0699. Christ Ministered in the Spirit

Christ Ministered in the Spirit

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised" (Luk_4:18).

The Christian life should be blessed, only to be made a blessing. If we are born of the Spirit, and filled with the Spirit, and led of the Spirit; we were all of this, that we may serve in the Spirit. Notice some of the things that followed Christ’s anointing, and as you note them, remind your hearers that we are walking in Christ’s stead, and that we are to complete the work which He began. As the Father sent the Son, even so He also sends us.

1. Christ was anointed to preach the Gospel to the poor. We too should preach to the poor. Christ also loved the rich, but the poor loved Him. They realized more deeply their need of Him. The church that is seeking to serve the rich, and excluding the poor, is out of the will of God.

The story is told of a poorly, but neatly dressed old lady who took her seat in the same pew with two very wealthy women. The women told her that she was not of their class; they asked her to change her seat, but she did not move. Finally, they called an usher and requested that the old lady be taken to a seat in the rear of the church. This was done. Finally, the new minister came to the pulpit, preparatory to preaching his first sermon. He stood by the desk, intently looking over the audience, and then, leaving the platform, he walked back and brought the dear old lady, with the faded dress, back up the aisle. It happened that he led her to the very pew from which she had been ordered away, and, as he seated her, he said to the women who had ordered her away, "Will you allow my mother to have a seat with you?" The women were greatly agitated, and abashed. "We didn’t know she was the preacher’s mother," they whispered, one to the other. But they should have known, even if she had not been the preacher’s mother, that she was a child of God.

2. "He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted." What a wide ministry is there here. And this is a ministry in the Holy Ghost. How many hearts are bleeding in this world of ours? If Jesus Christ was anointed with the Holy Ghost, and went about doing good, should not we who are anointed with the Holy Ghost, go about doing good, especially to those who are of the household of faith?

Illustration: A little child, an orphan, was picked up from the street and carried by a kind-hearted woman to her home. The tears had scalded the cheeks of the weeping girl, and still fresh tears ran down. Do you wonder that she cried: "Ipe my tears," "Ipe my tears"? Our God, Who will one day "wipe all tears from all faces," wants us now to take His "balm of Gilead," His message of "the crucified," and the "coming Lord," and heal the brokenhearted.

3. "To preach deliverance to the captives." Everywhere men are bound by sin. Satan hath chained them. Christ, however, came to undo the work of the devil, and to set the prisoner free.

Illustration: A crowd of children were looking into a store window, and watching an eagle held captive. A tall stranger peered over their heads, looked intently at the bird, and then went into the store and bought it. He took the eagle and placed it, unfettered, upon the top of a sign-board across the street. Almost immediately the eagle lifted its head, and realizing it was free, it began to soar in its spiral way, higher and higher up in the sky. Finally, it seemed to get its bearing, and swiftly flew in the direction of its former eyrie. The wondering children asked the stranger: "Why did you turn it loose?" He answered, "I recognized the bird. As I’ve ploughed my fields, I’ve seen it flying over my head. I could not bear to see it chained."

And so it is with Christ, He sees men chained with sin, and it grieves Him at the heart. He stoops, and sets the prisoner free.

4. "The recovering of sight to the blind." The god of this age hath blinded the minds of the unbelievers, and the Holy Spirit would recover to them their sight.

The unsaved have eyes, but they see not, and the Holy Spirit would recover their vision. It is impossible for those to remain long in sin and unbelief, when once a vision of the glorious Gospel of Christ fully dawns upon them. A man in Georgia who had been blind a number of years had the cataracts taken from his eyes by Dr. Calhoon, of Atlanta. The first thing he said as they finally were removing the bandages, was, "I want to see the man who gave me back my sight." Some day we too shall see Him Who recovered to us the power to see His face.

5. "To set at liberty them that are bruised." On the roadway between Jerusalem and Jericho, a man lay wounded and robbed. The good Samaritan found him; he poured in oil and wine; he placed him on his own beast, and took him to an inn. Jesus Christ would have us, in the Holy Ghost, reach down our hand to those whom satan has bruised. He would have us pour in the oil of the Holy Spirit, and the wine of the new life in God. He would have us take these bruised ones to the inn, His Church, where they may be strengthened and nourished until He comes again.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR