Sermon Cloud

INTRO

Today, we are going to look at parts of Genesis chapter 11 and 12. In these chapters we see two stories that are opposites, one of Babel and the other of Abraham. Yet it is these two competing stories that we see thread throughout the Bible and that we live in today.

TWO STORIES - BABEL & ABRAHAM

Backdrop: Through Adam and later to Noah, God invites man into a special relationship with him. In this relationship God tells them to "be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and cultivate it as His ambassadors to this world." Yet long after Noah had passed, his descendants forgot about God and how he had shown grace to them...

Genesis 11:1-9

"Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.' And they had brick for stone, and asphalt for mortar. 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.' And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 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. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.' So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 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."

v. 10 - 32 A few generations later, we see a new character emerge, Abram.

Genesis 12:1-5

"Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'

"So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan."

QUESTIONS

What did the people of Babel seek?

Why did God stop the people from building a monument to themselves?

What would have happened if they succeeded? (Where do we see people previously doing whatever they wanted according to their own desire? What was the result of that?)

What did God promise to Abraham?

To make him the father of a great nation, giving him many descendants.

To bless and protect him.

To bless all the nations of the earth through him.

Do you see any similarities between God's promises & the desires of men?

What do you think it means to "bless"?

The dynamic word "bless" expresses God's purpose to give his creatures all they need to fulfill their lives in his creation as he intends for them (The Drama of Scripture).

What does this promise to Abraham tell us about what God is like?

God desires to bless all people.

God has chosen a family (nation) to be his blessing and to live in his ways.

God will protect and bless his people.

WHAT STORY DO WE LIVE IN?

It is these two contrasting stories that appear in the Bible over and over again. Men seek to be their own savoir only to have it turned to folly. Yet God continues to pour out his grace. It is in these two opposing ideas that people live out their reality. Is man or God the hero of the story?

A couple weeks ago, Kaleo hosted a conference Living at the Crossroads: Church & Mission. At this conference, Michael Goheen spent three days helping us understand the current cultural story we live in. I became overwhelmed with the tension that was presented when it became clear how immersed I am in the American story, with much of its foundations in direct contrast to God's story. We have drunk from this story so deeply that it defines us.

The Western Story that we live in is rooted in the faith of progress propelled by reason and science. Our educational, governmental and political systems are built on these notions. (Let me add that reason and science are not bad things.) In the days of Babel, men placed their confidence in bricks and mortar and the work of their hands. In our time we are just a bit more sophisticated, but we still trust in the things of man.

For example, economics begins with two leaps of faith: (1) the more goods we have, the happier we will be and (2) if we let the market be free for the economic self-interest of individuals then it will guild us to a better future for all (Adam Smith's ‘invisible hand').

In many ways, economics has become the modern day savoir.

Consumerism of goods and/or experiences is our new spirituality. It fills the void.

Globalism is the evangelism of this story.

"If there is an overarching (True Story) that purports to explain the reality in the late 20^th Century, it is surely the (story) of the free-market economy. In the beginning of this (story) is the self-made, self-sufficient human being. At the end of this narrative is the big house, the big car, the expensive clothes. In the middle is the struggle for success, the greed, the getting-and-spending in a world in which there is no such thing as a free lunch. Most of us have made this so thoroughly ‘our story' that we are hardly aware of its influence."

- Susan White

Eras of Western Story (human rationalism - Babel)

Classical >> Medieval >> Renaissance >> Enlightenment

New Idols: (isms) Rationalism, humanism, individualism, secularism, etc.

Western Confession of Faith

I believe in Science Almighty. I believe in the power of human reason disciplined by the scientific method to understand, control, and change our world.

I believe in Technology and a Rational Society, its only begotten Sons which have the power to renew our world.

I believe in the spirit of Progress. I believe that a science based technology and a rationally organized society will enable me to realize my ultimate goals - freedom, happiness and the comforts of material abundance.

I believe in economism. I believe that the abundance of consumer goods and experiences and the leisure time and freedom to consume them will make me happy. To this I commit myself with all my money, time, energy and resources. Amen.

Caveat - Science/Technology/Progress is not bad in and of itself.

How do you think this impacts us in this story, being the church in our context? (What is different with Western church vs. world?)

- Prayer? Do we try to form a committee and plan out of problems?

- Programs.

- Doctrinaires wanting Bible study to learn but not live out.

How does this impact us individually? Because we are in this story...

Truth be told, most of us view our lives as being individuals. Our life includes things like family, friends, hobbies, our job, the decisions we make, social involvements and money. At times life's pressures increase for us and so we pull back from one of these. All too often church is something we pull back from when something has to give. We don't see church as what it really is: a people formed by God on mission to this world, a people living out of the reality of God's redemptive story for all creation.

1. How many of us have considered moving because San Diego is too expensive a city to live in?

2. How about watching The Home Channel and wanting to buy a bigger home?

3. Taking a job or adding more schooling that would remove us from community?

Is this because we see our life as no different than people who do not believe in God? We fall into being centered on our own story rather than seeing ourselves in God's story.

Do we really believe in God's story?

What are the climax, tension, and heroes of your story?

o Tensions: Finding a husband? A Job? Paying off debt?

o That a sibling isn't saved?

If Christ was removed from your life (because he is your treasure) we would be pitied most among all the people. (1 Corinthians 15:9)

o or would people think we are fine since that we have our 401k, health, family?

One of the reasons we have to create evangelism programs is that no one is asking us questions. Evangelism in Acts was always an answer to a question. Why do you love the poor, serve widows, care for prisoners?

o Are people asking, what is the hope that is within you?

o Or do we look and act just like the rest of the world?

How are we going to be a community of:

- generosity and simplicity (of ‘enough') in a consumer world.

- selfless giving in a world of selfishness.

- hope in a world of disillusionment and consumer satiation (entertained to death)

- joy and thanksgiving in a world of entitlement.

How are we going to live in this tension?

GOSPEL

Good News: We aren't the only ones who mess it up. Abraham had:

- Fear: his wife was taken by other men.

- Distrust: he had a child with a maid to try to fulfill the promise.

- Died with one son, had to buy land for wife's burial and couldn't see God's promises fulfilled.

Abraham's full story is further revealed in the first chapter of Matthew. It tells us that ‘Abraham begot Isaac, and Isaac begot Jacob and Jacob begot Judah...and the line continues until we reach Jesus. We are in the one true story even when we don't live like it, because there was one... Jesus is the one hero of the story. Jesus was cursed so we are blessed. Jesus gives up his name, rights and inheritance so that we receive his.

Abraham's blessing culminated in a final promise that through his line all the nations would be blessed... "so that you will be a blessing". Now that we are set free to live as God's people to this world... We need to ask God to help with our unbelief that we may truly believe in His Story.

COMMUNION

Credits: Michael Goheen's Living at the Crossroads: Church & Mission sessions & The Drama of Scripture. Total Church by Tim Chester & Steve Timmis. Echo the Story by Michael Novelli & Caesar Kalinowski.