Today we are celebrating Amazing Grace Sunday which is being observed by approx. 3000 churches around the country. The date was picked to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slave trade in Great Britain. The leader of this abolition movement was a British politician – Wm. Wilberforce.
The connection to Amazing Grace is was that one of Wilberforce’s mentors was former slave trader turned minister, John Newton, who also penned the words to the most popular hymn of all time -- Amazing Grace.
>>> VIDEO – The Story of Amazing Grace <<<
Sometime around 1770, Newton penned the poem, Faith’s Review and Expectation. Later, music was added and it became known for the first line of the poem, “Amazing Grace”. Through the years others have changed verses, including the well-known 5th verse that begins “when we’ve been there ten thousand years” which was not original to Newton. His original last verse had been forgotten for years, but has recently been “rediscovered” and has found a bit of a revival. It says:
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who call’d me here below,
Will be forever mine.
The poem / song “Amazing Grace” is one man’s heart-cry of thankfulness for how God had ransomed and rescued him from a life of personal slavery. Newton recognized that as much as he had enslaved others, his own heart was enslaved to sin. As we sing, let this be your prayer and heart-cry to God.
>>> BAND – Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) <<<
Amazing Grace Trivia:
* Sung a Woodstock
* Over 1100 albums > diverse as Elvis / Janis Joplin / Rod Stewart / Nearly every C&W artist
* 972 arrangements
* Can be sung to the tune of “Gilligan’s Island”
What is it about Amazing Grace that draws us? Why has it been sung by everyone from Willie Nelson to Bono? I think it’s because it represents hope. Without God’s grace we have no hope. Without his grace we are lost and blind. But because of his grace we are found – because of his grace now we can see.
That rings true for each of us. We all know and recognize what hopelessness feels like. We understand what it’s like to be trapped. And while we may have never physically been slaves to another human being, each of us can identify with what it means to be enslaved to sin. Paul illustrates it in Romans 7 when he describes knowing what he should do and not doing it and doing those things he doesn’t want to do. He says that “in the sinful nature [I am] a slave to the law of sin.”
But when God’s grace reaches out to us, new life is breathed into us. His grace brings us not only salvation, but hope and faith and love and purpose and forgiveness. It teaches us to live righteous and godly lives.
It doesn’t matter where you are in your life or what you’ve done, God’s grace is so amazing that it can reach you no matter how far you’ve gone.
John Newton was responsible for the deaths of countless people that he transported on his slave ship, yet he found hope and forgiveness through the grace of God. It is by God’s amazing grace that each of us can find new life when we follow Christ.
“Man is born broken. He lives by mending. The grace of God is glue.” ~ Eugene O’Neill
We should be nothing but overwhelmingly grateful for God’s amazing grace in our lives. Pouring his love and mercy out through Christ on our behalf can change the hardest heart. It can mend the most broken life. It can rescue the most lost soul. But to stop at what it can do in your life and my life is to limit it.
2 Cor 5:20 tells us that we are God’s ambassadors – that we represent Him to the world we live in. So, if he is a God of grace then we are to be people of grace. We are to radiate grace to a world in desperate need of the love and mercy of God.
As we radiate the grace of God to our world, we are to radiate all that grace entails – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We are to exude justice, mercy, and hope.
Eph 2:8-10
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (NLT)
Grace is God’s gift to us. It’s not something we muster up, for if it was we would find a way to try to take credit for it. Grace grants us the opportunity for salvation, but it doesn’t end there. Verse 10 tells us that he created us and poured his grace on us for a purpose . . . so we could do the good things he planned for us. In other words, so we could pour grace out on others.
When we look at our responsibility to be people of grace, in light of the context Newton penned Amazing Grace, the context of slavery, it’s easy to dust our hands off and say, “Whew, I’m glad that’s over.”
But Newton’s nightmare and William Wilberforce’s work is far from finished. There are still an estimated 27 million slaves in the world today. Modern day slavery comes in many different forms. Entire families may work long days in rice-mills, brick kilns or on plantations. Children may be abducted and forced to into prostitution. They are slaves — they cannot come and go as they please. Their lives are threatened. They have no freedom in their day-to-day lives yet they deserve the right to be free. They deserve justice.
In fact, God desires justice
Isa 61:8 – For I, the Lord, love justice. I hate robbery and wrongdoing. (NLT)
Just as much as God is the God of grace, he is also the God of justice. Injustice is an offense to God. When those made in his image oppress and afflict others also made in his image, it is wrong.
What is injustice? When somebody who has more power, abuses that power to take from someone with less power the good things that God intended for them . . . their life, their liberty, their dignity, and the fruits of their love and labor. (IJM)
It is our responsibility as people of grace to help bring justice to the oppressed.
Mic 6:8 - He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (NIV)
The hearts and souls of 27 million people are crying out today for justice, mercy, and grace. They need a voice. They need someone speak up for them. Be careful to not write this off as socio-political activism, listen to what God’s word says:
Prov 31:8-9 – Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice. (NLT)
Isa 1:16-17 – Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. (NIV)
The Western church has spent too many years in self-centered righteousness. We’ve printed more Christian books, produced more Christian radio shows, broadcast more Christian TV shows, planned more Christian Bible studies, held more Christian revivals, while the world is screaming, “Stop printing and producing and broadcasting Christ . . . come be Christ.”
The call of God on our lives, the church, the people of grace, is to make it real. Listen to what Jesus told the religious leaders of his day:
Matt 23:23 – "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. (NLT)
There are more important things than being fine examples of religiosity – justice, mercy, and faith . . .
There is a faith-based human rights organization called International Justice Mission that rescues victims of violence, sexual exploitation, slavery, and oppression. Pres/CEO Gary Haugen has said:
The church is God’s plan to fight injustice in our world, but we feel powerless against it:
• We tend to see the magnitude of the problem and assume it is more than we can take on
• Like the feeding of the 5000, Jesus asks us to give him what we do have, and he is responsible for the miracle
• Let God rescue us from all things small, and all things afraid, and let our churches lead out to the adventure of being who God has called us to be.
The hardest thing for people to believe in the world is that God is good. What is God’s plan for making this believable to suffering people? We are the plan. He doesn’t have another plan. You are the light of the world – let your light so shine among men that they will see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven.
When we help people -- when we stand against injustice -- they see the body of Christ show up and they can believe that God is good.
A million new children a year are taken into forced prostitution – how are they supposed to believe that God is good? Through the church – the people of grace. We must show up on their behalf.
How do we show up? How do we show them grace?
• donate to faith-based orgs like IJM / Voice of the Martyrs
• don’t buy from companies that are known for human rights violations
• be a voice for injustice in our local community
• stand against discrimination and racial bias
• see the movie Amazing Grace and catch the vision
In the world of injustice there is a God of justice who wishes to bring rescue . . . there is a God of grace who wishes to bring hope.
Prayer:
Ps 10:17-18
"Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them. You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them." NLT
May we be instruments of your grace. May we seek justice and encourage the oppressed. May we ensure justice for those being crushed. May we speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice. May we not overlook the important things like justice, mercy, and faith.
Lord, place in us hearts that radiate your grace to a world that needs you. Call us away from our self-centeredness that the world will see you.
In Christ’s name – Amen
