Election Day
Scheduled for November 2
“Democracy,”
Winston Churchill is reputed to have remarked, “is the worst form of
government. Except for all the others.”
There
is much uncertainty and debate about the role of a Christian in democracy;
some say this, others that, and it’s not my purpose to state the doctrine of
church and state. Rather, I would have you remember why our Founding Fathers
insisted upon popular votes. It was not because they believed the common man a
source of virtue (possibly with the exception of Thomas Jefferson). It was
because they believed that all men are sinners, and none were so inherently
righteous as to be completely trusted with the governance of their fellow men.
It
is a dour view of human nature, and one not much in favor these days. We
prefer to think of the citizenry as the source of our democracy’s strength, the
foundation of the republic’s virtue. It is not so. Our ancestors carefully
constructed a constitution which provided for a balance of powers so that no
one man, or group of men, would become so powerful as to ride roughshod over
all others. The view is that all of us are sinners, and our only political
hope is to have each sinner keep tabs on all the others.
The
point here is not the correct method of constructing a government, but rather
the futility of a government, any government, in correcting sin. No government
program can make a man righteous, and those who wrote the constitution knew
that. Our leaders have since forgotten it, but that does not change the truth.
What,
then, does make a man righteous? Our society has made two other attempts at
it: one is to deny the existence of sin (must be your heredity or upbringing)
and the other is to soothe it (why do psychologists talk so much about guilt?)
There is only one real way to deal with sin, to make men righteous: that is to
take up the righteousness Jesus Christ made available at the cross. Only his
perfect righteousness will work in this world; only his righteousness will be
of any effect on the Day of Judgment.
This
Lord’s Supper is the celebration of the sacrifice which made that righteousness
available to us. Without his death on the cross, we would have no means of
access to the righteousness of Christ, and thus no access to our Heavenly
Father. Our founding fathers knew that liberty was bought with a price, eternal
vigilance and often the sacrifice of lives. Righteousness, our eternal freedom
in Christ, is also bought with a price: the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
As you partake of the Lord’s Supper, remember: you are not your own; you were
bought with a price.
