Finding Our Purpose for Life - Goal

 If you’re like me, you probably have some form of a to-do list. Either one where you write down things you want to get done or one that someone else keeps for you. A to-do list is a type of goal-setting. Setting goals is a good way to help us accomplish things. The goal is the mark by which we measure whether we have done what we set out to do.

On September 12, 1962, President John Kennedy said: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”

The goal was the moon. That goal was reached on July 16, 1969, when the Eagle landed on the Sea of Tranquility. But even with the goal set, that dream was impossible without sequential steps that had to take place to make that happen. Realize where we were at the time of that speech. Alan Shepherd had only gone up a year before. John Glenn orbited the earth only five months before. The great goal of landing on the moon, by all calculations, was like eating elephant. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

I was taught to set goals. Goals are great. They help you stay on track. Not only do they make sure we know when the job is done, but there’s a sense of accomplishment when we get to scratch something off our list. But goals are primarily driven by tasks not purpose. The engineers didn’t need to know why we were going to the moon. All they cared about was: what do you want and when do you want it? But for most of us, we want to know why we are doing this in the first place. We need a purpose that justifies the goal.

What was our purpose in getting to the moon? To beat the Russians. Back then, we were in the space race. Getting there first was our purpose in going to the moon. That was our why. See, the goal was the what. It requires a how and when, but the why was the reason. It was our justification for staying on track to accomplish the goal.

When Israel left Egypt, they had as a goal to reach the Promised Land. But they never understood the reason Moses was taking them there. To them this was just a relocation project, but to God, it was the beginning of a new life. The people didn’t grasp that. That’s why, when God began to reshape them for the life He had planned, they rebelled and most of those died in the desert. They were okay with the goal but rejected the purpose God had over that goal.

If getting into the Promised Land was all God intended, who they became wouldn’t have mattered. They would have arrived, achieved the goal, and then what? But, since God’s purpose wasn’t a destination, but a life, adjusting to that life was essential.

CNN documentary on Jerusalem – they had no concept of God working out a plan for Israel that He had set before the foundation of the world. Totally secular.

So, over-arching the goal of getting into the Promised Land was the purpose of them becoming the people of God. When they left Egypt, they didn’t know what that meant.

To keep from overwhelming them, God didn’t show them His purpose until later in the journey. He started with a foundation principle: you are to obey Me.

Jer 7:22 For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.' 

It was progressive revelation. Let’s start with step one of getting to the Promised Land. Let’s leave Egypt. Along the way, you’ll learn who I am and what I can do. I’ll open the sea for you to pass through. I’ll feed you every day with the bread of Heaven. I’ll give you a cloud and a light to show you the way. I’ll defeat your enemies for you.

Now, another step will be at Mt. Sinai where I will tell you how I want you to live as My people. To do so, you’ll need a list of basic Commandments to follow. You’ll learn a new way of doing worship. I’ll give you instructions for a sacrificial system. But you’ll need some general rules for how you are to live together as My People, so I’ll give you My law.

All of this was moving them closer to their new identity as the People of God. First, they had to learn how great God really was. And then learn obedience by which they would: walk in all the way which I command you. That was essential. They had to accept an open-ended right of God to rule. Which meant they were to connect their life to the train of God’s purpose. The promise being, by doing do: it may be well with you.

The 40-year desert experience was to remove those who refused to submit to God, then, to remove Egypt from the rest of them and reshape them to live by commands that would demonstrate their new identity. Why would God be so harsh? I thought He loved us and didn’t care how we lived, that He’d forgive us and accept us just like we were.

You do realize there is truth in that statement but it’s twisted truth. Whenever we expect the love of God to ignore our behavior, we’ve misunderstood the holiness of God. Whenever we want a God of mercy and not a God of judgement, we’ve misunderstood the righteousness of God. Whenever we want a God of truth and not a God of accountability for that truth, we’ve misunderstood the character of God.

There’s a sign on I45 for a local church. The message is basically: God loves you just like you are. Yes, He does, but because He loves us, He would never leave us like we are. His purpose involves changing the direction of our lives.

Heb 12:5  and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; 6 for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives." 10 …He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. 

I love you too much to leave you like I found you.

Which is where the Purpose of God comes in for us. The same purpose He had over Israel: to make them the People of God is over us – to make us Children of God. To get us there, there are some universal steps through which God will work in all our lives: to make us holy, to establish godliness as the foundational characteristic of our lives, to produce the fruit of righteousness that shows the world His goodness in and through us, to infill us with His Spirit whereby we will demonstrate: Gal 5:22 love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…, to gift and call us into service of the Kingdom.

Then there is the change factor, reorienting our wills so we can agree with the direction God wants us to go. It’s called repentance.

2Cor 5:15  and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. 

Rom 6:4 So that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 

The result is a life that reveals our Father in Heaven. I thought God’s purpose was to get us into Heaven. That’s what the Israelites thought about the Promised Land. God’s goal isn’t to get us to Heaven, otherwise He should have taken us on when we accepted Him as our Savior. He intends to pour Heaven into us through a new life that honors Him.

In our study last week, we noted: We are engaged in a struggle between the urge to determine life for ourselves and surrendering to His right to rule. The lie that we can do a better job than He can in running our lives remains hidden in our hearts and must daily be denied room in our minds.

So, like Israel coming out of Egypt to journey to the Promised Land, there is a purpose beyond the goal. God used the desert to expose how resistant they were to that purpose and to give them opportunities to repent. He does the same for us.

Every temptation, every test, every trial, every turmoil is an opportunity to adjust ourselves to God’s purpose. These tribulations are crossroads where we must decide which direction we go. Will we exercise faith and follow God or will we revert to our old way of depending on ourselves with no regard for what God wants?

We never think about it but there were many mid-course corrections necessary for Apollo 11 to reach the moon. Same for us.

1Cor 9:26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. 

What keeps us in the race, in the ring, in the realm of God’s purpose? Staying on track. Not getting derailed by obstacles, hindrances or weariness.

A train is designed to run on rails. Many things can interfere with that, and if they do, the train can be derailed. The number one cause of derailment is broken rails and welds. The second is bearing failure within the wheels. Both caused by being worn down and stressed by use. Parts become weary over time.

Weariness has no age limit. You can get weary of life in your twenties as easily as you can in your eighties. We can get weary when things weigh us down, or wear us out, or grind us up. We get worn down by the friction of life and often chose to give up.

THOMAS EDISON: "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."

Why do people give up?

Ps 6:6 I am weary with my sighing; every night I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with my tears. 7 My eye has wasted away with grief; it has become old because of all my adversaries. 

Did you know what makes us feel old isn’t age? It’s weariness.

Weariness: extreme tiredness; fatigue; exhausted in strength, endurance, vigor, or freshness; reluctance to see or experience any more of something. The state of being tired of something because you have experienced too much of it.

Turkey plant.

Why do we become weary?

Too much going on. Worn down by life. Physically, we can only carry so much. It’s the same way emotionally. Worn down by constant flow like rocks in a river bed. Or washed out by the intensity of a sudden crisis like being hit with a flash flood.

Lack of Discipline – no one cares so why should we. It’s that message “God loves me just like I am” that makes people settle for so much less than is available.

Refusal to take responsibility for growing as a Christian. It’s okay for a baby to need to be fed. It’s sad when adults need to be fed. The hope is, spiritually, we can learn how to feed ourselves.

Heb 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. 

Looking at the wrong standard. Many are more concerned about how they appear to others than how God sees them.

Trying to get better results with the same tactics. Instead of quitting, let’s change strategy. If this is my common result, I need to change my actions. Reeve trying to explain something to his sister. He kept repeating the same words each time. If the words I’m using don’t get the understanding I’m expecting, I need to change the words. If my actions aren’t getting the results I’m wanting, I need to change my actions.

We don't believe in what God has made possible.

Matt 11:28 Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 

Why did He tell us that? He knew life was hard and we’d need strength we didn’t have but where we could get it.

Heb 12:3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. [so you won’t become weary and give up. NLT]

Isa 40:28  Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. 29 He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. 30 Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, 31 Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary. 

How does this help us find our purpose in life? By encouraging us to stay on track, even when we get weary. Remember, it’s not a destination. It’s a journey. A journey is a process of moving toward something. For that journey, God promises the strength, the encouragement, the drive, the motivation, the target and the goals to get us there. What’s the reward? Rom 8:28 God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose. 

TAKEAWAYS:

1. Life is a refining process to help shape us into that which identifies us as Children of God.
2. Who we are now is a stepping stone to who we’re to become.
3. When God sets the purpose, He also provides everything necessary to accomplish that purpose.
4. Thankfully, we never arrive but always have more to which we can look forward.
5. Wherever we are in our journey, God’s not done, and has more for us to experience, discover and enjoy.

Finding Our Purpose - Freedom

Do you know how circus trainers keep a twelve-foot tall, five-ton elephant from running off? They put a chain around its ankle and tie the chain to a steel peg hammered into the ground. Everyone else at the circus knows the elephant could take a single step and pull the stake out of the ground, but he doesn’t. Why? Because from the moment he was born, he was taught to believe something that wasn’t true: that a chain tied around his ankle, staked to the ground, meant he was locked down. To accept the lie, the elephant has to ignore all the urges to pull himself free. He is one step away from freedom, yet lives in a prison with an unlocked door.

Living without purpose is like defining our lives by four walls and a door that shuts us in. What if that door suddenly opened? What if we could walk out free, leaving the prison behind? What would we do with the opportunity to be free?

Acts 12:6 On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. 7 And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter's side and woke him up, saying, "Get up quickly." And his chains fell off his hands. 8 And the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and put on your sandals." And he did so. And he said to him, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me." 

If you break this story down and watch it in slow motion, each moment is a step in the direction of freedom. Think of when Peter told this story to Luke who wrote the Book of Acts. I was in a cell chained between two guards. There were guards on the floor beside me and guards at the door. I was locked in tight with no way of escape. When I went to sleep, it was pretty clear I was going to be executed the next day. So, all hope of release was gone. I had reconciled myself to my fate. I was a dead man sleeping.

Then I woke up to something poking me in the side. I heard a voice saying, “Wake up.” I opened my eyes and the room was lit up as if a dozen torches were on fire. I squinted to see someone standing over me saying, “Get up.” As I got up, the chains fastened to my hands fell off. I stood there wondering why the clang didn’t wake up the two guards.

“Get dressed,” the person said. I found my clothes. He said, “Put on your sandals.” I slipped my feet into the straps. Then, he said the most unexpected words of the night, “Follow me.”

Now, later in this story, after they had left the prison, Peter said he thought it was all a dream until they got outside and the angel vanished. At that point he knew he wasn’t dreaming and this had actually happened. He was no longer in the cell but now free: no chains, no guards, no locked door, no appointment with death. But God didn’t set him free to be free. There had to be a purpose for this happening to him.

What was the key moment in this story? It wasn’t wake up, get up or get dressed. Those were merely steps in the process. They key was the last words. “Follow Me.” Follow me meant leaving the cell to go someplace else. First, the chains fell off and then doors were opened. The way out was presented. All that was left was to follow the angel.

Jesus used those same words in calling each disciple to follow Him. Even when correcting Peter for being more concerned about John’s future than his own, Jesus said, “What is that to you, you follow Me.”

“Follow me” was an open-ended opportunity to experience the greatness of God in each of those men’s lives. He gave them no specifics as to what was ahead, only a call for unconditional surrender to the leadership of the Lord who called them.

We saw it in the wilderness, remember. Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egypt and then they faced confrontation with God’s purpose of becoming the People of God. To follow that purpose, they had to accept the open-ended right of God to rule. 

One of our men sent me an email with this: “Consider Israel’s miraculous deliverance from Egypt in the Bible. As God’s people crossed over on dry land, they saw the waves crash down on their enemy behind them. It was a glorious moment, and they held a mighty praise meeting with dancing, singing and thanksgiving. ‘We’re free! God has delivered us from the hand of oppression.’”

But what was that freedom designed to do? Merely release them from an enslaved existence or open the door to a new future? What did that freedom make possible that living in slavery had prevented?

In Spiderman this famous quote was worked into the dialogue: With great power comes great responsibility.

In other words. Why did Spiderman have his power? What was the purpose behind him being so powerful? How was he to use that power?

Freedom comes with the same questions. Why did God set them free? What did that freedom make possible? How would they now live that was not possible before? With great freedom comes great opportunity.

I’m sure Peter wrestled with the same questions. He was set free, but why? For what purpose? To simply be free? What was the opportunity that getting out of the cell now made possible? Freedom comes with opportunity attached. God wasn’t through with him yet.

The end of this story has Peter going to a home where the other disciples were gathered.

Act 12:17  But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, "Report these things to James and the brethren." Then he left and went to another place. 

And we don’t hear from Peter again until Acts 15 at the Jerusalem Council where the decision was made to allow Gentiles to become Christians without having to become Jews first. It was Peter who shared the insight that settled the issue. We also know he made trips to visit some of the newly-formed churches, and at some point wrote 1^st and 2^nd Peter.

Meaning, God’s purpose for Peter was greater than just getting him unchained and out of prison. It was so he could continue following. To stay true to the original call Jesus had placed on him when he was still a fisherman in Galilee. All God did was remove the hindrance. Why? The calling remains until the life is over.

Peter could agree with Paul when Paul said: Phil 3:12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become complete [the purpose of my life hasn’t been accomplished yet], but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

These men lived with a purpose driving their lives forward. The determining factor was breath. As long as they had breath, they had a purpose for living. That purpose was even greater than their experiences.

To prove that, Paul took a moment to describe his life to the Corinthians: 2Cor 11:23 Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. 24 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. 26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; 27 I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 

You call that freedom? Yes, because even in those tribulations, Paul was still following Jesus. The purpose of God was greater than the experiences they encountered while following.

Their freedom gave them the privilege of doing what God had called them to do. Even prison chains, bars and doors couldn’t shut out the plans God had for them.

But remember, Peter’s freedom came in stages. What stage of deliverance are we in today? Some are chained. To what? Sin. The Bible refers to sin in language of captivity.

Rom 7:23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 

2Pet 2:19 By what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state becomes worse for them than the first.

It has to be addressed that there are two groups of people referred to here. Those who have yet to come to the Lord for salvation and sin has created separation from God and those who have but have reverted to a past lifestyle of choices that deny the life of a child of God.

Both are chained to keep them away from God. But both can have those chains broken. How? By confessing what we have allowed to enslave us and receiving God’s forgiveness.

1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

If we have yet to give our lives to the Lord, we are labeled as unrighteous. If we have let sin dominate our lives again, we are acting unrighteous. Forgiveness cleanses us of that unrighteousness to make us right with God.

But there are also some who are imprisoned by circumstances, or more specifically by their past. Things that happened in the past that still haunting our present.

·       Do you have any scars? Scars are reminders of something that happened to us. Maybe we caused it or someone else.

·       Scars can also generate painful memories attached to what happened. Some are physical. Some are emotional.

·       Satan: look at those nasty scars – I’d be ashamed.

·       Jesus says: I’ve got scars, too. And by My scars you can be healed.

o   We can’t make our past happy.

o   Neither can we go back and fix our past.

o   All we can do is repent of having allowed these things from our past become more important to us than our present, and submit our past to God’s healing forgiveness.

o   Then, we can forget what lies behind and reach forward to what lies ahead, 

But, leave the chains in the cell when you walk out. Those chains that can hold us no more, the door can no longer lock us in are to have no power over us anymore. John 8:36 If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 

Mark 5:2 When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, 3 and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones. 6 Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; 7 and shouting with a loud voice, he said, "What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!" 8 For He had been saying to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!" 9 And He was asking him, "What is your name?" And he said to Him, "My name is Legion; for we are many." 10 And he began to implore Him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain. 12 The demons implored Him, saying, "Send us into the swine so that we may enter them." 13 Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea. 14 Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the country. And the people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 They came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the "legion"; and they became frightened. 16 Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the swine. 17 And they began to implore Him to leave their region. 18 As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany Him. 19 And He did not let him, but He said to him, "Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you." 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed. 

You’re free from the demons. The chains are gone. The prison doors are open. Now, leave the prison behind and all the things within it that tortured you. Follow Me. Go home and share the great things the Lord has done for you.

That’s our story. We are free so we can follow Him. Freedom gives us our opportunity to live no longer encumbered by the chains that have bound us. We can now share how great our God is. Who am I that the Lord would do this for me? It’s why Jesus came.

Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, 

But remember, we’re not free to simply be free. We’re free to follow. No chain, no prison can stop that.

Rom 8:1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Condemnation – an adverse sentence, penal servitude, penalty – imprisonment. No jail can hold us that Jesus can’t get us out of. No past, no present, no future.

TAKEAWAYS:

1. Discovering that God has set us free must be followed by asking why God has set us free.
2. It is so we can be who God wants us to be, doing what God wants us to do, when He wants us doing it, in the way He wants it done.
3. When He breaks the chains and unlocks the door, it is our privilege to walk out free.
4. Freedom comes with great opportunity to follow Him and make Him known.

 

Finding Our Purpose - Struggles

On July 6, soccer champion Abby Wambach appeared on a podcast hosted by her wife, Glennon Doyle, where Wambach opened up about her childhood experience with church. She said, “I understood that I had a choice to make, and it was like, I was either going to choose me or God.” 

It is likely many who heard that celebrated her courage to choose herself over against God’s best. I didn’t feel that way. I hurt for her to have made such a sad choice.

But actually, I saw a much bigger picture than one lady struggling with issues of her identity. I saw the central factor behind the struggle within each of us to decide what will be the source from where we find our direction for life. Not whether we are gay or straight, but who gets to determine the reason we exist and how we choose to live that existence out.

Last week we began this series on Finding Our Purpose for Life. We summarized that introduction with: If we choose anything instead of the Lord as a source we think will produce a full and satisfied life, we will have reduced Him to a mere convenience and not the Lord in whom we trust.  

This isn’t just a modern issue, though the social push for identity has never been stronger. Parents who don’t want to declare their babies boys or girls but let them decide that later. People who disregard who they are physically and then we accept that decision by using the pronoun it or they when speaking about them. One transvestite said parents have no idea what culture they are wanting their children to be a part of. But the issue is broader than sexual identity. It is self-determination: who makes the ultimate life choice?

Let’s go back to a strange story in the beginning times, after the Great Flood, when this attitude of self-determination was exposed.

Gen 11:2  It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly." And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. 4 They said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." 5 The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 

Where did this tower come from and what was its purpose?

Gen 10:6 The sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan. 8 Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD." 10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh.

Most who’ve studied this say it was Nimrod, the mighty one on earth, who directed the building of the Great Tower in the city of Babel. Now, why is an interesting question. Our first reaction is: The people want to build a tower. Italy has its leaning Tower of Pisa, Paris has the Eifel Tower, England has its Tower of London. So, what’s the big deal? The big deal is in God’s reaction. To Him it was much more than just a tower.

They said in building this tower, we will make for ourselves a name so we will not be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.

Sounds like an innocent desire to be remembered for their efforts. People name buildings after people they want to remember all the time. But what did making a name for ourselves mean back then? People are known by their name. It distinguishes them from others. That’s why common names usually had a qualifier. This is Joseph of Arimathea. This is Judas the son of James, not to be confused with Judas Iscariot. Or today, we might say: this is John, Emily’s husband. Or for me, this is Josh’s dad or Jody’s dad or Cory’s dad. I don’t even get a name anymore. But the name expresses how we will be known in the present and remembered in the future.

But under the surface, there’s a hidden challenge within that desire: we will make for ourselves a name. When did they throw out the idea of being the People of God? When did their identity become more important than their connection to the One who brought their family safely through the flood? See, we’re only three generations after the flood. How did they so quickly forget?

Well, maybe this was the first temple for worship. That they wanted to get closer to God by peering into the heavens. Nowhere in the story do you hear this was to know God or to honor God. It is the epic confrontation of man’s desires vs. God’s purpose.

Remember the reason for the flood, that: Gen 6:5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. It was a purging, a cleansing of the evil that had dominated the hearts of mankind, that took them away from God’s intentions.

The flood may have destroyed evil men, but unfortunately, it didn’t wash away the attitudes of their hearts. Because of the fall of Adam, the desire to assert ourselves over God’s right to rule was passed down and exposed in the lineage of Ham, Noah’s third son.

So, here, a few generations later, man once again is rejecting God as interpreter of life and director of man’s ambitions. They were reestablishing the pattern for man’s goal of independence from God by their unwillingness to allow God to have influence over life and be the final voice in the matters of who they were to be and how they were to live. Sounds like current events not to be scattered? Sounds innocuous, but Nimrod was actually shaking his fist at God saying, “I’ll create a structure so high that even You can’t destroy me. Noah built an ark, I’ll build a tower, so that if You flood the earth again, there would be a place high enough we will be untouched by Your judgment.” Nimrod was challenging God’s right to judge sin and intervene in the affairs of mankind. In his own mind that made him equal with God, and in some foolhardy way said he believed he knew better than God in how to run his life and the larger matters of the world. 

This tower was a statement that they would determine what made life worth living, how they would be fulfilled and that they alone would decide their own direction.

This story was included in a couple of non-biblical books that give interesting insight. The book of Jubilees says that the people built the tower in order to “ascend on it into heaven.” Baruch goes further, saying that the people not only wanted to ascend into heaven but wanted to pierce it—that is wage war against heaven, to actually fight God for the right to rule their own lives. It was similar to Satan’s desire when he attempted to set himself over God’s rule.

Isa 14:12 How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! 13 But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' 

That’s the cry of the heart of those misguided by the importance of their own desires. It reveals the widespread rebellion in the human heart. It is the ultimate misconception that we can build a better life for ourselves than God can design. That we know what’s best for us, that we should have ultimate say over who we are to be and how we are to live.

So, the tower had to be stopped. God had to act.

Gen 11:6 The LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another's speech." 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. 

Speaking the same language was more than just speaking the same language. They were saying the same thing in the same way. They were all thinking the same thoughts. Unless God scrambled their ability to communicate, anything they purposed would be possible. Meaning, they would create their own gods, their own purpose and disregard the God who had delivered them. Look what they were rejecting:

Jer 29:11 For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 

Rom 1:21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 

The Bible says they abandoned the tower. It remained unfinished until the Babylonians under Neb’s father rebuilt the great ziggurat, a stepped pyramid, dedicated to their god Marduk in the ancient city of Babylon. The tower was called Babilu, which means Gate of God. It was changed from the Hebrew word Babel which meant to confuse. From Babilu, they named the city Babylon. Alexander the Great eventually destroyed the tower. Today, there’s only a footprint of the foundation.

But what was the story really about: Mankind’s attempt to assert autonomy over God to set his own identity and find his own meaning without Him. It is choosing self-rule and rejecting any recognition of God or dependency upon Him.

Now, that not only defines a world separated from God, but many Christians who have adapted the world’s mindset. For us it comes under the category of idolatry, which was Israel’s curse from the beginning. Finding something more important to them than God upon which they would focus their lives. 5,263 > 3578.

Idolatry is the action of setting up a substitute for God. Some artificial means to accomplish for ourselves only what God can do. A counterfeit reality that bases the reason for life on pleasure and personal fulfillment rather than on the glory of God.

Isa 57:13 "When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you. But the wind will carry all of them up, and a breath will take them away. But he who takes refuge in Me will inherit the land and will possess My holy mountain." 

Ps 115:4 Their idols are silver and gold, The work of man's hands. 5 They have mouths, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see; 6 They have ears, but they cannot hear; They have noses, but they cannot smell; 7 They have hands, but they cannot feel; They have feet, but they cannot walk; They cannot make a sound with their throat. 8 Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them. 

We become like the God we serve. If we serve idols, we become empty and lifeless like they are. If we serve Almighty God, we become His fulfilled children, reflecting His goodness in our lives and into our world. If we serve idols, we’re never satisfied because an idol produces no fulfillment. But to us, Jesus said: I’ve come that you might have life and have it in abundance.

Unique wording in the Greek. Greek verbs contain their pronouns. The Word come is I come. But for emphasis, there is an additional I in the sentence. I, I come. Meaning, I and only I have come for this purpose. I’m the only one who can provide this.

That’s what Jesus was explaining to the Woman at the Well:

John 4:13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." 

It’s the call to the what satisfies life – the water of life. The desire that is only realized in Jesus and by it we want to know God and honor Him with our lives. It tugs on every person’s heart. As Solomon said: Ecc 3:11 He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart.

Question is how do we respond to that desire? How do we find our answer in Him? How do we respond to His offer of a satisfied life?

By settling who He is to us – Phil 2:10 at the name of Jesus [Lord] EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

By submitting our lives fully to Him – 1Cor 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

By loving Him with all we are – Mar 12:30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.'  

Ivan the Great wanted a family. An agreement was made between him and the King of Greece for his wife. The King of Greece, however insisted, "He cannot marry my daughter unless he is baptized as a member of the Greek Orthodox Church." Ivan agreed. This meant emersion. When Ivan announced his intentions, his men said they would do as well. But the Greek Orthodox church doesn’t allow warriors into the church. The compromise, they baptized the men with them keeping one arm out of the water, holding up their sword. Point? Partial surrender. Leaving room for a tower to be built where they have left a part their lives under their own control.

If we remove God from any part of our lives, we will decide whether God has the right to any of our lives. We will choose whatever we want to be and who we want to act. When God determines that, we become who we are designed to be.

TAKEAWAYS:

1. The truth that the Lord has final say as to who we are to be and how we are to live must be responded to by more than simple a nod. 
2. We are engaged in a struggle between the urge to determine life for ourselves and surrendering to His right to rule. 
3. The lie that we can do a better job than He can in running our lives remains hidden in our hearts and must daily be denied room in our minds.
4. When we exchanged the emptiness of our old lives for the fullness Jesus promised, He took ownership of our lives.
5. Only when we realize what happened in salvation, does that ownership become the big deal it really is.