The Tower of Babel
Notes
Transcript
Intro: We finished with Noah and the curse of Canaan last time.
What happened, What are the lessons for us, and how does this point to the future.
Thesis:
What were the people supposed to be doing?
What were the people supposed to be doing?
God told Noah to fill the earth.
Genesis 9:1, 7 Almost the same as was given to Adam.
It wasn’t a fear of hunkering down in protectionism.
They were to be going out and managing the earth.
Creating good things in the earth.
Reason why is Incredibly Important
Reason why is Incredibly Important
They journeyed east and found a plain in the land of Shinar.
A Plain sounds like a good place to settle.
It sounds easy.
Not a lot of adversity.
Let’s protect what we have.
Let’s build this city.
Let’s make a tower to reach into the heavens.
Is God against large construction projects?
But what was the reason why?
Let us make a name for ourselves.
Fear and pride often go hand-in-hand.
Perfect love casts out fear!
This isn’t any different today.
Humanity wants to be noticed.
We should never be complacent about this.
One only has to think of how many people have fallen into sexual sin.
What we might call “big name” people.
It’s almost like the higher profile a person is, the more danger they are in.
It happens to many even later in life.
The creation of wealth is something I have pondered a lot.
Greed can drive people to do terrible things to others.
People are prostituted around the world because of greed.
The list goes on......
On the other hand someone can produce a lot and use it for incredible blessing.
What is the reason, what is the motif, what is the driving factor.
Ecclesiastes 8:15 (NKJV)
15 So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.
v. Luke 12:16-21
Jesus used the same language in describing the motive of this rich man.
Life is truly miserable if this is the goal.
Paul said this: 1 Corinthians 15:32 (NKJV)
32 If, in the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
Unity
Unity
These people were unified.
They accomplished a lot.
Unity can be used for good or bad.
Think of what the unity of German people did when they were rallied around an ideology in the 2nd World War.
They accomplished incredible although horrific things.
It took massive amounts of human lives and resources to stop.
God in His Mercy Scattered
God in His Mercy Scattered
1. God came down.
a. This is the turn of the story.
b. Irony of God needing to come down.
c. When do we see God coming down in other scriptures?
Sodom and Gomorrah
Mt. Sinai
d. This signals something momentous.
2. Vs. 6 Was God weak and fearful here?
a. Think back to the days of Noah, “the intent of their hearts were evil continually”
b. This wasn’t headed to a good place.
Unity by its self isn’t always the answer.
Sometimes we need to divide to have unity.
If we pursue this as an end, we normally don’t have much that is attractive to anyone.
This is a constant tension for followers of Christ.
We want to be in Unity with all believers as much as possible.
We want unity yet sometimes it isn’t possible.
Here we must walk in humility.
God is the ultimate judge.
We don’t need to judge to walk a different path.
God will do this and possibly use our actions to do this.
God scattered in preparation for a new and separate people.
The introduction of a nation that he would bless and they in turn would bless all the nations.
God called Abraham.
God set him apart, so in turn there would be a nation to bless the rest of the world.
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; 10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
God has given us something to build!
God has given us something to build!
We have the mandate that Jesus gave.
Go, make disciples, and teach.
Build the Church!
I Cor. 3:5-17
Take care what we build with.
The Church is the body of Christ.
Unfortunately the place of the church has often taken a bad rap in our day.
Christ is the head, but the church is His body.
We really can’t separate the head from the body.
Ephesians 5:22-33
This is a great mystery.
A man and woman becoming 1 flesh.
They leave a unit and become another that is higher and deeper and enmeshed.
This mystery of marriage is mixed in with describing the church, and the church describing marriage.
The reversal at Pentecost
Acts 2:5-13
God demonstrated that He wants His people to communicate with the Unity of the Holy Spirit.
God help us to experience this fullness of the Spirit.
Conclusion:
God wants the church to be His prophetic voice on the earth. He wants people to see righteousness in action.