The Anointing

Living Knowledge

(1 John 2:20-21, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, June 19, 2016)

[20] But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. [21] I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.

The Holy One: In these verses, the Apostle John is celebrating a gift that the churches possess. Whatever else can be said about that gift, we should begin by directing our attention toward the Giver. God is called here “the Holy One” and He has given this gift to those to whom John is writing in this brief letter.

The Anointing: What is this gift? An anointing. In Israel, three groups of special leaders were anointed—prophets, priests, and kings. Two were anointed with oil, and one—the prophets, received a special anointing from God—the Holy Spirit. They then received and passed on to others the Word of God as God directed.

Two of the things that God told His people during the centuries of Old Testament life Had to do with anointing.

First, there would be one supremely anointed individual.

Isaiah 61:1

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,

because the LORD has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and the opening of the prison to those who are bound...

or as some manuscripts had:

the opening [of the eyes] to those who are blind

We know that this one individual was Jesus, because when he preached at Nazareth, he read this passage and then said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21)

Second there would be a new anointed community centered around this one anointed individual.

Joel 2:28

And it shall come to pass afterward,

that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh...

We know that the beginning of this community here called “all flesh” is any church that will hear the Word with faith and surrender to it. Both Peter and Paul quote these words, and tell us that a new world has come through the gift of the Holy Spirit to the church.

Knowledge: The anointing that John writes about in 1 John comes down from heaven, and it is sent by the Almighty. It results in many good things, but the one that John focuses on in our passage today is knowledge. He writes, “You all have knowledge.” Knowledge of what? Knowledge of The Truth. That's big. Living knowledge that produces living truth and not lies.

John writes with confidence. He is not expecting his message to fall on deaf ears. Will you hear it today? Do you know The Truth? Many are forgetting and are wandering away from Him. When they wander, they try other ways to get what only God can give as a heaven-sent gift. Some imagine that they need things to go well in their lives in order to gain the knowledge of God and the knowledge of who they really are and what their lives are about. Not true. Everything going my way is not a natural pathway to spiritual success. Some think it is all about their spiritual efforts, particularly those efforts to show God that they are serious about Him by punishing themselves in some way. Not true again. The anointing does not come through more and more fasting, new methods of lengthy prayer, or other efforts that so many have made for many centuries. How does your life fall into place in a stable, joyful, fruitful way? How do you get the anointing that brings the best kind of knowledge of God and His ways?

Eric Metaxas, in his new book, If You Can Keep It, writes about the foundation of American liberty. He has a chapter in their on the British preacher, George Whitefield. Without the preparatory work of God through this one preacher, it is very unlikely that the colonies could ever have experienced the unity that was necessary to fight and win a battle against the tyranny of the British and for the true liberty we seem to be on the verge of losing at the present hour.

How did Whitefield find the best kind of liberty. It was not through good or bad circumstances in his life. It was not through his many efforts of religious self-abasement, or through his efforts of dedication to God in what was called the “Holy Club.” It was not even in seeing a destitute couple in prison receive the gift from his speaking to them about John 3:16. It was his own hearing of the story of the thief on the cross in Luke 23:32-43. Worth reading.

Hearing with faith. See Galatians 3:2. Knowledge that begins with a divinely-initiated koinonia and a human response of surrender.

How can we navigate the various conflicting truth claims of the age in which we live that demand not merely our attention, but our hearty approval? God has a heavenly gift for those who trust in Jesus—the best blessing of God Himself—the Holy Spirit. This anointing can only be received by hearing with faith.

Lies beget more lies. Grace, love, and truth proceed from the One who is the Truth, and from the Holy Spirit, who was sent forth from the Father and the Son.

The best Father's Day gift is the kind that we give, but the One that comes from the best Father. Hearing is a miracle from Him. Let me read to you this hearing miracle by Jesus. May it touch your spiritual ears, and may you hear with faith:

[31] Then he [Jesus] returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. [32] And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. [33] And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. [34] And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” [35] And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. (Mark 7:31-35)

Now One Final Application: This teaching of the anointing that leads to fellowship with God and all growth in ethics and doctrine cannot be dependent on anything but God. Least of all, it cannot be contingent on me getting what I want from God, or I am right back to demanding that I be God and that God obey me. That is just an old lie. It is not from the Father. Christianity shines before the world not when we get what we want, but when we don't, and we still worship the Lord.

Old Testament Reading—Proverbs 18:4 – The fountain of wisdom

Gospel Reading—Luke 7:18-35 – Wisdom is justified by her children