“Singing the Faith: Amazing Grace”
1 Timothy 1:12-17

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost—September 25, 2016

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

This morning we are beginning a new fall sermon series on “Signing the Faith,” looking at the background and meaning of some favorite hymns.

Our current hymnal Lutheran Service Book contains over 600 hymns.  While that seems like a lot, it is staggering to think that those have been selected out of over

1 MILLION Christian hymns that it is estimated have been written. 

Surveys have been taken of what people’s favorite hymns are, and one of the main reasons the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod published a new hymnal was so that our Missouri Synod hymnal could finally include the two most popular hymns in America.  The most popular hymn, “How Great Thou Art,” wasn’t even written until 1952, so of course it couldn’t have been included The Lutheran Hymnal of 1941.  And the second most popular American hymn was not yet that popular in 1941, or familiar to our German forebearers, so it was not included either.

This second most popular American hymn is based on today’s Epistle Reading: “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.”

Amazing grace!  How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!

The first hymn that Martin Luther wrote, “Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice,” is very obviously AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL. In the ten verses of this hymn, Luther tells us in song the story of his spiritual journey, which led not only to his personal transformation, but also to the Reformation, altering not only the course of his own life, but also the course of history.

In the opening verses Luther confesses in a very moving way his own sinfulness and his great despair and spiritual torment:

Fast bound in Satan’s chains I lay,
Death brooded darkly over me,
Sin was my torment night and day;
In sin my mother bore me.
But daily deeper still I fell;
My life became a living hell,
So firmly sin possessed me.
My fears increased till sheer despair
Left only death to my share;
The pangs of hell I suffered.

Then Luther relates the turning point in his spiritual journey, when he came to understand the true meaning of the Christian faith:

But God had seen my wretched state
Before the world’s foundation,
And mindful of his mercies great,
He planned for my salvation.
God said to his beloved Son:
“It’s time to have compassion.
From sin and sorrow set them free;
Slay bitter death for them that they
May live with you forever.”

Like Luther’s autobiographical hymn, telling the story of his spiritual journey and transformation, in today’s Epistle Reading from 1st Timothy the Apostle Paul has a similar autobiographical confession: “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service.  Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.  The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.  Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.  But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.”

Like the Apostle Paul and Martin Luther, when John Newton wrote “Amazing Grace” he was also actually writing his own personal spiritual autobiography in the words of this hymn.  John Newton was born in London in 1725, the son of a ship captain.  His mother was a very godly woman and helped him memorize hymns and Bible verses as a young child and often told him she hoped he would become a pastor.

However, Newton’s mother died when he was only seven years old.  His father was not a godly man but ungodly.  At age 11 he followed his father to sea and to a very rough and wicked life.  A few years later he was drafted into the British navy, but was soon flogged and demoted for insubordination.  While in Africa he left the navy and made his living in the slave trade.  He called himself an atheist and he lived like it.  As the captain of slaves ships with thousands crammed below deck, he treated these men, women and children like cattle and didn’t care that hundreds died on each trip.  In many other ways he lived a very wicked life.

But, then on one voyage he was almost swept off the deck during a terrible storm.  Like Martin Luther, whose spiritual journey of transformation began in the midst of a thunderstorm when he cried out, “Help me . . . and I will become a monk,” John Newton, in the midst of a thunderstorm, with the hold below crammed full of slaves, made this promise: “God, get me safely to port, and I will be YOUR slave forever.”

It had been over 20 years and a whole other life since his mother had sang him hymns and taught him Bible verses as a little boy and hoped he would become a pastor.  He thought that way of life was dead and gone along with his mother.  But, though he claimed to be an atheist and had lived a dreadful, brutal life of sin and slave trading, the lessons his mother taught him were still there, the seeds of faith she planted bloomed, a beautiful illustration of the Proverb, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

That right there is an important lesson we learn from the life of John Newton.  The importance of the seeds of faith that you plant in the lives of your children, and the lasting impact the example of your own faithfulness will have on them. 

And, like the Apostle Paul, we also learn from the life of John Newton the power of God’s “Amazing Grace.”  Paul’s autobiographical confession also describes John Newton: “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy . . .  The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.  Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.”

Amazing grace!  How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see!

Like the Apostle Paul and Martin Luther, John Newton was actually writing his own personal spiritual autobiography in the words of this beloved hymn.  The Lord did save him from the storm and brought him safely to port. He renounced his former sinful life, began studies to become a pastor, as his mother had hoped so many years before, and, as he promised in the midst of that storm, he became the Lord’s slave forever.

The Lord has promised good to me, his word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be as long as life endures.

Becoming a pastor at age 39, Newton was still preaching when he died at 82. Just before he died he said, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things, that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior.”

Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come;
His grace has brought me safe so far, his grace will see me home.

On his tombstone he had this inscription: “John Newton, [cleric], once an infidel and [wicked] libertine, a [trader] of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy.”

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail and mortal life shall cease,
Amazing grace shall then prevail in heaven’s joy and peace.

In addition to serving faithfully as a pastor for over 40 years, John Newton also became one of the greatest hymnwriters of all time, producing more than 275 hymns.  Musical experts think that the tune for “Amazing Grace” may have actually been an African melody, which John Newton up on deck overheard the slaves singing in the hold below, and he very poignantly set his hymn of confession to this tune, which stuck in this mind and perhaps haunted him.

Although “Amazing Grace” was not included in The Lutheran Hymnal of 1941, which many of us grew up with, eight of John Newton’s other hymns were in that hymnal, and there are five of his hymns in the newer Lutheran Service Book.  In fact, it may surprise you that ALL of the hymns in our service today have something in common: they were ALL written by John Newton.

The message of John Newton’s autobiographical hymn “Amazing Grace” is the same as that of Martin Luther in his autobiographical hymn, and the Apostle Paul in his autobiographical confession.  The Good News that no sin is too great, no sinner too far gone, for God to forgive.  As an old song puts it, “He always says, ‘I forgive.’”  Like the forgiving father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, your heavenly Father always welcomes you home to the family of God with open and loving arms.

Amazing grace!  How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see!

There are two additional verses of “Amazing Grace” printed in the bulletin.  Lutherans have sometimes thought that the first of these verses confuses Law and Gospel: “‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.”  It is actually the LAW, not the Gospel or God’s grace, that teaches us to fear in sense of being afraid of God’s wrath.  So, at first glance to say “‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear” seems like a very basic theological error. 

But, John Newton was both an accomplished theologian and an accomplished poet.  He is making a play on the two meanings of the word “fear.”  When he says “‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,” he is using the word “fear” in the same sense as Luther in the Small Catechism, “We should fear and love God.”  It doesn’t mean to be afraid of God, but to REVERE God.  You could paraphrase what John Newton is saying this way: “‘Twas grace that taught my heart to revere God, and grace my fears of God relieved.”  It is a poetic play upon on the double meaning of the word “fear.”

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed!

The other verse printed in the bulletin was written by Newton as the original final verse for his most famous hymn, but it’s not often included in any hymnals.  In this final verse, Newton emphasizes that God’s “Amazing Grace” is Good News for you not just for this life but for eternal life:

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, the sun forbear to shine,
But God, who called me here below, will be forever mine.

“Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy . . .  The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.  Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.”  Like the Apostle Paul in that autobiographical confession, and Martin Luther in his autobiographical hymn, in the hymn “Amazing Grace” John Newton was actually writing his own personal spiritual autobiography, the amazing story of his spiritual journey and transformation.

Amazing grace!  How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see!
How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed!
His grace has brought me safe so far, his grace will see me home.

The Good News is, for the sake of his Son God shows to YOU that same “Amazing Grace.”