LOCKPORT
ALLIANCE CHURCH
In Christ we who are many
form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. - Romans 12:5
Be a Berean!
The
Bereans…received the message with great eagerness and examined the
Scriptures every day.
(Acts 17:11)
[“Be a
Berean” will regularly cover topics that arise during Lockport
Alliance Bible classes.
Contact Franklyn Pfeil–liftedup@lockportalliance.org–with
questions or comments.]
***********************************
"with or
without me"
Soon, Shelley and I will be off to Terry's Corners Fire Hall, where
we vote. When they were
still too young to read the names on the ballot, Frankie (with me)
then Eddy (with Shelley) loved to go into the booth and pull the big
lever, closing the curtain behind us with a clang! Then, we'd point to one little lever after another, and a
little finger would push the levers down.
Best of all, they got to pull the big lever back the other
way, which made the curtain fly open and return all the little
levers to "neutral," ready for the next voter.
It was, and is, a very big deal.
That
little booth is a monument to American political freedom, a secular
'holy of holies,' infusing us with a small surge of power.
For a moment, what each of us thinks actually counts, and
carries influence. But
the influence ends here, in the transient now, with choices
concerning assessor or councilman or senator or president.
Moreover, a problem can arise if the voting experience lends little
Frankies and big Franklyns the mistaken notion that issues beyond
the political process--issues of essential truth--are contingent
upon our approval, and await our say-so.
Cultural commentators classify our era as a time of transition, from
"modernism" to "postmodernism."
Modernism
decrees that truth is not an absolute--that each individual defines
his own truth (1).
Postmodernism
goes a step further into the darkness, and decrees that there is no
truth to define.
But
the Bible teaches that His Truth is marching on, inexorably
accomplishing the purpose for which God has sent it.
(2)
My
friend Mason leads a mountain expedition every autumn in New
Hampshire. When one of
the men was injured on the ascent, it reminded Mason of our
relationship to God's Truth:
"The mountain is what it is (3).
We accommodate to the mountain; it doesn't accommodate to us.
We either tread carefully--or we fall."
A
couple times every year, I fish the maw of the Niagara River,
underneath the Peace Bridge where Lake Erie enters.
The powerful currents pile against the massive bridge
supports and turn my boat in slow, centripetal circles.
I will not allow my boys to fish with me there, because the
river doesn't care.
The
mountain and the river, like gravity, are no respecters of
persons (4). In
like manner, the Word of God doesn't care what I think of it.
It is not subject to my approval or disapproval.
Indeed, I am in subjection--to its force and dominion, and to
its King.
Inside the Old Testament Holy of Holies--the innermost room of the
Temple--was a little trunk, the size of a manger, called the Ark of
the Covenant. Within
the ark were only three items--the tablets of the law, a pot of
manna from the Wilderness, and Aaron's rod, which had blossomed.
On
the stone tablets were written the Ten Commandments: the first
tablet with four commandments concerning our relationship to God;
the second tablet with six commandments concerning our relationship
to man. The
Commandments signify the life of Jesus Christ, who lived in complete
fulfillment of God's law.
The
jar of manna (daily bread) signified Christ's death, when the Bread
of Life was broken for us.
Aaron's rod--a dead walking stick--had miraculously budded,
signifying Jesus' resurrection.
Pontius Pilate, a Roman political hack and a complex Bible
character, asked Jesus, "What is truth?" (5)
Jesus did not reply.
Then, acceding to the howling mob--which had been whipped to
a blind frenzy by the murderous envy and political machinations of
the Pharisees--he handed Jesus over to be crucified.
As he did, he washed his hands--as if by the gesture of hand
washing he could vote to abstain from his complicity in Christ's
death. And the Truth
trudged on to Golgotha.
If
you haven't, go to the cross. There's the glimpse of the Truth that
we're given. There's
the real Holy of Holies, Ground Zero of the universe.
While you're there, register a decision, if you will.
But tread lightly, for you are on holy
ground (6). And
know that whatever we decide about Jesus, whether we take Him or
leave Him, we don't pass sentence on the Truth.
Already complicit, we pass sentence only on ourselves:
He that has the Son has life; and he that has not the Son of
God has not life
(7).
And His
Truth marches on, with or without me.
*************************************************************
Scripture
cited:
(1) cf. Judges 17:6 (2) Isaiah 55:11 (3) cf. Exodus 3:14 (4) see Acts 10:34 (5) John 18:38 (6) cf. Exodus
3:5 (7) 1 John 5:12
***********************************
It is our fervent hope that you will 'be a Berean' by
attending one of these Bible-based classes this week! —
"Cross Ties"--Sunday
at 9:45
"Cross-Ties" - October 2008
No September 2008 edition
"A Big Cross in the Margin" - August 2008
"We're Winning Dad" - July 2008
"God Rules" - June 2008
"Claymation" - May 2008
"Whoosh" - April 2008
"Bearing Thorns, Speaking Light" - March 2008
"Cast Your Fate to the Wind" - February 2008
"The hopes and fears of all the years" - January 2008
"Dark-night Saving Time" - December 2007
"Job & Judy" - November 2007
"I Am" - pt 2 - October 2007
"I Am" - pt 1 - September 2007
"Like a Rolling Stone" - August 2007
"The Toolshed, Evelyn, & the Old Rugged Cross" - July 2007
"A Man After God's Own Heart" - June 2007
"Does the Bible Contradict Itself?" - May 2007
"Handfuls of Purpose" - April 2007
"Going Up" - March 2007