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Are We Gods or Are We God's?"                        2010

Acts 2:1-12             Genesis 11:1-9

 

Acts 2:1-12 (NRSV) The Coming of the Holy Spirit

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ 12All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’

 

Genesis 11:1-9 (NRSV) The Tower of Babel

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2And as they migrated from the east,* they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.’ And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4Then 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; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’ 5The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. 6And the Lord said, ‘Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.’ 8So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9Therefore it 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.

 

Do you remember the optimistic and heady days of the 1990's,

            when we were so impressed by computers and the new technologies,

                        and lots of Internet dot-com companies suddenly sprung up…

                                    making oodles of young millionaires, almost overnight?

 

Do you remember the news articles

            saying that old fashioned brick and mortar style businesses

                        would give way to these young  Internet entrepreneurs

                                    who were busy    making   a dot-com name  for themselves?

 

With self-assurance

            they boldly declared that there were no limits, for surely

                                         they could accomplish anything and everything they wanted.

 

But then the dot-com bubble suddenly burst.

                 Most of those start-up companies  and their investors' money

                        suddenly disappeared, also     seemingly overnight.

 

Of course that was not the first time in human history

            that something like that has happened … in fact is seems to me,

                        that it was another reenactment of the Tower of Babel story.

 

The Tower of Babel story is among the oldest material in the Bible,

            from a time when bricks and mortar were the new technology.

 

When ancient civilization discovered how to make bricks

            it gave them the capacity to build larger and taller structures.

                                    But it was also very labor intensive, and it requiredà

                                                the work and cooperation of a lot more people.

 

The Tower of Babel construction project sounds so impressive:   vs. 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; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."

 

'wow, let's all cooperate because with all of us working together

     there are no limits and we can accomplish this grand achievement;

                        we'll plan and build together,

                                    as by our own efforts and human determination combined,

                                                we can do this and  make a name for ourselves.

 

We'll build this majestic monument to ourselves & human achievement;

            we'll reach high to the very heavens  and we  shall be like gods --

-- and in the arrogance of   their delusions of self-greatness

            àthey would assert their independence and self-determination

                        substituting themselves   for the existence or need for God.

 

The word "Bab-el"  translates and means literally, "gateway to God" -

            their tower was to be a symbol of human power and sufficiency---

                        - to build a structure that would crash the gates of heaven;

                                it was an exercise in human pride, arrogance and vanity.  

 

After the flood and the ark,

            God had said  to go out and repopulate the whole earth,

                        but rather than scatter,

                                    they wanted to stay in comfort - familiar as they were.

 

There was of course no mention of God in any of their building plans…

                                    … no building permit or design approval   from God.

     Nothing about honoring or submitting to the will or worship of God.

There's nothing about gratitude or seeking to discern God's will.

 

    "Look what we ourselves can do  – we really don't need God at all.

            God's word & absolute truth are irrelevant in our modern world…

                        … together, we will be our own gods and nothing can stop us."

 

I was a university student in Virginia  during the early 1970's.

            There were lots of student demonstrations and riots on campus.

                          I'd see fellow students doing destructive things in a crowd

                                    that I knew they would never have done on their own.

 

There is something about a crowd mentality, perhaps the anonymityà

            of being in a large group as a cover for wrong-doing,

              a mob capacity to combine for mischief, to bring out the worst.              

 

When God saw everyone gathered, a mob for building the Tower of Babel,

            and knowing the human tendency of collective evil,

                        as an act of grace and loving kindness, God had to protect

                                    the people from their own arrogant foolishness,à

     by making it more difficult to combine for cooperative human corruption.

vs. 6-7

            And the LORD said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.  Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another's speech.

 

God was placing a protective fence, a boundary around humanity;

            a barrier of language to limit their projects and destruction,

                        something like a playpen to protect an energetic toddler

              or perhaps in the same way that a wise teacher will

                separate students who seem prone to get into trouble together.

 

This is really an act of grace and great kindness to humanity

            as God restricts their work on this dangerous building project

                        restraining their human tendency toward self-destruction;

                              like taking  a box of matches  away from   a small child.

Centuries later, when the author of Acts

            was thinking about how to tell the story of the Pentecost event,

                           he recognized the language connection and contrast

                                    between the story of Pentecost and the story of Babel;

               indeed, that God's power present at Pentecost

                        in effect, reversed and re-interpreted  the curse of Babel.

 

At the Babel construction site,

            God restrained the human potential and proclivity toward evil

                           by confusing their language

                                    and causing humanity to scatter & fill the whole earth.

 

    Though language barriers of Babel were torn down at Pentecost,

            it was not exactly a clear reversal of Babel.

 

   The miracle was not that everyone was speaking and understanding

            the same    single language  as humankind had before Babel.

 

The miracle was that the apostles

            were able to speak, to communicate and be understood

                  by those many other cultures & nations in their own language.

            The truth of the gospel message was translated

                        to accommodate the variety of other cultures and languages.

           

It is important for us to grasp the grace in this ---

            the student doesn't have to learn the language of the teacher,

                 because the teacher accommodates the language of the student.

 

This is the same gracious movement of God   as the gospel story itself.

            We don't live good and obedient lives, then God saves us.

                        But rather, first  God loves us, and accommodates us;

                                     God reaches down to us through Jesus Christ, and then

                                                by the Holy Spirit in us, helps us to follow …

          … therefore, the story of Pentecost

                   is actually    a reenactment of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

Pentecost is about

            living a vision of the Kingdom   as God sets the agenda, (not us),

                        ~as we are invited and open to the Spirit of God who leads us

                                    ~as God's flame burns and blows through our lives …

           … and it always comes as a gracious kindness and gift from God.

          Pentecost was not something generated by those present

                   for it was not something they would accomplished or build;

 

à and so too   we do not decide or control our spiritual journeys,

            rather, it's by the loving choice and grace of God, of God alone.

 

Babel-type building projects are of human pride, and dishonor God,

            whereas the Pentecost event was truly God's kindness and gift…

… as a sign of grace, the listeners were able to hear the truthà

          of God's love for them spoken to them in their own language.

 

The true miracle of Pentecost is that once again,    God happened.

            God's gracious   divine love   reaching out to everyone,

               and the message of the gospel, going beyond any one language.

 

The point is that the church of Jesus was equipped at Pentecost,

            blessed and enabled   to speak to those all around them,

                and to communicate God's love in ways they never could before…

 

… and a lesson is that as humans, filled by God's Holy Spirit

            we Christians can and will accomplish   far more and greater ---

               -- because its God's power and accomplishment,   and not ours.

 

In Genesis they were building a tower by human will & determination

            and in contrast, at Pentecost, God is building up the Church.

God's Church , that has continued to grow on down through the ages…

 

            … and the truth is,   even the best of our project and plans

                        are always far less

                                    than what God would and could accomplish through us.

          God working through us, and not we ourselves  by our own efforts.

 

During Seminary I spent several weeks studying in the Middle East

            traveling with archeologists and biblical scholars

                        visiting ancient cities in Syria, Jordon, Egypt, Israel & Greece;

 

          … and at every single site,   they all had one thing in common --

                                                the buildings were all destroyed and in ruins –

                        over time these projects build by men,  had all collapsed.

 

In sharp and significant contrast,

            consider that which God has been building since Pentecost.

In fact, perhaps of all the miraculous events of the Bible,

            the most astonishing is the emergence of the apostolic church.

 

The formerly weak and frightened disciples of Jesus,

            devoted themselves entirely and wholly    after Pentecost,

                        to building up that distinctive community of faith

                                    that uniquely overcame and changed the Roman world…

  …building up the Church  that God continues to increase and to bless.

 

At Pentecost God reversed the Babel curse of confusion of languages

            and by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit

                  they communicated the gospel across all language  barriers.

 

So when the crowd heard the disciples "babbling" on Pentecost, vs. 12

    All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?"

 

Pentecost is the indwelling of the Spirit of God in each of us,

            which calls and empowers each of us to proclaim the good news,

                        meaning that we could,    we could if we would,

                                    communicate the gospel in ways we never could before…

                                                … for it would not be us,    but God's Spirit in us.

 

Pentecost is God's call,   not to build a more impressive tower,

            but a bridge  to others   across all barriers of differences;

                       accommodating where they are, and not they to us…

                             … sharing what we have in God, with others we encounter.

 

In 1972, David Sharp collapsed and died descending Mt. Everest

            due to a lack of oxygen. He ran out on the way down.

His death caused controversy and debate,

            because at least 40 other climbers ignored him, dying there,

                        passing around him heading to  or returning from the summit…

                                    … they were unwilling to delay, or risk their own climb.

 

Pentecost gave the church, the people of God … spiritual oxygen.

            And almost daily,  I have passed by other people

                        who in need,   have collapsed for lack of spiritual oxygen.

 

May Pentecost be our reminder,

            of the power of the indwelling of God's Spirit in each of us,

                        God's call that we share the truth, the life & resurrection,

                                    the spiritual oxygen   Jesus entrusted to us, to share.

 

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

   because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

                        He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

                           and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,

                                    to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’           (Luke 4:18-19)