From Independence to Dependence

What happens when we declare independence from God?

Home is something we all want. When kids are grown and out on their own and get into a tough situation, they go home for help. When the holidays come around, we go home to be with family. When we travel for business or vacation, we start to long for home.

For some of us, our home growing up was a place we enjoyed. For some of us, our home life was difficult. Whatever the case is, we are all on a search for home. We have a longing for it. We have an ache for it. We want a place to call home. Let’s take some time to describe why that is. Why do we long for home?

If home was everything it’s supposed to be, what kind of place would it be? Complete this sentence: Home is a place where I am [blank].

Series Introduction
When we started the book of Genesis in chapter 1, we talked about the idea of “home.” When God first created the world and us, he wanted it to be a home where he lives with us. But we quickly saw how that home became the first broken home in human history. Genesis is a book of beginnings and the big story is about how God is beginning our journey home. Chapters 1 through 11 have been setting up the story. How was everything supposed to be and how did it all get messed up? All throughout, we have seen God’s grace in response to human sin, disobedience, and rebellion. But starting in chapter 12, God will initiate a specific plan to bring us back home that is ultimately fulfilled through Jesus.

Sermon Introduction
Last week, we finished Noah and the flood and the covenant God made with Noah. This week, we will trace the growth of Noah’s family to repopulate the earth but we will also see humanity’s continued desire to live independent of God. This week we celebrate the 4th of July - Independence Day. Our founding fathers believed that Great Britain didn’t have their best interests in mind so they wrote up a Declaration of Independence and signed their names to it. It was just signing a piece of paper but it was deeply meaningful and symbolic. They were separating themselves from the King of England and his rule. In our passage today, the people build a tower that is symbolic of their attitudes toward God. It’s their declaration of independence.

The big question this passage answers is: what happens when we declare independence from God? What happens when we declare independence from God?

Let’s start with the genealogy in chapter 10.

Genesis 10

I spared Brian from proving to us he could pronounce all these names for our first Scripture reading. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t important. The difficulty for us with this list is that these names don’t mean much to us. This chapter is recording the generations of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth because they repopulate the earth after the flood. There is a section for each of the sons in this chapter, telling us a selective list of sons and people groups that came from them. It’s selective because the list doesn’t cover every son or generation in the same amount of detail. It focuses on the ones who matter to the people of Israel because they are the first audience of this book.

Think of it this way. If you were to ask me what footballs teams are in the NFL, I could tell you about them according to my interest level in them as a Packer fan. Perhaps I would list off a couple that I don’t really care about that much like the Miami Dolphins, the Carolina Panthers, the New York Giants, the San Francisco 49ers. The Packers don’t play them much, they are far away, they aren’t in our division. But then out of those, maybe I’d make special mention of the New England Patriots because they have won so many Super Bowls and have been accused of cheating. I have a negative opinion of them.

Then I’d maybe go through the teams that I know better because the Packers play them a lot. We’ve got the Lions who we have to beat for a playoff spot but our rivalry isn’t that deep. We’ve got the Bears who we also have to beat for a playoff spot and they really don’t like us. But then we have the Vikings. We are bitter rivals with them. One of our quarterbacks even went to play for them after he retired - bleh. But then lastly, I’d tell you about my home team: the Packers. I’d go into more detail telling you about them - their history, famous players and so forth.

That’s how this list works. It is written to the nation of Israel and focuses on the other nations that they would care about. It starts with the sons of Japheth in verse 2 and goes to verse 5. It just lists some of these generations and doesn’t go into detail because these people aren’t geographically close to them and they don’t have much interaction.

The sons of Ham are next in verses 6 through 20. More generations are covered and more details are given because many of Israel’s enemies are descendants of Ham. Two of Ham’s sons are Egypt and Canaan. If you are an Israelite, this is like mentioning the Bears and Vikings to a Packer fan. Egypt enslaved Israel for 400 years. The people who originally were reading this 3,000 years ago were just rescued from slavery in Egypt.

Then the land of Canaan is the land God promises to the Israelites after he rescues them from slavery. They were known for their immoral practices and that’s one reason God gives the land to Israel instead. They are just like their forefather, Ham. Two of the cities they form are Sodom and Gomorrah. In the Bible, these places are the worst of the worst in terms of sin, immorality, and wickedness.

In verses 8 through 12, a lot of detail is given about one specific man named Nimrod. Why? Because of the cities that are part of the kingdom he creates. In verse 10, we learn that he built Babel or Babylon and in verse 11 we learn he built Nineveh in Assyria. Both of these places become powerful nations that invade Israel and take them into captivity. Not much time was spent on the sons of Japheth because they are like the Dolphins, Panthers, Giants and 49ers: they are far away from the home team and don’t have much interaction. But a lot of time is spent on the sons of Ham because they are like the Lions, Bears, and Vikings: they are close and many of them are rivals to the home team.

Starting in verse 21, the focus is on Noah’s son, Shem. Shem is the home team. From Shem comes Terah and from Terah comes Abram who is the founding father of Israel.

Reading this list in chapter 10 might leave us with a positive feeling. God told Noah and his sons to spread out and fill the earth and look! They did. All these different nations and peoples came from Noah and his family and obeyed God. But Genesis 11, verses 1 through 9 give us a different story.

Genesis 11:1-9

The first four verses describe humanity’s efforts to declare independence. Let’s read starting in verse of chapter 11:

11 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 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. (Genesis 11:1-3)

Their plan is to make bricks and use bitumen for the mortar. Another word for bitumen is asphalt. Today, we use it for blacktop and for shingles on roofs and it can be found naturally in bitumen pits. What do they want to do with it? Look at verse 4:

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, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:4)

God gave them a job. He commissioned them to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. Instead, they are working against God’s will. They are building a city and a tower so that they won’t be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. They are acting in disobedience to the purpose God gave them. This tower they want to build is famously called the tower of Babel and it represents three desires that answer our big question.

The big question this passage answers is: what happens when we declare independence from God?

First, we work to be close to God. When we declare independence from God, we work to be close to God. This tower they were building is what archaeologists have called a ziggurat.  There have been around 30 of them found in this region of the world. There are still unanswered questions about their purpose, but a common explanation is that they were built to give access to the gods. It was like a staircase to heaven. You were closer to the gods when you went up it and the gods could come meet you on the top. A special class of priests would perform rituals on the top of it.

These builders don’t want to obey God by filling the earth, but they still want God in their lives. The problem is that they want God in their lives on their own terms. They want to have him in their way. They don't want to obey him but they still want him around.

Almost everyone has a desire to be close to God. We are like homing pigeons. Even if they are thousands of miles from their nest, they can find their way home. They have a sense of where home is. We are the same way. We have a sense that our home is with God and we are trying to get back to him. You won’t meet anyone who isn’t on a spiritual journey trying to find a place to hang their hat. Even people who deny God exists and only trust science still worship the grandeur and beauty of the universe.

The problem is, we too often do it on our own terms. We build our own towers of Babel to reach God by our work, our efforts, our path. Like these builders, we are a mixed bag of contradictory desires and actions. We don’t want to follow God’s ways, trusting him and doing what he says, but we still want to be close with him. But we both disobey God and be close to him. We have to be close with him on his terms.

We have this sense that God is far and that's because he is - not out in space but relationally. We sense something must be done to get close to him but our efforts never can do it . We try to build our own tower to God by being good enough - going to church services enough, giving enough money, helping people enough. But none of it will ever be enough! No tower we build is tall enough to cover the distance between us. That’s why Jesus said he is the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through him. Jesus is the only way we can be close to God because he paid the price for our declaration of independence from God.

Second, we work for security. When we declare independence from God, we work for security. When we work for security, we want to be able to say, “I am safe.” These builders don’t want to be dispersed over the earth so they build a city and a tower. God’s desire is for them to fill the earth as his representatives made in his image. But they don’t want that. They don’t believe that is in their best interests. So they work against God’s will.

When we believe God doesn’t want what is best for us, we won’t trust him. If we believed his desire and will for us is in our best interest, we would find security in him and doing what he says. But if we don’t trust God, we will work to build security and safety in some other way.

Security gives us rest because we can let our guard down, but if we don’t find our rest in God, we will always be seeking for security. We will seek it through money or respect or control. We will find security in being busy or we will try to not be busy so we can feel at rest. No matter what it is, if it isn’t God we will never find security and rest.

Third, we work for significance. When we declare independence from God, we work for significance. When we work for significance, we want to be able to say, “I matter.” The builders want to construct this tower to make a name for themselves. They want to be known for something. They want this tower to be an enduring monument saying, “We matter. We made a difference. We are worth something.”

When we stop trusting in God to define us and give us our identity, we will work to prove we matter through our own efforts and accomplishments. Instead of trusting in what God has said about who we are, we will work to make a name for ourselves. But God has already told us who we are. We were made in his image to be his representatives on earth. If you have trusted in Jesus, you are his adopted son or daughter. You are a servant of King Jesus who gave his life for you. You are loved, forgiven, and accepted not based on what you have done but based on what God has done.

We seek significance through being known for something. We want to make a name for ourselves. We want to be respected, adored, appreciated, cherished. Men, often we look for significance through our work. We find our identity and value in our jobs and whether people respect us. Women, you often find your significance through how you look or through your spouse or boyfriend or through how good of a mom you are. But both are dead ends. They will never be enough to satisfy our longing.

Verses 1 through 4 showed us the tower of Babel from the human perspective. Verse 5 through 9 show us God’s perspective on this matter. Let’s turn to those verses. Verse 5 says:

5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. (Genesis 11:5)

They want to build a tower with its top in the heavens, but it is so far from that goal that it looks like a little ant from God’s point of view and he has to come down to see it. Verse 6 gives us his assessment:

6 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. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” (Genesis 11:6-7)

This situation is not good. They are all working together against God’s purposes. Now we learn that all the languages and nations from chapter 10 are actually the result of God’s action against humanity declaring independence. Then verse 8 tells us:

8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. (Genesis 11:8-9)

They declare their independence from God, but God’s plan to fill the earth will still be carried out.

Here we get the final answer to our big question. The big question this passage answers is: what happens when we declare independence from God? The fourth and final answer is: God opposes our work for independence.

We were made to be dependent on God. We were not made to be independent from him. We were made to receive security and significance from him. So when we try to find those things apart from him, he opposes that effort. Seeking security and significance apart from him is like going down a path that will take us tumbling down a cliff or it’s like drinking a cup of water with poison in it. It only leads toward death. God’s desire is to get us off that path so we turn to him. Because of that, God will frustrate our plans and efforts to live independently from him. Is our desire as humans to live in community with other humans a bad thing? No. Is our desire to work together to build great things bad? No. But when those become efforts to live independently from God, then they are bad.

When Jesus was on earth, his desire was to turn people back to dependence on God. He called people to follow him as his disciples and this was his requirement: deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me. Discipleship or following Jesus is about moving from independence to dependence. To make that move, we have to deny ourselves and be willing to die to our own desires and then follow his ways.

All of this takes us back to our desire for home. Home is where we belong. It’s a place where we are close to God. We know him and he knows us. Home is a place where we are secure. We are safe and protected. Home is a place where we are significant. We know that we matter and are valuable to the people there.

God’s desire it to lead us to the well that will truly satisfy our longings for closeness with him, security, and significance.

Here’s a truth to leave with. Know that God fulfills your longings for home. Everything we wrote on the whiteboard is a list of desires God put in you that are ultimately fulfilled in him. We are all homesick. We long to go home. The deepest longings, desires, and aches of the human heart are satisfied by God because our heart desires home and home is where our God is.

And yet, even if we know this, we will still seek it elsewhere. We will still try to do it our way and we will still try to be independent. Rather than admitting we need God, we’d rather work our way to him and make our own path for security and significance. Everyone has difficulty admitting they need help. There’s that old joke about men asking for directions, but everyone has trouble asking for help. Let’s brainstorm a bit. What keeps us from asking for help? (the word to describe all of this is pride - inflated view of self)

All these barriers keep us from home. All these barriers keep us from finding the closeness with God, security, and significance we all desire. Unless we are willing to admit we are needy and ask for help

Here’s how you can discover where you find security and significance apart from God. Complete this sentence: if only [blank], then I would feel secure and significant. Most likely you can complete the first part of that sentence in an instant. Your “if only” is the thing you are always frustrated or anxious and worried about. It’s the thing you complain about to other people. “If only I could get my house clean. If only my husband were more loving. If only my kids would behave. If only my wife respected me. If only people at work did their job. If only I had more money. If only I got more respect. If only people appreciated what I do around here.”

What is your “if only”? That’s the thing you look to for security and significance. I can tell you mine. If only our church would grow faster, I would feel secure and significant. If only people told me I’m a great preacher every week, then I would feel secure and significant. If only more people believed the gospel when I shared it with them, then I’d feel significant. As a man, I base a lot of my security and significance on my job - what I do. What’s yours? Take a moment to write it down.

Now, the way to turn to God is to change your “if only” into an “even if.” Even if our church doesn’t grow faster, God still loves me. Even if no one tells me I’m a great preacher, I still matter to God. Even if no one believes the gospel, God is still good and in control.

Conclusion
Our desire to have a great name isn’t a bad thing. The problem is when we seek it apart from God. We are to receive our identity and significance from God. We are to let him tell us who we are. Verses 10 through 26 of chapter 11 traces the family line of Shem. Remember, he is the home team. From him comes the people of Israel. The purpose of tracing Shem’s family line is to show how it connects to Abram. In chapter 12, God calls Abraham to be part of his plan of salvation. He tells Abram that he is going to grow him into a great nation and make his name great. Abram receives a great name from God.

With Abram, a new chapter of history opens up because God’s plan of salvation takes specific shape. Through Abram, God wants to restore blessing to the world. From Abram, comes Jesus who actually fulfills this promise and then Jesus commissions his disciples to go to all nations, tongues, and peoples. Then at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit fills the disciples and they speak the language of all these people gathered in Jerusalem. It’s a reversal of the tower of Babel where people of all different languages are hearing about Jesus.