Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Galatians 6:14 “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

(Galatians 6:14, NIV84)

Theme: Living in the shadow of the wondrous cross.

Date: 03/25/14 File name: Easter_01.wpd

ID Number:

Galatians 6:14 was the text that inspired Isaac Watts to write a five-stanza poem entitled “Crucifixion to the World by the Cross of Christ.”

It is one of his finest poems.

We know it by its hymn title ... When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.

Since Watts first penned his poem, it’s been set to a number of different tunes.

American, Lowell Mason set the poem to the music most of us grew up singing the hymn to.

“When I Survey” is a hymn which is saturated with theology, and calls for a deep emotional response from the singer that leads them to give soul, and life, and all to Christ.

This hymn is essentially Isaac Watt’s personal statement of faith and it needs to be yours.

The back-story of how Isaac Watts became the greatest hymn-writer of his day begins when he is still a teenager.

One Sunday after church, the eighteen-year-old Isaac complained to his father about the slow, monotonous, way Christians sang in English-speaking churches.

At the time, congregational singing was a ponderous affair.

A Deacon or Song Leader would first sing the verse—or part of a verse—of a Psalm or hymn that was going to be sung.

That was followed by worshipers singing or chanting the verse back—usually without benefit of musical instruments.

It was called lining-out, and was used because many congregants could not read.

It’s a form of hymn singing still used in parts of Scotland, and among Old Regular Baptists of the southern Appalachians.

As you can imagine, it can be an extremely tedious way of singing with every line of every stanza being repeated twice.

It was hardly satisfying or spiritually edifying to sing in such a fragmented way.

Isaac’s father, a leading deacon in the church, snapped back, “Well then, young man, why don’t you give us something better to sing?”

And he did!

By the next Sunday, Watts had produced his first hymn.

It was such a success with the congregation that for the next two years, he wrote a new hymn for every Sunday.

By the time he died, he had seven hundred hymns to his credit!

He truly deserves the title The Father of English Hymnody.

Not only did Watts produce superlative examples of his new approach to congregational song, he also opened the way for others to follow.

His hymns quickly became popular throughout England, and for American Presbyterians and Congregationalists his psalms and hymns were almost the only songs they sang in their worship.

If Isaac Watts were alive today and we could test his IQ level it would probably register off the charts.

At the age of four he learned Latin and by the age of nine had learned Greek.

By the age of 11 he had added French to his list of languages, and by the age of 13 he was fluent in Hebrew.

He was also a student of theology and philosophy, law and logic.

As a child he had a passion for poetry and would speak in rhyme even in everyday conversation.

It kinda drove family and friends nuts.

At one point, his serious-minded father, after several warnings, decided to spank the rhyming nonsense out of his son.

After the spanking a tearful Isaac replied to his father,

‘Oh father do some pity take,

and I will no more verses make.’

It seems that verse just flowed from Isaac Watts.

Many of the hymns that Watts wrote—including When I Survey the Wondrous Cross—were controversial among the churches of his day.

It's the first known English hymn to be written in the first person using the personal pronoun “I.” Watts saw hymn singing as the personal religious expression of the worshiper toward God and not merely the exposition of doctrine.

His hymn-writing reshaped the future of church music, and inaugurated what is considered the golden age of hymn-writing.

It was a radical departure from the congregational singing of the day.

It was the practice of that era to only sing the Old Testament Psalms, and it was considered blasphemous to sing anything other than the Psalms.

The controversy was the worship war of that day.

It divided congregations then just as the worship war of our day divides congregations now between contemporary and traditional worship styles.

Isaac Watts wrote "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" in preparation for a communion service in 1707.

To this day many hymnologists consider "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" one of the finest Christian hymns ever written, and the very best hymn in the English language.

The tune that we traditionally sing this hymn to is entitled Hamburg, and was arranged in 1824 by Lowell Mason who is often referred to as The Father of American Church Music.

Almost single-handedly, he transformed American church music from the practice of using only auditioned professional sanctuary choirs to congregational singing accompanied by organ music.

He was also largely responsible for introducing music into American public schools, and is considered to be the first important music educator in the United States.

Southern Baptists have been singing this hymn ever since it first appeared in the 1850 hymnal The Baptist Psalmody.

A few years ago, composer Bruce Greer, a graduate of Baylor University, arranged the verses of Isaac Watt’s hymn to an old Appalachian Folk melody that is becoming increasingly popular.

It was the tune we sung the hymn to a few moments ago.

With all that background, let me take a few moments to preach the Gospel using each stanza as a sermon point.

I. LET ME WONDER ... At the Cross

When I survey, the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss,

And pour contempt on all my pride

1. Watts begins his hymn by encouraging us, along with him, to survey the cross and marvel at its wonder

a. the word survey means to consider in a comprehensive way

1) Watts implies that we need to take more than just a passing glace at the cross

b. to plumb the depth of the meaning of the cross of Christ is to wonder at the extent of God’s grace toward sinners condemned unclean

2. when the sinner makes a detailed and critical inspection of the cross they will wonder with amazement and delight

"For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross."

(Colossians 1:19-20, ESV)

3. a thousand years before the Messiah was born, the prophet Isaiah had prophesied that a time would come when peace would be proclaimed to those who were far off

" ... Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the Lord, “and I will heal him."

(Isaiah 57:19, ESV)

a. this was a reference to the Gentiles, and predicted that one day, they too, would be included in God's plan of grace

b. this is the message that Jesus preached during his public ministry on Earth

"Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

(Mark 1:14-15, ESV)

4. Paul proclaims in Colossians 1:19-20 that through Christ, God has chosen to reconcile men unto Himself

a. how is He going to do this?

b. by the cross

1) Paul says that God gives us peace ... through the blood of His cross; through Him ...

A. THROUGH THE PRINCE OF GLORY GOD’S CHOSEN ARE RECONCILED TO GOD

1. our Lord Jesus closes the door in no one's face who would come to him in faith

a. according to the Apostle John in the book of Revelation, Jesus stands at the door of the sinner’s heart and knocks

2. the blood of Christ is the key that opens the way for all who would call upon the name of the Lord

"For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

(Romans 10:13, ESV)

a.

He invites both Jew and Gentile, male and female, bond or free, the mighty or the lowly to accept the peace that God offers

3. here is the amazing wonder of the cross that we must survey

a. when we were the enemies of God, Christ died for us that we might be reconciled to the Father

4. how has God accomplished this work of reconciling us to Himself?

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.

Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”

(Ephesians 1:13–14, NIV84)

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”

(Ephesians 2:4–7, NIV84)

5. through his death on the cross, Christ abolished the need for the Jewish ceremonial law and its rituals of animal sacrifice

a. neither sacrifice nor ritual nor sacrament bring a man into right relationship with God

1) only a humble faith the pours contempt on all one’s pride will suffice

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ."