Faith’s Review and Expectations
1 Peter 4:1-11
I used to think America’s favorite hymn, Amazing Grace, was a bit overdone: "... that saved a wretch like me." Really now!
But the author was a wretch, a moral recluse. Its author, John Newton, had commanded an English slave ship for a portion of his life.
This well-known and beloved hymn has a story and a message that still resonates today. Originally titled "Faith’s Review and Expectations," this hymn was included in soldiers’ hymnbooks during the Civil War.
It was sung in the 1960s on freedom marches in the South.
It was the most requested hymn played in memorial services following the tragedy of 9/11.
There are 972 arrangements of this hymn, and it is a favorite of presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George Bush.
It was even performed by Arlo Guthrie on the opening night at Woodstock!
It can even be sung to the tune of Green Sleeve and the theme-tune of Gilligan’s Island (a camp favorite).
I am referring, of course, to the popular and powerful hymn Amazing Grace.
PRAYER for Spiritual Anointing
The author of the hymn Amazing Grace, John Newton, has an astounding story. Although he had had some early religious instruction from his mother, who taught him to memorize Scripture, he had long since given up any religious convictions. His mother died when he was a child forcing him to be raised by his father, a commander of a merchant ship which sailed the Mediterranean. Therefore, Newton fell into a life of rebellion and sin that led him to participate in one of the most insidious of all human institutions: the slave trade.
You know what that meant. Ships would make the first leg of their voyage from England nearly empty until they would anchor off the African coast. There tribal chiefs would deliver to the Europeans stockades full of men and women, captured in raids and wars against other tribes. Buyers would select the finest specimens, which would be bartered for weapons, ammunition, metal, liquor, trinkets, and cloth. Then the captives would be loaded aboard, packed for sailing. They were chained below decks to prevent suicides, laid side by side to save space, row after row, one after another, until the vessel was laden with as many as 600 units of human cargo.
Captains sought a fast voyage across the Atlantic’s infamous "middle passage," hoping to preserve as much as their cargo as possible, yet mortality sometimes ran 20% or higher. When an outbreak of smallpox or dysentery occurred, the stricken were cast overboard. Once they arrived in the New World, blacks were traded for sugar and molasses to manufacture rum, which the ships would carry to England for the final leg of their "triangle trade." Then off to Africa for yet another round. John Newton transported more than a few shiploads of the 6 million African slaves brought to the Americas in the 18th century.
When John was eleven, he went to sea with his father and made six voyages with him before the elder Newton retired. John was impressed into service on a man-of-war, the H. M. S. Harwich. Finding conditions on board intolerable, he deserted but was soon recaptured and publicly flogged and demoted from midshipman to common seaman.
Finally at his own request he was exchanged into service on a slave ship, which took him to the coast of Sierra Leone. He then became the servant of a slave trader and was brutally abused. He was rescued by a sea captain who had known John’s father. John Newton ultimately became captain of his own ship, one which plied the slave trade.
It was a book he found on board--Thomas à Kempis’ Imitation of Christ--which sowed the seeds of his conversion.
On March 10, 1748, a storm threatened to engulf his ship and crew. Through God’s intervention, the slave trader was radically converted. He recorded in his journal that when all seemed lost and the ship would surely sink, he exclaimed, “Lord, have mercy upon us.” Later in his cabin he reflected on what he had said and began to believe that God had addressed him through the storm and that grace had begun to work for him. His past was brought vividly before him, and then he turned to his Testament and found help in these two verses: "How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" (Luke 11:13); and, "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine" (John 7:17).
He understood the facts of the Gospel, but also that the Holy Spirit alone could enable him to understand these things. Accordingly in his own way he prayed for light and help.
For the rest of his life he observed the anniversary of May 10, 1748 as the day of his conversion, a day of humiliation in which he subjected his will to a higher power. “Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; ’tis grace has bro’t me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.”
During his days as a sailor he had begun to educate himself, teaching himself Latin, among other subjects. He also taught himself to read and write Greek and Hebrew.
Commanding a slave vessel seems like a strange place to find a new Christian. He continued in the slave trade for a time after his conversion; however, he saw to it that the slaves under his care were treated humanely. But at last the brutal aspects of the business began to appall him, and he left the sea for good. Newton repented of his role in the slave trade and became one of the most influential evangelical preachers in Britain.
While working as a tide surveyor he studied for the ministry. He decided to become a minister and applied to the Archbishop of York for ordination. The Archbishop refused his request, but Newton persisted in his goal, and he was subsequently ordained by the Bishop of Lincoln and accepted the curacy of Olney, Buckinghamshire. Newton’s church became so crowded during services that it had to be enlarged. He preached not only in Olney but in other parts of the country. For the last 43 years of his life preached the gospel in Olney and London.
He was an ardent voice for the abolition of slavery and the writer of hundreds of hymns, among which Amazing Grace is the most cherished.
John Newton wrote the beautiful lyrics for Amazing Grace in 1772 while serving as minister of Olney Parish Church. The following New Year’s Day, Newton delivered a famous sermon to his congregants, "Faith’s Review and Expectations," which highlighted the hymn’s underlying message of finding grace through struggle. This event marked the first of many chapters to come in the remarkable story of Amazing Grace.
From its introduction to the world on that New Year’s Day, familiarity with Amazing Grace has traveled through centuries, across oceans, musical genres and generations to become one of the most notable songs in musical history. ”Amazing Grace” was possibly one of the hymns written for a weekly service.
Through the years other writers have composed additional verses to the hymn which came to be known as “Amazing Grace” (it was not thus entitled in Olney Hymns), and possibly verses from other Newton hymns have been added. However, there are the six stanzas that appeared, with minor spelling variations, in both the first edition in 1779 and the 1808 edition, the one nearest the date of Newton’s death. It appeared under the heading Faith’s Review and Expectation, along with a reference to First Chronicles, chapter 17, verses 16 and 17: “Then King David went in and sat before the LORD; and he said: ‘Who am I, O LORD God? And what is my house, that You have brought me this far? And yet this was a small thing in Your sight, O God; and You have also spoken of Your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have regarded me according to the rank of a man of high degree, O LORD God.’”
Amazing Grace is an intimate testimony of Newton’s life as well as a powerful declaration of the faithful and gracious God he loved and served.
In 1780, Newton became rector of Saint Mary Woolnoth in London. Among those affected by his ministry was a young member of the British Parliament, William Wilberforce. Gripped by his own relentless faith in God, Wilberforce had thought of becoming a minister. However, Newton was to have a profound influence on this young politician.
Newton became Wilberforce’s mentor and convinced him to remain in Parliament in order to bring about a lasting change in society. The abolition of the slave trade became for Wilberforce "the grand object of my parliamentary existence … may I be the instrument of stopping such a course of wickedness and cruelty as never before disgraced a Christian country."
Although he faced rejection, ridicule and opposition, Wilberforce worked tirelessly for 46 years toward abolishing the African slave trade and, ultimately, the institution of slavery itself, seeing the decisive victory just three days before he died, in 1833.
Both John Newton and William Wilberforce were men whose faith in God compelled them to stand against injustice and to make a difference in their world. We need men like that again!
Unfortunately, Wilberforce’s task to end slavery is not over. Gary Haugen, president of International Justice Mission, says, "There are more people living in slavery today than were extracted from Africa during 400 years of the transAtlantic slave trade."
Whether as indentured servants in America, sex slaves in Asia or child soldiers in rebel armies in Africa, today, more than 27 million men, women and children live in some form of slavery. Although they might not be shackled inside a ship like the one once captained by John Newton, these modern-day slaves are just as chained by violent, oppressive authorities or economic demands.
As people of faith, we must be a prophetic voice and a decisive participant in the destruction of modern-day slavery to ensure adults and children live in freedom around the world. The book of James in the New Testament declares that a faith that does not act is no faith at all. Amazing change in a person and in a society comes by the amazing grace of God’s kingdom engaging society through God’s people.
Of course the most prevalent form of slavery know to those of us who have chosen to follow the Christ is the bondage of sinful living. Listen closely to the words of King Solomon as recorded in his collection of Proverbs: “For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He ponders all his paths. His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, and he is caught in the cords of his sin.” [Proverbs 5: 21-22 NKJV]
The devil is the one who takes the sinner captive. It is through the act of sin that he ensnares the wicked. The Apostle Paul in his second letter to the young Timothy: “…a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, have been captive by him to do his will.” [2 Timothy 2: 24-26]
We have broken the chains of our enslavement to sin by applying the power of the shed blood of Jesus, the Christ. The shackles of our oppression to sinfulness have fallen to the ground and been forever crushed by the heal of the one who has said, “…you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” [John 8: 31b-32]
At 82, John Newton said, "My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things, that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Saviour." No wonder he understood so well grace--the completely undeserved mercy and favor of God. That is a great thought for us, too. That Jesus, the Christ, is our great Savior! We owe Him our praise! Each of us should be able to sing truthfully the words, “I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.”
Both a plaque in the Church of England in Olney and John Newton’s tombstone read, "John Newton, Clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy."
Today, can you truthfully declare that Jesus, the Christ has preserved, restored, and pardoned you? Only you can answer that for yourself. But there is another important fact for us to receive from John Newton’s epitaph: We, too, have received the appointment to, “…preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed…” [Luke 4: 18b]
So, will you and I receive this appointment? Together, we are the prophetic voice in today’s world. We are the decisive participants in the destruction of modern-day enslavement to sin.
May we, like John Newton, come to the point of realization of our sinfulness and wrongful living and repent of our evil ways. May we, too, see the light of God’s amazing grace!
Amen and amen!
