A modern day tower of Babel, Genesis 11”1-9
Eric A. Snyder, Minister, Farwell Church of Christ
November 17, 2002
My stepfather was the Bruce Mogg of my family. He was always telling stories about when he was a Kid and the trouble he used to get into. One time he told us a story about tying his brother up and leaving him in the barn, my stepfather and his brothers left the younger brother there for a few hours.
The problem with adults telling kids those stories it that kids begin to get ideas. My brother is 8 years younger than me and my sister is 4 years younger than me. I remember one day I was 13 years old and my mom and step dad had left the house. My brother was doing the things that brothers do and would not leave us alone. He was being the typical brother. He kept talking and would not be quiet. Finally my sister and I had enough.
So Desi and I decided that action had to be taken. We said hey John how would you like to play a new game? He said sure that would be great, what are we going to play? I said we are going to play a story about Joseph from the bible and his brothers. Now for those of you who know the story, This is probably not a very child friendly game. Especially if you are my youngest brother. The game consisted of us tying my brother up and placing him behind the couch.
I can still remember my parents finding him. They had been home for about half an hour and when they found him I was in big trouble. My parents were disciplinarians. They were judge, jury, prosecution and the executioner all rolled into one. Their favorite thing to do was to prolong my sentence by trying to find out my motive. I would always crack under the pressure of the interrogation room.
My parents didn’t believe in the good cop bad cop. When I was growing up both my parents really believed in the bad cop mentality. I remember My mother asking “Where on earth did you get a dumb idea like this?” There’s my step dad “Kids today are worse than they were when I was growing up” and then came the hardest question I have ever been asked at that point in my life “Why did you do that”
My answer was I don’t know I guess because I thought I could.
Isn’t that why we try to do things today? Because we think we can. I am all in favor of making the world a better place to live but there are some things that should not be done.
The question is how do we know?
In the movie Jurassic park the scientists are brought in and given a tour of the facilities.
The premise of the movie is that these scientists have been able to resurrect the dinosaurs and use their DNA to recreate them. They are so excited that they have resurrected a dead species and there is an incredible line in that movie from Jeff Goldblum he says “it appears to me that you guys were so concerned with ‘could you’ that you never considered the question of ‘should you’”
Isn’t that where we are as a people? Considering not only “can we” but “should we”.
This is an issue we face all the time. Can we clone a human being, can we build a new building, can we add staff or even more personally for some is can we be artificially inseminated. Can we marry a certain person, can we go to a certain college, and can we make it in a certain profession.
I am convinced that we need to ask both questions of the decisions we face in our lives. Not only can we accomplish the task but should we. We are facing complex issues in our society today in our personal lives and in our professional lives. In the last 100 years we have seen nuclear technology, space exploration, flight, and you could argue that all of these things are helpful but all also can also be harmful.
Today we use flight to do God’s work by placing missionaries in other countries or to take foreign aid to hungry people. Yet flight has also added a new element of war. Nuclear power is safe and clean and provides more power than 1000 oil refineries but in the wrong hands it could mean destruction and devastation.
Today we know that the medicine to cure spinal cord injuries can be found in stem cells. Unfortunately the majority of research comes from children who never had a chance to ask the “should we” question for themselves.
It’s a tough question isn’t it. How do we know what is progress and what is something that should not be done. Because we seem to have been mistaken throughout history on many things which have made the world better.
Sam Langley saw some birds flying in his home town. He started thinking about ways to be able to fly himself. People told him “if God wanted man to fly he would have gave him wings” after he heard about Orville and Wilbur Wright he designed a engine and beat their flight record.
Resisting progress is not Godly. But on the other hand how do we determine the quest? How do we decide what God’s will is? I think our text today deals specifically with the issue that we have been talking about today.
Genesis 11:1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As men 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 and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." 5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men 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.
I used to find this text so confusing. I think so what’s the big deal? God you are powerful. It’s not like these people were going to form a coo against you. And why was this action broken up but in today’s world there are all kinds of cities many with huge towers bigger than anything they could have built.
Well the surface answer is that God told people in the beginning that I want you to fill the earth. Scattering people is a technique that God used occasionally. He knew that if people would scatter they would eventually inhabit the whole earth, and not just a small part of it. But I believe that there was a stronger deeper reason why God did what He did?
The people were prideful. They were so busy figuring out the “can we” question that they never sought God’s advice on the “should we” question”
The Michigan State football players were all in a remedial English class, and the teacher asked, "Does anyone know what comes after a sentence?" All the players shouted in unison with Spartan pride..."THE APPEAL!" Pride can make you give the wrong answer. In fact according to our text today pride can even make you ask the wrong question. When was the last time your pride kept you from doing what was right?
We all fall into that pit. Satan set’s that snare for every one of us. For some it might be pride and change comes in to offer a fresh approach to life and our pride sets in and we decide that what has worked for 30 years is going to work for another 30.
Did anyone ever see the movie “Uncle Buck” it used to be one of my favorite movies. And the main character drives this old beat up rusted out car that is always backfiring. It is Buck’s car and he loves it at the end of that movie his fiancée tells him he is going to have to get a company car and he say’s no way. My car has 400,000 miles on it and it will be good for another 400,000 miles.
There’s something to be said for being fiscally conservative but at some point the vehicle you used for the past 20 years is not going to be as reliable for the future.
For a lot of people the issue of pride from their past is not nearly as large of an issue when compared to the pride they currently hold. Sometimes we as people get so full of ourselves that after we accomplish something great we think we deserve the credit. Some would even go so far to say that when people work together that not even God can stop us. Which is way over the line That’s where this crowd was. They set off to accomplish something incredible, and listen to what the bible says in this text.
Genesis 11: 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.
God was not worried about the competition he was worried about their pride. He was not against the accomplishment but he was not about to let these people cut him out of success. When we start to think that God has had no place in our success and we begin to claim credit for great things that happen to us we are in danger of the same pride evident in this text.
Psalm 37 says 5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: 6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
When you think of the greatest inventions and great strides through history what do you think of? I think of Things like the Car, the printing press, the airplane, the light bulb. All of these things were discovered or invented by people of faith. People who were committed to their work but also had a love for God and wanted to see Him glorified.
God wants the Christians to be the people who are on the front edge of society. Curing cancer. Because He knows who will really receive the credit.
It’s about Trusting in God over trusting in human effort. That doesn’t mean that we don’t work hard. But it does mean that when goals are reached that we know the world is a better place because God was with us. He gives the brain power, He gives the ability.
Today’s tower of Babel exists when we take on a project without consulting the wisdom of God in our lives. Let’s be honest. It happens a lot. We have grown accustomed to knowing that there are some things we can do without God’s help. We have to back up and ask are these things we should do. Doing things on our own or just because.
Abraham Lincoln was once asked about his schedule and he said sometimes I am so busy the only thing I have time to do is pray
We have to examine our motives. We all know what we are capable of but we need to ask the question “Why do I want to do this?”. I know a guy who is going to law school, he has about a year left. We were in College together and he went into ministry. He never had a very good ministry, because he was always a very abrasive leader.
I asked him why he chose to get out of ministry and into law and he said “I just thought ministry was something I could do, I never actually asked if it was something I should do, I have not had a lot of success in ministry and finally I took a test that said I would be perfect for legal practice. He said when I finally started asking the Should I do be a minister or a lawyer all the signs pointed to lawyer.”
Today the church needs lawyers and people in politics to defend Christianity, and churches in this land. In the last year we needed a lawyer. My friend in a Lansing church has hired a lawyer. Today we need people who know the law. I’m so glad my friend started asking “should I”
We must have a purpose in mind. Our goals will not happen if they are not God’s Goals, it will not happen without God. Proverbs 16: 9 In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
God many times asks us to reach for that which we can only accomplish with him. God’s desire is to be partners with us as he shows us new technology, helps us discover treatment for diseases, and make this world a better place for him and because of His power in our lives.
When we begin to think in terms of can and should we begin to approach life differently. You will find if you ask these questions that you may not be driven by personal motives, such as what will be easy or what would be the most profitable.
The most blessed people in the world get up everyday and try to make life better for the other 10 billion people in the world. When today’s children chose a career what questions do you want them asking?
When my daughter graduates school I want her to pick a vocation that will be useful and a place where she can be true to her calling. I know she will make that decision based on years of observing her parents ask and answer a couple key questions.
When I was in High school I remember a project that we had to do to write a report on a career. The number one reason that the people in my class picked the career they did was because of the pay. There are a lot of people who are floating through life. Happy to buy the car and the house. And make a living Who will be the teach, who will preach, who will attend to the sick, who will ask what should I do?
A lot of us already know the answer to the can I questions. But the more important question becomes should I. Where are you today. Are you asking the “Can I” question? Because the answer is yes you can if it’s God’s will and if God will help.
Can I speak to my co-workers about Jesus, yes the answer is obvious. The question becomes should I speak to my friends about Jesus. Well we need to be comfortable sharing our faith but have you done the ground work. Do you need to build a relationship first. Are they open to matters of faith. Paul said sharing your faith is like farming a field. One plants, one waters and God makes the whole thing work. Is the time right for you to invite that friend to church? When will the right time be.
After you answer the Should you question the only question left is the action question. “Will you” Isaiah saw God’s Glory and he wanted to know who was going to tell the world about God’s love. Isaiah said “I will” I will do It, I will go. I have answered the could and should questions not I am making a commitment that I will.
Could you tell your neighbor about what God has done for you? Should you make that statement? Will they be receptive to it. You are going to need those answers because some day they may ask you “why didn’t you?”
Perhaps you are here wit us today and you know that the tome is right for you to accept Jesus as your lord and savior. You know you can and you know you should. So only one question remains. If you will come to the front as we stand together and sing.
