truth regarding God’s anointing I would like to bring to you this morning is this,
1. God is particular with His anointing.
We see as evidenced here that God is not willing to place his anointing on everything that simply looks good with the natural eye. One of the greatest threats to God’s work today is the supposed anointing that people and ministries have based on who they are what they are doing. It’s very clear through what we have read together that God does not look on the outside as man does. Rather, God is most interested in what a man looks like on the inside. It’s the inside of the heart that holds all the secrets of man. What may appear to be perfect on the outside can be quite putrid on the inside!
God tells the prophet Samuel in verse 7, ““Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Samuel thought upon first glance of Eliab he had found God’s anointed! His failure was looking solely on the outside for proof of what he thought was on the inside. Listen, just because a cake is frosted with beautiful icing, doesn’t mean its contents are equal! We have to be careful when casually naming something as God’s anointed when God hasn’t yet said it was.
If we can see anything from this portion of scripture it is that God is particular with his anointing. Although Eliab was the eldest and probably the strongest and most fit, God overlooked him along with 6 others for the one that was the youngest, ruddy (red headed) and fair to look on. I guess what they thought God was looking for a biker type with crude looks and tough guy image.
Things aren’t always the way they appear.
During one of his political campaigns, a delegation called on Theodore Roosevelt at his home in Oyster Bay, Long Island. The President met them with his coat off and his sleeves rolled up. "Ah, gentlemen," he said, "come down to the barn and we will talk while I do some work." At the barn, Roosevelt picked up a pitchfork and looked around for the hay. Then he called out, "John, where’s all the hay?"
"Sorry, sir," John called down from the hayloft. "I haven’t had time to toss it back down again after you pitched it up while the Iowa folks were here."
It’s all too easy to do as Samuel did. We mistakenly look at others and maybe even ourselves and think, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before me.” It’s easy to do, to anoint someone or something that God has not himself anointed.
The second truth regarding God’s anointing I would like to bring to you this morning is this,
2. God considers the heart, always.
You’ll notice God already knew which of these 8 sons of Jesse that he was going to anoint King of Israel. He said to Samuel in verse 1, “…Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” There was no question with God as to who He would anoint King. God’s task was to make certain Samuel knew who he would anoint King. I believe God knew the human tendency that exists in all humans, even the prophet Samuel to be impressed with external appearances.
Truly, Samuel was ready to anoint Eliab as God’s chosen King. However, to do so would have been a gross error on his part because he would have anointed him solely based on what he could see with his own eyes.
Let me once again state the obvious…things aren’t always as they appear to be”!
God understands this better than anyone so he looks in the place of human beings wherein lies the true nature of a person…the heart! God will never be impressed with what we are impressed with. God is not impressed with an “impressive” resume. God is not impressed with our talent. God is not impressed with our strengths. God is not impressed with our abilities. God is not impressed with our good looks. God is not impressed with our degrees. God is not impressed with our position. God is not impressed with our acquaintances. God is not impressed with our egos. God is not impressed with anything other than what is impressive in our hearts!
Heart is used in Scripture as the most comprehensive term for the authentic person. It is the part of our being where we desire, deliberate, and decide. It has been described as "the place of conscious and decisive spiritual activity," "the comprehensive term for a person as a whole; his feelings, desires, passions, thought, understanding and will," and "the center of a person; the place to which God turns."
Listen, when God wants to know a person, he doesn’t consult his/her family. He doesn’t read his/hear biography. He doesn’t interview his/her dearest friends. When God wants to know a person, he consults their heart! The heart will divulge all the secrets and will give a clear understanding of who a person really is.
If a person is prideful, the heart will tell. If a person has hatred, the heart will tell. If the person has un-forgiveness, the heart will tell. The heart will tell all! There are no secrets hidden that the heart will not make known. So if God really wants to know who you are, he’ll go to your heart!
The Psalmist said, “Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed”. By the content of your heart, God knows you.
One of the six things that God hates as listed in Proverbs 6 is a “…heart that deviseth wicked imaginations…”! God would rather your heart be clean than to pretend you’re clean outwardly!
Proverbs 14:30 states, “…A sound heart [is] the life of the flesh…”. The word sound here as translated from the original Hebrew is “Marpe”, which means healthy, healing or cure. So we could read it this way, A healthy heart is the life of the flesh! As with our physical nature, a healthy heart is just as important to our spiritual nature.
According to God’s standard of anointing, a healthy heart is the first and most important requirement to receive His anointing!
As with the King that would succeed King Saul, God would not bypass the heart when considering who he would anoint. For you and me, it’s easy to do, that is, to bypass the heart. Although we cannot see inside a persons deepest and most intimate parts, we can see the fruit of them quite clearly on the outside.
Matthew recorded Jesus as referring to false prophets say, “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” Why is this? Because the heart will always tell on itself! What it is on the inside will always reveal itself on the outside! The heart won’t lie! Reba Mc Entire made this truth a hit on the country billboards in 1993 when her hit single “The Heart Won’t Lie” went all the way to number 1.
Everyone knows that the heart won’t lie! What it is, for better or worse will tell on itself. The heart being the truest representation of who a person is, is the very reason God looks upon it, always.
The third and final truth regarding God’s anointing I would like to bring to you this morning is this,
3. God’s anointing can cause others to dislike you.
Time and time again in the word of God we can see those whom God anointed for specific reasons and in the same view, see those that despised those whom God chose to anoint. David is no different. You remember in our text when Samuel anointed David, it wasn’t a private religious ceremony. It wasn’t conducted secretly or absent from prying eyes. No, it was done openly and in the presence of all those that had been “overlooked”.
Verse 13 of our text, “Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward…”.
Now, imagine with me. You have just been interviewed for the position of King of Israel. You’re strong, you’re talented, you’re abilities are unmatched and your overlooked! To deepen the cut and pour rubbing alcohol in it is to watch your younger, weaker, scrawny brother get the job! Your first reaction has to be, “What just happened here?” Did I really get passed up for this?!? Did my little brother just get selected over me for the most important job in the whole world?
The Bible says that from that day forward, the Spirit of the LORD was upon David. There was never a family dinner from that point on when David wasn’t the target of criticism. There was never a day from that point on where David wasn’t the brunt of all jokes. Every chance afforded them; they likely made David’s life miserable.
We see this happen in the next chapter.
The Philistines are gathered together and are ready to make war against God’s people, Israel.
Saul and the men of Israel are gathered near the valley of Elah; Israeli armies on one side and Philistine armies on the other side. Everyday there was this loud mouth Philistine that went out and shouted insults at the army of Israel saying, “Choose you a man and let him come down to me.” The deal was, which ever side lost, would serve the other.
Well, it so happened that when Saul and his armies heard all of this they were greatly afraid.
Now as it happens, Jesse’s three oldest, Eliab, Abinadab and Shammah follow Saul to their position on the one side of the mountain. David however has returned from Saul to feed his father’s sheep in Bethlehem. Keep in mind now that David has already been anointed.
Let me say something as I think this is a good place to input this…Just because you’re anointed doesn’t mean you no longer serve! This may be another topic for another day but I think it’s important to realize God’s greatest leaders are always the best servants. The anointed future King of Israel was content to simply watch over his father’s sheep!
So as the story goes, David is asked to serve his father in a different way. According to 1 Samuel 17: 17 & 18, “Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched [corn], and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren;
And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of [their] thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge.
So David gets there and is only doing what he was asked to do and he hears the conversation of the soldiers and some loud mouth Philistine making noise from across the way.
David’s oldest brother, Eliab sees him and becomes angry with him and says, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.”
And David said, “What have I done now? Was it not but a word?” And he turned away from him toward another, and spoke in the same way, and the people answered him again as before.
There is so much in this discourse that one could preach, I have to stick with my original point.
God’s anointing can cause others to dislike you.
There are a few key indicators here that reveal to us the fact David’s brothers very much disliked him.
The first one is the question, “With whom did you leave those FEW sheep in the wilderness?”
You can almost hear the sarcasm in his voice can’t you? Those few sheep?
When God’s anointing is upon your life, there will likely be those of the jealous type that will do or say anything they can to minimize your service to God. It is the task that belongs to us to remain faithful to God’s call regardless what anyone says.
Next Eliab cuts to the chase when he says, “I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart…” If there was ever a time when Eliab had no clue as to what he was talking about, it was right here! These words of hate are being spoken to and about a young man that had just had a heart examination done by God himself and was given an excellent bill of health! Do you understand why David didn’t react like many would or even like we might have? Because he knew Eliab was wrong in his assumptions toward him! Listen when you know who you are in God you don’t need others to qualify it. You’re secure in Him and He’s anointed you!
David’s response was simply, “What have I done now?” This response to the verbal assault would indicate that this type of attitude now being displayed by Eliab was not knew but was something David had been dealing with for quite some time. My guess would be about the time God anointed him.
Take courage today, if God’s anointing is upon you, you don’t have to qualify it to others, you simply live in God’s mercy and His grace trusting Him to be all that you need!
There is much more I want to say on this but time doesn’t allow. Let me conclude with these words.
Conclusion
God’s anointing is particular, a matter of the heart and can be confrontational.
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 is the one who chooses who walks in his anointing, not preachers, elders, church leaders or anyone else. No one can declare God’s anointing is yours except the one who anoints.
God will look upon the heart, always. If the heart is not pure, you will not have God’s anointing upon it. God does not anoint pride, arrogance, jealousy or hate. He does anoint humility, kindness and servitude. Study out those in the word of God whom he anointed and you’ll find the striking similarities that they all share.
Finally, God’s anointing can cause confrontation. Having God’s anointing over you is not your right or what you deserve, rather it’s what you have been blessed with. As with any other blessing from God, we cherish it and we don’t flaunt it in front of others. What needs to be remembered is that God who gave it is the same God who can remove it!
There is more I shared with my church on a personal level that I haven’t recorded here.
