TITLE: A LOW DOWN GOD
SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 11:1-9
I am sure we are all familiar with this interesting account found in the opening chapters of the Bible. I can recall being taught this particular Biblical account as a boy attending Sunday School. I must admit to you this morning that I still find this account rather humorous – this Tower of Babel in the Book of Genesis. You likely know the basic narrative which begins with the men of that early time saying, “COME, LET US BUILD OURSELVES A CITY, WITH A TOWER THAT REACHES TO THE HEAVENS, SO THAT WE MAY MAKE A NAME FOR OURSELVES.”
• It was an image of pride
• It was an image of grandiosity
The humor comes, that when the tower is built, the great tower, with its top reaching to the heavens, the truth is, it is actually so puny that God has to come down from Heaven to see it. The text says, “AND THE LORD CAME DOWN TO SEE THE CITY AND THE TOWER, WHICH THE CHILDREN OF MAN HAD BUILT.” Now, of course, as omniscient, God clearly sees everything, and the humor in the text is not some primitive notion of God.
• Rather the humor is for our benefit
In effect it says that our Greatest – Tallest - Most Prominent and Glorious Work that we saw as reaching heaven itself, is in fact so puny that God has to stoop to “See” it.
• He has to descend to get a glimpse of it
• What ultimately does alarm God is how colossal our pride is
• He has to humble us, by confusing our language and scattering us about the planet
Think of it! A tower that reaches to the heavens. And we thought that we had big ambitions.
• This one takes the cake
• This one wins the prize
• This one earns the blue ribbon
The Tower of Babel was an ancient power game for people who felt the inner need to be number one. “LET’S BUILD A TOWER THAT REACHES INTO THE HEAVENS.” “Great idea. Let’s use bricks instead of stones. That way it will last forever.” “I’ll call the bank and set up the financing. We’ll borrow most of the money at prime plus one and the city council will float a bond issue for the rest.
• We’ll rent out the lower floor for retail
• Put families in the middle
• Reserve the top floors for multi-national corporations that need a prime location
• This tower will stand forever
• We’ll be the envy of every city in Mesopotamia
• They don’t have anything like this in Nineveh
• It’s a great idea
• People will come from everywhere to see the tower
• We can make money leading tours to the top
• I can only imagine what they must have been thinking
I remember this past Summer as Sis. Lawson and I did so much travelling that even the taller buildings of some bigger cities were hard to see from 30,000 feet. I can also recall some years ago when the Space Shuttle had taken great views from above the earth. One of the astronauts began explaining some of the features we were seeing from their lofty perspective and where on the globe we were looking as the pictures passed by.
• The view was remarkable
• But what is more remarkable is what we did not see
• Us!
It is an astonishing thing that, even though the shuttle is passing over well populated areas, there is no visual evidence that we even exist.
• No cities or buildings are visible
• No planes streaking through the skies
• Even large scale agricultural features seem lacking
• San Francisco Bridge in all its majesty is not seen
• Verrazano Bridge in NYC is not viewed
• The Great Grand Canyon no visible
• Devon Tower in OKC, nowhere to be found
We think of ourselves as so big, so impressive. And yet even in low earth orbit, we cannot be seen. It is true, at night, our cities light the view, but during the day – next to nothing says we are here. Even on that plane just 30,000 feet in the air. No sign that we are even here.
• Can’t see us sitting on our porch
• Can’t see us BBQ in the back yard
• Can’t see us standing in the neighbors yard visiting
• No sign we are even here
Look with me at PSALM 8 “O LORD, OUR LORD, HOW MAJESTIC IS YOUR NAME IN ALL THE EARTH! YOU HAVE SET YOUR GLORY ABOVE THE HEAVENS….WHEN I CONSIDER YOUR HEAVENS, THE WORK OF YOUR FINGERS, THE MOON AND THE STARS, WHICH YOU HAVE SET IN PLACE, WHAT IS MAN THAT YOU ARE MINDFUL OF HIM, THE SON OF MAN THAT YOU CARE FOR HIM? YET, YOU MADE HIM A LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS AND CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR. YOU MADE HIM RULER OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS; YOU PUT EVERYTHING UNDER HIS FEET: ALL FLOCKS AND HERDS, AND THE BEASTS OF THE FIELD, THE BIRDS OF THE AIR, AND THE FISH OF THE SEA, ALL THAT SWIM THE PATHS OF THE SEAS. O LORD, OUR LORD, HOW MAJESTIC IS YOUR NAME IN ALL THE EARTH!”
Yes, we are so powerful (by God’s gift), and yet so tiny as to be nearly invisible from a short distance into space.
• Our mighty buildings rise
• But they rise on a speck of space dust called earth, revolving around a fiery point of light, called the sun
• Yet our huge sun is but one point of light in the Milky Way Galaxy of over 100 Billion Stars
• And the Milky Way Galaxy, so huge to us as to be incomprehensible
• But one Galaxy of an estimated 200 Billion Galaxies
“WHAT IS MAN O LORD THAT YOU ARE MINDFUL OF HIM?” Jesus says of us in ST. MATTHEW 10:30 “AND EVEN THE VERY HAIRS OF YOUR HEAD ARE ALL NUMBERED.”
• Yes, God who knows the numbers of the stars and calls them by name
• I get confused sometimes with calling the right name with my 13 grandchildren
• He knows the number of the hairs on each of our heads
• Nothing escapes him
There is a saying we like to use in the Church, I have heard it said for decades, and we say it around here as well -- “WE SERVE A GOD WHO SITS HIGH, YET LOOKS LOW!”
• Never forget how tiny you and I are
• Yet never cease to marvel that God knit you together in your mother’s womb and sustains every fiber of your being
• We cannot even be seen from low earth orbit
• But God who sees all, looks into our very heart
• Do not cease to marvel that, though tiny, you and I are WONDERFULLY, FEARFULLY MADE
• He has PUT ALL THINGS UNDER OUR FEET
In his sermon on this text J. I. Packer calls this passage a “MIRROR OF THE MODERN WORLD.” It reveals to us what we might call the power game. The builders of the Tower of Babel had two purposes in mind, both mentioned in VS. 4: --
1. “THAT WE MAY MAKE A NAME FOR OURSELVES”
2. “THAT WE MAY NOT BE SCATTERED OVER THE FACE OF THE WHOLE EARTH”
The tower was meant to make a statement: “Don’t mess with us. “We’re the greatest city on earth. No one is like us. No one can touch us.”
• How modern that sounds
• We live in a world that exalts the superlative
• Big – Bigger - Biggest
• Good – Better - Best
• Fast - Faster - Fastest
• Smart – Smarter - Smartest
• Tall – Taller - Tallest
• Rich – Richer - Richest
We all want to be the “Best” if we can. That’s why we compete, that’s why we keep score. We Americans love a good fight, and we love competition, and we love to win. I remember some months ago watching the World Basketball Championships. I was not familiar with the players that made up our US Team, I believe they were from the G-League. Although I did not know the players, I found myself cheering for our guys as they played a team from another country. Did you catch that? our guys, even though I didn’t know a single name on the team to beat those other guys from some other country.
• Sadly, we have this same attitude in the local churches
• Who has the biggest membership
• Who has the biggest sanctuary
• Who has the biggest Choir
It’s fun to play - good to compete, and it’s very satisfying to win. Come on now, I have seen some of you at the dominos tables. Sixty (60) years of age or almost 60 and think we still have game on the Basketball Courts. I will be the first to admit, however - losing stinks. As someone said, “show me a good loser, and i’ll show you a loser.”
• That’s a truly American point of view
• But it wouldn’t have been out of place in ancient Babylon
I believe in some aspects, architecture is theology.
• Show me what you build
• Show me where you live (or where you wish you lived) and I’ll know something about your values
• Maybe not everything, but I’ll know something important
The TOWER OF BABEL was an ancient power game for people who felt the inner need to be Number One.
• They wanted a name
• They wanted security
• They thought the tower would give them both things
There are two implications I would pass along for you to think about -
• FIRST, the compulsive drive for power and prestige stems from our deep-seated fear of dependence on someone else
• We want to be the “best” in our field — biggest, strongest, smartest, loudest, richest, fastest —because if we are the “est” then others will have to depend on us, but we won’t have to depend on anyone or anything
• As the poet said in words that could have been carved on the Tower of Babel, “I am the master of my fate, the captain of my soul”
At this point we need to ponder carefully the implications of this narrative.
• Is there anything wrong with building a tower? No
• Is there anything wrong with working together to build a tower? No
• Is there anything wrong with building the tallest tower on earth? No
• Is it wrong to advertise that your tower is the tallest tower on earth? No
But at this point we’re drifting into a danger zone, one that is so subtle that we hardly see it until it captures us completely. human pride is a tricky thing. Pride is what made Lucifer rebel against God in the first place.
• Pride was the original sin of the universe
• Ambition -- is not wrong
• Competition -- is not wrong
• Winning - isn’t wrong
• Celebrating your victories --- is not wrong
• Being the best -- is not wrong
• But it is never entirely innocent either
Sin always lurks in the neighborhood somewhere. And usually not too far away. That’s why Jesus declared that it is “EASIER FOR A CAMEL TO GO THROUGH THE EYE OF A NEEDLE THAN FOR A RICH MAN TO GO TO HEAVEN.”
Second implication, which is that the compulsive drive for power and security leads to the moral degeneration of the soul. Our desperate search for significance leads us to compromise our values time and again in the name of independence - freedom - the need to control our own destiny. We want to be like Frank Sinatra and say, “I Did It My Way,” which perfectly expresses the Spirit of Babel.
• So we cut corners
• Use illegal drugs
• Wink at insider trading
• Break the rules
• Lie to our parents
• Lie to our spouses
• Lie to our friends
• We end up lying to ourselves
• We use people and then discard them when they don’t fit into our plans anymore
What seems to be noble turns out to be sinister in the end.
• There is nothing wrong with a tower
• There is nothing wrong with a good reputation
• There is nothing wrong with working as a team to accomplish a great goal
But when those things are fueled by arrogance, the end result is grotesque and outright evil.
• The tower becomes a symbol of man’s independence from God
• It is HUMANISM in its full flower
--Life is hard without God
--You end up doing desperate things, like building towers that reach into the heavens
--Arrogance makes men think they are invincible
--But no one is invincible
--We are so small and almost insignificant
--We are so small that God had to come down to look at this insignificant Tower being built by man’s hands
--A Reminder that GOD SITS HIGH AND LOOKS LOW
--He had to look Down Low to examine what we thought was great in our own eyes
--Can I remind us this morning that God had to reach Low to Save us from ourselves
--I don’t know about you, but the God I serve how to reach way down to save my soul
--I am glad I serve ‘A LOW DOWN GOD’
--A God that does not mind going down so low to pick us up from the mud and dirt he found us in
--PSALM 18:16 “HE SENT FROM ABOVE, HE TOOK ME, HE DREW ME OUT OF MANY WATERS”
--The Songwriter reminded us that we serve A LOWDOWN GOD
“I WAS SINKING DEEP IN SIN, FAR FROM THE PEACEFUL SHORE.
VERY DEEPLY STAINED WITHIN, SINKING TO RISE NO MORE.
BUT THE MASTER OF THE SEA HEARD MY DESPAIRING CRY.
FROM THE WATERS LIFTED ME NOW SAFE AM I.
LOVE LIFTED ME.
LOVE LIFTED ME.
WHEN NOTHING ELSE COULD HELP.
LOVE LIFTED ME”
