Foreign Language

Foreign Language

Genesis 11:1-9

Intro: Say a few words in another language.

Why do we have so many languages today? Why do we have to take Spanish, German, French, Greek, Hebrew? Why can’t we all just speak one language?

In our text today we are going to see how it happened. You may be familiar with the Tower of Babel. The word Babel, to the Babylonians, means “Gate of the gods” and the Hebrew verb that is like it is balal, meaning to confuse, or to mingle, mix up. We are dealing with a text today that is set in a history rich area, Mesopotamia, “Between the Rivers. It is the setting for our text today. What I want us to understand is this: the three things we are going to look at today that caused foreign languages to come about, should be foreign language to you and I as believers today.

I. They settled. Verse 1-2.

A. One of the problems with them settling is that they were told to go forth and multiply and fill the earth.

i. Getting together in one spot is not going to fulfill that command.

ii. They were settling for less than God’s will.

B. It is not God’s desire today that we settle for anything.

C. We do though.

1. Jesus said go and make disciples of all nations, but we won’t go next door.

2. God says give 10%, we settle for 5%

3. We settle for just coming to church rather than serve in the church.

D. Look at where they settled. They were not too far from where they started.

E. Mankind began in the garden, ended up being flooded out, 8 were saved, began a new population, and now right back to the beginning. They have come full circle. They settled for less than God’s best.

F. His best is found in the blessings that come through faithful obedience. God using people to populate the earth was not so much a command as it was a chance for people to receive a blessing from God.

G. Wherever you are right now in your Christian walk, if you are headed back to where you started from, you are going the wrong way.

1. You started separated from God.

2. You started not knowing much about God.

3. You started not knowing God’s Word.

4. You started not wanting to please Him.

H. The goal in our walk with Christ is not to continue on as who we were, but to become more like Him. How are you doing in this area of your life today? What if we did our jobs this way? Always striving to get back to where we started?

I. So, we can’t settle today for anything less than God’s best. In our personal life and in our church.

J. Settling today for you and I should be foreign language. We should not understand that idea.

Not only did the people settle for less than God’s will and God’s best, but they also had a pride problem. This was another reason God came down and mixed up the language and brought on confusion among the people. Another reason for the foreign languages. Why do you have to take Spanish? Pride.

II. Pride. 3-5a

A. The Bible declares that “pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling.” Proverbs 16:18. What is a haughty spirit? An exalted spirit, an overly high sense of arrogance.

B. Illustration: There was a mass migration of all animal life one time. All the creatures of the earth were making there way south due to ecological hardships in the north. It was chaos. A certain frog was really trying to get as far south as fast as he could go. He saw a pig making good time but then thought, “much too dirty for a creature such as I, I could not ride on the pig.” A skunk came running along and the frog surely would have none of that. Then two ducks appeared on the pond for a drink. The frog went to the ducks and said, “I need to get south ASAP. You must help me. The ducks saw a stick floating on the pond and told the frog they could carry the stick between them, and he could ride on the stick. As they were flying along, the frog was holding on by his mouth and a herd of cows were moving along and looked up. They were amazed at the sight. Who thought of that they asked the ducks. “ I diiiiiiiiiiiiiiid” said the frog on the way down.

C. The problem with pride is that it removes God from the picture. It becomes all about us.

D. Look at the three invitations of pride.

1. Let us make bricks.