Sin and God's Authority
The Gospel Project • Sermon • Submitted
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· 12 viewsSin drives people to seek to make themselves great, even in direct disobedience of God, but sin cannot halt God's plans
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Introduction
We are continuing this morning in our series from the book of Genesis where we have been looking for images of the Gospel message in this book of beginnings. This initiative is called “The Gospel Project” and this is our 5th week in and already we have hit a bit of a milestone. Today we will be finishing up with what Biblical Scholars call “Primeval History”.
The word “Primeval” is from two different words means “First” and “Age”. So this is the first age of human existance and while it covers, hundreds even thousands of years there is not a lot of detail given to us. You might have noticed this as we went through the past several weeks that the text really presents the happenings more in broad strokes then in any level of detailed description. We don’t have everything that we could know from this first “age”, but we do have everything that we really need to know.
We know why the world was created: To reflect the beauty, creativity and goodness of the Creator
We know why we were we created: To have a good relationship with the Creator and the world that He created
We know why those relationships are so hard: Because we rebel against our Creator in our sin, missing the mark that He aimed us at and it changed everything
We know how much our creator hates our sin and rebellion: He is willing to do whatever it takes to rid his world of every evil thing, everything that is contrary to His goodness. (foretaste of this example in the flood)
We know how much our creator loves us: He is willing to do whatever it takes to preserve mankind and restore the goodness of his creation and the goodness of his relationship with us.
The very “First Age” has taught us a lot of foundational truths in just a short time, and this final story in the “Primeval History” record in Genesis helps us to understand how and why we went from one family with one language to the many languages that we have today.
We didn’t go into a lot of the details of it last week, but we did mention how the catastrophic event of a World Wide Flood has changed the course of all life on earth. One of the more striking examples of this is in how long people used to live. While in Noah’s day it was not uncommon for people to live more than 900 years, after the flood the Lord declared that the days of men would be only 120 years. So mankind started living for fewer and fewer years until today when we hardly know anyone who has lived past 100 years old. In fact, in our country it is such a rarity that if you live that long you get a letter from the President of the United States congratulating you. I only know this because Rachel’s Grandpa Joe who passed away a few years back made it to 101, and I got to see his letter.
So the flood answers for us the question of why man is no longer living as long. The last story in the “Primeval History helps us to understand what happened that we have such diversity in our languages, cultures and ethnic groupings. This last story is the story where God used the mixing of languages to disperse people from the city and Tower of Babel.
Before we get into the story, I wanted to do a little exercise with you all to get us thinking about the importance of language and essential it is to being human. So this “excercise”...Ok, it is really a game, but it sounds more educational to call it an exercise…so it is similar to the board game “Mad Gab” if you have ever played that. So what is going to happen is I am going to show you on the screen like 3 or four words in a row and at first they are not going to make any sense to you. But when you consider the sounds of those words together in this order a new word or phrase will reveal itself.
Life on the earth
While we didn’t go into a lot of detail last week about the many ecological changes that the World Wide flood
The best way to explain it is probably to just start with an example so let’s just get started.
has Science uncovered so many unique geological, biological and historical
You Shore New Dull (Use your noodle)
Of Lions Quarrel (A Flying Squirrel)
You Shore New Dull (Use your noodle)
Language Barriers / Lost in Translation
Of Lions Quarrel (A Flying Squirrel)
Why Tail Huff Hunt (White Elephant)
Dew Wino Who (Do I know you)
Ape Hand Hub Hair (A panda bear)
Mike Ranch Heal Wren (My grandchildren)
Sea Can’t Higher Dove Fit (Sick and tired of it)
Sea Can’t Higher Dove Fit (Sick and tired of it)
Isn’t it incredible how our minds work, because if you go back and read those same words again you can totally see it and you wonder how you ever missed it. Words and language are a powerful thing.
Tension
Isn’t it incredible how our minds work, because if you go back and read those same words again you can totally see it and you wonder how you ever missed it. Now I know some of us here are Biblical Scholars and we might think that playing a game like this during the sermon is beneath our academic prowess, but for those of us who are more fun, something like this will stick in our brains all week. So when someone asks us what the sermon message was on this past Sunday we might actually remember. The Tower of Babel, where God confused the languages and dispersed the people into different lands, cultures and ethnic groups.
Now I know some of us here are Biblical Scholars and we might think that playing a game like this during the sermon is beneath our academic prowess, but for those of us who like fun, something like this will stick in our brains all week. So when someone asks us what the sermon message was on this past Sunday we might actually remember. The Tower of Babel, where God confused the languages and it sent out the people into different groups and that is why we have languages, cultures and ethnic groups.
Now I know some of us here are Biblical Scholars and we might think that playing a game like this during the sermon is beneath our academic prowess, but for those of us who like fun, my hope is that something like this will stick in our “noodle” all week. So when someone asks us what the sermon message was on this past Sunday we might actually remember. The Tower of Babel, where God confused the languages and it sent out the people into different groups and that is why we have so many languages, cultures and ethnic groups.
But is that all this story is about? Is it just an explanation of how so many people groups developed from just the 8 people who were saved from the flood or is there more? Particularly as we look at this story through the lens of the Gospel. I think it is fascinating and so helpful to look at the Biblical accounts historically and consider how they all fit together, but since the entire Bible is about the good news of salvation in Jesus, “the Gospel” it is also a good practice for us to search for the message of the Gospel even all the way back here in Primeval history.
So turn with me to (p. 8) and Ill pray and we will continue in our Gospel Project this morning.
Truth
Last week we ended the story of the flood in Chapter 9 where God re-establishes his covenant with Noah. In the midst of the many changes that the Flood brought, God affirms some things that have not changed.
1. That the image of God remains in every man
2. That man should be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth
Following the renewal of those truths the book of Genesis goes on to list the many generations that come from Noah and his family. Often it simply gives names of “this particular father” who “begat that particular son” but occasionally there are interruptions to the list. The author of Genesis gives us these short little stories amidst the geneologies to help explain how and or why the lineage of these men went this particular way.
The first of these stories involved Noah and his three sons and is found right away at the end of chapter 9. Noah does something shameful, one of his sons does something even more shameful and then Noah pronounces a curse on that Son, while blessing the other two. Then the lineage report begins again, but we have a better understanding now of why the line of one son heads one way where the others head in a different direction.
Moving a little further down the line and we get a chilling description of a man named “Nimrod” who was a descendant of Noah through the cursed Son. This is what is said of Nimrod:
8 Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” 10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
So here we have the first mention of the “Kingdom of Babel” and it was a kingdom of this “mighty hunter” named Nimrod. Now in our culture here in Wisconsin, calling someone a “mighty hunter” would be an honorable compliment right? but that is not the connotation of this label for Nimrod. He was not after turkeys, dear or bear - he was a hunter of men. A ruthless leader where the motto of “Might makes Right” rang true. When it says he was a “mighty hunter before the LORD” it means that he was constantly using his ability to challenge the authority of God. And this man began his reign in the city of Babel. Then the report of the lineage picks up again.
If we were to spend the time to read through all the lineage here in chapter 10, then you would probably notice that there is repeated mention of how these various people are listed by “thier clans, their languages, their lands and their nations” (,) and that might be confusing because it seems that we haven’t gotten to the story of Babel yet, but the Bible is not always laid out Chronologically. In fact quite often the Bible will try and get the lesser facts and lists out of the way first so that it can leave the reader with the most important message last.
Then the lineage continues.
It’s kind of like when my children eat trail mix. I have a rule that if you want to eat trail mix then you take some and eat everything that is there. In other words no mining for your favorite item and leaving the rest in the bag. Well at times I will observe my children eating all the nuts and berries first so that they end up with a pile of chocolate at at the end. They want the chocolate to be the taste that remains in their mouth when they are done. That is what the author is doing here.
So with that somewhat lengthy introduction, let’s get to the chocolate...
Tension
Truth
1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.
Think of our “Mad Gab” excercise here. What would that be like do you think? That every person that you ever met in your life spoke the same language using exactly the same words. We have a hard enough time just understanding the different dialects of English. England's English, Ireland's English, Australia’s English and the English of the Uppers, “don’t you know”. But at this point in history every person spoke the same language using the same words. Communication was much more fluid.
1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
That might seem hard to believe from our vantage point today, but remember they were all direct descendants of Noah separated by only a generation or two - why wouldn’t they speak the same words and language.
2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
So far so good. God re-affirmed for Noah and his descendants the same creative purpose that he gave to Adam. Be fruitful and multipy and fill the earth. They started out in the right direction-migrating from the east- but they got stopped up in this land of Shinar.
Understand that the problem was not that they established a settlement at Shinar. God is not against the development of cities or communities. He wasn’t saying that everyone must be nomads and just keep wandering around. It was fine to settle down and establish homes and plant fields, and develop commerce in budding communities. This was all a part of being fruitful, and in the midst of that fruitfulness would come the multiplication. They would be having babies and grandbabies and great grandbabies and as they grew they would start to develop a need for more natural resources. This would send out some of these “babies” to establish new settlements and new communities and so forth and so on. This was all an acceptable pathway to obey God’s commands, but where they got stopped up was in the kind of settlement that they purposed in their hearts and minds to build in Shinar.
It was not a problem that they settled there - Gstopped at themselves instead of going all the way in obeying God’s purposes for them. (They stopped at themselves instead of giving God the glory)
They started out in the right direction-migrated from the east- but stopped at themselves instead of going all the way in obeying God’s purposes for them. (They stopped at themselves instead of giving God the glory)
Let’s take a look:
25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”
Genesis 11:3
That little word packs a big punch - “Come”
What did they want to do? They wanted to set up their own kingdom for their own selfish plans and purposes.
Sin occurs when we glorify our names instead of God’s name ()
Sin occurs when we glorify our names instead of God’s name ()
Building any “kingdom” outside of God’s Kingdom is Sin ()
Building any “kingdom” outside of God’s Kingdom is Sin ()
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So to avoid of any acknowledgement of their greater purpose that God had designed them for, the people got together and said to one another: Come, let us do this thing together. They were uniting together but not to fulfill God’s command to be fruitful and multiply, but in direct opposition to it. So how do we know this, well let’s take a look.
It is hard to understand all the issues in their plan until we understand exactly what it was that they were proposing to build. So let’s take a moment just to take a look at what they were building and how they were building it.
It is hard to understand all the issues in their plan until we understand exactly what it was that they were proposing to build. So let’s take a moment just to take a look at what they were building and how they were building it.
First of all, the text tells us that their call to unite together was initiated by their discovery of a new technology.
Tell me that is not something that we should pay attention to. The suddenly found themselves able to do something that they were never able to do before and it fed their prideful hearts so that they began to think that maybe we are more important than we used to think. Maybe, with enough time and energy we could accomplish anything we wanted.
We have a hard time seeing “burned bricks” as being technology but that is exactly what they were. The construction of every structure before this time required stones to to be hewn out of mountains for use in the foundation of any significant structure. Then they would use clay bricks for everything above ground. Well the land of Shinar was not a place where there much in the way of stone, so to build something there it would take weeks and months to move in the needed stone from another area. As necesisty is the mother of invention, someone found a way to burn bricks in a kiln so that they became as hard as stone and could be used for the foundation. Now they could create their city and tower in much less time which much less effort. This is the promise of every new piece of technology isn’t it? It will make things faster and easier. And as the age old saying goes: Every innovation is an amputation. So where they used to have to depend on other lands, other kingdoms, other people for their building materials, now they they are independent of them. So they had brick for stone and bitumen (or asphalt) for mortar. This was the first call to “Come”.
We have a hard time seeing “burned bricks” as being technology but that is exactly what they were. The construction of every structure before this time required stones to to be dug out of the ground. They could use their own hand made clay bricks for everything above ground, but the foundations of any significant structure had to have a foundation made of stone. Stone that God had made.
The topography of the land of Shinar was great for bitomen (asphault) because of the rivers but they were very short on rock quarries. It would have taken weeks and months to move in the needed stone from another area, but then someone discovered that if you burn the bricks in an oven you can make them as hard as stone. Now they could create their city and tower in much less time which much less effort. Of course this is the promise of every new piece of technology isn’t it? It will make things faster and easier.
And as Marshal McLuhen liked the say, “Every innovation is an amputation”. So as they once depended on God for their stone they now sensed that they didn’t need him. So they had brick for stone and bitumen (or asphalt) for mortar. This was the first thing that they united around, as they said to each other “Come”.
Secondly, with their faster, easier, and independent technology they decided to build not just a city, but a city with a tower in the heavens. As I mentioned before, God is not against cities. We are more rural folks here, so we might be not need much of a push to criticize the “city -life” - but God is not against the formation and development of cities, just cities like this one. This was not a city developed for the intent of increasing in frutfulness and multiplying, it was in essence a Temple complex.
This city was built around the idea that they did not need a relationship with their creator. They had bricks!
That might sound a little silly, we probably don’t recognize the significance in a burnt block of clay, but we should be able to recognize the significance of a heart that is looking for ways to be completely independent of the responsibility of having a relationship with our creator. Modern humanity might look more toward technological advances in areas like genetics, robotics, or aeronautics. Or think of how this call to “Come together” could be played out today in the “global villiage” that the Internet has brought. How many scientist and inventors are out there trying to prove that we don’t really need to believe in the existence of a Creator. This is the basis for all idolatry as Romans lays it out for us:
Look what we did - cities / skyscrapers / engineering / Internet / flight /
25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Sometimes the creature that we worship is the abilities, accomplishments and greatness of mankind. We are a creature created by the creator. One of our enemies greatest lies is to lead us to becoming our own idol.
The second “Come” is not as focused on what they could now do, but why they should now do it. There are two things that they were after.
The second calling to “Come” is not as focused on what they could now do, but why they should do it. There are two things that they were after.
1. Self-Reliant Security. We don’t need to keep following after God’s design to fill the whole world, lets just stop here and make a home where we can protect ourselves.
2. Praise of The World. We don’t need to recognize our Creator along with the rest of the World, in fact we could get the rest of the world to recognize us and our name instead.
2. Praise of The World. The Honor found in their own greatness (make a name for ourselves)
Did you hear how it was all in direct defiance to God’s command. Why should we do these things? “lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth “
And all of this was done so that they would not have to obey God’s command (Lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth)
Why should we keep playing a part in establishing God’s Kingdom. Look at how great we are. Look at what we can accomplish. Why would we want to spread out over the whole earth when we could securely establish our Kingdom right here. Not only that, but with the tower that we are going to build we will be able to pull our chair right on up to the table of God himself. Building this tower proves that we have no need for God and his plans for our lives.
In fact, we will make such a name for ourselves that it will send a clear message that their are two kinds of people in this world - their is now “us” and there is “them”. And you are not up here with “us” then you are down there with “them”. We will establish a clear class of “insiders” and “outsiders”, the haves and the have nots as ...and we continue to fight this battle in every aspect of our society today.
The Kingdom of God recognizes that we were all made for a unified purpose of glorifying creator God and reflecting his image. The Kingdom of God still says that every person is made in God’s image we are all worthy of basic dignity, honor and respect.
The Kingdoms established by sin filled men only recognize the value of the “insiders”. Anyone else is an “outsider” and as such they are “abuse-able”, consumable or expendable. And God says that this is unacceptable.
Building any Kingdom outside of God’s Kingdom is Sin.
That little word packs a big punch - “Come”
Wanted a city without God
Wanted to make a name (and a destiny) for themselves (God named Adam, Abraham, Israel and Jesus)
A Desire to make a “Name” above God’s
Wanted a new religion where their greatness was worshiped. A Plan for a New Religion independent of YHWY
25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
God will put an end to any kingdom that is not His (Genesis 11:5-7)
God will put an end to any kingdom that is not His (Genesis 11:5-7)
God will put an end to every kingdom that is not His ()
God will put an end to every kingdom that is not His ()
God will put an end to every kingdom that is not His ()
5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
Genesis 11:
I am not sure if Moses intended to lay out this part of the story in a humorous way, but it strikes me as humorous. Certainly their was intended irony here. Let me literally give you a picture of what I mean.
While the Bible doesn’t give the exact image of the tower, there are other reliable ancient documents that do. These records along with archeological remains tells us that the Tower of Babel most likely resemebled something called a Ziggurats. These were common throughout ancient Mesopotamia and they looked a lot like this.
PICTURE
Much of the ancient world believed that the dwelling place of God was high up in he air so that when you were up on a high mountain, you were closer to God. This presented a problem for the city developers of Babel. The region of Shinar had no mountains as most of it was and is at or below sea level. We get a picture of their hardened heart of Independence here. They didn’t want to use a mountain that was created by God to house their worship, so they just built their own. And that is what the tower was as you can see from this picture. A man-made mountain top, where they believe they have proven themselves as powerful as God. Obviously none of that is very funny.
What I find humorous is how the author says that God came down to see the city and tower. The reason that I find this choice of words humorous is that God is all seeing and ever present. He doesn’t have to go down or up - he is always there. So it is like God is saying that since they went through all this work to build a tower so that they could get to Him, he might as well use it to get to them.
And since they are all proud of this city and tower so that the want the whole world to see it, God came on down to get a look. To get a good look. And now let me show you how very fragile your technology and your unity really is.
ll present so he doesn’t ever need to go up or down. It is like God is saying, “So you thought you were something because you could build a tower up to try and sit at my table huh? Well maybe I will just come down and sit at your table. Maybe I will come take a look at this great “mountain” that you have made to try and compete with the mountains that I have created. There is just something in there that says to me like, “Seriously? Did you really think that you could compete with me? Did you really thing that the inention of a hard block of clay would be enough to sit yourself up at my table. Let me show you how very fragile your technology and your unity really is.
Remember how the people at Babel were speaking to one another in their common language and they said, “Come, let us do this and that...”
v. 3 Come let us make bricks
v. 4 Come let us build a city and tower and let us make a name for ourselves
and now here in verse 7, God is speaking to himself, among the Trinity, and in response to their “Come, let us...” God says (v. 7) Come let us go down there and get them to stop all their talk.
v. 7 Come let us go down there and confuse their speech.
The parallels here are too striking to be a coincidence. It is like Man is sticking out his chest here and saying “Look how much we can do!” and in response God is saying, “ok, well look at what little I have to do to mess up your whole plan”.
The parallels here are too striking to be a coincidence. It is like Man is sticking out his chest here and saying “Look what we can do” and God is saying, ok, Ill play that game - “look what little I have to do to mess up your whole plan”
Everyday that we think that we can go “toe-to-toe” with God is a bad day for us. Why?
Man to man against God
God to God against Man
God’s ways are higher than our ways (; )
God’s ways are higher than our ways (; )
8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
This story began with mankind trying to establish themselves as their own authority. They discovered a new technology and this gave them a sense that they were really the centerpoint of the created world. Even God himself said that if He didn’t intervene then they would never stop believing there was nothing they couldn’t do. We have bricks so we will build a city and a tower and a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.
This story ends with the people abandoning their city and tower. But they did recieve a name - God called them confused, and despite their fear of it, they were dispersed over the face of the whole earth.
The people tried to thwart God’s plan by establishing a kingdom unto themselves, God shut it down. Not only did he shut down that rebellion, but he used these dark circumstances to establish something beautiful in our world: diversity. Now we have different langauges, cultures and ethnicity to enjoy and to learn from. The fact that “image of God” is just as present in me, a middle age white guy in rural Wisconsin as it is in a elderly tribesman in Botswana is something that is as wonderful as it is mysterious.
God is still working in our world and His work is so beyond our comprehension. To think that building a tall enough tower would be all you need to establish your authority and autonomy is a ridiculous thought for us today, but that doesn’t mean that their are not other ways in which we try and become our own authority. We try in many other ways to rule our own lives, void of the commands and purposes of our creator. We need the truth of just as much as the people of Babel did.
To think that building a tall enough tower would be all you need to establish your authority and autonomy is a ridiculous thought for us today, but that doesn’t mean that their are not other ways in which we try and become our own authority. We try and rule our own lives, void of the commands and purposes of our creator. still rings true for us today.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
The saddest part of this condition of man is not just that we keep trying to establish a Kingdom outside of God’s Kingdom, but that we actually think that this would be better.
The heavens are so much higher than the earth, much higher than any tower that we could build.
Gospel Application
The saddest part of this condition of man is not just that we keep trying to establish a Kingdom outside of God’s Kingdom, but that we actually think that this would be better. I love how James Boice lays out this passage in his commentary of Genesis. He breaks down the central message of the Tower of Babel into three Callings to Come: ,
1. By man to man against God.
Come lets build this city and tower to establish our own security and bring us honor apart from God’s authority and plan to disperse all over the face of the earth.
2. By God to God against Man
Come let us go down there and confuse their language so they again recognize our authority and are dispersed over the face of the earth.
The third calling of “Come” is not found in this text, but throughout the rest of the Bible. This calling of Come is 3. By God to Man for Man’s benefit.
We find this in verses like
18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
Have you headed that call to Come? To see God take the Sin in your life and transform it to be white as snow. I know it is a little early to appreciate a snow reference, but you do understand what a marvelous work that is. The blackness of our sinfilled hearts being changed as the Bible says to the righteousness of Jesus. Because Jesus was willing to wear the stain of our sin on the cross, we get to wear to beauty of His righteousness in His Kingdom. That is what God has always wanted. This is the fulfillment of his very good creative purpose for this world. His Kingdom is not a cruel one where there are insiders and outsiders but he desires that none should perish. So he calls out to us, and he gives us the mission to call out to others.
Landing
If you have never answered Jesus’ call out to you then today is a great day. Don’t go another day without submitting your life to Him. You cannot create a kingdom of your own that is better, and eventually every kingdom of man will fall. If you have any questions or want to talk to someone about what that call means please come see me, or one of the overseers or someone that you know has answered that call to submit their life to Jesus.
And if you have submitted your life to Jesus then how are doing being fruitful, multiplying and filling the earth. During Primeval History it was a physical call to populate the world but for New Testament Christians it is a call to be the ones who call out to “Come”.
.
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
God to Man for Man’s benefit
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
To often we have allowed Church to just be Christians calling together other Christians. The story of the tower of Babel shows us that God is not looking for us to just hide in our selfmade safety zones. We are to disperse and multipy so that the whole world will know of the God who created us, redeemed us and is going to make all things new through the what Jesus Christ has done for us. That’s the good message of the Gospel. Are we spreading that good news with others, or just “Coming together” with people we already know know.
like us it is more a call for ChrisSometimes I think the Christian Church has more in common with the people of Babel than we should. We can become so impressed with the new “technology” of how we do Church that we don’t spend too much time listening for anything new that God might be wanting us to explore. Many people have drawn conclusions from the story of Babel when it comes to how hom to be pretty impressed with how we do Church I confess that I get concerned that the mode of how we do Church here in the western world might be in danger of becoming a “technology” that we think is worth gathering around by itself. Could all our buildings, strategies and programs have lead us to a place of such Independence that we figure we could operate without God for a while and be just fine?
Landing
I hope that is not true of us, but it is something to watchful of. How open are we to new languages or expressions of Biblical fellowship? and wonder if we really even need God to make our Church go. and Are you living out your faith in Jesus Christ in such a way that others see something different and can ask you about the hope that you have. Or are we just circling up our wagons here at Church on Sunday. Living in our little “Christian Kingdom” here, but when we get out there it is a different story. We can’t risk being different out their.
I’ll end this morning with a quote by Francis Chan who said:
“Christians are like manure, spread them out and they can make everything grow better but heap them up in a pile and they stink horribly.”
That is certainly one lesson that we can learn from the tower of Babel. God wants us - be fruitful, multiply, make disciples, and grow His Kingdom! - Amen!
Someone once said that Christians are a lot like Manure. If you pile them all up they stink
Let’s Pray