For several years, an unfinished building, which looked like it was to be a hotel, stood along Interstate 69 south of Fort Wayne, I believe at one of the Marion exits. I often wondered what happened to create this unfinished monument of someone’s hopes and dreams. Did they run out of money? Did they die? What kept the person or persons from completing this project?
In Luke 14, Jesus speaks of the cost of following Him and in one illustration speaks of the need to count the cost before building a new building in order to save the embarrassment of having an unfinished monument.
In our story of today, there is a building that remains unfinished but not because they ran out of money, or material, or personnel. The building was never finished because God kept it from being completed. Why?
What was wrong with building this great and wonderful piece of architecture? What was God afraid of? After all, what’s wrong with a beautiful building?
Now there is nothing wrong with a beautiful building, is there? We marvel at the various buildings that have been built over the years. But, there was something different about this building. And the something different had to do with what it stood for - human self-sufficiency and self-glorification.
At this point in Biblical history, the earth has dried out. Noah’s sons have begun to re-populate the earth. But, little else has changed. Humanity is not seeking God like Noah sought Him. In fact, they are going further away by the construction of this great tower as a monument to themselves. So, the situation comes to a place that God decides He has to do something or it will get worse.
He comes down, as it says in verse 5, to see the city and the tower the people were building. And He then He does two things. First, He makes a rather unsettling statement: "If they can accomplish this when they have just begun to take advantage of their common language and political unity, just think of what they will do later. Nothing will be impossible for them!"
Second, He makes what seems to be a very uncaring and harsh decision; "Come, let’s go down and give them different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other." And that is what happened. Confusion reigned and the tower was left unfinished and the people were scattered across the earth. Why on earth did God do this? What was the point?
What could humanity have done that not even God could have stopped? Why was God concerned about this building and political unity? Shouldn’t God be pleased with what He saw? Is God pleased when people work together?
Now, before we move on to think about the implications of this passage, I want to share with you some information about what we call the Tower of Babel.
On the overhead, is one artist’s possible conception of the tower. In the research I did regarding the type and location of the Tower of Babel, I learned of the existence of a large pile of material that is made of material such as described in verse 3. It is around 2,300 feet in diameter and around 250 feet high. It is located, of all places, in south central Iraq.
One of the challenges of this story is that it challenges our 21st century thinking. Every once in a while the media reminds us of our lack of geographical understanding. We are taught; we are encouraged to think globally; to see beyond the borders of our own towns, cities, states, and country.
To some people the words that we have read and heard this morning would perhaps make them say, "Why would God do this? Doesn’t He want human beings to live in harmony and respect? “Didn’t Jesus talk about being a peacemaker? Isn’t there something in the Old Testament about the Lion lying down with the Lamb? But, if this is what Christianity is all about, I want nothing to do with it!"
Others would say, “Let’s think for a moment about the implications of what this could have meant for the human race. First, instead of the confusion and misunderstanding that surrounds us today, having the ability to speak one language most certainly would have improved our ability to better solve our problems, wouldn’t it?”
“Second, being able to speak as one and work together as one could have made life much easier. Correct? Man, human history could have been written much differently! Think about all that the human race could have done if God would have stayed out of this thing.”
But, there’s the rub - if God would have stayed out of it. This whole scenario that I have just described leaves God out. It is all about humanity. It is all about me, us. God is nowhere to be found.
Does this mean that God does not care about our relationships with one another? Does this mean that God sees conflict as inevitable? Does this mean that God doesn’t want to see "peace on earth and good will toward men?"
At the beginning of this series one of things that I said is that the opening chapters of Genesis reveal a God who is involved with His creation, not absent from it. And this story proves that point.
But for some of us, we have a problem. The problem is that we want God involved. We want His help and His direction. But, we want it on our terms. And that is not the way it works. For us to fully enjoy the right kind of relationship with God, we have to do it His way.
Now God does care about our relationships with one another. In fact, as Jesus summarized our faith, the word, the action of love, is at its core. "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: "Love your neighbor as yourself." All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments." But we need to notice that God must be loved, and obeyed, first. And then out of that love, we are to love others.
Peter quotes Psalm 34 regarding how to live a good life: “Turn away from evil and do good, Work hard at living in peace with others.” But, what the Psalmist and Peter both say is that to live this way, to live at peace, it means living first and foremost for God. So, God also wants us to live in peace with one another. But, it is a peace in which God is at the center of our lives together.
And then there is the issue of unity. I am reminded of the story about the zookeeper who had successfully place some lambs in the Lion’s cage. People were amazed and asked if it required a lot of work to do that. “Not, really,” he replied, “Just a couple of fresh lambs every now and then.”
Jesus spoke to the disciples just before He was crucified about being one in Him. But, the unity of which Jesus spoke had to do with abiding in Him. It was a unity that came of a common life lived together in God.
But, in this episode of human history, peace, unity, love, respect, all of those things that we are taught today are very important are based not on God’s way, but on human ways. And God is very concerned. He sees the people building this structure not to Him, for that is not what He wants, but to themselves. What did God want? Two things.
First God want humankind to carry out His directive of Genesis 1:28, "Be fruitful and multiply! Be masters of the birds of the air and the fish of the sea." God expected humankind to bring order to creation not build monuments to itself. Second, God wanted what He had with Adam and Eve before the fall, a personal relationship. But, as we recall from verses 3 and 4 the people focused on themselves and their accomplishments. And this choice created a larger and larger gap between God and humankind.
God must be first. And only God can be first. We were created to serve and honor God, not ourselves.
And one of the things that God does from time to time to keep us from placing ourselves first and to call us back to Him is frustrate our plans. For God’s ways are not our ways.
So, does this mean that we should level all of our homes and buildings that we live and work in and live in the great outdoors? That might be a good idea when the winter heating bills come to our mailbox. But, that is not what it means. What it means is that we arrange our hearts and our lives to give God, and God alone, first place.
As we reflect on our lives, I ask this morning, "What are we building our lives toward?" Is it our own agenda, focused solely on our goals? Or, is it God’s agenda for us? True unity, true life comes as we build our lives toward God and His purposes. Jesus knew that when He taught the disciples "your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
When we make the on-going decision to build toward God as we make the continuous choice to pray and to work toward doing our part in bringing the Kingdom of God to pass, we build right because it is built on the firm foundation - Jesus Christ. And when we do that our lives become monuments, not to us, but to God as Jesus so clearly stated in Luke 6:46 - 49:
"So why do you call me "Lord," when you won’t obey me? I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then obeys me. It is like a person who builds a house on a strong foundation laid upon the underlying rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against the house, it stands firm because it is well built. But anyone who listens and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will crumble into a heap of ruins."
Build well. Build right. Build toward God. Amen.
