Sermon(Gen 11:1-9): The right direction of life

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025255718

 

 

 

Scripture reading: Gen 11:1-9

 

>> 1 Now the whole earth had one language and few words. 2 And as men 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 scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men 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, that they may not understand one another's speech." 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad 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 scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. <<

 

Once in a while, as I walk in the park, I see pathetic men. There is little difference in the effect of exercise between 'running forward' and 'running backward', but someone insists upon running backward for exercise. Running back with his face turned back, he looks like a lunatic. Man, what are you doing? Someone walks hard backward for exercise. (If you meet a robber, will you run backward and flee in all haste?) He may think himself wise, but in fact he is a fool. Others live a more uncomfortable life than primitive people, without cutting their fingernails or hair in their lifetime. What's the benefit of having your name on the Guinness Book of Records? Will anyone give you a loaf of bread for that? (They are the stupidest human beings in the world and must be listed in the Guinness Book of Records as such.) How pathetic they are!

 

Brethren, what do you build a high tower for? Can you reach the endless sky by that? Until you reach the height of 100 meters, you may feel some achievements, but as the tower continues to be higher and higher to 1,000m and 2,000m, >building the tower higher< itself becomes the objective. Suppose a nation took 1000 years to build a great tower up to 10,000 meters high. So what? If they climb 10,000 meters upward with all their strength, can they meet God there? Will they farm on the top? It will be a little tough. The problem is that a lot of people are wasting their lives trying to accomplish such meaningless achievements. Suppose people have spent 100 billion dollars on a rocket for space search. Thousands of genius doctors of engineering and science took part in the project and completed it over a period of 10 years. What's the result? It may be some pictures of the universe in the distance. A true wise man will strongly advise them not to waste such valuable resources on such useless project!

 

Today's text of Bible is a story that God dissuaded human beings from pushing ahead with foolish project that they would accomplish when the number of the human beings had greatly increased after the Deluge. 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 scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. (v. 4)” As they proceeded with the project in earnest, the God merciful and faithful confused their language and scattered them all over the earth to stop the project. The lesson God teaches us by the text is: do not try hard to go up needlessly but spread out over wide lands.

 

According to the people's world view of the time, probably the high sky was the residence of gods. Suppose they recklessly pile up a tower to the clouds. Of course, there must be no such thing as a heavenly kingdom with God in it. Then what could be their conclusion? Maybe it is 'There is not such a being as a God!' Such a decisive(!) evidence would make many of the people, who were possessed with primitive world view, stubborn atheists. A Soviet atheist astronaut who went up by rocket much higher than the clouds said in the outer space first of all, "There is no God!" Even nowadays how many people who just have graduated from college, obtained doctorate and read some books are saying that God doesn't exist? God stopped the construction of the tower because he was certain that the foolish people would build the tower up to the clouds, that they would say there was no God, that they would eradicate the members who had the faith of Jehovah, that some leaders would set up a dictatorial nation devoted to atheism, and that the leaders would oppress and exploit the people in god's place (as the absolute). Inhumane dictatorship and violation of human rights happened wherever the political system of a nation was on the basis of a belief that the God Jehovah does not exist. The religious and political meaning of the Tower of Babel is the foolish proof of nonexistence of God and the accompanying deification of human beings and the emergence of inhuman political system. How many times do people prove that there is no God with their foolish logic? How inhumane governments did they establish after they had proved it with such foolish logic? Having proved with their foolish logic that there is no God, people place themselves in the position of God.

 

The humanistic meaning of the Babel Tower, as I said, is the worthless goal of life. Too often people focus their interest on useless things. What do you expect from not cutting your fingernails for lifetime? What profit can you obtain after wasting so much time to make a new world record for running backwards? How many people lose their precious lives while climbing high mountains? What are you going to do with a tower reaching to the sky when you have built it? What will you do with the new world record you established for watching movies long without sleeping? Some mad men are proud of the number of times of murder or rape. Is it a useful achievement to set a new world record in taking nude picture of many men and women? Those who, setting useless and wicked goals, waste their time and energy on them are people who are building the Tower of Babel. By the way, people often build the Tower of Babel of honor. A lot of people build the Tower of Babel of money to be praised as rich men. People learn excessively to be known as learned men. Some people build the Tower of Babel of asceticism to be regarded as holy religioners while others build the Tower of Babel of big church in order to be known as competent ministers. Some countries annex small neighbor countries by force to themselves and harass them in order that they may be super powers. Unless it is a nation of completely mixed multiracial people, it is natural that a nation should be comprised of one race. Of course, it's about minor races. You shouldn't, by political means, abolish the variety of races and nations that God established. It also is a Babel Tower (the Babel Tower of territory). A goal of life that destroys one's life little by little and a goal of life that is useless and harmful to oneself and others are the very Babel Tower. The Babel Tower is the attitude to idolize quantity and to replace quality with quantity.

 

Sociologically, the Tower of Babel is an exclusivism of language and territory. The builders of the Tower of Babel were people who used the same language and would settle in the same area. They constructed the tower to become famous and not to be scattered. Such an attitude itself is not a sin, but it becomes a sin before God if it degenerates into racism. How grave harm are regionalism and academical cliquism inflicting on Korean society? The attitude to esteem our group and to disdain and oppress other groups is a Babel Tower.

 

Although they did not build the Tower of Babel to fight against God, he led them in a different direction because in his sight their deeds were foolish. First, God came into the human world personally. “Let us go down. (v. 7)” It is not wrong to say that 'us' in the verse refers to the three Persons of the Trinity. As I (Z^_stevision) wrote in the writing "God the Creator(https://blog.naver.com/stevision/221747893118)", time and space are not elements of God's being. God can place his being in the space-time, and he can be in the dimension of his being even if there is no space-time. He exists by himself. Space is 3-dimensional, space-time 4-dimensional. Material things exist in the space, but God exists in Godself-dimension. He is the one who exists by his own power to be. (As the space exists in itself and the time in itself, so God exists in himself.) If God does not come in space, he is nowhere in infinite space. But if he wants to be in space, he can be anywhere in infinite space simultaneously. My friends, you can't find the God by building somewhat high tower. You can't find him even at the end of the universe. You can meet him only when he comes in the space and reveals his presence to you (who can exist only in the space). You can't meet God just because you do good deeds, practice self-mortification, and pray a lot. God makes himself known to those who would be humble, not to those who would build the Babel Tower to increase their reputation. God approaches those who humbly acknowledge him as the master of their life. God does not come to those who, sitting on high place and wielding power, oppress people but to those who are oppressed and depressed in pain and sorrow. He encourages the oppressed and prepares eternal life for them. God is building their houses in the highest heaven.

 

God shows us a way of life that is good for us. God prevented people from building the Tower of Babel and scattered them all over the earth. As a result, humans get a chance to get out of the situation that they have to live in power struggle in small area, and have the opportunity to get a wide and rich lands. Thriving and multiplying in the blessing of wide lands is much more beneficial to humans than gathering in one place and living in power struggle. God, who is good, tears down the Tower of Babel, which human beings cherish, to give greater blessings to them. Brethren, is God destroying your precious things? He is doing it because he wants to put you in a bigger and better place. Thank him! When the apostles kept trying to stay in Jerusalem after receiving the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, God sent them a great tribulation and scattered them all over the world. He destroyed the Tower of Babel of Jerusalem. If you neglect the work of God because of your friendship, love and human relationships, God may tear down your friendship, love and relationships. Jesus says, "You should love me more than your children and parents. No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for me."

 

God tells us to love God and our neighbors and to live a life for the kingdom of God, not for only the honor of myself, my family and my group. God tells us to save time. Don't waste your time on worthless life goals. The goal of my life that God sets for me is to glorify God, to love my neighbors, that is his children, to have good relationship with him to gain eternal life.

 

My brethren, the disciplines and the philosophy of the world deny the existence of God and stir up humanistic thoughts and try to separate people from God. We must not incline our ear to the words of ungodly vain philosophy. We should not open our hearts to the futile life goals of the people of the world. We should not show interest in the frivolous life goals of the secular people. We must not listen to the words that come from the Tower of Babel. We must not give ear to the shouts of the leaders of the construction of the Babel Tower lest we should be persuaded by them. If the loving and faithful God pours the Holy Spirit upon us, we can not understand the cries of those who want to build the Tower of Babel, but only the word of truth that God gives us. My life goal is different from another's life goal. What is good to another is not necessarily good to me also. Others can not be my life companion or teacher. Nor are their words truths to me. The companion of my life is the God who comes down to me from heaven, and he is my faithful teacher, and only his word is the absolute truth for me. I move to a new dwelling place where God leads me, following his voice given to me. If he guides me to the ends of the earth, I'll go there. What a great blessing it is to me if the false and useless secular words become a strange tongue (language) that I cannot understand! “Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. (v. 9)” on the contrary, have I not been greatly blessed if I heard the voice of the Holy Spirit and understood and obeyed it?

 

May the false voice of the world become a strange tongue to you, and the voice of God become the words you can understand. May you discard the vain goal of life that the world shows you, but live according to the goal of life that God shows you.

 

Chong Tack Kim

 

                                 - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -