The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me because………
Bob Pitcher
It is widely thought, and I believe it, that when Jesus
entered the world, he
emptied himself of, what have become known as, his metaphysical attributes i.e.
omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence. (knowing everything, being all
powerful and being everywhere at the same time.) Only vicars are
expected
to be omnipresent now! So
when Jesus lived as a person he really did experience life as we do.
How then was Jesus able to do miracles and know things supernaturally?
The supernatural acts in his life came as a result of the outworking of
the Holy Spirit within him. He
was anointed by the Spirit and was dependent on the Spirit to perform the
miracles of healing he did, and to prophesy and to raise the dead etc.. Therefore Jesus needed to pray and saw the signs
he performed as answers to his prayer, by the power of the Spirit. In addition to this, Jesus said that he only did
the things which he saw the Father doing.
In other words he lived his life not by taking his own initiative but by
living out his life in obedience
to the Father’s plans. So
Jesus performed his earthly ministry in obedience to the Father and by the power
of the Holy Spirit. Does
that ring any bells? Of
course it does, because it is exactly the same way which God has called us to
minister and live our Christian lives.
In order to be effective and truly disciples, each one of us is
called to be obedient to the Father and to minister in the power of the Holy
Spirit.
Now Jesus’ life is our pattern.
The same principles which operated in His life operate in ours.
Hence we are called to follow him.
That’s what it means to be a disciple.
At Jesus’ baptism, the beginning of his earthly ministry, the Holy
Spirit descended on him. Baptism
is of course not only an act of cleansing, which Jesus didn’t need, but an
act of commitment of one’s will to the will of the Father; a
dying of our self-will and a rising to new life in obedience to the Father.
In his baptism Jesus was publicly proclaiming this commitment and in
response the Father sent the Holy Spirit upon him.
Now he was almost ready to launch his ministry on the world, but first he
needed to be tried in the wilderness in order to establish
the way in which he was going to use this powerful anointing.
The charismatic movement, I feel, stands at a pivotal moment.
We too have stated our allegiance to the Father’s will and he has in turn, caused the Holy Spirit to come on us
and in us.
We too are
being faced with the temptations Jesus faced in the wilderness
but sadly we often give way to them which diverts us from his way and thus mars
the calling and destiny on our corporate lives. So let’s look at these temptations.
I.
Matthew 4:3
The
tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to
become bread.”
Here was the temptation for Jesus to use his power to
answer his own needs. Recently
I was in Lithuania at a conference of ‘Faith and Light’. (an
international organisation which provides fellowship and support for people with
learning difficulties.) I was
talking with one of the delegates from Poland and asked what their experience
was of the ‘Charismatic Movement’ in the Catholic Church in Poland.
“Oh,” she said,
“I used to go to that, but I found that the meetings were continually
all about me. My healing, my fulfilment, my blessing, my gifts. I wanted to
belong to something which was not just
about me but which gave me an opportunity to give God’s love to others.”
I think her response highlighted a real danger in
charismatic circles. We
can get so bound up with ourselves and see Christianity almost like a kind of
spiritual therapy. Now,
of course, God wants to heal us and bless us and give us fulfilment but he does
these things in order that we might serve and be ambassadors for the Kingdom.
So often at our conferences, for instance, the seminars on healing are
packed
to capacity but those dealing with some aspect of mission are under-attended
Wouldn’t it be lovely if both sorts of seminar were packed.
People getting healed for service and then finding out what God wants
them to do. So we need
to guard against a sort of spiritual self-centredness.
II. Matthew
4:5-6
Then the devil took him to the holy
city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
“If you are the Son of God,” he
said, “throw yourself down.
For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they
will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a
stone.’ ”
Here was a temptation to do something dramatic, something
to get noticed, something to promote the spectacular. Our world loves performers doesn’t it.
We have become obsessed in our papers and on the television with
celebrities.
There can
be an unreported war in East Africa (and there is!) where millions are in
danger but we must know what the Beckhams are doing!
The ‘Charismatic Movement’ can be seen as a means of providing a
platform for those who want to perform, those who want to be noticed.
I have recently got the ‘God’ channel (on digital TV) and amongst the
good stuff, there are some real performers.
In many people there is a real need to be noticed, a need to find
identity in being a spiritual somebody.
We really need to guard against this because inevitably it brings glory
to people rather than to God.
It is wonderful that in the Church in Wales, due to a
number of crises, we at last have
to face the reality that, so-called, lay people will have
to be equipped to minister. This
is so exciting but we all must guard against this very real temptation to be
performers, to find our identity in our ministry rather than in God.
III.
Matthew
4:8-9
Again, the devil took him to a very
high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour.
“All this I will give you,” he
said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
One of the saddest problems in the African church is the
widespread teaching that if individuals become faithful to God then He will
bless them with material riches. Poor
and vulnerable people are promised big houses, cars and bank balances if only
they will believe enough. The
God who will supply all my needs is
replaced by the God who will supply all my wants.
This demonstrates two other, very real
temptations which the charismatic faces.
One is the wrong exercise of power, the other is the longing for material
riches. It is easy for
the one with perceived power to manipulate and dominate. I grew up under the so called ‘heavy shepherding’
heresy, where peoples’ lives were totally dominated by their spiritual
oversight. It all started
with a genuine and good desire to make disciples but it ended in
bondage and sometimes the formation of cults.
This is an extreme example of charismatic manipulation but there are many
other subtle manifestations of this phenomenon.
I have seen people prophesy their own will into a situation in
order
to get their own way. I’ve
seen them bring control into peoples’ lives because of so called insights.
On the mountain Jesus was tempted with power.
That’s a very real temptation for those of us who move under the
anointing of the Holy Spirit, the fruits of which one can see raising their
heads in all sorts of places.
So after these temptations to misuse the power he had been
given, what did Jesus decide to do? What
decision did he come to? Well
he tells us when he comes out of the wilderness and bursts in on a needy world
in Nazareth.
“The
Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to
the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of
sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the
Lord’s favour.”
This why the Spirit of God came upon Jesus and it is why He has come upon us. Let us never settle for anything less.