Genesis and Technology - May 31st, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Fighter Bombers Carrying Life in Pressurized Cockpits

A military jet designed for destruction becomes a vessel of rescue, carrying a human heart across states in its pressurized cockpit. Technology’s purpose shifts when aligned with life-giving intent. The navigator cradled the cooler not as cargo, but as sacred trust. What seems built for one purpose can be redeemed for another when guided by urgency and care. This mirrors humanity’s call to steward tools for holy ends. [17:24]

“God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’” (Genesis 1:28, NIV)

Reflection: Where has God given you tools or skills meant for one purpose that could be redirected toward healing or service? How might you “pressurize” your gifts to protect what is fragile?

Day 2: Babel’s Bricks and the Language of Self-Glorification

They settled on the plain, stacking bricks into a tower to make their name great. Unified language became a tool for collective rebellion, not collaboration. Their city walls sought to replace God’s command to scatter and cultivate. Technology here exposed hearts more than ingenuity: a fear of obscurity, a hunger for control. The greater the gift, the deeper the potential distortion. [28:28]

“Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.’” (Genesis 11:4, NIV)

Reflection: What “towers” are you building to secure your legacy? Where does your craving for recognition clash with God’s call to hidden faithfulness?

Day 3: The Three Temptations Our Phones Offer Godhood

Omnipotence: believing we control outcomes through apps. Omnipresence: fragmenting attention between screens and souls. Omniscience: mistaking information overload for wisdom. These devices mirror Eden’s fruit, promising godlike power but draining our humanity. The serpent still whispers: “You will be like God.” Technology’s test isn’t the tool, but the heart’s posture toward it. [38:05]

“Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.” (1 Corinthians 6:12, NIV)

Reflection: Which of the three temptations—control, distraction, or endless curiosity—most often hijacks your peace? What small habit could recenter your dependence on God?

Day 4: WiFi Passwords and the Most Important Face in the Room

A parent observation area advertises its WiFi, inviting disengagement from the children below. Presence becomes optional, traded for the dopamine of novelty. The “most interesting thing in the world” is rarely the person before us. Technology’s theft isn’t time, but the irreplaceable gift of undivided attention—the sacrament of looking someone in the eyes. [41:33]

“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10, NIV)

Reflection: When did you last sit without glancing at a screen? Whose face have you missed seeing fully because your mind was elsewhere?

Day 5: Feeding 200 vs Doomscrolling 2000 Miles Away

A church feeds 200 neighbors weekly while others rage online about abstract injustices. Hands knead dough as thumbs scroll past suffering. Technology amplifies both distraction and mission: it can fuel outrage over distant headlines or coordinate meals for hungry families. The kingdom advances not through viral posts, but through soup pots and handshakes. [51:44]

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” (Galatians 6:9–10, NIV)

Reflection: What local need could you meet this week that your screen would never tell you about? How might “doing good” reset your relationship with technology?

Sermon Summary

A fighter-bomber that can level a city gets repurposed to deliver a human heart and save a life. That picture sets the frame. Technology sits as a gift, but fallen hearts twist gifts toward self. Genesis 11 tells the truth about that twist. The text shows a people with a perfect tool, a shared language, where what is said is what is meant and what is heard. Language becomes the first technology in the story, and it works. Then the next verse hits. Humanity migrates, finds a plain, and settles, even though God said, fill the earth. Bricks arrive, tar arrives, skill arrives, and the chorus rises, let us make, let us build, let us make a name for ourselves. The problem is not the tech. The problem is a united people, using God’s gifts for self glory and for dodging God’s mission.

Image bearing sits at the core. God made living statues to fill the earth so every place would say, this is the King’s realm. Babel flips the script. Humanity wants to enter God’s space, be like God, and secure control. Genesis 11 scales Genesis 3 from a couple to a culture. The desire is omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, the incommunicable attributes that belong to God alone. Devices now whisper the same lie. Power in the pocket feels like control. Screens make someone mentally elsewhere while physically here. Feeds offer the most interesting thing somewhere else and train a heart to trade what is important for what is interesting.

God answers Babel as he always does. God comes down. God confuses speech. God scatters. God is not threatened by altitude, God is moved by mercy. Unified rebellion gets restrained so that self destruction gets checked, and the mandate to fill the earth moves forward. Paul’s word still stands. All things may be permissible, but nothing must master a person. Dominion over creation is the assignment, not being ruled by it.

Pentecost then flips the lights on. Where Babel climbed, the Spirit descends. Where languages divided, languages now clarify. Where the nations scattered in judgment, the nations gather in understanding. Unity reforms around the name of Jesus, not the names people try to make for themselves. Technology can serve that kind of unity. The question lands here. Are these tools training disciples to love God fully, love others faithfully, proclaim and embody good news, or are they tricking image bearers into playing God?

Key Takeaways

1. Technology is gift and temptation God hands out creativity, skill, and tools as part of image bearing. Sin bends them inward, turning tools for service into platforms for self. Wisdom learns to spot the bend, to repent when gifts become idols, and to receive God’s merciful interventions. The point is not anti tech, it is pro obedience. [19:21]
2. Language builds unity or vanity Shared speech can serve clarity, peacemaking, and mission, or it can mobilize a crowd to dodge God’s call. “Let us make” can become a beautiful liturgy or a proud script. The heart that loves God will use words to bless and scatter for his purposes, not to huddle for fame. [29:30]
3. Do not exchange important for interesting The most interesting thing is almost never the thing right in front of a person. Attention is love, and love requires presence. Choosing the person nearby over the feed elsewhere is a daily act of spiritual war, the way a heart refuses the lie of omnipresence. [43:30]
4. God restrains unified rebellion in mercy Confused speech is not pettiness, it is protection. God refuses to let pride run unopposed, and that refusal is grace. Scattering hurts, but it saves, and it nudges humanity back toward the calling to fill the earth under God’s rule. [56:29]
5. Pentecost gathers for Jesus’ name Babel said, make a name for ourselves, Pentecost says, proclaim the name of Jesus. The Spirit creates understanding, draws the nations, and forms real unity around Christ, not platforms or politics. Tools can serve this mission when hearts are set on his kingdom first. [59:16]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[17:24] - Fighter-bomber repurposed for life
[19:21] - Technology’s paradox named
[23:03] - Prayer for open hearts
[26:47] - Creation mandate to fill the earth
[28:28] - Reading Genesis 11
[29:30] - Language as first technology
[32:32] - Let us make a name
[34:21] - Image-bearers as living statues
[38:23] - Tempted to be like God
[43:30] - Important vs interesting
[49:22] - Stop swiping, start serving
[54:49] - Dominion, not digital slavery
[55:24] - God intervenes at Babel
[59:16] - Pentecost undoes Babel in Christ

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Genesis 11:1-9 (ESV)
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 bitumen 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.

Acts 2:1-12 (ESV)
(Passage describing Pentecost, where the Holy Spirit enables diverse languages to unite people around Christ.)

1 Corinthians 10:23 (ESV)
“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up.

Observation Questions

In Genesis 11:4, the people say, “Let us make a name for ourselves.” What specific actions did they take to achieve this goal, and how did it conflict with God’s command in Genesis 1:28?
The sermon contrasts Babel’s “let us make a name” with Pentecost’s focus on proclaiming Jesus’ name. What key differences in purpose and outcome are highlighted between these two events?
According to the sermon, how does technology tempt us to pursue “incommunicable attributes” of God (like omnipresence or omniscience)? [38:23]

Interpretation Questions

Why did God confuse the languages at Babel instead of directly destroying the tower or city? What does this reveal about His mercy and His commitment to humanity’s original mission?
The sermon argues that “the problem is not the tech” but how we use it. How does Genesis 11 illustrate this principle, and why is this distinction critical for Christians today? [32:53]
In 1 Corinthians 10:23, Paul says not all lawful things are helpful. How might this apply to modern technologies that are morally neutral but can still hinder spiritual growth or mission?

Application Questions

The sermon warns against exchanging “what’s important for what’s interesting.” What practical step could you take this week to prioritize presence with people over digital distractions (e.g., meals, conversations)? [43:30]
Reflect on a technology you use daily (phone, social media, etc.). How might it subtly tempt you to seek control (“omnipotence”) or mental escape (“omnipresence”)? What boundary could help redirect its use toward love or service?
Babel’s unity was rooted in self-glory, while Pentecost’s unity centered on Christ. Where have you seen communities (even churches) prioritize human platforms or politics over Jesus’ name? How could you gently redirect conversations or actions toward gospel-centered unity?
The sermon challenges believers to ask: “Are these tools helping me love God and others, or tricking me into playing God?” What one habit or accountability could help you regularly evaluate your tech use through this lens? [59:16]
Genesis 11 shows humanity resisting God’s call to “fill the earth.” What fear or comfort might keep you from engaging missionally in your current relationships, workplace, or neighborhood? How could technology actually aid this calling instead of avoiding it?

Sermon Clips

37s

“``Babel says, let's make a name for ourselves and Pentecost says, let's proclaim the name of Jesus among all nations. This isn't about us, it's about God. And the thing that we want to grasp is God's heart for his people is not unite unity around politics or platforms or identity or any of those things, it's around his kingdom and his purposes and his people and his son. These are the communicable attributes of God that we that we can bring about. We can demonstrate these things with the lives of one another.”

46s

“But in Babel here, we see humanity is united around self glory. They're trying to ascend to God. The languages that God separates them with begin to divide them and they're scattered in judgment. Yet on Pentecost Sunday, the Holy Spirit descends upon his people. The languages that they're all using become understandable. The nations are gathered and unity is formed around Jesus. See, what the Holy Spirit does is he he undoes what God did at Babel. Separation for protection, unity protection. God brings them all back together.”

40s

“See, this is the thing that we are tempted to do. We are tempted to exchange what's important for what's interesting. Because when we're in these moments, when we're we're with our kids in that moment, you know what the most important thing is? It's not whatever is happening somewhere else. Although, it may be way more interesting. You know what? I didn't have these things, but we had kids and they played sports, And I'll tell you, there were way more interesting things than watching my eight year old son play soccer. Like, get it.”

29s

“So one of the things I just wanna land right away is is the problem is not our technology. The problem is not our technology. The problem is not bricks or cities. The problem is when humanity unites around self glory instead of God's glory. I wish that the NLT didn't render this as a as a contraction. So I'm just gonna do it this way, let us make bricks and harden them with fire.”

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WestWay Christian Church This sermon · AI assistant

What is the spiritual risk of technological unity?

How does Babel illustrate misuse of God's gifts?

How does Pentecost reverse Babel's divided communication?