Ball of Confusion. Genesis 11:1-8

The 1960’s song ‘Ball of Confusion written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong and recorded by the Temptations aptly describe our times today. While the words and references are from the 60’s, the themes and circumstances remain the same.

Our daily headlines scream that we’re living on a ball of confusion and where we’ll stop nobody really knows. Alienation, anxiety, fear, want, violence and misery seem to mark our existence on this earth.
We live with pain, trouble, disease, brokenness and hurt and we’re among the most blessed in terms of the world’s population.

How did we get this way and is there anyway we’re really going to fix it?
How many of us really believe that the next mayor will really be able come up with a solution that will significantly and permanently decrease the murder and violence in our streets and schools?
How many of us really believe that our next president whatever party, gender or ethnicity will truly usher in an era of world peace and domestic harmony.
How many of us really believe that our next crop of brilliant business leaders will be able to create jobs of dignity that pay a living wage for everyone who wants to work?
How many of us really believe that our religious leaders including Christian pastors will actually seek to address our true spiritual needs?
How many of us are lost, perplexed, overwhelmed and confused with the world we live in, a world of our own making with no real idea of what’s happening, if we can make a difference, how that difference will be made and would it matter anyway?
How many of us who live on this ball of confusion believe that the best one might be able to do is survive until the next day or crisis?

Genesis 11 continues the transition between the flood and the call of Abraham which is the next significant event in Genesis and therefore the next important event in the history of our redemption.
While Genesis 10 told us of the origin of ethnicity, Genesis 11 will reveal to us the origin of worldliness. Worldliness is the desire and practice of existing and living apart from a biblically defined worshiping relationship with the one true God. These next two message will explore what God is saying regarding the attitude of worldliness, how it’s affecting our world today and what He’s done through Christ to redeem the world.

The world is a ball of confusion by our own design.

The memory of the flood is still alive though its lessons hadn’t been learned. Mankind still maintained a distant, adversarial relationship with our creator. We still carried the attitude that God was alright as long as He stayed at arms length and of course gave us as much autonomy as we demanded.
Humanity had an amazing unity of speech, mind, heart, purpose mission and vision. Yet that unity was not directed at carrying out the clearly revealed will of God. The quality and character of language becomes prominent in this passage for a couple reasons.
God created people with the capacity for language as it would in fact enable us to carry out His command to spread throughout the earth and fill it with godliness.
Language, speech and words are an amazing gift God has given to us that enables us to be like God and communicate with reason, order, and emotion and not just by instinct the way animals communicate.
Language and speech speak to the truth that we are creatures made in God’s image with the capacity and expectation of thought, wisdom, reflection, knowledge, planning and other uses of the mind.
Mankind however decides to use the gift of language to pursue a mission to build a place and society without God.
They wish to build a city not for the glory, study and worship of God but so they might not be scattered throughout the earth and fulfill God’s command.
It is a city that stands in opposition to the person and will of the living God. “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens”
The purpose of this city and tower was to make a name for themselves. They wanted to have a symbol of their fame and achievement.

It seems that humanity wanted to build a great city with a tower in the middle that would stand as a temple to boast and commemorate their achievement. The key to the passage is the phrase ‘make a name for ourselves’. Anything and everything in that city would serve the purpose and mission of the pride of humanity. The tower being built to the heavens would be easily seen from anywhere in the city and thus serve as a constant reminder of human progress, accomplishment and pride. And what did they want to accomplish? Humanity wanted a world without God. A world in where God’s word, God’s worship, God’s will and God’s presence were not wanted nor welcome.

The city was built as an act of rebellion against the clear command of the living God who created them out of dust. The tower was to be a symbol that they had successfully exerted their will against the creator.

Genesis 11 presents yet another episode in mankind‘s rebellion against our creator. Gen 11 doesn’t open up with the words ‘and men began to seek the Lord’. Rather it opens with them looking to go about their lives as if God just doesn’t matter all that much.
The first sign of trouble is that the people while migrating from the east find a place that is easily large enough to support them and instead of carrying out God’s command to spread godliness decide to stop, settle and begin the concentration of ungodliness. Mankind once again begins our cycle of sin, rebellion and destruction.

Is that the pattern of your life at this time? Are you busy building a life where God’s worship isn’t valued, His word isn’t obeyed, His presence isn’t welcome and His salvation through His Son Jesus Christ isn’t wanted?

God will act to stop this ongoing confusion from persistently and permanently debasing the earth He created for our good and His glory.

The judgment begins with God’s recognition of their sinful way of life. God uses language that helps us to understand that He has more than a passing interest in our activities and our affairs. Along with this we all know and need to be reminded that God knows not only what we’re doing, but the motivation behind what we’re doing. The judgment acknowledges the uniqueness and complexity of humanity. God created us to such a high degree that we’d be able to build cities, states, countries and entire complex societies and cultures. Moreover, the judgment acknowledges the power in unity. One wonders how much more any country or society could accomplish if everyone believed that they had a genuine positive stake in that society.
As judgments go this one is a mere tap on the shoulder as it is much less harsh than the judgment of the flood.
It is a judgment that shows God’s ability to step in at any time to stop the increase of human sinfulness.
It is a judgment that shows God’s power to act against the natural laws of His creation.
It is a judgment that shows God’s sovereignty and results in mankind carrying out God’s purpose even though he doesn’t want to.
It is a judgment that involves the entire Trinity as alluded to by the term ‘let us’.

In this way it is similar to the salvation we have because the Father judged Jesus Christ for our sin.

In Christ, the Father acted to stop the increase and spread of humanity forever. Thus no one in Christ is doomed to be forever trapped by a sinful, destructive lifestyle.
The Scripture says that the Father used the sinfulness of humanity to accomplish His purpose. He used the treachery of Judas, the scheming malicious deceit of the religious leaders and the power mad brutality of the Romans all to achieve His purpose of salvation. God sovereignly used all of these forces to bring about His purpose to save His people from their sins, redeem the entire creation and glorify the Son who will forever be the king of a new creation.
God also showed His power in salvation by raising Him from the dead proving that the Lord is the eternal Son of God and that God has accepted His sacrifice for sin.
Finally the Scriptures demonstrate the Father, Son and Spirit are all active in our salvation.  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

To Him Who Loves Us…

Pastor Lance






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