How Sweet the Sound

By His grace, God has chosen to work through our lives, making His resources available to us, even though we do not deserve them.  2nd Corinthians 12 addresses the sufficiency of God's grace and
presence to us; Paul wrote:
9 And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

We have been chosen by God to be recipients of His glorious grace!  That is a very exciting spiritual fact for us.  In our own human frailty, we can do nothing to earn the love and acceptance of God, but through what Jesus did for us in giving His life on the cross so that we might come to know Him, we can experience His goodness and faithfulness - we can know a God who wants to walk with us and who will give strength and direction for our lives.

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God's grace, which involves the working of His nature through our lives, is a powerful force in transforming our lives and touching culture. Consider the words of 1st Corinthians 15:
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
11 Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

On today's Meeting House program on  Faith Radio, I will feature a conversation with the creator of the new musical on Broadway, Amazing Grace, which depicts the life of John Newton, a musical that Eric Metaxas described on yesterday's Breakpoint commentary:

Through outstanding performances, it tells the story behind the immortal words—the life, the sins, and the conversion of a wretch named John Newton, the 18th-century British slave captain whom God transformed into a minister and abolitionist.

Newton, as you may be aware, penned the words to the hymn, Amazing Grace.

As I recall, the first time that I interviewed Eric, it was not about his biography of Bonhoeffer, which was really his breakthrough book, but about a book he wrote that was the novelization of the movie, Amazing Grace.  I had the chance to watch it over the weekend.

The movie was not really about Newton as much as it was about William Wilberforce, who fought to eliminate the British slave trade, as a member of the British Parliament. Sure, Newton was part of the cast, played brilliantly by Albert Finney, and the film showed how Newton was a spiritual influence on Wilberforce, whose part was acted by Ioan Gruffudd. who was in the Fantastic Four films.  And, Benedict Cumberbatch showed up as William Pitt, who encouraged Wilberforce behind the scenes, because I suppose his political ambitions, as the aspiring Prime Minister, prevented him from going public on what was an unpopular notion - originally.

The movie obviously shows the power of one person and the realization that Wilberforce had that his faith in God could be a powerful tool for social change.  There's a piece on the Christianity.com website that says, regarding Wilberforce:

How little did he grasp then how formidable enemies can be when their economic interests are jeopardized. Would he have persevered if he had any idea that it would be over twenty years of exhausting conflict in Parliament before the slave trade was finally abolished in England in 1807--primarily due to his efforts? That it would take an additional 26 years to emancipate the existing slaves--just a few days before he died at age 74 in 1833?

Wilberforce endured one setback after another, often laid low by frail health and the attacks of opponents. Yet his position against slavery eventually won. His life remains an encouragement to all who are willing to fight social evil no matter how many setbacks are encountered.

There was a turning point in the struggle to eliminate the slave trade, and it wasn't what you might expect.  The Australian website, NewsWeekly had an opinion piece by David Perrin, which states:

Wilberforce was spectacularly unsuccessful with his legislation to abolish slavery until his companions came up with a brilliant idea to disable the slave-trade by having slave-ships confiscated by Britain's Royal Navy, at the time the most powerful navy on the high seas.

England was then at war with France, and it was common practice for the Royal Navy to commandeer any ships at war with England.

Because slave-trader ships all flew under foreign flags of convenience, Wilberforce's allies in the British parliament passed a seemingly innocuous law that allowed the Royal Navy to commandeer any vessel flying a foreign flag.

This meant that, over a period of time, English slave-traders were deprived of their ships and profits. This severely hampered the slave trade.

Perrin wrote, "No doubt, over the ensuing months and years, the slave ships are slowly commandeered and the traders go broke...This disabling of the slave trade meant that they could not pay off their supporter-MPs. Hence, Wilberforce's legislation to abolish the slave trade eventually passes in 1807."

Originally, the establishment of Britain's slave trade was seemingly settled - but for Wilberforce and his colleagues, it was not accepted.  I think of my conversation with Doug Napier of the Alliance Defending Freedom recently, as he said that the marriage issue isn't "settled," even with a Supreme Court decision attempting to change the definition.  Neither is Roe v. Wade, as he pointed out.  He and Ryan Anderson of the Heritage Foundation have pointed out on my radio show how the pro-life movement has worked successfully to reduce the number of abortions.  In 2007, Perrin cited how the tactics of Wilberforce could be used to reduce abortion:

Private abortionists make big money from the abortion industry. Any restrictions placed on abortionists can deprive their industry of considerable profits.

Any obstacle that can be placed in the way of abortionists - such as cooling-off periods, warnings of likely health risks, law suits, mandatory counselling and cost increases - all work as disincentives.

The American Thinker had pointed out that in Virginia, a Wilberforce-type approach was used in order to reduce the number of abortions. It states: "The Virginia legislature has found a similar route to help end abortion in the state. The legislature passed a law that requires abortion clinics to comply with same regulations as hospitals."

By the way, keep your eyes on court proceedings out of Texas, where lawmakers passed a bill, upheld by a Federal appeals court which, according to NBC.com, "required clinics providing abortion services to meet the same standards as ambulatory surgical centers, and it required doctors providing the services to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals."  The law was supposed to have taken effect on July 1, but the U.S. Supreme Court, in another 5-4 ruling, put the law on hold.  It's unclear when and if the high court will hear the appeal.  Women's groups argued that there would be a net reduction in abortion facilities of more than 75% in a two-year period.

So, what does that mean for those of us vehemently opposed to the gay marriage ruling?  Is there a Wilberforce way forward?  I think that religious freedom protections will certainly diminish the availability of marriage licenses to same-sex couples.  And, Congressional action that has been proposed would prevent government retaliation against non-profit entities who oppose same-sex marriage.   In the current political climate, an outright repeal or reversal of the high court decision is unlikely, but there may certainly be ways that it can be made less effective for those who would want to force acceptance of gay marriage on our society.

So, remember some Wilberforce lessons today.  Of course, one of the principal ones is the power of one person to enact change.   But, also remember that he had some people around him upon whom he relied, who provided some strength during those difficult times.

He also struggled between his devotion to God and his participation in politics.  He had a desire to isolate and spend time with the Lord, but John Newton and William Pitt both encouraged him to use that spiritual energy to enact social change.   I don't believe that now is the time for isolation for people of faith - we're not being called to head for the hills, but we are being challenged, I believe, to engage - living our lives full of Christ's character and grace.  His grace, amazing grace, can be powerful as it works through us to transform our lives and communicate Christ's love and principles to those around us.