{"id":869,"date":"2022-01-10T17:26:32","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T01:26:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/?p=869"},"modified":"2022-01-10T17:26:32","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T01:26:32","slug":"anointing-uncovered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/?p=869","title":{"rendered":"Anointing Uncovered"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(Luke 3:15\u201317, 21-22)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plot twists. Remodels. Voting results. Learning in general. There are things in life that have to be revealed to us – things that we either do not have the authority, the ability, or the necessary information to figure out. Such things need to be made known to us. They need to be revealed and\/or explained to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we shift in this new year from the church season of Christmas to the season we call \u201cEpiphany,\u201d we are entering a season in which the entire focus is on something that needs to be revealed. That is actually what the word epiphany <\/em>means in the first place: \u201cto make known\u201d or \u201cto reveal.\u201d So over the course of these weeks of Epiphany, just what needs to be made known or revealed? This simple, yet essential truth: Jesus Christ, the very One whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, is the Savior of all people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this series then, Uncovered, <\/em>we follow Jesus at the outset of his ministry, stopping at key events through which he reveals – uncovers – for us truths about God that we simply cannot discover on our own. For unless Jesus had revealed these truths to us and God had recorded them in the Bible, we would remain in the dark, closed off and clueless to the realities of a gracious God who both laid out and carried out every minute detail necessary for our salvation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need only look at the history of man\u2019s contrived religious efforts to see failure after failure at achieving any closeness or relationship with God on our own. Mankind is driven toward the divine, for it is imprinted in us by God himself that he exists. But apart from what must be revealed to us about him, man will only succeed in drawing up a woefully inadequate version of God. Man\u2019s best effort at identifying God on his own will be a far cry from the faithful Triune God who delights in revealing himself as the Lord who saves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This morning, God uncovers for us something that at the time was quite unexpected: Jesus, not John the Baptist as some had surmised, was in fact the Chosen One, the One anointed by God to carry out our salvation. There was obviously enough about John that led people to the conclusion that in him God was finally making good on his promise to send a Savior. \u201cThe people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah\u201d (v.15). <\/em><\/strong>John, the desert-dwelling hermit, was different, and not just in terms of his diet and dress. His preaching was powerful and the number of his followers was trending upward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as John explained, he was not the One; rather, he came to ready the world for the Anointed One. As God has made clear time and again, he doesn\u2019t look at the things man looks at. John clarified it this way: \u201cJohn answered them all, \u201cI baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire\u201d (v.16-17)<\/em><\/strong>. John was not the One, but rather came to prepare people to receive the One. He came to pull back the curtains and uncover the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This needed to happen, for Jesus had not been on anyone\u2019s radar. Of course, his birth had been a big deal, as we were just reminded in so many ways during the season of Christmas. Since then, though, there had not been much about Jesus\u2019 life that was all that noteworthy, as God didn\u2019t see fit to record any of it for us until this point in Jesus\u2019 life. Aside from Jesus staying behind as a twelve-year-old in the Temple, we know nothing of Jesus\u2019 life until the Gospel writers pick up his life with the event recorded for us this morning, Jesus\u2019 baptism. Prior to this, not much had been revealed about Jesus; he was largely unknown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more things change, the more they stay the same. It could still be said today that Jesus is largely unknown. Sure, people know the name, Jesus, <\/em>but that isn\u2019t the same as knowing Jesus, is it? A recent interview with Elon Musk revealed that he agreed with the teachings of Jesus. While being familiar with the teachings of Jesus may put him in a different class than those who know nothing other than his name, isn\u2019t that still quite a different thing from knowing why Jesus came and actually believing it? Still today then, how many \u201cknow\u201d the name Jesus, but remain in the dark about the salvation he came to bring? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But God\u2019s people don\u2019t gather together on Sunday morning to focus primarily on what the unbelieving world knows or doesn\u2019t know of Jesus. No, our time is better spent reflecting on how much of Jesus has been revealed to us. How much still needs to be uncovered for us? How much still needs to be made known to us? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we can get straight to the point, if our Christian faith was compared to an end-of-the-year performance review at work, many of us would be fired! We show up at work (church) once in a while. We\u2019ve learned nothing new in our field, acquired no new skills, and concern ourselves only with the bare minimum – just enough to pull in a paycheck. Some of Jesus has been revealed to us – the veil has been lifted ever-so-slightly, but we have never bothered to uncover more of Jesus in our lives. WE know him only slightly better than the unbeliever!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Jesus needs to be uncovered for us as much as ever! We know him so little! We are far too satisfied with far too simple an understanding of the One who gave himself up for us to that we might have a future, an eternity. Meanwhile, the devil runs about in the world today, trying to cover up any light with darkness, always seeking to snuff it out so that we are not drawn to it. He would keep us in a dimly lit room, unable to see and experience the full light of our salvation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we are a willing party to it. We sample the light, but it bores us. We find so much more fun in the dark. We want to celebrate what the world celebrates, to think as the world does, to elevate what it does, praise what it does, and pursue what it does. The dark, after all, is so much easier on the eyes, isn\u2019t it? The glaring light of salvation not only hurts our eyes, but it also exposes those things about ourselves which we\u2019d prefer to keep hidden in the dark!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See how desperately we need his light to shine into our lives, to see him for who he is! It was so in his day, too – it was necessary that the world come to know who he was. And the Father made it so at his baptism, leaving no question about who the Messiah was. It was not John the Baptist, but Jesus. The Father made it known in a spectacular scene. \u201cAnd as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: \u201cYou are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased\u201d (v.21-22)<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of all the effort an individual or a business has to go to today to get noticed: ads, social media campaigns, word of mouth, etc., and still <\/em>it may not bear any fruit! The Father left nothing up to chance, splitting open the heavens so the Holy Spirit could make a visible entrance in the form of a dove, and doing his own voiceover in one of the most iconic scenes ever witnessed in history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do not let Satan keep this significant event hidden in the darkness of so many other meaningless historical events. This one matters! This is God making it official: the Messiah was on the scene. The Savior had been revealed! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was so much more than the high school Senior making a big deal on signing day by revealing the college he\u2019ll play for. This is so much more than the teaser trailer revealing an upcoming flick. This is bigger than the tech giants revealing the game-changing new device or next model. This is God uncovering for the entire world to see: Sin wouldn\u2019t win! Satan would be smacked down in defeat! Eternal death\u2019s suffocating grip would be loosened forever! The Savior was ready to be set apart for his saving work and to get his elbows dirty working out our salvation for us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so he was baptized. And friends, this was not just a meaningless dunk in the Jordan River. This was not just an empty ritual required of him. This was not merely an act of obedience to be imitated. No, this was his anointing! This was the equivalent of the Old Testament prophets and kings having oil poured out over their heads to mark them as designated by God himself! This was the Father saying, \u201cLook not to John the baptist for your salvation. Look not to the nation of Israel for your salvation. Look to Jesus, my Son, the Promised One – he alone saves!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did the Father say of his Son? \u201cWith you I am well pleased.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> The Father is pleased with the Son! And what does the Scripture call you again and again? Children of God through faith in this very Jesus. Daughters! Sons! The Father is pleased with his Son – he is pleased with you. He delights in you. He wants forever with you, and the Son is the proof, for he came to make it so. And the One set apart for that work carried it out all the way up until his \u201cIt is finished!\u201d from Calvary. It is done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His work is done. Yours is not. Pull the veil back further this year on your relationship with Jesus. Uncover more of him. Know him better. The Holy Spirit is not content merely to have shown up in a remarkable scene at Jesus\u2019 birth and then exit stage right. He wants to continue to reveal more to you about your Savior. He wants to uncover the blessings that you have allowed to remain hidden from you for far too long. Why not this year? Why can\u2019t this year be the year you come to know Jesus better than ever before? Why can\u2019t you allow the Holy Spirit to uncover more and more and more for you about Jesus? He stands by. He waits. Let him uncover more of what the Father revealed at Jesus\u2019 baptism – your Savior has come, and he can be the best thing that ever happens to you this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Luke 3:15\u201317, 21-22) Plot twists. Remodels. Voting results. Learning in general. There are things in life that have to be revealed to us – things that we either do not have the authority, the ability, or the necessary information to figure out. Such things need to be made known to us. They need to be… Continue reading Anointing Uncovered<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[194,65],"tags":[96,32,41,196,109,108,195],"class_list":["post-869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncovered-series","category-sermons","tag-baptism","tag-christ","tag-epiphany","tag-messiah","tag-preaching","tag-teaching","tag-uncovered"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p842FN-e1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=869"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":870,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869\/revisions\/870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1thingmatters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}