Ep. 80 | An Altar or a Tower? | Genesis

Listen in as Pastor Eddie Blalock shares today’s daily devotional featuring Genesis 10-11. Let’s be Formed by The Word together!

Ready to connect? You can send us a message through our website theorchardcc.org, or email Pastor Eddie Blalock at eddie@theorchardcc.org. You can also follow The Orchard Community Church on Facebook and Instagram to stay connected, and find more content on our YouTube channel.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Every story has a beginning. And if you don't understand the beginning, you'll likely misunderstand everything that follows. Welcome to Formed by the Word. Currently, we're going back to the very beginning as we look together at the first 11 chapters of Genesis. These chapters explain our world, our struggles, and much about ourselves. We'll see beauty and brokenness, purpose and pride, judgment and grace. We'll watch humanity fall and see that God already had a plan to restore his relationship with us. The Bible doesn't start with a problem, it starts with a perfect God, and that changes everything. So, wherever you're listening, whether you're driving, working out, or just scrolling for something meaningful, lean in, open your heart, because the God who spoke in the beginning is still speaking today.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Everyone is building something. Some people are building a career, some people are building a reputation, some are building wealth, or some may be building a platform. For the followers of Jesus, the question is not whether you're building something or not. The question is who gets the glory when it's finished? In Genesis 8, Noah built an altar and gave glory to God. And yet in Genesis 11, humanity built a tower to bring glory to themselves. Those two structures reveal two very different hearts. Now here's a very important lesson for us, and a great way for us to end our study, our time together in the first 11 chapters of Genesis. The important lesson is simple. Human ambition apart from God leads to pride, confusion, and frustration. We see today that God sovereignly interrupts our self-centered plans to redirect us toward his purposes. So we begin reading with the Tower of Babel. Let's start here. Genesis 11, verse 1. At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words. As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylon and settled there. They began saying to each other, Let's make bricks and harden them with fire. In this region, bricks were used instead of stones, and tar was used for mortar. Then they said, Come, let's build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world. Now, what a contrast. At the end of chapter eight, or in chapter eight, we saw Noah come out of the ark, and when he came out of the ark, he built an altar. But these people, humanity, years later, built a tower. We call it the Tower of Babel. Now an altar says, God is great. Noah had just survived the flood. His first response was to worship. He wasn't trying to make himself famous. He was giving thanksgiving, praise, and glory to God. But a tower says, look at us. Genesis 11 4 gives us the motive for this tower. It says, let us make a name for ourselves. And that's really the key verse of this passage. The real problem at Babel was not height or architecture. It was a heart and ambition. They wanted God's blessing without God's authority. They wanted significance without obedience. The people had unity, skill, and resources, but sadly, they chose to use them for building their own name rather than to honor God's name. They opted for self-glory rather than obedience. Notice the declaration. Let us make a name for ourselves lest we be dispersed. You see, the people directly resisted God's command to spread out and fill the earth. Instead, they were content to build a city, and in this city they would build a tower with the caveat for ourselves, they said. Sometimes we're just more comfortable staying where we are, aren't we? Sometimes to spread out often brings with it some inconveniences. What towers are you building right now? Career? A success in that career? Personal reputation? Financial security? A ministry platform? Primarily, is it to make your own name great, honestly? In what areas of your life are you staying put just because it's more comfortable? I quote him often. Ray Steadman writes about this. However, the heart of the matter, the problem, is made clear in these words. Let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered upon the face of the whole earth. Already a haunting fear had set in, Steadman adds. He says they were already conscious of a disruptive influence in their midst, of a centrifugal force that was pushing them apart so that they could not live too closely together, and which would ultimately they feared scatter them abroad and leave them unknown, unhonored, and unsung, living in isolated communities where they would be exposed to great danger. The fear of this caused them to build a tower in a city. Steadman adds, the ultimate motive is expressed in these words, let us make a name for ourselves. And he concludes, from that day on, this has been the motto of humanity. Let us make a name for ourselves. This tower of Babel, perhaps you've heard of it before. Now, we notice the response of God to this tower, Genesis 11, verses 5 to 7. Now, again, the real problem at Babel was not the tower, it was theology. The worst thing you can do is reshape God to look like you. When we treat God as less than necessary in our lives or as being manipulable or dependent on our offerings, we lose sight of His holiness, His authority, His majesty, and even His love. Instead of worshiping the God who created us, we begin to worship the gods that we create, the towers that we build. Those gods cannot save us. We begin to not worship at an altar and build altars to worship our almighty God, but rather towers to say, look at us. Knowing this, God responds by scattering the people and confusing their language. Judgment comes, but even this judgment is an act of mercy. God refuses to let humanity run endlessly toward a distorted view of Himself. Scattering stops the spread of a theology that turns the creator into a creature. Verse five continues, but the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower that the people were building. Look, he said, The people are united and they all speak the same language. After this nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them. Come, let's go down and confuse the people with different languages, then they won't be able to understand each other. So God's response was to confuse the language of the people and to scatter them. Why? Because unified rebellion only produces a greater rebellion. Sometimes God has to disrupt our plans because he loves us too much to let us keep running in the wrong direction. So let's conclude this and make a gospel connection. At Babel, people said, Let us make a name for ourselves, but Jesus did just the opposite. Philippians 2, verses 5 and following tells us that he made himself nothing, that rather than making a name for himself, he humbled himself and became obedient to death on a cross. Because Jesus humbled himself, God highly exalted him and gave him the name above every name. The people of Babel sought glory. Jesus surrendered glory. One led to confusion at Babel, the other led to salvation at the cross. You see, in Christ, we no longer need to strive to make a name for ourselves. We're striving to make Jesus famous. We're looking to make Jesus the hero, not me. He's already given us a new name and a secure identity in him. The gospel turns our self-focused building into God-focused worship. Instead of building towers, we need to be building altars. How long will we continue to be more concerned about our towers that we build or have built that says, look at us? When will we turn again to building altars? Well, here's an application. Every day we choose, will I build a tower or will I build an altar? Will my life be about making my name great or making God's name great? Psalm 115, verse 1 gives us the answer. Psalm 115, verse 1, the psalm writer says this Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name, give glory. My that would be a good one to memorize as a daily reminder. That would be a good one to have as a solid mantra. Oh God, not to us, not to us, but to your name, give glory. Maybe you ought to stop for just a minute, identify one tower in your life, and prayerfully surrender it to God this week. Well, here's a stinging takeaway. So be ready, brace yourself. This one has been after me for days now. Here's the takeaway. An altar says, God is great. A tower says, Look at me. Which are you building? I can't think of a more appropriate thought, a more appropriate passage to close this Genesis one through eleven study with such an important thing. Make sure you're building altars to glorify God rather than towers just to say look at me. Heavenly Father, forgive me for the times I have tried to build my own tower and make a name for myself. Search my heart and tear down any prideful ambitions. Lord, redirect my life according to your perfect will. Help me to live for your glory, not my own. Use even my scattered moments for your greater purpose. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen. Hey folks, it's been great walking through Genesis with you. I look forward to our next study, but we're actually going to have a two-week break here. I'm going to be on a mission trip in the Bahamas with two of our mission teams. So during that time, I'm going to get help from my friends. Our orchard team, our orchard leadership team, has agreed to each one do a single devotion. So for the next two weeks, you're going to be hearing from one of our orchard leaders. And he or she will be sharing a song, one of the songs that we sing, one of our favorite songs about why it's their favorite and why it's so special to them. I think it's going to be a blessing to you beyond measure. Be sure and let me hear from you. Let me know what you think about my friends and their devotion and how God blesses you and speaks to you through their effort. God bless you. See you soon.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

Thanks for joining us today. We are so glad that you chose to spend a few moments with us in God's Word. If this episode has encouraged you, we ask that you leave us a review or maybe share this episode with a friend. Also, would you consider sending us a note to let us know what God is doing in your life? Pastor Eddie would love to hear from you. You can find this email in the show notes. Until next time, stay in the scriptures, keep following Christ, and allow your life to be formed by the Word.