Great Abilities

 Read Genesis 11

As is sometimes the case, I take the road not taken in this service.  I hit some of the themes that are not the mainstream topic.  We will do a little of that today.  Consider these words from this chapter.

But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.”

Look at what humankind can do when they work together.  Nothing should be impossible for us.  We are told that with God, all things are possible.

The problem in Babylon was that God was not included in the equation.  Humankind’s purpose was to make a name for themselves.  It was a very self-centered purpose.  God had better things in store for mankind and he thwarted this building effort.

That’s the main thrust of this section, but let’s consider the statement that prompted God to confuse our language into many languages.

“If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.”

We are created in God’s image and likeness.  God is good.  He is all-knowing.  He is powerful.  He is just.  He is righteous.  He is kind.  He is loving.  He is forgiving.

With God, nothing is impossible.

Should not we who are made in his likeness be doing incredible things?  Acting in one accord and with one language can we not do magnificent things? Let’s make a list.

No hunger in the world.

No more war.

Cure cancer and other diseases.

End homelessness.

End bullying everywhere.

Find green solutions that actually work.

Keep our air and water clean.

Stop filling landfills with plastics and other non-biodegradable items.

Replace politicians with public servants.

Live life to the full.

That’s just a list of 10 things.  We could go on and on.  I’ll add one more.  Let’s put Aunt Jemimah back on her syrup bottles.

Remember the premise at Babylon, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this…”

We live in a world that speaks over 7,000 languages with various dialects within many of those languages. Translators are needed for most international relations, and something is always lost in translation.

When I was on a 6-month cruise to Europe and the Mediterranean, I took my college German materials and studied as we crossed the Atlantic.  We would have a 2-week exercise in Europe, mostly in Germany. I would be ready.

When I got to Germany, the German people’s English was much better than my German and they didn’t want to go to the trouble of letting me practice my German.

Language is still a challenge in world affairs.  There are some common languages in the world.  Mathematics and music top the list.  Typically, they don’t require translation.

Love can be and should be a common language among all peoples, but I want us to now consider not the impediments but the inherent gifts that we have.

We all have gifts and talents and abilities.  Those who have professed Christ as Lord all also bestowed with Spiritual Gifts.

What is my point?  God has equipped you—and all of humankind to do great things.  He wants you to do great things in concert with his will, but we are equipped and have no excuse for not doing great things in this life and on this earth.

If we do these things to bring glory to God, we should expect God to provision us and bless us. If we do them to make a name for ourselves or for our own glory, we might expect God to allow the obstacles of this world to impede us.

Believe that with God all things are possible and believe that God has equipped you to do many great things. 

Jesus said take my yoke and learn from me. Thus, we need a teachable spirit ready to learn God’s ways.  We need to put the teachings of Jesus into practice. 

We need to understand that together when we seek God, his kingdom, and his righteousness, we can do great things.  He has already equipped us—humankind—to do great things.

We are made in his image and likeness and when we seek to do everything for him and for his glory, we can build the tallest tower in the world.

When we seek to serve and gratify and make a name only for ourselves, we should pray that our language confounds us until we return to God.

Amen. 

Build it to the Glory of God

 Read Genesis 11

The ark has been offloaded.  Noah’s kids had kids and their kids had kids and they are spreading out upon the earth as this populating process continues.  We can presume that the animal kingdom did the same though there is no  genealogy listed for them.  This might have only taken a single chapter in Genesis, but much time has surely elapsed since Noah hit the beach.

From that beachhead, some went to the east and decided that they would remain where they were and build a tower.  Others had built cities but they would build a tower that reached to the heavens.  They would put their mark upon the world in this feat of engineering and labor.

They would make a name for themselves.  Why should Nimrod be the only person with a claim to fame?  He might be a mighty hunter and a great warrior, but he didn’t have a tower that reached to the heavens.

Perhaps the tower was in concert with Nimrod’s desire for greatness; perhaps not. In any case, no such feat had been attempted in recorded history.  The tallest man-made structure up to this point was probably the ark towering about 50 feet above the ground when ashore.

The height of the Tower of Babel is estimated to have been about one hundred meters or so—that’s 300 plus feet above the ground.  These are estimates.  The tower stands no more and surely was incomplete at the time when the language of men was confused.

Are there any remains of the tower?  Perhaps, but this was a land where tower building became popular at some point.  The ziggurat—or terraced tower—become the model for all subdivisions.  These were more like pyramids than towers.  When people think of towers, the Leaning Tower of Pisa comes to mind for many. 

These ziggurats were more like pyramids with terraced patios.

Architecture was not at the heart of what prompted God to confuse the language of humankind.  What was it?

Did God think that these people could build a tower to heaven?  I doubt it.  While their construction was surely impressive; reaching God was not their objective.

They wanted to make a name for themselves.  This was not something constructed to the glory of God.  It was built out of the human desire to be our own god.

Pleasing God and bringing glory to him was not on their to-do list.  Bringing glory to themselves seemed to be the objective. 

The rest of the world was spreading out to the four winds.  That part seemed in accord with God’s direction to fill the earth.  These people who were involved in the tower project wanted to go against the directions of God.

They wanted a name for themselves, thus they would build a city with this impressive tower. They were probably a group of narcissists. They managed some teamwork and went from it’s all about me to it’s all about us.

Apparently, they were good at what they did.

What difference did that make?  What’s one tower built by a collection of narcissists? Did it really make any difference?

Do you remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?  Did we have to get rid of that in Woke America or can we still use that?  I don’t subscribe to the politically correct channel so I don’t know. 

I thought when we changed all the names of those sports teams and took a picture of a black woman off of a syrup bottle world peace had broken out everywhere. 

Enough digressing—I had not used my full quota of sarcasm allotted for 2022 and the year is running out.  And I can’t carry it over to the next year.  It’s use it or lose it.

Back to Maslow.  He builds a pyramid with basic physical needs as the base—air, food, water, and the like. The next level is safety—that’s more than safety from others, but includes things like employment, resources, health, and the like.

Then comes love and belonging—friendships, love, intimacy.  Above that is esteem—confidence, mutual respect, achievement, and others.

Finally, at the top of the pyramid comes self-actualization—morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem-solving, acceptance of facts, and other advanced skills.

It’s the be all that you can be thing.  It’s the live life to the full concept.  It’s realizing your full potential as a person.

It’s the gestalt effect.  The whole is greater than the sum of all of the parts.  That sounds good.  That sounds like something we would all like to realize.

The problem was that these people were moving towards that without God.  What kind of morality do you have without the One who is good and says what is good and what is evil?

What good is creativity if is only serves yourself?

What good is problem-solving if it doesn’t consider all factors—especially how a solution may not consider those Jesus would later call the least of these my brothers and sisters?

When you are very successful in the land of it’s all about me, you are moving away from bringing glory to God.

But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

We have seen this sort of intervention before.  Do you remember? This came after Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Let’s think about our ongoing struggle.  We wrestle with a sinful nature and we have God-given free will.  We get to choose.

Let’s think on being made in the image and likeness of God. God is all-knowing and creative.  We hunger for knowledge and we like to create.  It’s in our nature. It’s in our God-given nature.

Let’s think about God and his goodness.  We want to be like God.  We want that divine heart.  We want to be loving and generous, forgiving and full of love, but sometimes our sinful nature wants us to be God instead of being like God in his many attributes.

Being like God—or as Paul would phrase it—being imitators of God—is a good model. 

Desiring to be God comes from surrendering to our sinful nature.  Think a few millennia forward from this tower to the time of Jesus.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

When money, power, wealth, achievement, and other things of this world give you all that your desire, then your desire for God and the things of God are subordinated or altogether forgotten.

Whether you make your own god or feel like you have become your own god, then the reality of God is lost to you.  You are blind to the truth.

You will call good evil and evil good, and it will make sense to you. You will be clever—wise—in your own mind, but make no mistake, you will have been deceived.

The world will reach this point at some point.  Many people think that time is upon us, but so did the first-century apostles. 

But the story of God’s relationship with humankind would not be accelerated by the acts of men.  Humankind would be given a chance to be redeemed from sin and reconciled to God by the blood of Jesus.

The self-actualization of humankind is a good thing.  It is living life to the full, but if it is void of bringing glory to God, it is deception.  It is narcissistic. It is a harmful drug that moves us away from the goodness of God.

God tells us to make it all about him and he will give us life so full, it will overwhelm us.

So if you want to build a tower, build it to the glory of God and make it the best tower that you can.

If you want to be the best football player on the planet, do it to the glory of God and be that player.

You want to be the person who cures cancer, then cure it to the glory of God.

When I preach the Parable of the Talents, I usually ask this question.  What did I do with what God gave me?  My hope is that it will help motivate you to put your God-given gifts and talents to work and that you will produce fruit for the kingdom of God and the body of Christ.

Today, I ask you why?  Why do I want to use the gifts, talents, and resources that God gave me?  If it is to make a name for yourself, then be careful.

If it is to bring glory to God, then go for it with reckless abandon that only one who seeks to please God can know.

If you are building a tower to make a name for yourself, stop. 

If you are doing something for the glory of God, become unstoppable. It is the Lord, God whom we serve.  Let us do everything to the glory of God.

The rest of this chapter gets us to Abraham, which is where we will begin next week.

Amen.