Theme: The anointed One brings healing and peace
Text: Is. 42:1-9; Acts 10:34-38; Mark 1:4-11
Good News can only be appreciated in times of difficulties and troubles. When everything is fine we do not really appreciate any good news and take whatever happens for granted. This is one reason why a trying situation makes it possible to appreciate good news. We should actually see such situations as a chance for triumph and victory. What seems to be a mess should actually offer the opportunity for correction, even for a miracle to occur. All of us have gone through trying situations in life and these should have been times of opportunity. It is when we are in difficult places and desperate situations that we value good news, especially in hopeless situations. Some of us may even find ourselves in such a situation today. It is in this situation that we can really appreciate the good news. The situation could be a dying marriage or a dying loved one. It could be a wayward child or an unfaithful spouse. It could be unemployment or homelessness. It could be we are in a place where we are struggling for our lives, either fighting poor health or fighting powers and principalities in high places. We may have been looking for a way out and some of us have given in to our pain and misery. Some of us may have given in to discouragement and doubt and given up all hope of seeing a change in our condition. But God has provided the means to change our situation and this is really Good News. He has sent the Anointed One to bring healing and peace.
The anointed One is a title ascribed to Jesus Christ. Christ or the Messiah means the Anointed One. Jesus experienced in a deep, inward and personal way the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ demonstrated this power in His life and ministry by transforming the lives of those who were sick or found themselves in hopeless situations. The anointing brings God to us and brings us to God. It brings us into the depths of God, the holiness of God and the power of God. The anointing brings a new dimension of reality and life to the Christian experience. It is this reality that makes us focus on God no matter our situation and gives us the right perspective of life. The anointing is accompanied by the gifts of the Holy Spirit and comes with a humbling realisation that God desires to infuse His power into our human frame. God is a God of power and purpose. There is a purpose for our creation and that purpose is to glorify God.
Each one of us needs a realisation of the will of God. This is only possible through the Holy Spirit. He works in ways not unlike our own, which should not surprise us if we are connected to Him as our Creator. Deep encounters between human beings usually depend on seemingly small things to begin with. It could be a fleeting glance, one warm word, and a smile in our direction or something that makes contact in a personal way and opens our hearts to the possibility of deeper contact. It is the same with the Holy Spirit. He speaks in quiet personal ways. Sometimes He has a special word for us. It may come through something we hear or read, perhaps in the Scriptures. He often whispers to us in our circumstances. Sometimes He shouts to us in our pain. The Holy Spirit is not short on ways to make us aware that He has something to say. Christ wants us to experience the reality of His power and His anointing in the Holy Spirit. It is this reality that will make us want to glorify God at all times, in all places and in all situations.
When we speak about the Holy Spirit we are speaking about a person who speaks to us personally. This means that He can communicate and make Himself real to us. Although we do not necessarily see Him, He is real and can make a great impression on our lives through our inner being. The Holy Spirit is God, the third person of the Trinity. Our relationship with the Holy Spirit should be sincere. In our relationship with each other, some are superficial. The relationship that is deeper and enduring is the one that is sincere. These are the ones that stir up our spirits and leave a lasting impact on our lives. As persons we have the capacity to decide what kind of relationship we want. We can open or close our inner being to one another and to the Holy Spirit.
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 exchange has taken place, no deep personal encounter took place because you have already decided to keep yourself closed to that possibility. On the other hand imagine seeing someone on the same street you admire greatly. 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. Our friendship and openness to the Holy Spirit should show a depth of personal commitment. 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.
Most Christians recognise that healing flows from the cross. Isaiah declares, “He will open the eyes of the blind and free the captives from prison. He will release those who sit in dark dungeons.” He also declares, “by His stripes we are healed”. Healing therefore is a central part of the atonement, and part of the Christian hope. Throughout His life Jesus healed the sick, the hurting and the lonely. When He healed them He sent them away in the power of God 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. He brings us healing and forgiveness in the cross and resurrection and then fills us with His life and power through the Holy Spirit. Christ does not only bring healing, He also brings peace. When through Christ we become sons of God we not only have the position of peace because we have become reconciled to God, but we also have the practice of peace in our lives. We experience the peace of God, which passes all understanding. This peace enables us to live a life of faith that demonstrates what it means to live the new life of Jesus Christ day by day.
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 this reality we can never life in the power of God or know God’s strength for our daily lives. The presence of the Holy Spirit 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. Similarly, the purpose of our lives is to hold God – to be filled with the Holy Spirit. 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 cracked us and we started to leak. As damaged vessels we could no longer hold the power of God within us. God was unable to refill us with the living power of the Holy Spirit until some restoration had taken place. Think of a glass that is stained and dirty inside and even cracked. 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 washed and cleaned before it could be used. It is just the same with us. Many people know nothing about the power of the Holy Spirit inside them because their lives are like dirty glasses. They need to be made clean before they can be filled and used. Some of us may look spotless on the outside, but we all need cleansing deep inside our hearts. God has made this possible through Jesus Christ. He cleans us from all filth and fills us 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 heal us.
The Good News believes in Jesus’ perfect life of servant hood, His death on the cross, His resurrection from the dead for our justification. The Gospel is a Gospel of hope – a hope that is an absolute certainty because it is backed by the guarantee of God’s faithfulness. For each person who comes to Him there is the assurance of eternal life. Eternal life begins the moment we are born again of the Spirit of God and is not just something that is waiting for us when we die. God has many wonderful blessings for us in life and the Christian hope includes the offer of healing and peace during our passage through time. When Jesus told the disciples to heal the sick and cast out demons, He intended them to do so. It was a vital part of the Great Commission for the whole Church for the whole of time. In many cases, however, people are not being healed because we are praying for the wrong thing. It could be that the person needs to forgive from the heart, or confess some sin, have a curse in their life broken or even, be delivered from an evil spirit. God’s Word can change the lives of hurting and broken people. The first step towards our healing and peace is coming to the Lord and accepting Him as our Saviour and Lord. Glasses are made so that they can be filled with something to drink. 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. A person who has never known the fullness of God’s power through the Holy Spirit in his or her life has, likewise, never fulfilled the purpose for which he or she has been created. You were made to be filled with the Holy Spirit. But we need to be willing in our spirit to receive Him and experience His healing and peace. The Holy Spirit is waiting to fill us this morning. Amen!
