****NOW I BELONG TO JESUS

NORMAN CLAYTON was born in 1903 and died in 1992.

During his childhood, he learned to play the pump organ and the trumpet which he played in churches for over 50 years.  In his early adult years, he worked at various occupations including dairy farming, office help, construction work and, during the depression, he worked in a bakery.

It was in the early 1940s that Jack Wyrtzen recruited Norman to be the organist for his ‘Word of Life’ rallies.  Norman proved to be very helpful to Jack in several different ministry functions for about 15 years. 

When Word of Life publishing merged with the Rodeheaver business he joined them as a writer and editor.  During those years he published about 30 songbooks containing several hundred of his own hymns. 

One observation, from those who knew him well, was that Norman made a lifelong practice of memorizing Scripture.  It was said of him, that whenever he began to write a new hymn, he studied the Bible to ensure that each phrase, in his songs, was biblical and doctrinally correct. 

In his song, NOW I BELONG TO JESUS, Clayton is clear about our sin nature.  In the second and third verses he speaks of sin’s degradation, it’s sorrow and shame, and the enslavement and control it has over each of us.  But the text also proclaims the Good News, “He gave His life to ransom my soul, now I belong to Him.”

Even though there is very little information available about Norman Clayton, there is a moving anecdotal story about this hymn.  It was told by Lindsay Terry, in his book, ‘Stories Behind Popular Songs and Hymns.’

A missionary, Roy Gustafson, was once invited to preach at a prison in Jamaica.  He sang and preached the gospel to a thousand men that day.  After the service, he met with a small group of condemned prisoners who were to be hanged from the gallows in a couple days.

Roy started with his own testimony and then sang Norman Clayton’s song, NOW I BELONG TO JESUS. One of the men, a wicked, condemned killer, said, “I’m going to die on Tuesday morning, sir.  Can I be saved?”

Roy opened his Bible and read and explained several passages from the Word of God including Romans 3. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  …being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ  whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

The prisoner bowed his face to the dirt floor sobbing and called on the Lord to save him. Then, smiling through his tears, he asked Roy to sing the song again.  And with a little help, he began to sing along.  

When the guard returned to let the evangelist out of the prison, he looked back and saw the man still singing, “Now I belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to me, Not for the years of time alone, But for eternity.”

****ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING

About 800 years ago, St. Francis of Assisi wrote a hymn that personified the elements of creation with familial gender terms: He referred to the Sun, wind, and fire as, “our brothers.”  The moon and water he called "our sisters.”  And he revered the earth as our “Our Mother, our dear Mother.”

 

That’s weird but, in his defense, some hymnologists and church historians have suggested that those phrases were only used, symbolically, to praise the Lord in the way the psalmist personified creation in Psalm 145 which says, “All Your works shall praise You, O Lord, And Your saints shall bless You.  They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom and talk of Your power.”

That may be true but, in the biographical accounts we have on St. Francis, there are good reasons to be skeptical.  In fact, if a strict translation of that poem was the actual text of the song, we wouldn’t be singing it today because St. Francis’ lyrics imply some serious theological problems.

St. Francis was canonized as the patron saint of animals and he is venerated by ecologists for his love of nature.  So, his hymn could be construed to endorse all kinds of false doctrinal beliefs such as mysticism, animism, pantheism, and other aberrations of non-Christian religions, some of which have crept into and are embraced by Christians even today.

  

Just to be clear, we should and do see evidence of God’s handiwork in His creation.  We marvel at the way He works all things according to His purposes.

 

But there is an absolute distinction between God and His creation.  God is God over all creation; He is not part of it.

I am not saying that Francis intended or even believed in a pantheistic worldview, but there are plenty of people in our churches today, who are willing to read some kind of earth-worshiping theology into his words.  And so, theologians have been right to approach this hymn with caution.

Early in the twentieth century, William Henry Draper rescued and wrote a loose translation of St. Francis’ hymn.  It was originally intended for use as a children’s hymn. 

ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING is a good, doctrinally sound, hymn that reads like a paraphrase of Psalm 148 where we see that everything was created by God and everything exists for the praise of His Glory.  And, in the last stanza, Draper inserted a doxology that affirms the triune nature of our God.

 

His, much-improved hymn is the song we sing today.  It’s been published in almost all English hymnals for nearly a century and is listed among the most loved Christian hymns of all times.

Last year, Sovereign Grace Music released a new, version of ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING.   Three stanzas were removed, leaving only the first and last.  And then, two new ones have been added.  Stanza three is a gospel-centered verse about Christ’s atoning work, and the last stanza affirms our hope; Jesus is coming again.

Here are the new lyrics:

(3)    All the redeemed washed by His blood,

Come and rejoice in His great love.

O praise Him! Alleluia!

Christ has defeated every sin.

Cast all your burdens now on Him.

O praise Him! O praise Him!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

(4)    He shall return in pow’r to reign.

Heaven and earth will join to say,

O praise Him! Alleluia!

Then who shall fall on bended knee?

ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING.

O praise Him! O praise Him!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

In my opinion, this new version is a great improvement that turns a good hymn into an excellent hymn and still retains a respectful attitude toward the decrees of Psalm 148, “Let (all creation) praise the name of the Lord, For His name alone is exalted; His glory is above the earth and heaven.” (vs.13)

****WE'RE MARCHING TO ZION (COME WE THAT LOVE THE LORD)

WE’RE MARCHING TO ZION is another hybrid song.  It combines an excellent, old Isaac Watts hymn, COME WE THAT LOVE THE LORD, with an added refrain written by Robert Lowry.

Watts’ original hymn had at least ten stanzas; most hymnbooks today contain only four or five.

Isaac Watts lived in a time when most English churches insisted on singing Psalms only.  You may remember, young Isaac didn’t like that and complained to his father who said, “…if You don’t like it, then why don’t you write something better?”  

So, he did.  In fact, he gave us over 600 hymns most of which focus on the Sovereignty of God.

Today’s worship wars are nothing new.  Those hymns, written by Watts and others, stirred up a lot of conflicts, anger, and violence in the Church of England during the early 1700s.   In some cases, people were beaten, imprisoned, or even killed.  

In their attempts to avoid conflicts, some congregations split or dissolved.   Others, like many churches today, tried to mitigate their disputes by arranging a sort of compromise.   They didn’t go so far as to offer a choice between traditional and contemporary services; they just rearranged their services by singing Psalms at the beginning and then, after the preaching, they would sing hymns. 

But that wasn’t really a compromise because church members remained at odds.  What usually happened was that many of those who could not accept the hymn singing would just stand up walk out of the services after the preaching. 

Isaac Watts was an obnoxious genius who had a finely developed skill in the art of sarcasm.  There are some historians who suspect that his sarcasm may have been at play here in this hymn where, in his second stanza, he wrote, “Let those refuse to sing who never knew our God,” as a cutting indictment against people who walked out of the church services during the hymn singing.

The refrain, composed later by Robert Lowry, was a good addition both musically and lyrically.  The transition from Watts’ verses to Lowry’s refrain is natural and comfortable in its style.  Musically, it feels right.   Lyrically, it picks up the theme from the fifth stanza -- “We’re marching through Emmanuel’s ground to fairer worlds on high.” 

When Lowry wrote “We’re Marching upward to Zion,” it was a reference to the City of God.

We are exhorted to, “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again, I say, Rejoice.” (Phil. 4:4)

And scripture gives us encouragement by the example of Christ; “…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:1-2)

This hymn is a picture of God’s people rejoicing.  We don’t always feel joyful; our conditions in this world are sometimes difficult and disappointing but we don’t just wander aimlessly through life dragging our feet with uncertainty.  As heirs of God’s love and grace, we can rejoice and march through life with purpose and confidence because we know where we are going.  WE’RE MARCHING TO ZION, that beautiful city of God.

****AT THE CROSS

Throughout most of church history, some musicians have attempted to revive old hymns, make a few alterations, and reintroduce them to a new generation.

 

Sometimes writers make legitimate changes to correct doctrine or to clarify language difficulties.  And sometimes authors will add other stanzas that greatly improve the hymns.

  

That practice, however, is not without due criticism because sometimes those altered hymns border on plagiarism.

Probably the most notable hymn pirate today is Chris Tomlin who has earned an unseemly reputation by taking great hymns, changing the score, adding a refrain, renaming them, and then copyrighting them as his own creations.

But not all hymn changes are the result of piracy.

 

AT THE CROSS is one of those hybrid hymns.  It was originally written, without a refrain, in 1707 by Isaac Watts with the title, “Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed?”

In 1885, Ralph Hudson republished it, complete and intact, with his added refrain and the new title, AT THE CROSS.  In every hymnbook, the lyrics are still attributed to Isaac Watts.

Nevertheless, there are plenty of critics who complain that the added refrain breaks the serious mood of Watts’ hymn.

 

But I would argue that the structure of this altered hymn is similar to the structure of Christ Arose.  It starts with a dark and somber feel because Jesus was crucified and buried.  But then, suddenly, the song explodes in joyful gladness because He is alive.

AT THE CROSS begins with Isaac Watts’ vivid picture of the crucifixion of Christ at Calvary and the seriousness of our sin.  It is not uncomfortable for most people to think or talk about the crucifixion in universal and impersonal terms (eg. “Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world”).  It is much more difficult when it is personalized.  The lyrics of this hymn are deliberately painful and designed to convict us.

When I think about that cross, I see the Son of God who was crucified for me.   He took the humiliation and shame of being stripped naked and paraded through the mocking crowds; He endured the beatings and scourging that tore His flesh to shreds and laid it open to expose His bones.  He is the One who was forsaken by His Father.  And He did all that for me.

   

The truth is, there is nothing good in me.  I can do NOTHING to merit God’s mercy and grace. So, in the last stanza, Isaac Watts concedes, “Drops of grief can never repay the debt of love I owe.”

It grieves me that I stand here, alive, knowing that His punishment should have been mine.  I deserved that death sentence.

I love Watts' hymn but I praise God for the message of Ralph Hudson’s added refrain.  It proclaims our hope.  The Light of God has penetrated our hearts.  Because of Calvary, the burdens of our sin and guilt are gone.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and THAT not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”  (Eph. 2.8-9)  

(My other commentaries on Watts' hymn, "Alas!  And Did My Savior Die? can be seen here, here, and here.)

****CHRIST AROSE

My pastor and I frequently discussed the music we used in our church and we were in total agreement. Things like style, instruments, and even the quality of the musical compositions were all secondary to the words; the message must be scripturally accurate and doctrinally sound because music is a great teaching tool and so much of what we believe about our faith, is often learned through our songs.

Robert Lowry held to that same conviction. He was a popular Baptist preacher and educator in New England during the late 1800s. Kenneth Osbeck, a noted hymnologist, wrote, “Lowry was recognized as a most capable minister of the gospel.  And he became known as a thorough Bible scholar and a brilliant and captivating orator; few preachers of his day had greater ability to paint word pictures and to inspire a congregation.  Music and... hymnology were his favorite studies, but always (and only) as a hobby.”

When asked about hymn writing, Lowry said, “It must be readily apprehended by the Christian consciousness, coming forth from the experience of the writer, and clothed in strong and inspiring words.”

"Music, with me, has been a side issue,” he said.  “. . . I would rather preach a gospel sermon to an appreciative audience than write a hymn.  I have always looked upon myself as a preacher and felt a sort of depreciation when I began to be known more as a composer."

Well, whether he liked it or not, it was his music, not his sermons, that made him famous.  Among his hymns are “Nothing But the Blood of Jesus,” and “Shall We Gather At the River.”   He also composed music scores for other writer’s texts, such as Isaac Watts’ hymn, “We’re Marching to Zion,” “I Need Thee Every Hour,” written by Annie Hawks, and Fanny Crosby’s hymn, “All the Way My Savior Leads Me.”

Robert Lowry wrote both the music score and the lyrics, of CHRIST AROSE, in one brief spontaneous setting one day while thinking about this account in Luke 24.  Some women had come to the tomb early Sunday morning and found the stone rolled away, and Jesus’ body missing.  The text says, “…And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.  They said to the women, ‘Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here but is risen!’” 

Of all Lowry’s hymns, this is my favorite.  The dramatic contrast between the stanzas and the refrain is stunning.  The verse starts with a heavy, depressing feel.  Jesus had been crucified.   His body was sealed in the grave.  His weeping followers were in mourning.  Spiritual and physical darkness had covered the earth.

 

But then, suddenly, the refrain explodes with triumphant gladness.  Morning has come; Light penetrates the darkness.  The tomb is empty, He is not here! Jesus has risen from the dead and He is alive! 

After three days in that sealed tomb, Jesus rose just like He said He would.  And we know that to be true.  He really did rise from the dead.  Acts 1:3 records for us how, “after His suffering and resurrection, He appeared to His followers by many infallible proofs.”

 

And in his letter to the Church at Corinth, Paul records how Jesus was “seen alive by over 500 of his followers.”

They saw Him, they spoke with Him, and they touched Him.  He is the Son of God, He is alive.  And He is our Savior.  HALLELUJAH!  CHRIST AROSE!