Sermon Tone Analysis

Another min series / this time on hidden heart agendas / Bible says heart is desperately wicked … who can know it?

/ there are things at work in our own hearts / things that stop us from loving God / others as we should

Every few weeks / at our office we have meetings / every time we get there / we have an agenda sitting by every seat / everyone knows what we will cover / everyone on the same page

Our hearts are not the same way / our heart agendas are not public / sometimes hidden even from ourselves / we serve hidden agendas at times / without even knowing it

Paul says “For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do no want to do… this I keep doing”

Our hearts agenda & God’s agenda are always at war / Until we recognize them / we can not serve God as we should / As I go through this series I am praying HS awakens us to new awareness of our hearts agendas / as our hearts can take us away from God without even knowing it

Begin this evening with hidden heart agenda of “Tower Builders”

Genesis 11:1–9 (NIV)

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.

As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.”

They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.

Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

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.”

So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.

That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world.

From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

I.

The Story

A. Their Existence

1.

People only existed because God saved Noah / his family / from flood

a. Flood was a distant memory / clans were growing / numbers multiplying / people started looking for more

1.

As people moved eastward,

a. Urban planning / was now topic of conversation / wanting to build not just a city / grand city / largest tower around!

2. Why the desire for more?

Bigger?

What made them want a tower reaching heavens?

a. Did they want a tower tall enough to survive another flood?

Doubt it / God gave a promise to never flood entire earth again

Or were they drifting away from God / pursuing other things?

More likely

b.

Part of pagan worship always includes a high tower (ziggurat) to reach heavens / home of the gods

Ziggurat / square base / stairs around side / temple on top / for sacrifices / place for gods to come down meet with people

Like heaven on earth / gateway to the gods / it was Babel

3. No ordinary tower / they wanted a name for themselves

a.

At risk of losing their identity / becoming nomads / hearts began to long for sense of identity

How did they intend to fix that problem?

B. Creating a reputation

1.

In ancient times / greatness was measured in numbers / numbers in your tribe / size of flocks / thickness of city walls /

a.

You would need everything possible to LOOK like a successful people / then you could attract powerful god

Above all they wanted to be known / make name for themselves / a big name!

II.

The Heart Agenda

A. The tower was key to their success

1.

No different today / pyramids / Eiffel Tower / Empire State Building / Taipei Tower / Shanghai tower / Burj Khalifa (UAE)

a. Presidents see large buildings as a way to make their nation seem great / seem significant

Each one comes / goes / wants to be remembered / not forgotten / insignificant

They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.”

They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.

2. What about you?

What’s your tower?

a.

Not just presidents / nations / have this desire / so do we!

Desire to be significant / make a name for ourselves / become tower builders

Only difference / we build through symbols / achievements / associations / our words

If left unchecked / our heart is constantly pulsating to make our name bigger / better / more significant

3. We love symbols / think about “NIKE”

a.

Not just a pair of shoes / it’s status / labels on cars / clothes / handbags / smart phones

1.

All go beyond their function / serve to build our identity / our significance / more symbols we accumulate the better !

4. We build our name through achievement

a. From a young age / we learn we are affirmed when we do well / ignored or criticized when we fail

1. Becomes so engrained / if we fail / we won’t try that again / when we hear applause / we feel we have achieved something

a. Could be sports / beauty / academics / career / humor (class clown - best clown around)

5. Associations (who we are connected to / what we are a part of)

a. MY family / MY school / MY team / MY country

Always humorous / even though we don’t play for the yankees / we don’t own the team / it’s MY team / when they win you win / you make sure everyone knows / say it loud / often / If they are not doing well / you keep quiet / as if their poor performance effects your net worth

b.

It’s why we name drop / “You’ll never guess who I hung out with today”

Way of feeling important / associating with winners / maybe it will rub off onto us

Our conversations can be used to impress others / always one up-ing (fish story)

Why?

Because if we remain silent / we feel unimportant / invisible

Conversations turn to criticism / gossip / we feel better about ourselves as we put others down

c. Social media another tool for Tower Builders

The right look / right photo / right comment / witty meme / all driven by desire for more

We want to look like we are not a failure / overspend /

B. Heart Fear

1.

Our greatest fear is being invisible / a nobody / we see this in the text

Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves;

a.

We see a striving to build something significant

Problem = there is a sin that works in the significance factory - COMPARISON

When we look at our life / look at others / measure /

“Comparison is a measuring stick for self-centeredness rather than other-centeredness”

2. Disciples struggled with this / during Jesus last hours / as Jesus is telling them about His upcoming suffering / death / resurrection

a. Disciples were pre-occupied with Jesus setting up shop / no need for resurrection / no death coming

They are busy comparing each others merits / worried about who was to be.... what?

THE GREATEST

No doubt it’s why we see Peter draw his sword at time of betrayal / he saw His important seat being taken away

3.

As Peter’s dreams of being significant start to fade / we see the girl ask Peter “Aren’t you one of His disciples?”

a.

I wonder what he was thinking here

On one hand if I say yes / it looks like a downhill path

If I deny him / maybe I have a chance at getting my old life back