The Beginning of Divisions
In The Beginning (Genesis 1-12) • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 52:32
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· 20 viewsMaybe divisions can serve a purpose? Rather than have everyone agree on a side - and it be the wrong side - like before the flood; maybe it is good that people have different views and perspectives? Maybe if we don’t call it division - what if we call it diversity? How can we leverage diversity to recognize what is good and spread it throughout the earth?
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Theme for 2022 is “Begin Again”
In this eight-part series we are looking at how God began everything and how God begins again.
We began with Creation - how God created a good world and wanted that goodness to spread and fill the earth.
But along with God’s goodness spreading, sin was also spreading and the earth became so corrupt that it had to be destroyed.
But we learned last week that God’s plan even through the flood was to redeem the earth and to restore a new humanity.
The problem is that humanity is divided - we have both good and evil at work in us.
Like God said to Cain - we have to rule over our own hearts and decide which influence will master us.
We have to decide what we will allow to spread and multiply on the earth.
The problem with being divided is that we are quick to judge other people, but the Bible calls us to judge ourselves first.
1 “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. 2 For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.
We have to sort it out in our own hearts and minds before we can help anyone else.
We find it easy to label people as “bad” or “good.”
But it gets confusing when “bad” people show that they have a good side or when “good” people do bad things.
The problem with our labels and categories is that we are constantly making choices and people are not always consistent in their choices.
Because we are divided and inconsistent in our choices, we cause division in families and in people groups.
We make people take sides in our divisions.
Our choices affect people around us and those who come after us.
Maybe divisions can serve a purpose?
Rather than have everyone agree on a side - and it be the wrong side - like before the flood; maybe it is good that people have different views and perspectives?
Different perspectives cause people to scatter; and while that might not always seem like a good thing, it is what God said from the beginning should happen.
So division can be both good or bad.
Maybe if we don’t call it division - what if we call it diversity?
Division is bad, but diversity is good.
How can we leverage diversity to recognize what is good and spread it throughout the earth?
Let’s follow Noah and his family to see what happened and to understand what God is doing in the earth.
We see fractures begin to develop in Noah’s family that leads to a fragmented genealogy.
Eventually they come together to build a fortified city.
But that’s when God intervenes by knocking their tower down.
He scatters them to bring them together; and that coming together is still happening.
A fractured family
A fractured family
18 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed. 20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. 21 He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”
Most stories of most cultures of the world portray their historical figures as heroes and only tell the parts of the story that portray them positively.
The Bible tells both sides of the story - the good and the bad.
Because the Bible is a story of redemption.
You can’t tell the story of redemption if you never tell the bad parts.
We need to know that the good and the bad are both there.
You can’t be redeemed if you don’t know what you are redeemed from.
Someone might say, “Well I thought the flood was supposed to wipe out sin and corruption on the earth?”
I think that’s the point of this story - it didn’t.
Sin also survived the flood.
Sin also survived the flood.
Noah was a righteous man - but he wasn’t perfect.
His kids weren’t perfect either.
The flood was traumatic - Noah was under a lot of stress.
And he found a way to relieve that stress.
Noah must have heard that craft winemaking is a good hobby and a great way to relax.
Noah wasn’t breaking any rules.
There was nothing wrong with planting a vineyard.
There was nothing wrong with making wine.
There was nothing wrong with drinking the wine - in moderation of course.
But what happens next is a little bit fuzzy, because alcohol lowers your inhibitions and it is difficult to say what really happened next or why?
Suffice it to say that Noah let himself go a little too far and it was inappropriate.
Was what Noah did a sin?
We don’t know that Noah disobeyed anything that God commanded.
Sin isn’t always a specific action.
Sin begins in the heart and is more of an inclination.
Whenever we turn away from pleasing God and decide to please only ourselves - that is inclining toward sin.
22 You may believe there’s nothing wrong with what you are doing, but keep it between yourself and God. Blessed are those who don’t feel guilty for doing something they have decided is right. 23 But if you have doubts about whether or not you should eat something, you are sinning if you go ahead and do it. For you are not following your convictions. If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.
Sin is a posture of the heart..
It’s easy to recognize some things as sin because we know that God tells us not to do them - like stealing or murder.
But then there are other things which are not so obvious and have more to do with our motives which only God can know - like lying or coveting.
But in the case of Noah, he wasn’t deliberately sinning, but he wasn’t modeling godly behavior either - he got careless.
He wasn’t walking away from God, but he wasn’t walking with God at that moment either.
If you are going to define sin that way, then all of us sin.
Yes. Exactly. We are divided in our hearts and even though we want to pursue God, we don’t do so completely or entirely.
So why is that a problem?
Because is is not just about what we are doing; it is about what we are spreading.
Our sin affects those around us.
Our sin affects those around us.
Right in the middle of the moment when Noah is acting “out of character” his son walks in on him.
Now Ham is also a divided human being with a sinful nature.
He has a choice in this moment as to what he is going too do and how he is going to respond to what he sees his dad doing.
I guess Ham must have thought that it was funny (because he was a “real ham”) and he decides to make light of the situation.
Now there are two people “acting out of character.”
Our sin affects other people whether we know it or not.
We tell ourselves that this is our choice.
We tell ourselves that we are only hurting ourselves.
We tell ourselves that it is nobody else’s business what we do in our private lives on our own time.
But you never know who is watching....
I’m not just talking about God.
Our children are watching.
Our grandchildren are watching.
The neighbors are watching.
The people who know you are a Christian are watching.
What kind of message are you sending to them?
Well fortunately Noah’s other two sons had a moment of clarity and realized what was going on was not how they wanted their father to be known - so they covered him.
Imagine that - they literally took a blanket and covered him while averting their eyes.
What if you find that someone is having an “out of character” moment? What is an appropriate response? - cover them.
You can decide how you want to see that person.
Will you choose to see them according to their sin.
Or will you choose to see them as made in God’s image.
How will you choose to talk about them to others?
Will you tell both sides of the story?
Covering doesn’t mean lying for someone or hiding the truth.
It means choosing to believe the best of all options available.
It means judging the situation in light of how you would want to be judged.
What Shem and Japheth did might have minimized the damage, except for Noah’s reaction.
The curse is passed down generationally.
The curse is passed down generationally.
Noah cursed his son Ham and Ham’s descendants, specifically Canaan.
Noah is angry - and he is embarrassed - he takes it out on his son.
You could argue that Ham deserved it.
Given the choice to bless or to curse, just remember that your choice will have a ripple effect.
19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!
What if Noah had spoken life on that occasion? I wonder how things might have turned out differently?
But Noah’s curse would have far-reaching implications that are truly tragic when you think about it.
At the time when the scriptures were put into written form, all the nations that opposed Isreal would be listed in Ham’s genealogy.
Including the nation where they were enslaved - Egypt.
And the nations that they were sent to wipe out in the promised land _Canaan among others.
As well as the nations where they were taken captive - Babylon.
A fragmented genealogy
A fragmented genealogy
6 The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.
15 Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, 16 and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, 17 the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, 18 the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites dispersed. 19 And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
Do any of these “ites” sound familiar?
The curse opens the door to corruption.
The curse opens the door to corruption.
When God created the world, He spoke and his words have creative power.
Our words have creative power as well.
When we speak blessing, we empower people to prosper and to thrive.
And our curses have power as well, they dis-empower people to prosper and to thrive.
Because we are divided human beings with both good and bad in each of us, what we speak over ourselves and over other people can help make the choice as to what manifests.
What we see manifesting in the line of Ham is corruption.
It is the same kind of corruption that multiplied on the earth before the flood.
22 But if you will carefully obey him and do everything I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes. 23 For my angel will go before you and bring you to the land of the Amorites, Hethites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out. 24 Do not bow in worship to their gods, and do not serve them. Do not imitate their practices. Instead, demolish them and smash their sacred pillars to pieces.
God had promised never to send a flood to destroy the whole earth.
But he did selectively wipe out some regions and people where the corruption had reached a level that was beyond redemption.
God is so patient. He waited as long as the good that was left in them might still have a chance.
But no, they followed the curse.
And the curse leads to corruption.
How do we know - corruption began to manifest in the physical realm.
Giants appear again on the earth.
Giants appear again on the earth.
8 Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.”
The scripture tells us that Nimrod, the son of Cush, the son of Ham was the first “mighty man” in the post-flood era.
“Mighty- man” could mean a lot of things - but in this case it seems to point to a super-human.
The same term in Hebrew was used to describe the Nephilim.
His name means “rebel” which may connect him with the Nephilim.
Some people say he hunted Nephilim, some say he was a Nephilim.
There seems to be some support for connecting him with the folklore of Mesopotamia - he bears striking resemblance to marduk, the god of the Babylonians.
Whatever the conclusion, Nimrod is not a good guy.
In fact, he seems to be a conduit for supernatural forces.
Legend describes him as a despotic ruler with super-human strength and supernatural powers.
Some believe he is the inspiration for the Greek myth of Hercules.
The historian Josephus say that he is the one who initiated the building of the tower of Babel.
In fact, it is said that Nimrod built the tower in revenge for the flood and to survive drowning if God should send a flood again.
Nimrod is the epitome of human striving effort and striving apart from God.
Michael Heiser list the tower of Babel as the third in a series of supernatural rebellions which provide the backdrop for God’s redemption story.
Nimrod and his kind seem to be at the center of this rebellion.
Whether by persuasiveness or by force, he rallied the peoples to his cause.
An evil kingdom is established.
An evil kingdom is established.
10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
In the Bible, Babylon is not just a historical city where Judah was taken captive in exile, it is a symbol of man’s rebellion and the kingdom of this world.
At the time of the exile, Babylon had defeated Nineveh to become the dominant power in the world.
It was the original world empire as reference in the dreams of the prophet Daniel.
In the New Testament, “Babylon” is a code name for the Roman Empire - the last of the great world empires.
Some people understand the book of Revelation to indicate that in the last days there will be a resurgence of the spirit of Babylon.
Perhaps we are even seeing it in our time with the trend toward globalization?
6 And I saw another angel flying through the sky, carrying the eternal Good News to proclaim to the people who belong to this world—to every nation, tribe, language, and people. 7 “Fear God,” he shouted. “Give glory to him. For the time has come when he will sit as judge. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all the springs of water.” 8 Then another angel followed him through the sky, shouting, “Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen—because she made all the nations of the world drink the wine of her passionate immorality.”
What is clear to me is that the world is becoming more and more divided.
The gap between light and dark, good and evil is widening.
Which kingdom do you belong to; The kingdom of this world or the Kingdom of God?
A fortified city
A fortified city
1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
God’s plan from the beginning was for people to know His goodness and to spread that goodness throughout the earth.
What we see here is humanity banding together rather than scattering.
We see them building a man-made mountain.
It was a human engineering marvel.
Some have suggested that it was supposed to replicate Eden.
Whatever it was, it was built in defiance of God.
Mankind was moving toward the same conditions which necessitated the flood.
Unity is not necessarily good.
Unity is not necessarily good.
Some people talk about unity as if it were the ultimate good.
If we could just have world peace, everything would be OK!
If everybody would just get along and love each other, the world would be a better place.
Just conform, follow the crowd, do what you are told and know your place.
That’s all fine and good as long as we are truly united around something good.
But we don’t really know or agree on what “good” is!
If good is God, then I think we have a good start, but if it’s a human ideology - then we are back to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Good is what is good for the majority… or the elite majority… or the majority of the elite.
The problem with unity is that the only thing that mankind has ever been able to unite around is their own self-interest and rebellion against God.
This kind of unity starts out as a utopian dream but ends up as an imperial nightmare.
Do a little research of totalitarian governments and see what they say in their propaganda .... perpetual calls for unity!
Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of unity.
The problem is when we interpret unit as uniformity.
Unity is not people all looking the same and acting the same and liking the same things.
Unity is not, people not being allowed to hold or to express different ideas.
That’s uniformity - like bricks mass produced for construction.
God saw where things were headed and decided to intervene.
So, God invented diversity.
So, God invented diversity.
God is building his kingdom, but His unity is not uniformity.
The Bible doesn’t describe us a bricks - we are more like stones.
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Stones are different colors and sizes, you can put them together but you have to take into account the uniqueness of each one as you fit them together.
God loves diversity.
Just look at how he created us.
We are not all the same in size shape or color.
Then consider our personalities and you have a myriad of different possibilities.
The Bible says that God confused their languages.
I would have like to have seen that.
Science says we have different languages because people who were scattered across the earth develop their communication skills differently.
The Bible says it happened while they were together and led to the scattering.
All languages can be traced back to a handful of base languages, but it is not clear how these base languages are connected - perhaps Babel?
Have you ever experienced a breakdown in communication.
Two or more people are actually saying similar things, but they are not understanding each other.
We could be describing the same thing, but we have different perspectives, different emphasis and use different words.
As long as we are committed to defending our own point of view, it is unlikely that we will make any progress.
Pride divides.
The problem may be communication.
But more often it is a stubborn pride that refuses to listen.
What if all God did was have everyone act like Nimrod, imposing their will on everyone else? - just emulate your leader.
Instant breakdown in communication!
“I’m not talking to you until you speak my language!”
God made a way to have unity in diversity.
God made a way to have unity in diversity.
I know it seems kinda odd that God, who created order, would create chaos.
Or did God create the chaos?
Perhaps he just allowed the chaos to happen?
Perhaps he withdrew His spirit who gives us love, peace, patience and goodness and just let the rest unravel?
What would the opposite look like?
It looks like Pentecost.
1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Pentecost was the undoing of Babel.
People began to speak in languages that they didn’t even know.
How or why? Because they are simply yielded to God's Spirit.
The tongues of fire divided to rest on each of them.
I see this as an affirmation of the uniqueness of the gift of the Spirit on each individual.
God wants his people to be united, but as diverse people who are held together by a common bond.
We are held together by the bond of His Holy Spirit.
But the Spirit manifest differently in each of us.
And there is no attempt by Christ or His church to make everyone the same.
Just the opposite, we recognize the gift of the Spirit in each one and value the uniqueness of how God created each one.
15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
And we are being fitted and joined together under a head who is not a scary giant, but a loving Savior who laid down his life for us.
Genesis describes the beginning of divisions in humanity.
And God just let those divisions happen.
Because it resulted in a wonderfully diverse people who would cover the earth with His goodness.
And He had a plan to bring them back together again, united by His Spirit in them.
Questions for reflection:
Questions for reflection:
Are you judging yourself before you judge others? How do you respond when you see someone having an “out of character” moment? How do YOU respond when you have such a moment?
Given the choice to bless or to curse, which do you choose? Do the effects of blessing and cursing help to explain patterns that you see in your family or in your community? How can you be a voice to speak life into these situations?
Which Kingdom do you belong to? Do you recognize the diversity that God has created within His Kingdom as a good thing? Have you learned to relate to all of God’s people through the power of the holy Spirit?