“That second look of a Great Savior to Great Sinners!”

PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE: ” That second look of a Great Savior to Great Sinners!”

We are entering a week that will culminate on Saturday with the Celebration of the Birth of our Nation…224 years ago. Our celebration has been curtailed by the pandemic of the Coronavirus 2019. Most celebrations have been cancelled. The few celebrations that are still scheduled are to be done so with social distancing, face masks, and a troubled spirit, because our nation is probably as divided today in such a way, that can only be equaled by the decade of the War between the States. Recent events have caused our nation as a whole to re-examine our hearts and our history to determine who we really are as a nation. Our country is very divided over the answer to that question. There have been several incidents that have occurred recently that most would agree are wrong. Horribly wrong. The question that we must answer is where do we go from here? The purpose of this perspective is not to answer that question definitively. Time and choices will answer that. We can only pray and promote so that good will forever come out of these turbulent times. But it even leaves us with a paradox on how do we celebrate our National Birthday. We all love the Father of our Nation, and hold him in high reverential esteem-George Washington. You remember, the young man who could not “tell a lie” and owned up to chopping down the cherry tree. With out his strong and unrelenting leadership, our Continental Army would never have succeeded in in breaking free from the Tyranny that was Great Britain. Yet we look back at history and understand that he inherited a plantation with slaves from his father, and from his wife’s father, and even with a struggling conscience over it, continued with that abhorrent institution until his death, and will liberated those slaves. The voice of the American Revolution, Patrick Henry is also a paradox. In his biography on Henry, Harlow Giles Unger, in his book The Lion of Liberty, talks about how Henry was seen as an American Demosthenes, who by his oratory, with the fervor of the Great Awakening Preachers, persuade audiences to do the right thing! He was the first of the American revolutionaries to call for independence, for revolution against Britain, for a bill of rights, and for as much freedom possible from government-whether British or American. No one can forget his speech that said, “If this be treason, make the most of it!” and of course “give me liberty or give me death!” But according to his biographer he says, “Henry can be both inspiring and infuriating…he was a study in contradictions. He opposed slavery. He considered it a ‘lamentable evil’, yet he owned slaves. He was conflicted enough to write, ‘I will not, I cannot justify owning slaves’, but was not conflicted enough to actually set them free!” The truth of the matter is that we are all studies in contradiction. We are all sinful saints. We are all capable of being both inspiring and infuriating. We all are…and will remain that way until we are made new in Christ. Bob Dylan has a new Album released this month. It is called Rough and Rowdy Ways. It has already soared to the top of the charts, and is seen as perhaps some of his best work in years, some say forever! One song, 17 minutes long, called Murder Most Foul, is a commentary on the Assassination of JFK. He sees it as the Crime of American History, still not solved at all! The second released song of the album is called I Contain Multitudes. He uses the title of Walt Whitman’s famous poem advocating for being a complicated character, perhaps explaining what history tells us. We are all a study in contradictions. The rest of his album is a cryptic attempt to identify himself and his faith as real, as true, as an attempt to communicate the Gospel through a complicated contradiction at times! Some see it as his last great exclamation point on a career that has be greatly admired, yet misunderstood.

I would like to point to another character that is most beloved for giving us probably the most famous hymn ever, Amazing Grace. Yet if you study the life of John Newton, he too was a study in contradictions. Early in life his mother died. He joined his father, a Captain of the Seas, in a life that led to sin and destruction. He soon joined another Sea Captain and found himself deeply involved in, and profiting from the Slave trade bringing slaves to America. He was a major player in this dark chapter of World history. But one day, while reading The Imitation of Christ, and nearly dying in a violent storm at sea, God answered his godly mother’s prayers, and John was confronted by the Christ and the Cross. After his conversion, he returned to England and Pastored the same Church for many years. He became a strong abolitionist working with William Wilberforce. One Sunday, after recounting his sinful life before Christ, he started singing his testimony. Here are the words:

  

“In evil long I took delight,

Unawed by shame or fear,

Til a new object struck my sight,

And stopped my wild career.

  

I saw one hanging on a tree,

In agonies and blood,

Who fixed his languid eyes on me,

As near his cross I stood.

  

Sure, never til my latest breath,

Can I forget that look;

It seemed to charge me with His death,

Though not a word He spoke.

  

My conscience felt and owned the guilt,

And plunged me in despair,

I saw my sins His blood had spilt,

And helped to nail him there.

  

Alas, I knew not what I did,

But now my tears are vain;

Where should my trembling soul be hid?

For I the LORD have slain!

  

A second look he gave, which said,

” freely all forgive;

This blood is for thy ransom paid;

I die that thou mayest live”

  

Thus, while His death, my sin displays,

In all its blackest hue,

Such is the mystery of grace,

It seals my pardon too.

  

With pleasing grief and mournful joy,

My spirit now is filled;

That I should such a life destroy,

Yet live by him I killed.

  

John Newton lived to be 82. As he approached death, he said, “In 82 years I have learned two things-I am a great sinner, and Jesus is a great Savior!” That there is the answer to our current dilemma. We are all a study in contradictions. We all contain multitudes! Sinners through and through! It is Jesus, who relates to all races, and all sinners, who can end our wild careers, and bring us together as one, in Him. Only in Him!