Sermon: Genesis 11:1-9

Sorry about the brief hiatus from 1 Timothy. I've been preparing to preach this sermon. And here it is.

The sermon is the place in which God’s word is read, explained, and applied to his people. And that we will do, if God permits. So we’re going to read God’s word from Genesis 11:1-9, and then ask God for help. So open your Bible to Genesis 11:1-9, and if you don’t have one, there should be one in the pew in front of you. And if you don’t have one, you need to start bringing one – on Sunday morning you should expect to hear from God through his written word and to respond in worship. So bring a Bible. And if you have brought a Bible, don’t be arrogant about it. You only brought one because God gave you grace to.
Before we read, I want to make a note that I’m reading from a slightly different – and actually, a very hyper-literal – translation. So there are going to be some differences. But take note of those differences as we read.

Now, pay attention to God’s words from Genesis 11:1-9:
(1) Now the whole earth had a common language and a common vocabulary.

(2) As the people moved in the east, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

(3) And they said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” (They had brick instead of stone and tar instead of mortar.)

(4) Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens to make a name for ourselves. Otherwise, we will be scattered across the face of the entire earth.”

(5) But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the people had started building.

(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 they plan to do will now be impossible for them.

(7) “Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they won’t be able to understand one another’s speech.”

(8) So the LORD scattered them from there across the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building the city.

(9) That is why its name was called Babel – because there the LORD confused the language of the entire world, and from there the LORD scattered them across the face of the entire earth.

This is the word of God.

Ask God for help with me, and then we’ll get to work. Let’s bow our heads
Pray
The point of the Scripture you’ve just heard read is this: God will secure worship for himself from every corner of this world. Or in other words, God will make sure that he is glorified globally.
We’ll see in this passage that God will do this. We humans cannot thwart his purposes. We’ll see that God created humans to love, obey, worship, and serve him alone – since he is God, our loving Creator. And we’ll see that God intends that humans all over the globe will praise him.
So God will secure worship from every part of this world. That leaves us with a choice. The big question we need to be asking ourselves this morning is this: will we participate in the goal of God’s global glorification, OR, will we pursue a good reputation and security? Let me repeat that. The big question we need to be asking ourselves this morning is this: will we participate in the goal of God’s global glorification, OR, will we pursue a good reputation and security?
Here’s where we’re going. First, we’ll look at the setting of the story. Second, we’ll look at human rebellion. Third, we’ll look at what God observes about the situation. Fourth, we’ll look at how God acted for his own glory.

So first, let’s look at the setting of the story. And by the way, keep your Bibles open so you can follow along.
Verse one says: “Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.” What’s going on here? Well, this is just a few generations after Noah’s flood. You remember what happened, right? Sin increased in the world so much that there was only one man and his immediate family who were worshipers of God. So God judged the world – he drowned everyone except for this man, Noah, and his family.
This is just a few generations later, and so, ‘the whole earth had one language and the same words.’
Now, we all in this room speak English. We can communicate decently well with each other. However, something more was going on here: they had ‘the same words.’ What’s that mean?
Well, when my car breaks down – or even if I need an oil change, I take it to the shop. Now, my background is theology and biology. I don’t use words that a mechanic does. I have no idea what a crankshaft is. I don’t know what a gasket is. I know it’s bad if they break. That’s why I pay him to fix it. So when they come out and try to explain things to me, I smile and nod and for the most part hope that I’m not getting ripped off. The thing is, we have different words, even though we speak the same language.
These Babelites, though – they did have the same words. They were like two mechanics working together on a car. They could work together well and accomplish what they set out to do.
Verse two says, “And as people migrated in the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.” Without going into detail, this was the tipoff in the story that these people were about to do something bad. This is like an old Western where a cowboy shows up wearing all black. Or if you’re watching Batman or something and somebody with a really jacked up face shows up. You know he’s about to do something bad. And these people were, too.
Verse 3 says, “And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick instead of stone and tar instead of mortar.” Moses goes out of his way to tell us that they used brick and tar instead of stone and mortar for building materials. Why? He’s showing us that these people were creating culture. And it was unique – it was different from other cultures.
I know we usually don’t self-consciously think that we have a culture, but we do. When you’re observing architecture or art and talking about what you find beautiful, you’re demonstrating culture. When you go out to eat, or when you cook, you’re reflecting your culture. When you choose a movie or a tv show, you’re showing your culture. When you use a cell phone or facebook, you’re showing your culture. When you have family over for certain holidays, and you for some reason pull a pine tree in from outside, hang lights on it, and hang your socks over the fireplace, you’re demonstrating that you belong to a particular culture.
And there’s nothing wrong with having a culture. We’re made to be creative beings – in art, music, food, language. What we’re about to see become a problem, though, is how that culture is used.

Here’s the second part of the story: human rebellion. Verse four says, “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise, we will be scattered across the face of the entire earth.’”
But what’s the problem? Cities and towers aren’t bad, right? It’s the intent here that’s bad. They wanted to make a name for themselves. And that means that they wanted fame. They wanted a good reputation. They wanted to be honored by people. They wanted others to think highly of them.
Well, why’s that a problem? Flip backwards a few pages to Genesis chapter one. Verse 27 says, “God created man in his own image…”
Alright, put your thinking cap on. What does an image do? It images. It shows something off. For instance, say you’ve got kids. And you show me a picture of your kid. And I say, ‘Wow – this is great photo paper!’ You’re going to say, ‘Wow… that guy’s weird.’ Why? Because the image of your kid is supposed to show how great your kid is.
That’s what it means when it says we’re images of God. We’re like photographs of him. Not physically – but in terms of our personhood. We have wills, emotions, thoughts – and all those things are supposed to show off how great God is. We exist to glorify God.
What happened at Babel? Look at verse four again, “’Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves.’” So that we may make a name for ourselves. They didn’t do this to make God appear great – they did it to make themselves look great.
Now – very few of us are building cities and towers. But I’m guessing people here want to be known as good husbands, good wives, good parents. They want to be known as hard-workers, good employees – even just good people. You want to be known as the funny person – or the smart person – or the courageous person. You want to be the good Sunday School teacher, or the person who says really good prayers, or the person who has good clothes or good hair. You want to be known as punctual.
Or maybe you just don’t want to be shamed. You don’t want to be seen as impatient, selfish, lustful - as the sinner that you actually are.
You indeed are building a city and a tower for your name’s sake. For your glory. You want to be important. You don’t want people to see you as you really are. Because you want to be God.
And that’s extremely dangerous. God said in Isaiah 42:8, “I am Yahweh! That is my name! I will not share my glory with anyone else…”
And it gets worse. There’s a reason that these folks wanted to make a name for themselves. It wasn’t enough that they wanted to steal God’s praise – they did that with purpose. Verse four says, “’Let us make a name for ourselves. Otherwise, we will be scattered across the face of the earth.’”
They were trying to prevent being scattered. They didn’t want to move. They’d have to leave their family and friends and culture – the foods and traditions and everything they knew – behind. It’d be expensive, too. I’m sure you’ve moved at some point in your life. It’s hard. It’s much easier to stay where you are, right?
So what’s the problem? Flip back to Genesis one. There was a reason God created people in his image, for his glory – for his name. In verse 28, God says, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth…” This command is repeated to Noah in Genesis 9 – just a couple generations before these people.
It boils down to this: God commanded that we fill the earth with his glory. That we fill the earth with worshipers. That we fill the earth with people who existed to make God look good. That this whole globe would be filled with the glory of God!
And they said, ‘no, we’d rather be comfortable and secure right where we are, thank you.’
We can understand that. Who likes to move?
This command, though – fill the earth with the glory of God– gets repeated in a different way later in Scripture. Matthew 28:19 – “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Or Matthew 24:14 – “This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations” or Acts 1:8 “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the farthest parts of the earth” or Luke 24:47 “and repentance for the forgiveess of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all nations” or Malachi 1:11, “My name will be great among the nations!” And there are still over 6,000 nations – cultures – ethnicities – without any witness to Christ and any chance of salvation for the people who live there – mostly in North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
I remember as a kid hearing missionaries come and talk at my church. And I used to think, “wow, I’ll never be one of those guys.” You know why? I didn’t want to give up friendships. Or family. Or potentially making money. Or a stable home. Or air conditioning and heating. Or good plumbing. Or American entertainment. I’ve heard many say they don’t want to give up sports.
And you know why I didn’t want to give those things up? Because they were more important to me than God’s global glory. Because I was an idolater. And if any of those things are holding you back from living for God’s global glory, then you are too – and you want to usurp God’s throne.
This is the part where I’m supposed to say that not everyone is supposed to go. That’s true. Some Babelites should’ve remained in Babel. But I’m guessing that far more people should go than do. And don’t throw out the ‘I don’t feel called’ line. Your feelings are nowhere in Scripture seen as a good indicator of what God’s will is – and they’re usually seen as in rebellion against him.
It’s true that not everyone should go. But everyone should think about life through this lens: how am I to live my life for God’s global glory? How should I live so that God gets the most praise from the most parts of the earth? How should I handle my life so that happens?
I’ll give you some practical things to do at the end of this sermon. But for now, know this: you will either live for your own reputation and security – OR – you will sacrifice those things for the global purpose of the glory of God. And you will make that choice every day in every decision you make.
For now, I’ll leave you with that choice – and the promise that if you repent, that the blood of Jesus will cover your sin, and you will be considered blessed by God, because your sin will be no longer counted against you. And you will stand in right relationship with God and he will give you the power to continue seeking his glory in the whole world.
The Babelites made the wrong choice. They decided it was easier to stay and to live for their security and comfort.

Here’s the third part of the story – God observes the situation.
Verse five says, “And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.”
That’s actually pretty funny. Man says, “I’m going to build a tower that reaches into God’s throne room.” God says, “I guess I should go down there and take a look at it.”
At the risk of killing the humor of this – the idea is that they didn’t actually reach God’s throne room. They tried! And they failed. And God is mocking them.
Here’s the thing – no matter how much we rebel, God is still God. We will not thwart his plans. We will not cause his purposes to fail. As Prov. 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.” And that means that the success of God’s plan doesn’t depend on you or I. It means that our failures will not stop God from accomplishing what he wants. It means that if you forget this sermon and this Scripture and nothing changes in your life and you go home and watch the colts and eat chips and glory in entertainment, God will still glorify himself without you.
So God observes that these people are just people and cannot thwart his plans. However, he makes another observation in verse six: “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.”
God takes their disobedience seriously. He must be glorified through the whole earth! And if they are permitted to stay and not scatter, God’s purpose would be thwarted.
Romans 10 is very clear – no one can believe in Christ without hearing the gospel, and no one will hear without someone telling them. And that means that everyone who has never heard of Christ is under his wrath. And that should make us weep – and it should impel us to be about God’s business of going to the world!
Are you bothered by the fact that I just said God’s purposes can’t be thwarted and that if we do nothing that they will be? It seems to be a contradiction, doesn’t it? There’s one major thing that makes it not a contradiction: God is at work! God is active. God is doing things. And God is about to show that he’s in complete control.

So here’s the fourth part of the story: God acts. Verses 7-9 say, “’Come, let us go down” – again, God’s mocking them – they said, ‘come, let us build a tower into God’s throne room,’; God says, ‘Come, let us go down there’ – “and confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.’” So the LORD scattered them from there across the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why its name was called Babel – because there the LORD confused the language of the entire world, and from there the LORD scattered them across the face of the entire earth.”
So these people try not to scatter; they try to resist God’s plan for filling the world with his glory, and God shows up and scatters them. And they end up getting a name for themselves: Babel, which sounds like the Hebrew word (The OT was written in Hebrew) for ‘confused.’ The wanted the name ‘glorious’ and they ended up with ‘confused.’
And God accomplished his will. And that’s the point. God will secure his praise from every corner of the earth. God’s purposes cannot be hindered.
But there was still a problem – the images of God that God filled the earth with were still rebellious. They still did not glorify him, says Romans 1:21. They still mocked God, and we still earned more and more every day, condemnation.
And so God acted. Jesus died on a cross and suffered condemnation in our places, because we didn’t honor God. Jesus rose again from the dead. And Jesus reigns over all the earth from heaven.
In Revelation 5, Jesus is being worshiped. Heavenly beings cry out, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals” – that scroll is the scroll where God has written his plan for the whole world; so in other words, Jesus is worthy to execute God’s plan.
Then the heavenly beings tell Jesus why he is worthy to reign: “because you were killed, and by your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe, language, people and nation.”
Why’s Jesus worthy? Because his death has effectually saved particular people from every culture on earth. They will hear the gospel at some point and turn to Jesus. And that means that missionaries will be sent to them.
Jesus’ cross has done it all. Jesus has secured God’s praise from every corner of the earth – and if you have relied on him for your salvation, he has secured it for you.

Let’s close with six points of application.
1) Repent. If you haven’t come to grips with the fact that God is worth being glorified all over the world by all of life, you need to turn from your self-seeking and turn towards Jesus as your God for forgiveness, and he will forgive you and change you.
2) Talk. You need to talk about this with other people. Christian growth happens in community through conversation. Confess sin to each other. Talk about Jesus and his mission. It’s not private and it is more important than anything else you talk about.
3) Get educated. The Bible is about God’s plan to glorify himself throughout the entire world by the death and resurrection of Jesus, and there are over 6,000 individual ethnic groups in the world with no gospel witness. Go to www.travelingteam.org . Write that down. Don’t let laziness result in ignorance. Go learn the Bible and the world.
4) Pray. You need to get educated to pray. You need to know what the Bible says about God’s plan and what is going on in the world. And you need to make the choice to spend time in prayer daily. Just do it. Especially you men. Take responsibility, make the choice, and spend time in prayer.
5) Give. Everything in your life needs to be structured around the purposes of God’s global glory. That includes your spending habits. Find missionaries. Give so that they can proclaim the gospel where it has never been heard.
6) Go. Some of you should probably go. I’m not going to go through a full decision—making process for you, but some of you should probably be beginning a trek to die to yourself for the sake of the glorious Gospel of Christ in the world. You need to start the process of figuring that out, and it’ll begin with the process of fleeing sin and restructuring your life around the global purposes of God.