I love to sing so I’m going to ask you sing a couple old hymns with me:
“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that SAVED A WRETCH LIKE ME. I once was lost, but now I’m found. Was blind, but now I see.
“At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day! Alas, and did my Savior bleed? And did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head for SUCH A WORM AS I? At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight, and now I am happy all the day!”
Now, if you noticed, I highlighted a couple of phrases in those songs. Amazing Grace has “saved a wretch like me” in it, and “Alas and did my Savior bleed” (At the Cross) has the words “Such A Worm As I.”
Recently, some newer renderings of those songs, have substituted some words. “A wretch like me” has been replaced by some folks as “Saved and set me free,” and “Such a Worm As I” has been rewritten “Someone such as I.”
Now they can do stuff like that. These hymns have far outlived any copyright issues. But the question is… why would folks do that? Why change the words? They didn’t change any other part of those hymns, why change THESE words?
Well, I ran across a girl on the internet whose website helped explain this phenomena. She entitled her article “Revising Amazing Grace To Solve The Wretch Problem.”
“People like me, who DON’T self-identify as “wretches,” have suggested alternate lyrics (for Amazing Grace). These revisionists prefer to replace “a wretch like me,” with “saved and set me free” or “saved a soul like me,” or “saved and strengthened me.” A couple of these options lack the cadence of the original, but they SOLVE the “wretch” problem… A little research reveals that the author, John Newton, may well have merited the designation “wretch,” as he was a slave trader who repudiated his childhood faith and led a debauched personal life. He is said to have experienced a spiritual conversion during a 1748 storm that threatened his life and his slave ship. Soon after, he wrote the first stanza, the part with “wretch” in it.” (http://www.chicagonow.com/mscrankypants/2015/12/revising-amazing-grace-to-solve-the-wretch-problem/)
Now notice, this writer said she doesn’t “self-identify” as a wretch. And she literally said: John Newton “may well have merited the designation “wretch.” Essentially, she’s saying – “NOT ME!!! I’m not like Newton. I’m a better person than he was! I haven’t sinned like he sinned. Therefore I am not a wretch!”
Well, what does “wretch” mean? I looked it up and found that the word has a couple of meanings - and the one this internet author is uncomfortable with is this: “Wretched: a despicable or contemptible person”
Now, I can see why some folks might a problem with that. If you go up to someone on the street and ask “Are you a contemptible person” you’re going to have a problem. At the very least they’re going to look at you like you’ve lost your ever-loving mind! Of course I’m not contemptible – I’m a pretty nice person! Just ask me!!!!!”
And that’s why folks will change hymns like this. They’re not WORMS, and they’re not DESPICABLE, and they’re not CONTEMPTIBLE. They’re nice, righteous, upstanding people … and don’t you DARE imply otherwise!
Now, don’t get me wrong - it doesn’t bother me when folks tinker with old hymns. I’ve been changing Thou & Thine to yours & mine for years now. It’s not that big a deal. But the motivation behind WHY people change these words can be a big deal!
You see, when folks say they can’t “self-identify” as wretches and worms, they aren’t really disagreeing with the author of the hymn. And they’re not really disagreeing with me. They’re disagreeing with God.
Ephesians 2:3 says: Before we became Christians we “were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
Colossians 1:21 “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour.”
Titus 3:3 “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.”
Now - I don’t know (long pause) that sounds kind of contemptible to me!
ILLUS: A couple in our congregation had a problem they had when they got home from vacation. There was a bad smell coming out from under their back porch and they suspected it might have been a dead animal. The wife worked and worked and finally got that dead animal pulled out and discovered it was a… a dead skunk. Now, a live skunk smells bad enough, but a dead one is much worse. And what God is telling us here in Ephesians is before we became Christians – we ALL stank even worse than that Skunk.
Now, why is that important to know? Well it’s important because most folks MISunderstand how God thinks. They think if they’ve really messed up in their lives “God could never love me.” These are the folks that say “If I ever came to church, the roof would cave in.” They’re not trying to be mean, they’re just trying to save us the expense of cleaning up afterward.
But then there’s other folks who sing that hymn “JUST AS I AM” and think “I’m good enough to get into heaven just as I am.”
ILLUS: Some time back, Warren Buffett announced that he was giving his fortune to charity. He’s worth about $44 billion just in stocks and he is giving away $37 billion dollars right now – most of which will go to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. As he was presenting this gift to the Gates, he made this remark, “There is more than one way to get to heaven, but this is a great way.”
Come judgment day… I think Buffet’s in for a surprise. Without the blood of Jesus Christ he’s not going to make it. No matter how rich you are… or how righteous you are - without Jesus You are “children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
It doesn’t matter if you don’t “self-identify” as a wretch, or a child of wrath, or an enemy of God - without Jesus that’s who you are. That’s who I are. That’s who everybody are. We’ve all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Nobody deserves heaven!
BUT…
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the GREAT LOVE with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved” Ephesians 2:4-5
God saved us, not because we deserved to be saved. Why is He willing to save us? (listen for an answer) That’s right - because He loved us (For God so loved the world….)
You see, lots of people struggle to understand how God thinks about this. In fact, it’s the common misunderstanding: They think that they develop a good record and give it to God, and then He owes them. They do good stuff, and then God OWES them a place in heaven. That’s not happening.
But THIS is how God thinks: God develops a good record and gives it to us, then we owe Him. (Timothy Keller). God developed HIS good record when He died on cross. Now, because He died on the cross, we owe Him… big time.
Now, why is that a good thing? Well, two things… 1st - it recognizes reality. Mark Twain once said “Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side, which he never shows to anybody.” That’s another way of saying what God had already said “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Everybody has a dark side. This is reality!!!! And so when people actually DO SIN… it shouldn’t surprise us (it might disappoint us – but you’re not gonna be surprised) because NOW you KNOW the truth, and that truth is - all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory.
2ndly – it removes all doubt.
ILLUS: I read the story of a man on his deathbed he looked up at his wife and said: “Tell me I’ve been a good man!” Now, a lot of people struggle with that anyway, but why is he asking her this now… as he’s about to die? Well, he asked her that because he’s afraid he’s NOT been good enough. He’s afraid he won’t pass the entrance exam for heaven. He’s afraid he’ll go to hell.
Earlier in the sermon I told you there are two meaning for the word Wretch. The one we looked at earlier is “someone who is contemptible or despicable.” But the other meaning of the word “wretch” is this: “Wretch - an unfortunate or unhappy person.” You see… for people who doubt they’ve been good enough they literally feel wretched. They are unhappy because they have no assurance of salvation. They KNOW they’ve not lived a good life. They’re pretty sure they’re not going to make it!
One retired priest noted: “I have seen so many people at the end of their lives (they’re) so remorseful (and they ask themselves) ‘What am I going to do NOW about my past.’” (Jonathan Morris - former priest who played a priest in a Martin Scorsese movie “The Irishman”)
And God says: “It’s OK - I got you covered. You’re worried about your past, your past doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you realize I LOVE YOU and I want to save you. I want to change your life. Just let me do it! Don’t try depending upon your righteous deeds because your righteous deeds won’t get it done! Good deeds won’t get anyone into heaven.”
But you know - too often, too many Christians fall into that trap. They think they’ve been good enough to be good enough. But they can’t!
ILLUS: There’s an old story about a man who came before the Golden Gates. He’d been a member in good standing in church and (because he’d been such a GOOD man) he expected to just walk right on into heaven. To his amazement, he was told by Peter that there’s a point system he’s required to meet in order to qualify for heaven. "How many points do I need to get into heaven?" he asked. "30,000" replied Peter. “30,000?! Well, I was a member of the Church of Christ at Logansport. How much was that worth?" "About five points," came the answer. "Five points!" the man stammered, "Okay, then what about all the good things I've done for neighbors & family. Surely that is worth quite a bit." "According to our records," Peter, replied "that comes to about eight more points." Worried now, the man cried out, "But that makes only 13 of the 30,000. Why, if it weren't for the grace of God, no one could make it into heaven!"
Peter smiles and says: "That's the rest of the thirty thousand."
CLOSE: I want to close with this thought. I don’t know if you know that I have one of the cutest, cleverest, smartest grandsons around… but I do and he is. Recently I’ve been giving thought to working on my will and I’m trying to figure out how to include Benjamin in it.
As I was preparing this sermon, it occurred to me that there’s lots of kids in town who are cute, and clever and smart. They may even be your kids or grandkids… but I’m not going to leave them anything in my will. Do you know why? That’s right, they don’t belong to me. They aren’t my grandchildren, so I won’t be giving them anything. Benjamin will receive an inheritance from me but ONLY because he’s mine.
Now, this is the application: the only way you’ll get into heaven is if you belong to God. It won’t matter how cute/clever/smart you may be, if you don’t belong to Him… you’re not getting nothing!
And how do you belong to God? By believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. By accepting that you’ve sinned and need to repent. By confessing that Jesus will now be the Lord and Master of your life. And by allowing yourself to be buried in the waters of baptism, and rising up a new creature in Christ.
Invitation
