Genesis 11:1-9
When Unity Becomes Toxic
We tend to think of unity as a good thing. Military units aspire for unity. People in public office wish for it. Marriages hope for it. Churches aspire for it. Yet, sometimes supposed unity masks for uniformity, and can quickly slip into pride and exclusionism.
Today, on Pentecost Sunday, we celebrate the birthday of the church. And it’s important to note that the thousands of folks who joined the very first church on earth came from at least fifteen nations and people groups, pretty much the entire known world of the time. Church unity sprang out of diversity, the very opposite of uniformity.
Today’s story is an Old Testament counterpart to Pentecost, and in some ways its exact opposite. Whereas at Pentecost the gospel message spread clearly across all known languages, at Babel the language of a united people was confused, so that people sounded like they were just “babbling” to their neighbors. Let’s look at some lessons through the stories of Babel and Pentecost. First, we should...
1. Guard against prideful uniformity
The root of all sin is pride. And so it was in today’s story. The people of Shinar, or Babylon, wanted to make a name for themselves. Like Adam and Eve in the Garden, they wanted to be like God, so they aspired to build a tower that reached the heavens. They also wanted to stay together, in defiance of God’s original command to “multiply and fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28). Their pride led them into uniformity, to be like each other so as to do great and mighty things together. And God wasn’t pleased.
But aren’t we the same? Don’t we gravitate towards those most like us? Do you remember back to when you first visited the Village? As you walked the grounds and enjoyed a free lunch and an overnight stay, what you most wanted to know--besides the price--was, “Is there anyone here like me?” We want to know the same thing when we join a new recreational group, or a new church. If there’s someone kind of like me, then I feel at home.
Uniformity is not a bad thing in itself, unless it leads to pride. “I don’t trust people with a different skin color.” Or, “Only Pentecostals really know how to worship.” We start making these judgmental decisions in our head. It’s basic prejudice, which if you break down the word, is a pre-judgment, before you know all the facts, solely because that person is different from you.
Becky and I have discussed how, for so many years, we worried about having the very best church music style possible, as if there was a corner on the market before a creative God, as if he only preferred this music vs. that music, not realizing that God loves it all, when the intent behind it is right.
We gravitate towards people like us. Yet, truth be told, when we spend time with people different from us, that’s when we grow the most, that’s when we’re stretched the most, that’s when we perceive the wonder of God’s creative hand. Guard against uniformity. And secondly,
2. Cherish diversity as God’s gift
I remember hearing the story of the Tower of Babel as a kid in Sunday School, and looking at those large Bible pictures on an easel, as the teacher showed us this tower spiraling towards the sky (like the picture I put on your outline). Then, the mighty hand of God swooped down and confused everyone’s language until they had no choice but to move apart.
The story sounds kind of like God was threatened by humanity’s success, right? As if human beings could ever be so powerful as to threaten God. Maybe this perspective originates from the humans God used to capture the story for us. But consider that maybe God sent language diversity to bless the people, not to curse them. What if God did it for their own good? Are we not blessed today by the variety of languages and cultures and ethnicities around the globe, and really, right here in San Antonio? We were eating at an Indian restaurant last Sunday, and in the room we noticed a great variety of ethnicities representing several continents, all sharing quality food originating from one part of the world.
As good as hamburgers are, wouldn’t the world be a boring place if all we had was hamburgers, day after day after day? Never Chinese rice, or a rich Italian-style pizza? Or the exotic taste of chicken and rice our Saudi exchange students introduced us to a number of years ago? Or that wonderful calorie-ridden Southern cooking, maybe a chicken fried steak, some mashed potatoes and gravy, with cream corn? (Anyone getting hungry?) Diversity is a gift right from heaven, designed for our pleasure and appreciation and growth. God wants to expand our horizons. God wants us to learn and grow from those different from us.
At Pentecost the church grew to appreciate the variety of people gathered that day. It was a microcosm of the known world. And the miracle was that uneducated Galilean fishermen could speak all of those languages! It was as if the night before, they had all stayed up all night cramming with Rosetta Stone tapes! And through the languages spoken so fluently, it became abundantly clear that God loves every person from every corner of the world. Each one heard the gospel message in their own language! Each one knew that Jesus loved them, right where they were, with their own skin color and the hilt of their accent and the quirkiness of their hometown. The gospel was for them. God loves diversity. Why else would he create over 300,000 species of beetles??? (And my grandchildren love them all!) That original Pentecost also points us to #3 on your outline, to...
3. Look to Christ as the source of our unity
Unity can come out of diversity as people find something greater than their differences. The people at Babylon were touting their unity, but what they really had was prideful, exclusive uniformity. And God scattered them. Here at Pentecost, the curse is reversed. The scattered ones come together around a central message. The crowd cries out, “What must we do to be saved?” And Peter replies that we have all put Christ on the cross. It was for our sins that he died. We are all united in our sin problem. And we are all united in God’s love that cuts across ages and ethnicities and wealth and military status. God forgives all sin for everyone who throw themselves at his mercy. The diverse become one in Christ. To borrow from an American coin, “E pluribus unum:” out of many, one. We are one in Christ.
That’s why you can be on a riverboat cruise in Europe, and discover a Christian from another country, and suddenly you feel a kinship with them. You are brothers and sisters in the Lord. Revelation 7:9 describes a time where every nation, every tribe, every people every language will worship together at the foot of the throne of God in heaven. It’s going to be a glorious sight.
We can practice now, as we spend time with those who are different than us. In the church family, we remember that what unites us is so much more than what divides us. We can put up with each other’s idiosyncrasies because Jesus loves you as much as Jesus loves me. Peter tells us to love deeply, because “love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).
Outside the church, we remember that every human being was made in the image of God. Every person carries an intrinsic worth, a value because of the source of their creation. Whether it’s the guy begging for money at the traffic light, or my neighbor who has his TV turned up too loud because he refuses to wear his hearing aids, or that politician that rubs you the wrong way, that person matters to God. And so they must matter to me. They deserve the gospel as much as I do. A Christian is just one poor beggar leading another poor beggar to the bread.
The Tower of Babel reminds us of our pride in thinking we are better than those different from us. It reminds us that God created diversity as a gift for us, not a curse against us. And it reminds us that our ultimate unity comes through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. Let us pray:
Thank you, Father, for your call to unity out of diversity. Give us hearts of love for those who differ from us. Help us to learn from them and appreciate them as part of your creation. Help us to turn away from our pride and turn to you for forgiveness, through Jesus’ life given for us at Calvary. Help us to know that, out of our diversity, you can bring a wonderful unity of faith. We ask for all this in the unity and power of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.
------------------------------
For welcome time:
Here’s a way to explain the branches of the Armed Forces to a civilian: Consider them all one big modern-day family.
The Army, Navy, and Marines are all brothers. Army is the oldest and Mom and Dad made all their parenting mistakes with him. Navy is the middle son; they’re the explorers who left home to see the world, and nobody cared. The Marines are the youngest, who Mom and Dad let do whatever they want, and still have an inferiority complex due to their small size.
Well, Mom and Dad got divorced once all their kids were grown. Mom remarried to a rich guy, and had son #4, the Air Force. Now she loves him the most, showers him with all the best toys, and buys him whatever he wants. The Air Force is spoiled rotten, and his three older brothers are bitterly resentful over this.
Finally, there’s the Coast Guard, the rich step-dad’s son from his first marriage, and none of the other brothers acknowledge him as part of the family.
And there you have it: the Armed Forces, one big, happy (and at times a bit dysfunctional) family!
Genesis 11:1-9
The Tower of Babel
11 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 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.”
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 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. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 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.
