Babel
Chris Frye
September 3, 2023

Main Idea

Humankind has the potential to accomplish incredible things. But what happens when our motives are in the wrong place? In the case of the people of Babel, God shows them mercy by causing them to fail. In other cases, we reap the consequences of our misguided pursuits. We have the opportunity to learn from those before us and to ignore the lie that our life is about us.

Genesis 11:1–9
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. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

Lessons from Babel

Trust God’s promises.

John 11:25–26
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Revelation 21:4
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Matthew 6:19–21
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Sometimes, failure is a gift.

Proverbs 24:16
…for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.

Your life is not about you.

Isaiah 43:7
“…everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

Matthew 22:34–40
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Discussion Questions

  1. What are some of the most impressive achievements in human history?

  2. Read Genesis 11:1–4. What are the motivations behind building the tower of Babel? How can this be seen as challenging God’s authority?

  3. Read John 11:25–26 and Revelation 21:4. What promises do we find in these passages? What are some other promises that God has made to us?

  4. In what ways do we live as though we don’t trust God’s promises? What would it look like to live as if you believed the promises laid out in John 11 and Revelation 21?

  5. Do you have an example of a failure in your life that turned out to be a gift? How did God use that experience?

  6. Read Isaiah 43:7 and Matthew 22:34–40. What is our purpose in life? What changes need to be made in your life to make it less about you and more about God?