Genesis 11:1-9, “Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. And as men traveled in the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and made their home there. They said to one another, “Come, let us make blocks and burn them until they are hard.” They used blocks for stone, and tar to hold them together. Then they said, “Come, let us build a city FOR OURSELVES, with a tower that touches the heavens. Let us make a name FOR OURSELVES, or else we may be sent everywhere over the whole earth.” Then the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, “See, they are one people, and they all have the same language. This is only the beginning of what they will do. Now all they plan to do will be possible for them. Come, let Us go down and mix up their language so they will not understand what each other says.” So, the Lord sent them everywhere over the whole earth. And they stopped building the city. So, the name of the city was Babel because there the Lord mixed up the language of the whole earth. The Lord sent the people everywhere over the whole earth.” (NLV)
Key Verse: Genesis 11:4, “Then they said, “Come, let us build a city FOR OURSELVES, with a tower that touches the heavens. Let us make a name FOR OURSELVES, or else we may be sent everywhere over the whole earth.” (NLV)
Louis Sullivan, the inventor of the modern skyscraper, said, “The tall building…should be a proud and soaring thing that makes a powerful appeal to the architectural imagination.”
Well, today, many believers embody the same spirit of Pride and Self-Sufficiency that is represented in the lofty towers that make up our cities. Unfortunate as it may be, many Bible toting, Scripture quoting People of God are Focused on Personal Perfection MORE THAN Pleasing the One Whom They Call Their “Personal Lord and Savior”.
Now, it is one thing for the “World” to act in such a manner, but when the “Church” behaves in such a manner it Delivers a Critical Blow to the Conduct that is Called “Christ-Like”! And as People of God, we are Never Called to Compromise or Conform! Romans 12:1-2, “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Do not become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You will be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” (MSG)
“God, Church and Hell are all real. People claim they love God, but is God in them? They go to church to play church. But if you go to hell, will you still be playing?” (Author Unknown)
I do not think we are fully aware of the dangers of “playing church”. We can pretend all day long here on earth, but there comes a day of reckoning, and God is not going to ask about who and what you pretended to be, but who you really are and what you really did! 2 Corinthians 5:9-10, “But neither exile nor homecoming is the main thing. Cheerfully pleasing God is the main thing, and that is what we aim to do, regardless of our conditions. Sooner or later, we will all have to face God, regardless of our conditions. We will appear before Christ and take what’s coming to us because of our actions, either good or bad.” (MSG) You must get yourself together in this life because the afterlife is too late! When you play with church, and play with your soul, you are playing with your eternity! Today is the day we take off all the masks and stop with the pretense and get real! It is time to work on we, instead of simply covering up an ugly construction site of sin and foolishness. We have pretended to be healed, whole, saved and delivered for long enough. It is time to get ourselves right before that last trumpet sounds! This is NOT a dress rehearsal! There are no shows and curtains in heaven waiting for you to come out playing a character instead of possessing Character!
But what you will have to embrace is that once you have pretended for so long, the real you get lost! And people become comfortable and familiar with who you have pretended to be all this time. So, it will not be an easy or quick process to unveiling the real you! But if you are to please God, it is a must!
Well, the builders of the tower of Babel shared a key aspect of Sullivan’s vision of the tall building: PRIDE! And they had one purpose: TO BUILD A NAME FOR THEMSELVES! They wanted to claim glory that rightly belonged to God Alone – but after all, they ‘were worth it’ too, right?
However, the longing to climb higher than God did not begin in Babel. Before time began, Lucifer said, “…I will RAISE MY THRONE ABOVE THE STARS OF GOD; I will SIT ENTHRONED ON THE MOUNT OF ASSEMBLY, on the UTMOST HEIGHTS OF MOUNT ZAPHON” (Isaiah 14:13 NIV). And to this day, we still have people who are doing whatever it takes to raise themselves up to sit enthroned amongst the assembly and be treated as Kings & Queens of the utmost heights of elevations, promotions, titles and positions, rings, robes, and royal seating in the sanctuary!
So, you see, it did not begin with Babel, BUT it did not end with Babel, either.
Here is a little history for you. The pyramids of Egypt proclaim the power of the rulers buried beneath them. Many lives were lost in the building of the pyramids, “collateral damage” to the princes who built them. Often Egyptian slaves were killed when their masters died and were buried alongside them. But just as the Egyptian kings sacrificed everything to their own legacy. The rulers of ancient Egypt were not all-powerful – they died the deaths of mere men. So, do not you dare be deceived, your soul will not be saved by flawless skin or the perfect career any more than the towering mountains of stone raised over the mummies of kings saved them!
People of God, it is one thing to have pride in yourself, your appearance and even your accomplishments. However, you must never let your pride get out of control. Do not be like those who attempted to “BUILD FOR THEMSELVES” and “MAKE A NAME FOR THEMSELVES”! Truth is, it is Not About You! Your Talent, Gifts, Skillset, anointing etc.…are for the Building of the Kingdom of God, Not a Personal Cathedral to You! Building a Legacy is not about Your Name being left behind for generations after you to talk about! A Legacy has Purpose; It Has Action! Legacy is for People who have Done Something! Your name on a building is useless if what you Did was not useful! Let your work speak for you, it has a loud and powerful voice that will not and cannot be silenced!
However, you must put in the work! And that work is not FOR you, it is FROM you! It is to build a better generation (not so you can take credit for it) but simply because you care about what the Lord’s heart desires. Every time Jesus came into a person’s life (even if it was briefly passing through it) their life was made better. They were made better. If you want your name to say something, let it say Character; Integrity; Sincerity; Excellence; Modesty; Dignity; Help; Support. Let your name say something about what you Do for Others (that you look for no recognition or credit for).
The best handiwork is when your left hand does not know what your right hand is doing! “Our fingerprints don’t fade from the lives we touch.” (Judy Blume), We can put our hands to better use, as in touching the lives of others and leaving that as our legacy! Egos and pride have had us to focus on ourselves long enough!
Also, be careful not to lose yourself trying to find yourself in places God never intended you to be! Hint: lofty, high places certainly is not it! If you want to really find yourself, just locate the places your God has been (after all, you were made in His image and likeness). Remember, He dwells in Humility; He hangs around the Poor and Meek; He lends a Helping and Healing hand to those who are hurting and struggling. He is aiding the bound to become free; He is feeding the hungry and clothing the naked. He is providing shelter for the homeless and a protective hedge for those under attack.
Believe it or not, the real Heights are when you delve into the Depths of despair to help someone who cannot help themselves!
In closing, I understand the commercial ad “Because, I’m Worth It”. But that is a motto for the World! When it comes to Believers, our Motto is more like “Because, He’s Worth It!”
So, what do you take pride in? What keeps you from glorifying God? Has your focus become self-absorbed? Have you become self-glorifying? If so, the solution to the problem is simple: Whatever is keeping you from God, give it to Him for His glory! Let your relationship with Jesus be the source of your significance.
The Word of God does not lie, when you humble yourself Before God, He Will Lift You Up! However, a high ego will bring you down mighty low!
“…Come, let Us go down and mix up their language so they will not understand what each other says.” So, the Lord sent them everywhere over the whole earth. And they stopped building the city. So, the name of the city was Babel because there the Lord mixed up the language of the whole earth. The Lord sent the people everywhere over the whole earth.” (NLV)
Do not allow your pride and ego to steal your voice! There is so much for you to speak into the lives of the current and future generations that you cannot afford to let your ego ‘babble’ your purpose. These were a people that were sent by the Lord everywhere over the whole earth. But what purpose did it serve them since their language was mixed up and served nothing of value to themselves or to those generations to come. You have an opportunity to be sent to all the corners of the earth. In fact, you have that as a command!
Acts 1:7-8, “He told them, “You do not get to know the time. Timing is the Father’s business. What you will get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses IN JERUSALEM, ALL OVER JUDEA AND SAMARIA, EVEN TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD.” (MSG)
Matthew 28:19-20, “Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave His charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train EVERYONE YOU MEET, FAR AND NEAR, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.” (MSG)
Mark 16:14-16, “Still later, as the Eleven were eating supper, He appeared and took them to task most severely for their stubborn unbelief, refusing to believe those who had seen Him raised up. Then He said, “GO INTO THE WORLD. GO EVERYWHERE and announce the Message of God’s good news TO ONE AND ALL. Whoever believes and is baptized is saved; whoever refuses to believe is damned.” (MSG)
You can either maintain your ego and cause God to send your babbling, unproductive self all over the globe, or you could humble yourself and cause God to send you all over the globe fulfilling His Will and Purpose, however, the choice is always YOURS! You can have a global ministry that takes you all over the globe filled with purpose, or a global ministry that takes you all over the globe and it is pointless.
Proverbs 18:21, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it and indulge it will eat its fruit and bear the consequences of their words.” (AMP) So, what are you going to allow your ego to use your words for, death or life? Because as you go day-by-day in your work for the Lord, you will daily have to make that decision. And your ego or humility is the determining factor as to which it will be.
There is nothing wrong with building, but it must always keep God in proper perspective with every brick! Proverbs 16:3, “Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His Will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed.” (AMPC)
The danger for the people in our text was that they were focused on building for themselves and they failed. Just think of what you could accomplish and succeed at if only you would keep the Lord as your tunnel vision focus?! Remember, no matter how the Lord chooses to use YOU, it is always about HIM! Do not let your ego rob you of a great work you can accomplish for God. There are people who have need of you and all that God put in you. Do not let your ego be the roadblock that keeps you from going forward into a fruitful destiny. Keep the Lord at the center, and everything else around you will fall into place and, “…so shall your plans be established and succeed.” Instead of “…and they stopped building the city…”
Reflection Questions:
- What kind of “towers” have you built? (your business, your career, your talents, your ministry etc.…) Who really gets the glory from your labors, you, or God?
- If you had to be truthful with yourself, would you honestly say you are Selfless or Selfish?
- How would you honestly handle working hard behind the scenes, and yet never having your name come up in the credits?
- When is the last time you did something good for someone who still has no idea it was you?
- If there were only 3 things that someone would be able to share as your legacy, what would those 3 things be?
- If you were to be known for a specific Fruit of the Spirit, which would it be and why?
Psalm 86:8-10, “There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord. And there are no works like Yours. All the nations You have made will come and worship before You, O Lord. And they will bring honor to Your name. For You are great and do great things. You alone are God.” (NLV).
Proverbs 18:10-12, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The man who does what is right runs into it and is safe. The rich man’s money is his strong city, and he thinks it is like a high wall. The heart of a man is proud before he is destroyed, but having no pride goes before honor.” (NLV).
Matthew 23:12, “The person who thinks he is important will find out how little he is worth. The person who is not trying to honor himself will be made important.” (NLV)
“The man who thinks he can live without others is mistaken; the one who thinks others can’t live without him is even more deluded.” ~Hasidic Saying
“When someone sings his own praises, he always gets the tune too high.” ~Mary H. Waltrip
“People that put themselves above others will fall longer and harder.” ~Gina Lindley
“When science discovers the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to find they are not it.” ~Bernard Baily
Blessings
J.P. Olson
www.thewordwithjpolson.org
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