Sermon Nuggets Mon May 7 -
Verses – Gen 10 - This
is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who
themselves had sons after the flood.
The Japhethites;
The Hamites The Semites
32 These are the
clans of Noah’s sons, according
to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread
out over the earth after the
flood
The Birth of Nations
We have
been studying how Noah and his family
were saved while the rest of the world was destroyed in God's just judgment.
When the flood was over, Noah presented an offering to the Lord. God was
pleased and made a promise to Noah, "Never again will I curse the ground
because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from
childhood." (8:21) And then God gave Noah (and us) a rainbow which was to
always serve as a reminder of God's promise.
The flood is over. The ground has
dried. But the problem remains. God still says that "every inclination of
man's heart is evil from childhood." He does not say this in the past
tense . . . it is present tense. The idea that mankind is basically good, or
born innocent, is something that is never supported in Scripture. God had
punished the world because they revolted against righteousness
Beginning
with chapter 10 we have recorded the descendents of the three sons of Noah-
Ham, Shem, and Jepheth. Genesis again
demonstrates the birth of the nations as revealed through the story of the
tower of Babel in the next chapter. But the records of the Bible want us to understand
how with the long years and the blessings of the Lord people begin to populate
the earth and seemingly divide up according to clans.
The events
in chapter 10 and 11 are significant because it helps explain the beginning of
nations as a further result of sin. I am troubled how quickly mankind moves
toward evil against their fellow man. I am appalled how quickly nations rise up
against nations and how pride and power is at odds from the smallest of tribes
to the largest. Prejudice and hatred keep creeping in the most unlikely spots.
Why racial tension continues within churches and ethnic superiority is
practiced among Christians is still to our shame.
I am taken
back when white Christians use such offensive terms as' nigger'. I can’t
understand it when I am in Russia how among some believers showed
discrimination against the Ukrainians. When exploring the opportunity to teach
in Ukraine I was not prepared for the question why I would even considered teaching
in Russia. It was as if I had to pick one country or the other. Jewish Christians and Arab Christians have
much to get over to love one another.
Of course the work of God in our
lives does break down the barriers. It is indeed the will of God that we be a
family of God by faith and not divided up by race, or nationality. But even
among those born again Christians they were tolerance but sometimes little
love. I think we can and should recognize differences, but also promote what
causes unity..
Even when there is a rebirth of the world, the
heart needs changing. Even with a second change the world doesn’t take long to
degrade back into sinful ways. That is the story of mankind.
But look at our own lives. Many are
given a second chance and they go back to their old ways. God gave mankind a
second chance. Not that they started back with the Garden of Eden, not that
they were without sin like they were in paradise, rather they could begin anew
with sinful natures to teach the truths of God and the horrible destruction of
the world by flood. We need changed
hearts. We need a Savior.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets
Tues May 8
Gen 11: Now the whole world had one language and a
common speech. 2 As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinarand
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; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole
earth.”
5 But the Lord
came down to see the city and the tower the people 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.
The Cause of
Disorder - Man’s pride.
As the
genealogies are listed in the latter part of this chapter we see how theses
nations from Ham, Shem, and Jepheth’s lines began. Since the whole earth had
one language and one speech God brought confusion when people groups could no
longer understand one another.
The act of
building a tower at Babel was not the sin. Sky scrappers are not the sin
against God. Eventually we have built buildings that reach the heavens. I’ve
been to the top of the IDS building in Minneapolis, as well as the World Trade
Center in New York City and we tried to get to the top of the Sears Tower in
Chicago, still the tallest. The building in and of itself was not the issue. As
usual, the Bible gives us the very answer to our question. What sin did they
commit? V. 4 They pursued personal greatness. The act of building Babel was not
the sin but constructing the tower to declare their own greatness was their
downfall. Notice the pronouns. “Come let us.
Build ourselves and city so we may make a name for ourselves.
They were
trying to make a name for themselves. They were looking for fame. They wanted
the glory instead of God. That pride is the center of most sin. That was what
Satan centered in on with Eve and Adam. You will be like God if you eat this
fruit. That was the sin that caused the fall of Lucifer from heaven. He was
angel of beauty who wanted to be like God and even surpass him.
Pride is at
the core to rebel in many ways against God. Stuart Biscoe passed on the story
of a man who was so humble said, “don’t bother opening the door, I’ll just
slide underneath.”
When he did he looked and stood up and said,
“Did you see that?”
In our society
when sports figures make such astounding salaries for playing a game. When
university basketball stars can think they do not have to go to class like
everyone else, and when you don’t play up to my pride I will show you I don’t
need you. I’ll go to the NBA and make millions of dollars. When presidents,
governors, or policemen think they are above the law it all stems from pride.
“I am better than the rest.” That is the beginning of destruction, disunity and
downfall.
CS Lewis
writes. “Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having
more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or
cleaver, or good looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or
cleverer, or better looking than others. It is in the comparison that makes you
proud- the pleasure of being above the rest. Nearly all those evils which
people put down to greed or selfishness are really far more the result of
pride.”
Pride is the
enmity against God. As long as you are proud, you cannot know God. Wherever we
find that our religious life is making us feel that we are better than someone
else, we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by our pride.
I am reminded
of the story of the frog that died because of pride. The birds were preparing
to go south for the winter. The frog thought he’d like to escape winter go with
them. He came up with a plan. He asked the neighbor geese if they would hook a
stick around their feet between two of them and he would hold on in the middle
with his mouth and they could carry him south. The plan worked fine until they
were going by another flock of birds who said, “What a marvelous idea, who ever
thought of something as brilliant as that?” Trying to answer, the frog plunged
to his death.
Pride comes in
many forms but has only one end: Destruction. The people in the land of Shinar
sought to become famous by building a magnificent city and tower. Their
ambitions consume them.
If we were to
put on a seminar for corporate executives, managers, and secular leaders
wouldn’t the efforts of the people of Babylon show successful
characteristics? Greatness, Glory, and
Unity would serve as a great outline to a motivational talk. Be number one. Up
to this point every significant building or creation project had been either
orchestrated by God or carried out by God ... to bring himself glory. At the
core of our rebellion is the pride of mankind.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds May 9
Verses- Gen 11: 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; otherwise we will be
scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
5 But the Lord
came down to see the city and the tower the people 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
Cause of Disorder- Man’s Accomplishments
In addition to the pride of
mankind, there is another way it which it is displayed. It is the misconception
we are in charge. They believed they could do what no one else could do. They
would build a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens. We can do it.
We’re number one. Pride is often displayed in the power of mankind. What is it
that man cannot accomplish or set his heart out to do? They wanted to reach to
the heavens, to be famous, to control their future destiny. They wanted to be
like God, and they used their skill and know how to do it.
Baked bricks and tar were the keys
to their fame and future. They wanted to use hard brick and tar, rather than
stone and mortar. They used what was believed to be a more advanced technology
of firing bricks in kilns to make them harder and more durable. They also made
them larger (up to a foot square) and flatter in order to support more weight
than an ordinary brick. That was advanced technology.
That is much the way people today
speak of computers, the internet, cell phones, and entertainment technology.
The story of the Titanic is about man's misplaced trust in his own inventions
and ingenuity. "Not even God can sink Titanic," they said at the
start of the voyage. So confident were they, they didn't even carry a full load
of life rafts. The latest technology assured them that the ship was unsinkable.
And yet, ironically, the very technology that made Titanic
"unsinkable," speeded her sinking.
Now
there's nothing wrong with technology, per se, just as there is nothing wrong
with baked bricks, tar, and tall towers. It's what we do with them and why we
build them. When our faith, hope, and trust is in our tools, when we use our
technology to reach up to heavens, to amass fame and fortune, to seize control
our destiny and shake our fist at God, then we are guilty of misplaced power.
This tower is sort of an
architectural symbol, a means for them to assert their greatness. If men were
allowed to build this city, despite the many obstacles, then men would
erroneously conclude that they could do anything they set their minds to. A bit
of that mentality was evidenced when man first set foot on the moon. If you
recall what was said, "One small step for man, one giant step for
mankind." When man's ingenuity was successfully employed to overcome the
many barriers to reaching the moon's surface, man felt that no problem was
beyond human solution.
We don’t have to look far to see
how things promoted to be the answer doesn’t match up to the hype. Everything
has a glitch in it. A rocket gets lost. A computer is hacked. A reactor melts
down. Oil spills. I think God has a sense of humor when it comes to showing man
how really powerful and great he is. And then laughs when he brings him down to
humility.
We tend to think that the work of
our hands will assure us of some kind of immortality beyond the grave. They not
only wanted the largest city with the highest tower... they wanted it to last a
long time.. Such power causes disorder.
God had a
plan. Since they forgot about God as they made their plans, it is no surprise
that the Lord's plans are a bit different from theirs. Look at what they were
trying to do. to sidestep God's instructions and not "be scattered over
the face of the earth" as God commanded. Man’s plans were to build a
monument "to themselves" (they were seeking to be honored and revered
by others . . . a right that is God's alone) to reach to the heavens.
The problem in
Babel is the problem in our day. It is essentially a belief which ignores God.
It claims man’s greatness, not God, is the most important part of the universe.
We, as humans, determine our own morals. We get to decide what is right and
what is wrong. Instead of looking to God for those standards, we use reason and
experience to determine what is moral and what is not.
It is
arrogant, foolish and even blasphemous for human beings to claim they can
control their own destiny apart from God. We have gotten so used to listening
to secularist propaganda, that even many Christians have unknowingly bought
into some of the deceptions.
So what was
God's response? Vs 7 Come let us go
down. He confused language. Boy did he ever! Today there are over 3,000
languages and dialects. That ceased the building project and scattered the
people He altered everything they were planning. Their disobedience went
against God's plan.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets
Thurs May 10
Verses- Gen
11: 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.
God’s Cure
includes God’s Will
Man’s
plans is not God’s will. God’s will for the race was to be fruitful and
multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it.
They had a different plan and that was to unite and stay together. So judgment
fell and to insure they would spread around, language was used to divide people
into groups so they wandered off with people they understood and formed their
own people groups. This was the birth of nations. Chapter 10 is an explanation
It was God’s
will to have Christians go throughout the world. They didn’t want to do it in
the book of Acts, so God also caused a great persecution to occur so people of
the world could hear the good news, and what happened? Christians were
scattered. It is always best to follow God’s will, because one way or another
He does get it accomplished. Sooner or later it happens.
The people
wanted to make a name for themselves. They want to accomplish something of
which they can be proud. But God has another plan. Oh, yes, He lets them make a
name for themselves: "Babel." Throughout history it will be a name
synonymous with failure. Rather than becoming famous, these people become
infamous.
Everything
backfires at Babel, but that's no surprise. Human beings are no match for God.
When there are conflicts between God's plans and man's plans, it doesn't take a
genius to figure out who is going to win. Human beings versus God is an even
greater mismatch. Even if our entire race pooled all of its power, wealth,
wisdom and weapons, we would still be no match for God.
Psalm 2:2,4
The kings of the earth take stand and the rulers gather together against the
Lord and against his Anointed One. The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord
scoffs at them.”
That is still true today. Stealth bombers,
super computers and laser weapons don't change the equation one bit. God is
God. We are not. He alone is the Lord and sovereign of the universe.
The lesson
from Babel is that man is not God. God is God. If that's true, it is then foolish
to ignore the Lord while making plans and living life. We cannot be independent
of God. Our plans will always fail unless they are consistent with His will. We
are no match for God.
Now God’s will
is order in a way that may surprise you. Acts 2 talks about the order and
unity. Notice at Pentecost where there is many languages there is one message.
Do you know what it is? It is the gospel! In the gospel there is no language
barrier. In this coming of the Holy Spirit God has another plan. It is to populate
heaven and 3,000 people were added that day alone. God’s will is to bring
righteousness and forgiveness to mankind. That happens through the work of
Jesus Christ on the cross and the infilling of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
God is seen in
both the story of Babel and Penticost accomplishing His will and yet in one
passage He is dispersing and in the other gathering. God does the same in the
church.
Sometimes when
men fight for power, he scatters. Others times he blesses and gathers.
Sometimes when men want their plans, he scatters; seek God’s will he gathers.
The will of God is always revealed in the word and the principles of it.
Obedience is key.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri May 11
Verses Gen 11:1-9
God’s Cure includes God’s Ways
God’s ways are
not always man’s ways. Our technologies can't save us. Our tools
and toys can't bring us to heaven; they can't secure our destinies. Only God
can do that. On He can reach down to us to help us, to save us. The work of God
is the cross.
Jesus came to
redeem us. He empowered his followers to make disciples of all nations by means
of baptizing and teaching. It was certainly the work of God at Pentecost.
Nothing like that is man’s power or plan or procedure. Thousands of people were
baptized and taught in their own language. Now we have a new birth in the
nations. It is a spiritual birth. People representing the nations of the world,
repented and were baptized. They turned from sin to Christ, from unbelief to
faith, from despair to hope, from death to life. .
I remember
listening to a speaker a number of years ago who asked “If God were to remove His Holy Spirit from
the earth, would your church be any different? He pointed out that a lot of
things we do as Christians, a lot of things we do in church, could probably be
done without God's help. We could still have services, we could still sing
hymns, we could still have potluck dinners, and sports teams. We could carry on
with teaching the Bible and we could all still be nice to each other. We can
sing songs of praise, but without God it is not worship. We can be Minnesota
nice to each other, but without God it is not fellowship. I can preach
heart-warming and thought-provoking sermons, but without God they will never
provide nurture for our souls
My fear is that sometimes even when we
do church, we kind of leave God out. We do things a certain way not because it
is what the Lord is calling us to do, but because everyone else is doing it this way. Or
because we have always done it this way. Or because more people will come to
our church if we do this.
As we look and plan for the future how
do we protect from the tools that help in evaluation and yet feel confident it
is God’s leading and not man’s plan? What protects us from programs that might
be like man made towers up to God to make a name for ourselves? It doesn’t mean
a thing if it isn’t he work of God in our lives, and we desire to follow Him.
Prayer and the Word become our corrective guidelines, not to mention obedience
to the Spirit.
But it is not
just churches which sometimes try to be independent of God. We do it as
individuals too, and there are lots of "independent Christians"
around. Do you live your life wanting God’s work in it, or your own decisions?
Ps 127:1-5
Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD
watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early
and stay up late, toiling for food to eat-- for he grants sleep to those he
loves.
There will come a time when united
with believers of all nations will understand one another. Revelation 5:9 “And
they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open
its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God
persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.” There is a global
activity that God approves of: Worship in the name of Jesus. Many languages but
one song. We will all understand. God's passion and desire is to gather the
nations, not around a tower made of bricks and tar, but around the cross of His
Son and His sacrifice. Many languages recognize that He is Lord of Lords and
King of Kings. All of creation is made to reflect the glory of God, not the
genius of mankind. The praises of the most high is delight to Him and blessing
to us. Not going through motions or emotions, but founded on the faith with
hearts loving God.
There is one Lord Jesus Christ
crucified for our sin and raised for our eternal life, whether He is proclaimed
in Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese. Many languages, but
one Holy Spirit, one Baptism, one Lord's Supper, one forgiveness, one salvation
from sin and death. Luke tells us that the early church "devoted
themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the Breaking of
the Bread and to the prayers." Doctrine, fellowship, the Lord's Supper,
and prayer in many languages by one Church in the name of Jesus.
Are you trusting your own ingenuity,
ability and wisdom instead of the Lord? Is there pride that refuses to humble
itself before God. Do you live your life for yourself with your plans and
wants? Whatever it is, my friend, it is a tower that is leading to no where.
When you get to the top you will discover that the ladder was placed on the
wrong building! It is only as we trust in Christ that we will find what the
people of Babylon and the people of every age has been looking for. It is only
in the person of Jesus that we can find forgiveness for our sin. That is the cure
of Order.
Every time you hear someone talking in a
foreign language remember that these languages came about because mankind
refused to acknowledge God. Every time you see a tall building, think of the
foolishness of those who try to "reach to Heaven" Every time you see
some great achievement, or hear of some award man has won, let it remind you to
put it into perspective the greatest deeds of men cannot compare to the
greatness of our God. Who alone has power and authority and majesty forever and
ever?
Pastor Dale
