That I Should Boast, Galatians 6:14
Introduction
A young boy complained to his father that most of the church hymns were boring and old-fashioned, with tiresome words that meant little to his generation. His father challenged him with these words: “If you think you can write better hymns, why don’t you?”
The boy accepted the challenge, went to his room, and wrote his first hymn. The year was 1690, and the young man was Isaac Watts. Among his 350 hymns are “Joy to the World,” “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” “I Sing the Almighty Power of God,” and many other classics.
Transition
This evening marks the beginning of the season of Lent. “The term Lent was adopted in the late Middle Ages, as sermons began to be delivered in English rather than in Latin as was done in previous centuries, the English word lent was adopted. This word initially simply meant spring and derives from the Germanic root for long because in the spring the days visibly lengthen.
As Lent is the season leading up to the celebration of Christ victory over sin and death on the Cross, this evening we will us one of the greatest hymns of Christendom to prepare our hearts to embark on this journey. Lent, though often thought of as a season of sacrifice as we identify with the sacrifice of Christ, is indeed a season of rejoicing as we identify truly with Christ sacrifice, death, and burial but praise be unto God as we identify in the Cross’s greatest victory; the destruction of death and the power of sin in the resurrection of Christ!
Exposition
Isaac Watts was a man of truly rare and remarkable genius. Watts was the kind of man who comes along by merely the handful at most in each generation. Watts was born to a dissenting Congregational Deacon in 1674 in Southampton, England. At the time of his birth, Watts’s father was imprisoned for his non-conformist Congregational beliefs.
Watts showed a remarkable aptitude for learning and study at a very young age. It is well documented that by the age of five he learned Latin, Greek at 9, and French at 11 and Hebrew at 13. He was writing very high quality verses of poetry and song when he was very young. Watts was born a person of peculiar genius, as I would suggest, with a clear and plain godly purpose upon His life. His genius was indeed the gift of God!
Watts is commonly referred to as the father of English hymnody. At the time of his youth history records that the state of congregational singing had grown rather dismal and drearily simplistic. Most congregational worship was in the form of songs that were short crude inelegant fashion where a deacon would read a line of the very simple rhyming song and then the congregation would follow suit. One of the more commonly used examples is as follows:
Ye monsters of the bubbling deep, Your Master’s praises spout, Up from the sands ye coddlings peep, And wag your tails about.”
By modern hymnody standards, much of which derives from Isaac Watts, this is not exactly of a high quality! Watts once wrote that “The singing of God’s praise is the part of worship most closely related to heaven; but its performance among us is the worst on earth.” Watts had a low view of the hymnody of his day!
Isaac Watts was used of God to compose a hymn so glorious that it has been oft referred to as the greatest hymn in the English language. “When I Survey The Wondrous Cross,” apart from being a personal favorite of myself and so many believers, is even known to a younger generation by way of several popular renditions and Church worship genre of traditional and modern music styles.
In examining Isaac Watt’s “When I Survey The Wondrous Cross” I have found some parallel passages of Scripture that, while I can not know for sure, I suspect that may have served as inspiration for the song’s content. It is clearly rooted in biblical precepts which explain its longevity and impact as a hymn of the Church.
The opening line of Watt’s original composition reads, “When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of glory died, My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride.” In the book of Philippians 3:7 the Apostle Paul writes, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.” (NIV) There is nothing in this life which is of more value or worth than that of knowing Christ, our eternal savior, the Son of God!
We recently watched as the stock market crashed. Millions of people who had placed their trust for retirement into savings accounts, mutual funds, and various types of stock and investment based retirement plans watched as the security that this world has to offer faded from the scene. Others watched as fortunes of profit of speculation and investment went up in smoke.
While it is wise to invest and plan the future in this life, as followers of Jesus Christ it is imperative that we take the perspective of the Apostle Paul that all of the gain of this life is but loss for the sake of Christ! The majority of Isaac Watts hymns speak to the believer’s relationship with God; his estrangement through sin, his return through the blood of Christ, and his feelings toward the majesty of God.
These were known as hymns of “human composure” and they were very controversial in his day. What the Apostle Paul is speaking about in the passage in Philippians and what Watts is so eloquently restating is that when compared to the glory and majesty of the Cross, when seen in the eternal light emanating from the flame that burns at the Cross, all of the pride of accomplishment, all of the selfish desires of wealth, popularity, and success, are as nothing. “I pour contempt on all my pride… I count it all loss for the sake of knowing Christ!”
The second verse says, “Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, Save in the death of Christ my God! All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.” Galatians 6:14 says, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (NIV)
There is the story from childhood which is told of the ugly duckling. No doubt it is at least familiar to most of us. There was once a duckling that was born to a mother duck along with several other ducklings. He was much larger than the other ducks and looked very different. The other ducklings and the animals of the pond rejected him and because he was different considered him strange, out of place, and unusual; all because he looked different from the other ducklings. As the story unfolds, we learn that indeed the ugly duckling was no ugly duck but in fact a beautiful swan. Because he was different he felt out of place. Because he didn’t look like a duck he considered himself less than what he was created to be.
Dear saints of God, there are far too many believers who, though they were created to be beautiful swans displaying and reflecting the beauty of their creator live their life under the delusion that because they are different they are ugly ducklings. II Corinthians 5:17 tells us that we are new creations.
We who have been called out and have placed our trust in Christ have been transformed. Dear Child of God, you are not an ugly duck swimming in a pond of beautiful ducks; we are swans; created in the beautiful image of God; being perfected into the image of Christ!
The third line of this exquisite hymn says, “See from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down! Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown?” Isaiah 53:3 says, “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (NIV)
At the Cross we see the pure dichotomy between the most terrible and horrific event in human history; the very Son of God; the God-Man Jesus Christ being put to death and the most beautiful expression of God’s grace to humanity. In allowing Himself to be crucified Jesus highlighted the corrupt nature of the human heart. When God sent perfect grace into the world; humanity hung it on a tree. In allowing Himself to be crucified, Jesus paid the price for our sins.
Our salvation has been bought with a precious price. Our hope comes at a dear sacrifice of the perfect blood of Christ! When His blood flowed the bitter sweetness of our redemption was one. Did ever thorns compose so rich a crown? Certainly they did not. The Crown of thorns which adorned His brow was the very crown of heavenly glory traded out of the depths of amazing love for you and me.
The final line of this magnificent hymn says, “Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all. Philippians 1:21 says, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (NIV) Christianity I am afraid has become for many simply an accessory to the rest of their lives rather than the driving force that it was meant to be!
At the funeral of a minister, a little child was seen skipping light-heartedly through the cemetery at dusk. Someone asked, “Aren’t you afraid of this place?” “Oh no,” she replied, “I only cross through here to get home.” Death for the Christian is only a “crossing-through to get home.” It is not ultimate and final death. This life is but a race to the finish line of being perfected in Christ Jesus!
Conclusion
The purely biblical perspective in regard to this life is that the love so amazing that we survey at the Cross of Jesus Christ is so immense, so divine, that it demands my life, my soul, my all. Dear Saint of God, this day won’t you allow Christ to be not appendage but the energion – the driving force of your life. We have bought at a great price; this Lenten Season me we draw ever closer to the God of the Cross; the Cross of grace; as we are washed clean by the blood which flowed there mingled in the pure and divine love of Jesus Christ. Amen.
