"He has anointed me"

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor…” (Luke 4:18) From just this one sentence from the Book of Luke, Jesus speaks with great clarity about who he is and what his ministry is all about.

Jesus immediately tells us that he is God's Prophet - His spokesman and exemplar. This central role is often overlooked by modern Christians. Just as King David had been anointed with oil, and the prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures were anointed to bring a message to the people of Israel, Jesus is anointed – chosen and set apart – by God, Whose spirit comes upon him at his baptism at the hand of John the Baptist.

At that event, God spoke to Jesus saying, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22) An early variant reading has, “You are my Son, this day I have begotten you,” which was taken from the Psalms, and makes clear his adoption at this moment as God’s Son and most important Spokesman.

The Spirit of God came upon Jesus BECAUSE he was anointed to preach this Good and Beneficial Message – “anointing” in Greek being “Christos,” the word from which we derive his title, “Christ.”

Jesus speaks not only to ancient Judea, telling them to repent and to honor their forefathers' religion by living it more purely, but also speaks BEYOND them to the entire world. His disciples are told to be a light to the entire world, and to salt the earth with goodness. He especially singles out the poor, saying that we should serve them and have compassion on them.

Jesus doesn't just preach this message, he lives his life daily as a perfect example of living for God, our Father, that we (those who claim to follow him) are repeatedly commanded to follow, seeking forgiveness when we fall short of this incredible, perfect example God wishes us to emulate in all things.

This is the Prophet who called Israel – and through them, us all – back to their Prophets through prophetic teaching, and who was misunderstood, questioned by religious leaders of his day, and killed by those who opposed the reformation and purification of their faith that he offered them. 

He called Twelve disciples (these, and no more, into that inner circle) and they called him “Master.” If we call him Master today, we are to do his will and treat his teachings as eternal and as given through him directly from God Himself. 

Scripture Cited:

“And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, The Spirit of GOD is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the Good and Beneficial Message [Gospel] to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of GOD. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the rabbi, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.  And he began to say unto them, Today is this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:17-21

“After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased. You are my Son, this day I have begotten you.” Luke 3:21-22

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matt. 11:29-30

Salt and Light: The call to use our gifts to serve Others

SERMON:

"You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matt. 5:13-16  (ESV)

We are called by Jesus to be salt and light – salting the earth with goodness and enlightening it with righteousness. But if salt has become tasteless, what then? What if our actions are meaningless, or so infrequent, that having salt is pointless? Worse, what if we ignore Jesus’ call, because we believe that this salt and light are NOT to be used at all?

Jesus spoke to challenge us and calls us today to be examples in his name. As God’s chosen Prophet and Spokesman, Jesus authoritatively calls us to take up his challenge and to follow his example.

Coming just after the powerful Sermon on the Mount in the Book of Matthew, this is a clear and unambiguous call for us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world – letting our light shine before others – and it is key to understanding that Jesus believes we are indeed capable of doing Good Works for Others in his name, and in fact are commanded to do so, if we claim to be his followers and wish to still call him “Master.”

If we’re given the gifts of salt – among them, the gifts of Jesus’ holy example and our God-given ability to choose righteousness over wickedness – and allow it to become stale, either by choosing to throw it on the ground to be trampled or to let this salt rot because we falsely believe we lack the ability to use it to do Good, then we have failed.

If we have the gifts of light – among them being Jesus’ teachings and our God-given ability of reason and knowledge – but decide that using them to serve Others is unnecessary, that Good Works are merely optional things we need never concern ourselves with – then we make the Good and Beneficial Message (Gospel) of Jesus into a mockery.

Clearly, Jesus calls us to do good and great things to glorify God, our Heavenly Father, and as a fully human man himself, he has definitively shown us that we, as human beings, can indeed also do great things on behalf of Others. Let there, then, be no excuse to hide our gifts!

What liberal and conservative Christians both get wrong

Borrowed from the world of politics, the terms “liberal” and “conservative” have been applied to religion, sometimes with success, but often not. There are more than two “camps” in the broad and varied spectrum of religions, including Christianity, but the liberal and conservative views (as they are commonly understood) both manage to seem to get the true message of Jesus wrong, or at best, half right.

The “liberal” Christian seems to say “Jesus just taught us to be nice.” While the other side says, in effect, “Jesus just taught us to have faith.” Both speak to the Truth, but manage to take their general belief systems to extremes, and in the process, manage to miss the point of Jesus’ mission, and do so almost entirely.

They look to passages (or parts of them) in which Jesus tends to say we should just be nice to one another. “Jesus,” they say, “just wants us to love our neighbors. Jesus says God is Love, and that’s all we need to do.” They emphasize the radical message of Jesus and say this translates today into working for social justice for groups that are oppressed, and that, they say, is the core of the Gospel. They go on to say we should never judge another person, and believe discerning any behavior as "wrong" is somehow illegitimate.

The “conservative” Christian, in contrast, says, “All we need to do is have faith in Jesus, and we will, upon making a brief prayer to God, instantly (and some say, permanently) be “saved” and will be guaranteed a place in Heaven when we die.” Further, they claim that any good deeds, any “works” done here on earth are looked upon by God as unnecessarily and are purely done out of gratitude for that free and instant gift of salvation.

Both miss some rather important aspects of the Gospel as Jesus himself preached it, and are guilty of selectively reading and interpreting his words.

The “liberal,” while understanding correctly that Jesus came to preach the radical message of loving one’s neighbor JUST AS we love ourselves, often misses the more radical teaching that we are to pray for and love our enemies, too. Further, Jesus’ Great Commandment wasn't ONLY to love our neighbor. That was the second commandment, the first, and more important, was to love our God with all our hearts, minds, strength and heart. That is truly a challenging command – one that requires the effort of our entire being to accomplish. Clearly, “just be nice to one another” is not a complete message of the Gospel.

When “liberal Christians” claim that we should never judge another, they misread Jesus, who was largely speaking about the hypocrisy of judging those clearly sinning against God, while those judging are in fact were doing the same thing. Taking the beam out of one’s eye before judging those with splinters in theirs conveys that concept that those who love and serve God must look after one another.

And the "liberal" side seems to miss that every command of Jesus was made for us to INDIVIDUALLY act. He called no one to form a political party, an interest group, or see all people as a single oppressed minority to champion through group action, except the poor, and even in this case, he stresses how we can and must deal individually to alleviate their suffering. There was no call to march on Rome and demand greater welfare benefits. No, the call of Jesus is simply to "feed the hungry" and "clothe the naked" where they are, and to do so NOW.

The “conservative,” while correctly stating that faith is the beginning of our life with God – as God’s Prophet Jesus revealed to us in his teachings, life and death – miss the point. This is only the START of this journey, not the end.

Jesus calls us to obey his Gospel and live it, not just believe in it. Belief, or just saying “Master, Master!” isn't enough. That is an incomplete faith.

Jesus explicitly taught us what must be done to inherit eternal life: yes, we must believe, but we also must obey the commandments we've known all along. And yes, that includes doing good works on behalf of our neighbors. As the disciple John wrote, if we say we live in Jesus, we must walk just as he walked; and those who say they live in him, but don’t walk as he walked, are deceiving themselves. Faith without works, as James said, is useless, pointless, and dead.

When Jesus says that we will not be forgiven by God if we do not first forgive others (and do so continually) he gives us a view into how God expects us to live, and puts conditions on his freely offered gift of salvation and eternal life with Him. Those who believe, but fail to act, have a confidence in salvation they have no right to demand from God, who gives according to His own judgment. And to judge others as “unsaved” is neither our place nor do we have the ability to know God’s mind on the subject.

Jesus calls us to act each day individually on his Good and Beneficial Message (that is, “Gospel”) to bring it about in THIS life, and to act with God always in mind, putting God and Others, not ourselves, first. Let’s be about God’s business.

Scripture Cited:

“But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matt. 22:34-40

“Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Matt. 7:3-5

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” Matt. 7:21-23

"Why do you call Me, ‘Master, Master’ and do not do what I say?” Luke 6:46

The wide gate vs. the narrow gate

The list of misconceptions Christians hold about the nature of the ministry of Jesus (God’s chosen and Anointed One, His Prophet) is varied, and is very long. And Jesus himself said that there is a “wide gate” most people choose to walk through that seems far easier to them, and that’s definitely the gate most people today choose. But that’s not the one he calls us to walk through. We are to pass through the Narrow Gate of obedience.

This “Wide Gate” belief today often manifests itself in the belief that we cannot possibly do all the good Jesus tells us that God, our Father and his Father, wishes us to do. In fact, to even attempt to obey God and God’s Chosen Prophet, Jesus, is seen by some kind of an affront to God.

This rather perverse doctrine, a house built on the shifting sands of man’s misinterpretation, makes Jesus a mocker of God, as if he were “teasing” us little human beings who couldn't POSSIBLY obey God, despite God’s direct commands to the contrary.

This leads directly to the lazy, Wide Gate of “Easy Believism” – a belief that all we need do for God is to nod our head in assent to empty affirmations that we do indeed “believe” in a God, but at the same time, adopt an aversion to the very goodness, righteous actions and pure hearts that God calls us to through the ministry of Jesus.

The fact is, when Jesus says “obey me” and tells us that if we continue in his word (which never passes away) we are “truly” his disciples, he speaks the Truth. To deny this is to deny Jesus.

As a fully human being, Jesus fully obeyed God. Thus, he becomes an exemplar for all of us, and his perfection – and call for us to follow and obey him completely – is a challenge laid down to us. And make no mistake: If Jesus perfectly obeyed, we may ALSO do it. It is not too hard for us.

If we pick up this challenge (by taking up our cross every single day and carrying it) and voluntarily put his easy yoke upon us, we shall be rewarded by God in the next life.

Jesus himself left us no doubt we could do this, and in fact commands it of his disciples. John, in his first letter, writes encouragingly that the one who SAYS he remains in Jesus should walk JUST AS HE WALKED. Jesus agrees.

Jesus came as a Prophet of God and as a perfect example in life and death of what God wishes us to be, and called on us to follow him in all things. That is it. That is the Gospel, or “Good and Beneficial Message.”

It calls for no further mysteries, no complicated Greek philosophies, no man-made, Lawyerly speculations or endless debates about others’ interpretations of Jesus' words or any imagined interpretations about him. It's AMAZINGLY simple. And yet billions are following the Wide Gate towards destruction by ignoring this Good Message by denying its very existence,  which is incredibly sad. / Thus endeth the sermon.

Scripture cited:

"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” Matt 7:13-14

“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Mark 8:34

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Matt. 24:35

“Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” John 14:23

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If you continue in my word, then are you are truly my disciples.” John 8:31

“Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” 1 John 2:6

Riches are not a sign of God's blessing

Many preachers today claim that God wishes us to become wealthy, and that this wealth is a sign from God that we are “favored” by Him. Those who say this are not at all following the words God’s chosen, anointed Prophet, Jesus.

Because if we listen to Jesus, he speaks clearly to us about wealth. We all know the story featuring a camel trying to pass through the eye of a needle. It’s a graphic illustration of how difficult it is for a rich man to be in Heaven with God, though it’s not impossible, he says, since all things are possible with God. But when he says we should not lay up for ourselves treasures on Earth, but instead, gather Heavenly treasure, and repeatedly calls the poor “blessed,” his feelings about wealth is clear: it’s not the money we acquire, it’s the goodness in our hearts and the purity of our actions that “lay up treasure” in Heaven.

In fact, Jesus also told the Rich Man who asked what he must do to be saved (after telling him to obey the commandments) to sell his possessions. What would a well-off American family think when told they must do this to be saved? Can you imagine how insulted they would be!

Many ‘christians’ have been told by their pastors that if they think positive thoughts, have a lot of faith, and “name and claim” the material goods they desire, God will instantly give these things to them. But we are not told by Jesus to “name and claim” riches in the name of God. This is magic, not the God-centered faith Jesus preached. Instead, Jesus said we cannot serve two masters, namely, God and Money, and that we should not put our trust in riches.

Calling upon God for money, and measuring God’s “favor” and blessings by the money we acquire from God makes God into a Heavenly ATM machine, where we get whatever we wish and our desires are gratified, instantly. When Jesus says we are to “take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses,” his message negates this gross parody of God’s Kingdom.

Jesus often makes it clear that being rich and privileged isn’t something to be rewarded. He tells us not to invite the rich to dinner, but the poor, and to not guide the wealthy to the best seat in the house, but invite to poor instead.

The truth is, Jesus constantly elevates the poor, saying that the poor, not the rich, are those who are “blessed” and “favored,” and he commands us to serve and love the poor. That is how we, and they, are truly and richly blessed.

Scripture cited:

“Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” Mark 10:21

“And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Mark 10:23-27

“And He said to them, ‘Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.’” Luke 12:15

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21

“You cannot serve God and Mammon.” Matthew 6:24

“Then He also said to him who invited Him, “When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, Invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.” Luke 14:12-13

Adoring the Baby Jesus, ignoring the Adult Jesus

For many Christians, once Jesus is born, with all the stories and songs of Christmas done for another year, they feel they can safely ignore him until, at Easter, they can celebrate his brutal death and resurrection. But this ignores completely what happens in between these important events, and reflects, perhaps, a deliberate diminishing of the mission of Jesus as God’s chosen Prophet and Savior.

Why is this so? Why is the adult Jesus ignored while the Baby Jesus and the Dying and Rising Jesus is so adored? It’s because the Baby Jesus, all cute and cuddly, portrayed in a lowly manger, is completely nonthreatening and unassuming. This Jesus asks nothing except our ‘Ooo’s’ and “Ahh's” – our sweet Christmas pageants with the angels and the animals and the Three Wise Men bringing presents.

But what comes AFTER the arrival of the Baby Jesus is the Adult Jesus. And that’s a Jesus many have trouble accepting, let alone following. In fact, many, many Christian preachers believe we can safely ignore the One who says we are required to love our neighbors EXACTLY as we love ourselves, that we must love God with everything in our hearts, minds and souls, and that we must serve others selflessly, including forgiving others and living a life of non-resistance, all the while being Lights to the world by consistently doing good works.

That’s DIFFICULT! It’s far easier to go back and sing Christmas carols about little drummer boys and Silent Nights, isn’t it? It’s easier to retreat to our religious comfort zones rather than live the difficult (but in fact, easy yoke) Jesus wishes us to take up and bear with him, God’s perfect example.

It’s far easier to make excuses and claim that the Adult Jesus who taught these things is really not relevant to us today, despite his own claims that his teachings would never pass away.

Just as there are many Christians who live their Christian lives on the outskirts of the Bible – pretending that it only consists of the Garden of Eden of the Book of Genesis and the terrifying End Days visions in the Book of Revelations – there are many who retreat to the comforting place of Jesus’ birth and the simple salvation formula of adoring the Cross and speaking a “Password Prayer” that (they believe) allows them to get into Heaven without those pesky “tough” words of the Adult Jesus.

But that won’t do. The grown-up Jesus – God’s chosen Prophet and Son, God’s spokesman on Earth who showed us the way in which God wishes us to live, and the one who set for us high standards that he knew we could achieve – that is the one we must remember arrived on that long ago Christmas Day.

Each of us, individually, are called to pursue daily the Kingdom of God that Jesus commissioned us to pursue. That, truly, is the “Reason for the Season.”

Celebrating overlooked Christmas gifts from God

For many Christians, the focus on gift-giving and merriment during this season seems to them to be taking away from the holiness and specialness of its purpose – to celebrate the birth of the Master Jesus. And there are valid reasons to be concerned. Focusing on materialism, on receiving material goods and the selfishness that can arise from that, are certainly by-products of the season that are unwelcome and surely do not contribute to our spiritual growth. One cannot, after all, serve both God and money as gods.

But the idea that we receive gifts, and give them, is actually at the core of the Good and Beneficial Message Jesus himself taught.

The arrival of Jesus was interpreted as a wonderful and supernatural intervention into the world by Ancient Gospel writers, and surely what followed the birth of this amazing Prophet and Spokesman of God was worth celebrating.

It’s an incredibly sad statement to make, but the gifts of Jesus’ teachings are often overlooked in all the praise heaped upon his birth, especially by those preachers who presume to speak in his name.

For many, it’s as if Jesus was born and then immediately died, and these are the only gifts worthy of celebration. But this neglects Jesus’ own words – words that he said would never pass away, that had great significance, that should be heard and understood. These gifts are as important, perhaps more important in some ways, than his birth, just as a child’s birth, while wonderful, is only the start of a life’s journey. What the child accomplishes is surely just as worthy of celebration.

Jesus, like the Prophets before him, pointed always to his Father, his God and our God, and to the gifts of wisdom, knowledge and understanding offered by the Father and Creator of the Universe. Surely, these are also gifts worthy of praise and celebration this Christmas season.

King Solomon asked God for wisdom and understanding to become a good king, and God gave “a wise and discerning mind” to him in return. We, too, can have these gifts by asking God for them. The brother of Jesus, James, assures us that if we lack wisdom, God gives it generously.

Knowledge and learning (often proposed as enemies of faith) are in fact valuable gifts from God, and we should call upon God to strengthen and encourage them. They are things that Scripture teaches is something to be sought, not avoided. The Pslamist asks God to teach him “good judgment and knowledge.” The Proverbs teach us that it’s an intelligent heart that seeks knowledge, and that it is “pleasant to the soul.”

Jesus condemned the Pharisees for taking away the “key to knowledge,” and failing to guide others to it. This, sadly, is a fault many modern preachers are also guilty of doing, by not allowing the Scriptures and the Prophets, and Jesus, speak to us of knowledge and other valuable gifts we possess, thanks to God, our Creator, who created us to seek after them and not deny them as gifts worthy of possessing.

Scriptural References:

“At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.” And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. … Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you.” 1 Kings 3:5-12  

“He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding” Daniel 2:21  

“Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments.” Psalm 119:66 

“Good sense is a fountain of life to him who has it, but the instruction of fools is folly.” Proverbs 16:22 

“Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance.” Proverbs 1:5 

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me.” Hosea 4:6

“For wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you” Proverbs 2:10-11

“An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” Proverbs 18:15

“For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.” Ecclesiastes 7:12 

“Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge.” Luke 11:52