Home

Domes - Our Monthly Newsletter

Calendar

Recent Sermons

Open and Affirming Statement

Boards & Committees

Press Releases

Photo Gallery

Hall Available

Links

Dunbar UCC
March 25, 2007
Philippians 3:10-14
Straining Forward

  1. In 1972 the journalist David Halberstam wrote a book about the origins of the Vietnam war.  A lot of it was about President John Kennedy and the elite group of men he chose to help him lead the country.  These were some of the top business leaders and scholars in the United States, people like Robert McNamara, General Maxwell Taylor, and Dean Rusk.  These people were products of our best universities.  That’s why Halberstam called them “The Best and the Brightest.”
  2. It’s a sad book, though, because it shows how these brilliant minds made mistake after mistake as they led the Untied States deeper into a war that should not have been fought.  How can people so smart be, at the same time, so wrong?
  3. The Bible says that the problem with human beings, with us, is that we often see, but don’t perceive; we hear, but don’t understand.  We collect volumes of facts, but don’t know what they mean.  Today there are still smart people in Washington -- and look where they’ve led us.
  4. But that’s human nature.  The Apostle Paul, before he was a disciple of Jesus Christ, was one of the best and the brightest of his time.  He bragged about his credentials and accomplishments.  Academically and religiously, Paul was the best there was.  He was smart, and he was good too.   He followed the law. So why was he arresting people like us -- followers of Jesus -- and encouraging those who executed them?
  5. Until God struck Paul on the road to Damascus, Paul was doing the wrong things with the best intentions.  After his conversion, he saw differently -- through Christ’s eyes.  Look at this --the best human government and religious institutions confirmed Paul’s excellence. But God said it was all wrong -- and it was only after God struck Paul blind that he began to see the truth.
  6. Does God need to make us blind before we can see?  I think so.  We all need a Damascus road experience -- we all need to be changed by the Holy Spirit.  If that doesn’t happen, then we will probably spend our lives, like Paul before his conversion, doing the wrong things with the best intentions. Isn’t that the message of Easter?  Until Christ is resurrected in us, then we’ll just keep living the same old lives we’ve always lived, “seeing but not perceiving, hearing but not understanding.”
  7. Last week 200 Christians were arrested in front of the White House for protesting the war in Iraq.   For me, that’s proof that the Holy Spirit is still with us. Before his conversion, Paul was arresting Christians and watching their executions.  After his conversion, he was the one going to jail.  He was the one executed.  I guess that’s why he said we’re “straining forward.” Faith in Jesus Christ isn’t an easy ride -- and it never has been.