Wednesday, June 20, 2012

The Teaching Method of Jesus (part 3.2)

The Anointing and Attention
So how did Jesus secure the attention of so many? In one sense, it was jesus, magnetic, son of God. Yet Isaiah reminds us jesus was not handsome or physical attractive, like a politician or Fabio. He was a 5'7, tan Jewish man with a stocky build, splinter-scared hands, a big nose and caring smile. (yes, this is hyperbole). It was something deeper than apperance that allowed people to attend to his words in an unforgettable way.

In John 7 we read about the Pharisees sending some officers to arrest Jesus. They made it only as close as they could hear him before deciding to disobey their orders. What happens next gives us insight into the captivating and persuasive power that Jesus commanded. John writes, "The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why did you not bring him?" The officers answered, "No one ever spoke like this man!" (v. 45-46).

Their was something about his speech, something so special it could make a soldier forget his mission. I believe, the special element was truth empowered by the Spirit. The anointing on those words captured their attention and derailed them from their purpose. The word of God spoke truthful words by the power of the Spirit culminating in authentic authority and involuntary attention on the part of the hears.

The Spirit desires for us to be used in the same way, when we make much of jesus and speak of his truth. A story is told about an preacher in prayer that illiterates the Spirit's importance.

An old country preacher was praying one day, "Dear Lord, give me the unction, give me the unction, give me the unction."

Someone from his congregation overhearing him and asked, "Reverend, what is the unction?"

The tearful old preacher looked up, "I don't know what it is, but I know what it ain't!"

E. M. Bounds, a methodist preacher who gave himself to prayer, preaching and in his later years writing. He wrote 8 books most on pray and most published after his death in 1913. Unlike the preacher above Bounds knew more than what the unction was not. He knew what the unction was and described it in beautiful prose in his book "Power Through Prayer". His "deep well" of experience and understanding comes through his writing as light through a dark room. He writes:

This divine unction is the one distinguishing feature that separates true gospel preaching from all other methods of presenting truth. It backs and interpenetrates the revealed truth with all the force of God. It illumines the Word and broadens and enrichens the intellect and empowers it to grasp and apprehend the Word. It qualifies the preacher’s heart, and brings it to that condition of tenderness, of purity, of force and light that are necessary to secure the highest results. This unction gives to the preacher liberty and enlargement of thought and soul—a freedom, fullness, and directness of utterance that can be secured by no other process.”


Another preacher familiar with the anointing was the Great English preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones. For him true preaching was much more than a mere intellectual explanation of words in the Bible. Below are two sizable quotes from Lloyd-Jones. In the first quote, he explains the importance of the anointing and relates it to Jesus' own ministry. In the second, he explains the twofold ministry of the Spirit in preaching, in essence what constitute the "work" of the anointing.

“When the Holy Spirit comes in revival there is a great anointing, and it shows itself in many ways. You read of men who had believed the truth, and who were preaching faithfully and regularly, but who were ineffective and lacking in power. Suddenly they are filled with power. They speak with boldness and with power and with great authority. That is the anointing of the Spirit . . . But this anointing is not confined to revival. I use that simply as an illustration. Thank God it is given at other times. Any man who has ever preached should be able to testify to this. There are times when, entirely outside his own control, he is given a special authority, special power, an unction which is unusual. And there are good reasons for its bestowal. There are circumstances which he himself is not always aware of, which he only discovers afterwards. Somebody may have come to the congregation who needed a particular message or word, and the preacher, without knowledge on his part, is guided to say something which is just appropriate to that particular state and condition. There is, therefore, this special enduement of power which is called ‘the anointing’. It is something that one should seek and covet, it is something for which one should be constantly praying . . .

Our Lord was setting out on His public ministry. As the Son of God, He was always full of the Spirit. But in order to do His work He needed a special anointing and He received it at His baptism in the river Jordan by John the Baptist. The Holy Spirit then descended upon Him, He was given this special power. He was God; but as man He needed this ‘baptism’, this ‘anointing’ with the Holy Spirit.” (1)


The two-fold ministry of the Spirit in preaching, in the preacher and on the listener. Lloyd-Jones explains:

“The Holy Spirit enables Christians by giving them what is called in the New Testament “unction”; He gives “anointing,” understanding, freedom, and clarity of speech, an authority. Many terms can be used with respect to this God-given ability to preach. One quotation seems to me to sum it all up very well. Probably the first letter that Paul ever wrote was to the church at Thessalonica, and in the first chapter of the first epistle, he reminds the believers of how the Gospel had come to them: “Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance” (1 Thessalonians 1:5). Paul was saying: “I did the speaking, but it was not I. I was used.” As he was speaking, he knew that he was merely the vehicle, the channel, the instrument that the Holy Spirit was using. He was taken up; he was out of himself; he was, as it were, possessed by the Spirit, and he knew that he was preaching with “much assurance.” Everything was against him. Thessalonica was a pagan city, part of Macedonia. The people did not have a Jewish background or the Old Testament Scriptures; they did not know the prophets; they knew nothing. They were living a life of sin and degradation in utter ignorance, and yet when the apostle appeared among them, he was able to speak with assurance. Why? Because it was not his word only, but he spoke “in power, and in the Holy Ghost.” . . .

The Holy Spirit takes people and helps them to speak in a clear manner . . . That is the way the Holy Spirit works, but there is another—His action upon the listeners. If the Holy Spirit only acted on the preacher, there would be no conversions. The supreme example of the Spirit’s action on the hearers is what happened when Peter was preaching in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. In Acts 2 we read that halfway through his sermon, as he was expounding the Scriptures, the people “were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (v. 37). The Holy Spirit did the pricking. It was not Peter’s sermon, which was a straightforward exposition of Scripture. The power, the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, was there working in the listeners. On that day three thousand were added to the church. The beginning of chapter 4 tells us that in the next day or so another two thousand were added.

This, then, is the dual action of the Spirit. He takes the preacher, the speaker, whether in a pulpit or in private, and gives this enabling. Then the Holy Spirit acts upon the ones who are listening and deals with their minds and hearts and wills. Both things happen at the same time.” (2)


Anointing as Attention holding power
The Holy Spirit has a way of capturing someone's attention and holding it. This is not to be reduced to natural talent, it is a divine work, stronger than Ritalin and infinitely more helpful than Adrenal. I have seen grammar school children deeply attentive to a sermon on Leviticus because of the Spirit's anointing. The anointing grips the soul, invigorates the mind and holds the attention by making truth beautiful and the learning process a palpable experience.

Preaching with such anointing is more an art not a science it comes from the whole person given to the task and open to the spirit. One preacher told me it takes years to learn the rhythm of the Spirit and learn how to march to his tune.

This is not just for preachers, jesus desires Sunday school teachers or small group leaders to ministry in the anointing. One of the most consistently anointed speakers i have experienced was a home group leader. Every time he opened the word it was power and truth, word and spirit, sometime so palpable was the Spirit ministry my heart is moved to worship at the thought of those gatherings.

Application
In our modern, post-reading, A.D.D. culture, where technology and media are the means of holding peoples attention. How can we cultivate a church community flowing in the attention hold unction? What is our responsibility in light of this two-fold ministry? Two group with different responsibilities come to mind. 1.) If you are the speaker then your responsibly are praying for the anointing, long for fresh oil, labor in the word, and over time cultivate the art of bending to the Spirit as you speak. Remember, it is not about you. It's truth and life and the Spirits power, it's about making much of Jesus. 2.) If you are in the pew then pray for the anointing, long for fresh oil, be hungry for God to speak, desire truth as if it were an obsession, a curiosity that you can fully scratch, desiring to know the God revealed in Scripture. Open yourself to be undone by concision and stitched up by the gospel. When such graces mark a congregation and mold a speaker the church is posed to live and minister in Word and Spirit.

End notes
(1) David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Christian Soldier: An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10 to 20, Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh; Carlisle, PA, 1977, p.115.
(2) David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Courageous Christianity, 1st U. S. edition, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, 2001, p. 190

The teaching method of Jesus (part 3)

Attention

1. Concentration of the mental powers upon an object; a close or careful observing or listening.
Example: The teacher gained the student attention.
2. The ability or power to concentrate mentally.
3. Observant consideration; notice:
Example: Your book has come to our attention.

How did Jesus secure peoples attention? Before we can answer that question we need to ask, what kind of attention did people give Jesus?

There are two main kinds of attention. Attention can be voluntary or involuntary.

1.) By voluntary I mean with effort. It is voluntary because the object attended to is interesting in itself and the subject recognized it as important but tedious. Voluntary attention may be given through power of will, and needs endurance to be fruitful. Such attention should not be seen as bad because it is tedious. Because a subject is personally boring has no bearing on the importance of the information being conveyed.

Voluntary attention may be motivated by fear of consequences, such as if I don't pay attention I may get a bad grade. It can also be moved by an understanding of the importance of the subject being taught. Learning math is often an example of voluntary attention. I maybe wrong but not many people find great joy in the multiplication tables but they can come to recognize the importance of learning them.

2.) By involuntary I mean without a sense of effort to keep interest.
Involuntary attention is given without a sense of effort but enjoys the activity itself. First, The object is interesting to the observer. For example, a person who is enjoying a good book will read until late in the night. Attention is given because of the kind of enjoyment is produces.

Such enjoyment can come from a teacher's presentation, interesting information, the process of learning, or something a little more mysterious. So we ask, what kind of attention was given to Jesus? What kind did his disciples give? What kind did the Pharisees give him? We can be sure Jesus received both kinds of attention. But I think the important question is how did Jesus secure the attention of so many?

Jesus secured attention two practical ways. First because their were many things about him to interest people. Second he knew what to do to get attention.

First, To the people, Jesus was a miracle worker and healer. He was a prophet and rabbi sent from God. We can be sure he was on their radar. He was passionate and caring. He loved the unlovely and was gracious to the legalist. His character was that of God incognito, the incarnate revelation of God. In this respect he was a beautiful person, from the inside out. Such character holds people's attention.

What are some of the things he did to get attention?

1. Sometimes he called for it. "Truly truly, I say unto you," (John 3:3; John 5:24,25; John 6:47; John 12:24)

2. Sometimes he used controversy like the ethical and theological issues between the Pharisees and Sadducees. The debates of his day stirred the curiosity of many and made them attentive to Jesus words.

3. He spoke in concrete language which usually catches and holds the attention.

4. He spoke in imaginative language. He painted pictures with his words much more than connected the dots with abstract logic.

5. He aimed at the heart with his language. He used story's as a way of indirect communication, to uncover the allusive movements of the human heart. The parables in Matt 24 for example spoke successively one story after another, the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son, all to make one point.

6. He gave the familiar images and references to explain unfamiliar. He used agricultural terms to explain God's kingdom.

7. Jesus rarely belabored a point. His longest sermon (sermon on the mount) in scripture can be read aloud in lest than 15 mins. Other times we see him minister for several hours. Time just was not an issue for Jesus. What is clear, is that Jesus never wasted His breath in over explaining truth.

8. Jesus wanted people to think. He did not feel the need to spell out everything, so the disciples never had to think. He wanted them to think. He knew thinking facilitates attention, so he sometime asked questions, sometimes made hard sayings (matt 6) and other times left the conversation open ended to force them to reflect.

9. We could say Jesus also received attention because he paid attention. He observed people and understood them with spiritual insight. He was a good listener. He knew what to say that would hook people in because he paid attention to them.

In the next blog we will look at the Spirits role in attention.

In Him
J. Dawson Jarrell