Building Towers: The Quest for Significance and Surrender
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As people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, which is, like, current -day Iraq, and settled there. And they said to one another, come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly. And they had bricks for stone and bitumen for mortar. And 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. [00:02:30]
So let us build ourselves and let us make a name for ourselves. So how would you characterize that? Like ambition, something like that, and then lest we be scattered. So there's a fear. There's a fear of scattering, and maybe that is related to insignificance. And so lest, like, I need to do this lest I, right? [00:05:59]
And the fear and the desire for security pushes you from the back. I think we're all totally familiar with these two driving factors, and it's nearly universal. History's filled with examples of this, people seeking significance. I think all of our campuses are full of examples of this. You know, the big benefactors, right, that grant entire buildings and entire departments and put their name on it. [00:06:39]
That is not an innocent expression. The word heavens here implies a challenge to God, and that too is kind of a universal theme. Like why is it that we experience our powers, a kind of intention with God's powers, so that it isn't uncommon for a person to like experience things going well, you know, I have a good job, I have a good job, I have a good job, I have a good job, I have a good job, I have a lot, like a lot of things are going well, my career is going well, I have a nice home, I have leisure, you know, I have my own fishing boat, like I have all of this, so I don't need God. [00:11:07]
Because I think intuitively, even agnostics and atheists recognize that if there is a God, like he has a claim over my life. And the book of Genesis has taught us that's the definition of sin. It's the self -assertion of the I, you know, the letter in the middle of the word sin, I. It's the I problem. And it's a person saying, I want to be autonomous from God. [00:12:32]
and they've they they figured out how to bake bricks you know that's like technological like i mean we're still baking bricks we're still dealing with ceramics how many of you in material science anybody in material science you know what they do they they they try to bake bricks in ever higher temperatures and like you know add weird stuff to it ceramics like that's still big well these guys finally figured out wait a minute we can make mud things and instead of just drying it in the sun we can actually put it in in high heat and then it comes out lighter and stronger and we can build higher because it won't crush the the like it's it's a technological and then you don't have to quarry stones because they're all weird sizes like it's very standardized right so it's the first like mass -produced technology so they're doing all of this and they say and therefore i don't think we need god anymore [00:14:46]
And the alliances that start, like, they're all sort of temporary, right? Alliances at work, they're all temporary, or alliances in common endeavors, the mutual interest drives it, but when the interests are no longer mutual, all those alliances dissolve. You know, it's like those alliances when you're playing Risk or other board games um i remember being really good at risk um because i would i would be able to persuade people to to trust me like hey hey hey just i won't attack i'm gonna go for them and then when they trust me i go and i attack them and they're like gosh as a pastor how can you do this so then um yeah it was kind of uh but you know at the end of the board game you know all those alliances are just kind of strategic moves and only one person is going to win [00:19:39]
And then let's kind of revisit one of the stated goals for why the builders of the tower wanted to build. They said, lest we be scattered over the face of the earth. Like, let's look at that. Like, so far I've been talking about ego, pride, make a great name for ourselves. But the other thing is, like, we don't want to be scattered. We don't want to be dispersed. [00:23:41]
Let's build something that would be high, can be seen from many places, and it'll provide cohesion among us. Like, it's a civic project, right? Like, we don't want to be scattered. Because when we're together, you know, maybe we can defend against our enemies. Let's, let's, let's, it means already they had some sneaking suspicion that there were forces that were pulling people apart. [00:24:03]
You replace God with any tower of Babel, it will not work. You become fragmented. The center cannot hold. Things fall apart, as a famous poem says. Whatever noble cause, it may start out well, but human pride will destroy it eventually. Or maybe not even eventually, like almost in short order. Because human pride cannot create community. Pride is essentially isolating. [00:28:50]
And you've laid up treasures in heaven, and the difficulty of letting go will be more than made up for with the hope of all that you've invested in and well done, good and faithful servant as well. What awaits you? [00:42:56]
And then when you leave, you don't leave anything behind because what you've been building is eternal. [00:42:46]
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So let us build ourselves and let us make a name for ourselves. So how would you characterize that? Like ambition, something like that, and then lest we be scattered. So there's a fear. There's a fear of scattering, and maybe that is related to insignificance. And so lest, like, I need to do this lest I, right? [00:05:59]
And the fear and the desire for security pushes you from the back. I think we're all totally familiar with these two driving factors, and it's nearly universal. History's filled with examples of this, people seeking significance. I think all of our campuses are full of examples of this. You know, the big benefactors, right, that grant entire buildings and entire departments and put their name on it. [00:06:39]
That is not an innocent expression. The word heavens here implies a challenge to God, and that too is kind of a universal theme. Like why is it that we experience our powers, a kind of intention with God's powers, so that it isn't uncommon for a person to like experience things going well, you know, I have a good job, I have a good job, I have a good job, I have a good job, I have a good job, I have a lot, like a lot of things are going well, my career is going well, I have a nice home, I have leisure, you know, I have my own fishing boat, like I have all of this, so I don't need God. [00:11:07]
Because I think intuitively, even agnostics and atheists recognize that if there is a God, like he has a claim over my life. And the book of Genesis has taught us that's the definition of sin. It's the self -assertion of the I, you know, the letter in the middle of the word sin, I. It's the I problem. And it's a person saying, I want to be autonomous from God. [00:12:32]
and they've they they figured out how to bake bricks you know that's like technological like i mean we're still baking bricks we're still dealing with ceramics how many of you in material science anybody in material science you know what they do they they they try to bake bricks in ever higher temperatures and like you know add weird stuff to it ceramics like that's still big well these guys finally figured out wait a minute we can make mud things and instead of just drying it in the sun we can actually put it in in high heat and then it comes out lighter and stronger and we can build higher because it won't crush the the like it's it's a technological and then you don't have to quarry stones because they're all weird sizes like it's very standardized right so it's the first like mass -produced technology so they're doing all of this and they say and therefore i don't think we need god anymore [00:14:46]
And the alliances that start, like, they're all sort of temporary, right? Alliances at work, they're all temporary, or alliances in common endeavors, the mutual interest drives it, but when the interests are no longer mutual, all those alliances dissolve. You know, it's like those alliances when you're playing Risk or other board games um i remember being really good at risk um because i would i would be able to persuade people to to trust me like hey hey hey just i won't attack i'm gonna go for them and then when they trust me i go and i attack them and they're like gosh as a pastor how can you do this so then um yeah it was kind of uh but you know at the end of the board game you know all those alliances are just kind of strategic moves and only one person is going to win [00:19:39]
And then let's kind of revisit one of the stated goals for why the builders of the tower wanted to build. They said, lest we be scattered over the face of the earth. Like, let's look at that. Like, so far I've been talking about ego, pride, make a great name for ourselves. But the other thing is, like, we don't want to be scattered. We don't want to be dispersed. [00:23:41]
Let's build something that would be high, can be seen from many places, and it'll provide cohesion among us. Like, it's a civic project, right? Like, we don't want to be scattered. Because when we're together, you know, maybe we can defend against our enemies. Let's, let's, let's, it means already they had some sneaking suspicion that there were forces that were pulling people apart. [00:24:03]
You replace God with any tower of Babel, it will not work. You become fragmented. The center cannot hold. Things fall apart, as a famous poem says. Whatever noble cause, it may start out well, but human pride will destroy it eventually. Or maybe not even eventually, like almost in short order. Because human pride cannot create community. Pride is essentially isolating. [00:28:50]
And you've laid up treasures in heaven, and the difficulty of letting go will be more than made up for with the hope of all that you've invested in and well done, good and faithful servant as well. What awaits you? [00:42:56]
And then when you leave, you don't leave anything behind because what you've been building is eternal. [00:42:46]
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