BABEL REVISITED
TEXT: GENESIS 10:8-11, 11:1-9
INTRODUCTION: Words are powerful. Words can be negative. They can kill, maim, abuse, and ridicule. Do you remember hearing about the missionary kid (MK) who committed suicide? He wrote a suicide note to his parents saying that he could no longer cope with the abuse of his peers in school. Words can kill. Words can also be positive. They can encourage, comfort, buildup, and support. Psychiatrists have demonstrated that for every negative word given to us, we need at least four positive words to balance its effect on our personality. Words can also be used wrong. When speaking a foreign language, one constantly makes mistakes. Julgamento and jumento in Portuguese, sound almost alike, yet one means judgement and the other means a donkey. You can imagine the bewilderment one would have if he confused the two.
Language is simply the ordered use of words to convey thoughts. Most of us speak the same language here. Some of us, however, know what it is like to speak in a foreign language. How did we come to have over two thousands languages in the world? The Bible explains the cause in Genesis.
Let’s read Genesis 10:8 -11
Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.” The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, and Calah.
Read Genesis 11:1- 9
Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men 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 and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men 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.
Nimrod was the grandson of Noah. He was a mighty hunter. Apparently with his great skill, he had protected the people from all the wild animals that ravaged the land. He was mighty before the Lord and established cities in his kingdom, one of which was Shinar, where the tower of Babel was to be built. Nimrod wasn’t content to be mighty before the Lord. He wanted to be mighty before the people. He wanted to make a name for himself and his people. They gathered on the plain of Shinar and built a tower. What was so wrong with building a tower? Why did God come down and confound their language? The sin was in their motivation. Whenever men are concerned only with their own attempts at fame, those efforts are doomed to failure. Man has constantly sought a Utopian world where he could control his own destiny. The tragedy of Babel is apart from God, all man’s efforts are folly and confusion.
It is equally tragic that man has not learned from the foolishness of Babel. Babel is still revisited today. How is Babel revisited?
I. BABEL IS REVISITED WHEN WE SEEK ANOTHER WAY TO GOD.
On my family’s return to the states in 1987 for my graduation from seminary, I sat by a 75-year-old man. He was talking to a young stock analyst sitting next to him. The man paid little attention to me. The elderly man’s conversation was riddled with profanity.
After we were served our meal, this man began to talk me. He asked me what I did. I said that I was a professor. He said, where? I told him Brazil. Then He asked what do you teach? I told him, several disciplines in practical theology. Surprisingly enough, this changed his tone with me. He began to talk about his faith. He was Methodist. He rarely attended church. I asked him about his relationship with Jesus Christ. He felt that if a person believed in something no matter what, he was going to heaven. I shared with him that you have to believe more than something. You have to believe in a person.
Babel meant "gateway" to God. Babel symbolizes man’s entire attempt to gain access to God. There are many modern expressions used by people concerning the way to God, "All roads lead to God," or "All religions are pointing the same direction," or "God is so good, He accepts all men regardless of how they believe."
All of these expressions undercut the very basis of Christianity’s evangelistic fervor. If all roads lead to God, then why tell anyone about Jesus? If we accept this view, then Jesus’ death on the cross was pointless and downright stupid.
I’m afraid that we Baptist’s can be guilty of the same idea, when we give the impression that it doesn’t really matter what you believe you just need to believe. Remember one can be sincere, but he can be sincerely wrong. We can actually undercut the importance of the new birth! If all roads lead to God, why be born again? You see the Tower of Babel is not a gateway to God, but a gateway to confusion.
Babel is revisited when we seek another way to God. But also:
II. BABEL IS REVISITED WHEN WE DEMONSTRATE A FALSE SECURITY.
Let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad. There is a false sense of security implied in this declaration made by Nimrod and his followers. Security in one’s self is always false. Wealth, prestige, power, fame all are transitory. Nothing is truly secure. Look at those around us who are wealthy. Is wealth secure? The billionaire Hunt family might wonder about the security of wealth. Look at Howard Hughes, one of the wealthiest men in the world. He died a pauper: unshaven, dirty, dressed in rags - yet still fabulously wealthy.
Look at fame and prestige. The Beatles of the sixties, said we are more popular that Jesus Christ, yet within a year the group split up. Janis Joplin and Marilyn Monroe both died of a drug overdose.
Look at power. Richard Nixon, president of the United States, the most powerful man in the world, resigning and leaving his office in disgrace. Pride comes before the fall. Using legalese, Mr. Clinton said he did not lie, but you and I all know he did lie under oath. As he has since spoken about the incident, Mr. Clinton has demonstrated contriteness. He will, however, have to live with his mistake. Pride came before the fall with President Clinton.
Security, based on self, is false and impermanent.
There is the possibility of possessing a false security in one’s relationship to God.
Do you remember the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector? Both men went into the temple to pray. One, in his false security, said I thank you Lord that I am not like other men - robbers, evildoers and adulterers - even like this tax collector. But the tax collector beat his chest and said, God, have mercy on me a sinner. Who was justified before God. The tax collector. Why? Because of his attitude. He was seeking to have a right relationship with God. He didn’t base his relationship upon his position, but upon his need for God. Jesus said, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father, which is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evil doers!
Be careful, dear friend, that you truly know the Lord. Remember that just head knowledge is not enough. There must be heart knowledge.
Beware of false security! There is another point we need to make:
III. BABEL IS REVISITED WHEN WE EXHIBIT SELF-DIRECTED AMBITION.
Two geese about to start southward on their annual migration were entreated by a frog to take him with them. When the geese expressed their willingness to do so if a means of conveyance could be devised, the frog produced a long stick and got the two geese to take it at each end, while he clung to it by his mouth in the middle. In this manner the three were making their journey successfully when they were noticed from below by some men, who loudly expressed their admiration of the device and wondered who had been clever enough to discover it. The vainglorious frog, opening his mouth to say, "It was I," lost his hold, fell to the ground, and was dashed to pieces.
There is nothing wrong with ambition. Ambition directed by God can be fulfilling, purposeful, and satisfying. Self-directed ambition is destructive. This kind of ambition thumbs the nose at God’s will for one’s life. How can servants of the Lord, say no to the Master? A servant or slave has no rights.
I’m afraid many Christian’s are saying "No to the Master". No to mission service, No to the ministry, No to teaching, No to giving, No to sharing. A SLAVE NEVER SAYS “NO” TO HIS MASTER!
IV. BABEL IS REVISITED WHEN WE MISS OUR INTENDED MISSION.
What was God’s intention for mankind? Be fruitful, multiply, dominate the earth. What was happening at Babel? Come let us make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth. The followers of Nimrod were disobeying God’s commandment to scatter to the ends of the earth. Babel is revisited when we repeat the same sin by disobeying God’s plan for our lives. The church is on mission and is mission. We are called out to be the people of light to a world of darkness. IT COSTS US!
A certain Christian lady once said to a friend, "Our church costs too much. They are always asking for money."
"Sometime ago a little boy was born in our home," replied her friend. "He cost me a lot of money from the very beginning: he had a big appetite, he needed clothes, medicine, toys, and even a puppy. Then he went to school, and that cost a lot more; later he went away to college, then he began dating, and that cost a small fortune! But in his senior year at college he died, and since the funeral he has not cost me a penny. Now which situation do you think I would rather have?
After a significant pause she continued, "As long as this church lives it will cost. When it dies for want of support, it will cost us nothing. A living church has a vital message for all the world today, therefore I am going to give and pray with everything I have to keep our church alive." This woman had a vision of the church on mission. Do you?
The Gateway to God is Jesus anything else is Confusion.
