MAN PROPOSES, GOD DISPOSES
11:1Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. (GEN. 11:1-2)
Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.?
I have a magnet sticking to my refrigerator I had bought on a trip that has a colorful slogan. The first line says, “BE REASONALBE,?and the bottom line: Do it my way. We like to do things our way, we say it forcefully: my way or the highway, and we brush others out of the way. Like Frank Sinatra would sing:
Yes, there were times I wish you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all when there was doubt
I ate it up, and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall and did it…MY WAY
The Tower of Babel is about man’s determination to live sufficiently, firmly, and arrogantly without God. We think we are smart in ourselves, strong even without God, and safe with each other. With the advance of industry, active collaboration, and concerted effort, nothing can stop us from reaching to the top.
However, God reminds us His counsel will stand. Relying on Him assures our well-being, and excluding Him from our lives only brings failure.
We build our message around three Come’s, the first and primitive Come began the construction, the second and civilized Come progressed with contention, and the final and sovereign Come ended in confusion. Then we ask ourselves, Why is God so concerned when we insist on our own way? What kind of lives do we live without God? How does that bring ruin upon us?
THE INTELLIGENCE OF MEN IS FOOLISHNESS TO GOD (GEN. 11:1-4)
3They said to each other, "Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.
Some time ago, the Los Angeles, California City Zoo displayed an exhibit designed to inform, amuse and shock visitors, with the slogan: the world’s most dangerous animal --?the only animal capable of destroying the earth, other animal species, or even its kind. What was this animal?
The puzzling thing was that the cage had not one, but two college students. Why two? For a long time I couldn’t figure out the display. Man by himself is a timid and troublesome animal, with company he is a courageous and dangerous animal. One individual is tempted to act badly, two are pressured to act. And with a little knowledge, the wrong environment, and the lack of guidance, he is a deadly animal.
Before the tower began, primitive men first tested the extent of their knowledge, researched the possibilities of natural properties, and experimented with great success. They had the resources, skill, and the drive to succeed. Nothing was baffling them, stopping them, or frightening them. By now they had discovered how to heat raw materials, bend them into various shapes, and maximized its use.
The first biblical human usage of the words “Let’s?or “let us?is a designed, disturbing and detrimental motivation to flourish. From stone they had progressed to bricks, from mortar they had discovered tar, and from now on, they were hungry for the next step, the latest discovery, and the new frontier.
Sadly, the advancement of secular man is his very path to destruction. We make guns, bombs, and nuclear weapons. We have produced Hitler, Saddam Hussein, and Osama Bin Laden. We use radio, TV and newspapers to advocate our views. And we have started religious wars, civil wars, and World Wars.
J. Robert Oppenheimer, the world famous inventor of the Atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, later fittingly expressed his regret to Harry Truman: “I have blood on my hands.?He likened the United States and Soviet Union rivalry then to “two scorpions in a bottle, capable of killing the other but only at the risk of its own life.?(US News & World Reportc8/17/98 “Brotherhood of the Bomb?
Still, God is not opposed to efficiency, proficiency, but our sufficiency. He is not at odds with creativeness but our cleverness; he is not against the process of change but our excess in confidence. Ultimately, God will destroy the wisdom of the wise and frustrate the intelligence of the intelligent (1 Cor 1:19, Isa 29:14). And man will discover that with much wisdom comes much sorrow, and increasing knowledge amounts to increasing pain (Eccl. 1:18).
THE INSUBORDINATION TO GOD IS PRETENSIOUS OF MEN (GEN. 11:4)
4Then 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." 5But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6The 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.
The second Come is a contentious aggression against God.
There’s an old African story about a boy who went out to see the world. He came to a great lake and saw a strange creature sitting on a tree limb there. This giant creature laid down and gobbled the lake dry. When the water was gone, the creature moaned and screamed for thirst and shouted for more. The boy next followed the creature into a hut where the creature sets a cauldron over roaring fire. The creature tossed creatures large and small into the boiling water, including two live bulls and a rat. As the creature left for a short while, the boy stole a piece of meat for himself. But when the creature returned to finish the food to the last drop, the creature noticed that someone had stolen some food, and shouted that there’ll never be an end to the creature’s hunger.
Then the boy ran home, and told his father: “Now I’ve seen what’s in the world.?(Jory Farr, Press Enterprise 3/26/99)
People are power hungry, celebrity conscious, and candidly shameless.
After a couple who were strangers married on national TV in front of 23 million viewers, USA Today revealed answers to a puzzle that appeared on their front page: “Why people will do almost anything to get on TV?(USA Today, Craig Wilson 02-25-2000) A teenager explained, ?Because it would be so cool to be on national TV and have two seconds of fame.?
The tower of Babel was man’s ecumenical stairway to heaven, their giant step in technology, and the first engineering marvel of the world. Here, they revealed their unquenchable longings, flexed their muscles, and craved for godlike glory
4Then 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."
They disregarded God’s will deliberately, deftly and dangerously. God’s original command to man was to be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth (Gen 4:12, 9:1), but not only were they putting down roots, and building acclaimed cities, they intended to reach up to heavens, make a name for themselves, and exclude, rival, and play God all at once.
The tower was a false sense of security that would have amassed more talent, wealth and ideas. The motives were the overwhelming desire for immortal life, an illustrious name, and inseparable, indispensable, and irreversible ties. This is classic spirituality without God, false religion, and undercover atheism.
However, The Lord saw the evil of this vanity, idiocy, and superficiality.
5But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6The 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.
Again, God is not targeting architects, builders and contractors. God is not against extensive construction, but our exclusive control; He does not oppose unity, but universality, the conception of a world system, the grandiosity of complete domination.
And God will show the way to those who would listen. Not long after the episode at Babel, Abraham built an altar to God like Noah before him, and found the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God (Heb. 11:10).
INCIVILITY TO OTHERS IS DANGEROUS TO ONES ANOTHER (GEN. 11:5-9)
7Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." 8So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9That 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. (Gen 11:1-9)
Can people get along with differences in language, land and lineage (6:5-8)? C. H. Spurgeon said: "Be not proud of race, face, place, or grace." http://www.sermonillustrations.com/pride.htm
Californians who made their new home in Las Vegas, Phoenix or Seattle are often unwelcome in their new environment and the butt of jokes. A joke making its rounds in Seattle was reported in the Los Angeles Times (8/29/97).
A Texan, a Californian and a Seatlleite are in a bar, and they asked for a bottle of tequila, a bottle of wine and a bottle of beer. The Texan throws a bottle of tequila into the air and shoots it with a pistol. He explains to the Californian and Seattleite, “Texas has plenty of tequila.?Next, the Californian throws a bottle of wine into the air and shoots it. He explains to the other two, “California has plenty of wine.?Finally, the Seattleite throws a bottle of beer into the air into the air, shoots the Californian and catches the beer bottle. He explains to the shocked and frightened Texan, “We have plenty of Californians, but I have to recycle the bottle.?
Today, the Wycliffe Bible Translators estimates there are about 6,170 languages in the world today. Mexico alone has 241; India 381; Indonesia 669; and Papua New Guinea 849 languages. The African continent alone has 1,918 different languages (Walk Thru the Bible 1/89 10). //In California alone, a study conducted in the new millenium revealed that more than 224 languages are spoken in the state (Los Angeles Times 11/1/00)
Do you know why the tower of Babel was incomplete? Not only were the builders scattered, they had no urge to merge again now that they do not look like each other, act like the other, and talk to one another. God exposed the hypocrisy, intolerance and guise of men. The call for structure was a cover for supremacy.
Now, people kill one other over one of three things- the color of their skin, the dialect of their tongue, and the invasion of their space. Someone once said, “Racism is dislike of the unlike.?"Ethnic cleansing" is the abominable term now for one race obliterating the other.
Men’s hatred for one another is unabated from East Europe to East Timor, from right-wing nationalists to new-sprung activists, from minorities in the cities to tribes in the country, and right to our neighbor, whose tree is blocking our view.
In America, none of us could forget the nightmare race relations that had surfaced through the O. J. Simpson trial, the Rodney King trial, and the Armado Diallou trial.
Babel, the enemy of God, was the place where it all began. Do you know what city in Revelation is given more coverage for her ill-gotten riches and eventual doom (Rev 18:2-3)? Babylon the Great, the biblical city that survived the Babel dispersion, also known as the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth (Rev 17:5). Why was she called such? She feeds on immorality, sorcery and wickedness (Is 47:8-13). Do you know its modern name? Iraq.
Conclusion: As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s ways and thoughts higher than yours (Isa 55:9). There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD (Prov 21:30). Have you over relied on your talents, intellect, learning, effort, and skills? Rely not your personal understanding, counsel of others, and life experiences but trust Him at all times, for all things, with all your heart. Remember God’s foolishness is wiser than your wisdom, and His weakness is stronger than your strength (1 Cor 1:25-26).
Victor Yap
http://epreaching.blogspot.com/
www.riversidecma.org(For sermon series)
www.preachchrist.com (For Chinese sermons)
