The Transforming Power
of Grace
When Moses came down from
the mountain… from his meeting with God… holding the gift of the Ten Commandants given to
him by God… his face was shining like the sun.
He spent forty days and forty nights on top of the mountain in the
presence of God… and it changed him. Did
God transform
this poor shepherd into a holy man… infusing him with a holiness that was so
pure that it radiated
from his face… even after he left his encounter with the Divine? We don’t know. We only know that Moses went up to the
mountain top to meet with God and that when he returned from that meeting, his face
shone so
brightly that he had to wear a veil… for no one could look at him. That meeting with God changed
Moses. Transformed him. He was a different person. He shone like the sun.
It seems that every encounter with
the Divine is a transformational experience.
For the shepherd, Moses, an encounter with the Divine through the
burning bush changed his life and forty days with God on the mountaintop
changed his appearance. For the Prophet Elijah,
an encounter with God led to his challenging 450 prophets of Baal for the
hearts of the children of Israel.
For Saul, the persecutor of Christians, an encounter with the Divine on
the road to Damascus was a blinding experience that
changed his life forever. And yet, it
is not only individuals in the Bible who encounter the Divine and have a
life-changing experience. God has
touched the lives of ordinary people throughout history to cause extraordinary
things to happen.
In 1725, a baby boy was born in London, England.
After his mother died of tuberculosis, he went to sea with his father, a
shipmaster, at the age of thirteen, to learn the shipping trade. On
his way to Jamaica in 1743, he was pressed into service
in the British navy. He escaped, but was
captured… demoted in rank… and put in irons.
When his ship stopped in port for supplies, he was exchanged for another
sailor on a merchant vessel in the slave trade.
When he attempted to stay in Africa to begin making his fortune in the slave trade, he himself
became a servant and was brutally mistreated.
Discovered and rescued by a friend of his father, the young man sailed
back to Great Britain with him in 1748. En route, they sailed into a massive storm
that severely damaged their ship. At the
height of the storm… when at least one person had been swept overboard… the
ship was swamped with water… and it seemed as if all was lost… that young man,
in desperation, prayed for God to save them.
The date was May 10th, 1748.
From that day forward, John Newton
was completely transformed. During the remainder of his voyage home, he read
the Bible to learn about the God who had saved him from certain death. Formerly
a sailor’s sailor, he now avoided profanity…gambling…and drinking. While he made three more voyages as the
captain of slave ships, in 1754, he left the sea and became involved in the
work of George Whitehead, John Wesley and Charles Wesley during the evangelical
revival in England.
He studied for the ministry and, in 1757, he applied to become an
Anglican priest. During the
next seven years, his frustration with the process was so great that he applied
to the Methodists…Independents…and the Presbyterians…without success. After seven long years, he was finally
accepted and ordained into the Church of England.
For the last forty-three years of his
life, John Newton preached the gospel in Olney and London. At the end of
his life, at the age of eighty-two, he told his parishioners, "My memory is nearly gone, but I
remember two things, that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great
Savior." His tombstone reads,
"John Newton, Clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant 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."
During his life, John Newton was known
for his pastoral care, his preaching, and his friendships with dissenters
and clergy alike, as well as his beliefs. But, today… around the world… he is
remembered as the author of perhaps the most popular hymn in the world… the
hymn that has been translated into 227 different languages… the hymn that tells
the story of his own conversion to Christianity. That hymn, first published in 1779, is
“Amazing Grace.”
This is the story of an ordinary man
who was transformed by an encounter with Divine. And his is not the only story… in fact, there
is a website with more than seventy-five such stories online… but his story is
unique… as are all stories of encounters with the Divine. No one else’s story is the same as his and
each story is amazing. Each is the story
of a life transformed… and yet, each life touches so many others that many
lives are transformed by a single encounter.
Moses brought thousands of
Hebrew slaves out of Egypt, freeing them from bondage and
bringing them into a closer relationship with God, transforming their lives
forever. The Apostle Paul made many
missionary journeys to spread the good news of the gospel throughout Asia Minor, transforming the lives of thousands
in the process… and leaving his letters to transform thousands more. In 1779, John Newton was made rector of St.
Mary Woolworth in London. His preaching
touched hundreds of people, but there was one in that crowd whose life would
touch even more.
Born in 1759, William Wilberforce was
the only son of a wealthy merchant. In
1780, at the age of twenty-one… the youngest age possible… he was elected to
Parliament. His good friend from Cambridge, William Pitt, was also a member of
Parliament... the same age and elected to Parliament in the same year. Young… handsome… wealthy… and popular, William
Wilberforce enjoyed the theatre, clubs and parties of the London social scene. His chief goal in life was to advance
his own political career.
In 1784,
at the age of 24, William Pitt the Younger became the youngest Prime Minister
in the history of the United
Kingdom… following in his father’s
footsteps. The following year, William
Wilberforce toured Europe with a
friend and, together on that journey, they read the New Testament. Wilberforce became troubled by the dissolute
life he was leading. In 1785, he had a
long talk with his friend, Pitt, about his concerns and whether he could remain
in politics. Pitt not only took him
seriously, but supported his search for meaning in his life. That search led Wilberforce to John Newton
and a vision for a public life given to God and the possibility of “being a
blessing to the church and to the nation.”
Two years later, Prime Minister
Pitt gave his friend an assignment “suitable to his character and talents”: That
task? Campaigning for the abolition of
the slave trade in Great
Britain.
For Wilberforce, it was a call from God.
It took him twenty years to accomplish the assignment… for opposition to
the elimination of such a lucrative trade was strong. But, believing that this was the task that
the Lord had set before him, Wilberforce persevered. Finally, on March 25, 1807, the Abolition Act, first
introduced by Wilberforce in the House of Commons in 1788, became the law of
the land, abolishing the slave trade in Great
Britain.
One man…
touched by an encounter with the Divine… persevering against enormous odds for
justice… changed the lives of thousands around the world by championing the
cause of the abolition of slavery in his own country. And he
did not stop there. He continued to
champion the cause of the abolition of slavery for the rest of his life and,
one month after his death in 1833, the Emancipation Act was passed in Great
Britain, abolishing slavery in all of Great
Britain’s colonies around the world. Amazing, isn’t it… what just one individual
can do after an encounter with God?
John Newton. William
Wilberforce. Amazing! Why does God do that? Why has God chosen to reveal himself to
ordinary individuals throughout history?
What is God’s purpose in entering into the lives of ordinary human
beings?
Between
1994 and 2003, a television program aired in this country entitled “Touched by
An Angel.” I am not saying that the
program accurately portrayed God or God’s actions toward human beings… and
there were episodes that certainly stretched one’s imagination… but I believe
that the premise behind the program was true:
God does want to participate in the life that God created on this
earth. The whole story of creation
itself is a story of love and of God’s desire for a relationship with his
creatures. That is why creation was
incomplete until humankind was created… that is why God walked in the garden
each evening. God does want to touch
the lives of his creatures and to participate with them in the unfolding of his
kingdom here on earth. Have you had an encounter with the Divine? What is it that God calling you to do?
Next month marks the 200th
anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Great Britain.
It took almost thirty years longer for slavery to be abolished in England’s colonies around the world. It took more than fifty years longer for
slavery to be abolished in the United States of America.
The work of justice and mercy
continues today. Today, the United
States Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Office estimates that twenty-seven million
people are still enslaved around the world.
These are not the stories that slip into the
newspaper now and then about workers in sneaker or soccer ball factories in Indonesia
or Vietnam
earning twenty cents or a dollar a week. These are twenty-seven million people
held in chattel slavery… debt bondage… or contract slavery… "enslaved by
violence and held against their wills for purposes of exploitation." And yet,
it seems as though the voices of the abolitionists have fallen silent… and
people continue to suffer.
On this
day, in the United States of America, more than 5,500 churches are
sharing the story of John Newton… William Wilberforce… and the abolition of
slavery in Great Britain. Together, we will remember the lives of two
ordinary people who were changed by an encounter with the Divine. Together, we will remember that God can work
miracles in the lives of ordinary people when he calls them to extraordinary
service. At the same time, together,
we will remember those who still do not share the freedom to worship… the
freedom to live a life free from oppression… the freedom to be the people that
God meant them to be. Today, I
challenge you to think about the lives that have been changed by those who have
had an encounter with God… Moses… Elijah… Paul… John Newton… William
Wilberforce… and to ask yourself, what is it that God is calling me to do?
Let me close with this story: Many years ago, now, I frequently traveled to
Phoenix, Arizona, on business. If I was lucky enough to be there on a Friday
evening, I would join some friends at a bar in Scottsdale to sing Karaoke with the patrons from
nine to midnight. We sang the popular
songs of the day along with whoever was holding the microphone. It was everyone’s chance to fulfill their
dream of being a rock star. I often thought about the people who came to
that bar… especially the ones who selected the sad songs of lost love… betrayal…
and despair. I wondered how to touch
them and remind them of God’s love, but countless trips and songs went by
without an answer. Then, one day by accident, I discovered that
one of the songs included in the Karaoke set… but not listed on the song
selection sheet in the bar… was the hymn, “Amazing Grace.” I requested the hymn the next time that I had
the opportunity to take the mike, but the owner of the bar told me that it
would put a damper on the evening and refused to play it. I persisted and he finally said that I could
sing it just before midnight when the singing ended. At 11:45 that night, he gave me the
microphone and cued up the song. Then,
he disappeared. At first, the crowd did
not know what to do with this song that they sang in church, but had never sung
in a bar. One thing became clear
immediately: they all knew it. Slowly, one by one, they joined in
singing. By the time we got to the final
stanza, everyone in the bar was singing… even those who normally did not
participate in the Karaoke event. I looked
around me. Some were laughing…probably
at the twisted thought of singing a church song…a hymn…in a bar. But several people were sitting at their tables
in that dimly-lit bar that night with tears streaming down their faces. Something changed in that bar that night. Some
people heard God’s voice speaking to them that night through the words of a
hymn written more than two hundred years earlier. They heard God speaking words of love to a
lost soul.
God touches
the lives of ordinary people and changes them. God calls ordinary people… people like you
and me… to do great things. What is it
that God is calling you to do? Are you
doing it? Amen.
Exodus 34:29-35; Luke 9:28-36