Sermon for Milledgeville and Whitestown UMC
What’s
in a Name?
(Gen 11:1-9, 27-32; 12:1-7)
 |
Stela found at E' Temen An Ki with official commemoration for the zigguart
by Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar |
I
can’t assume you all are familiar with the classic comedy sketch of Abott and
Costello called “Who’s On First.” Search YouTube or go to the Members of
Milledgeville UMC Facebook page. I placed a link to it there. The two are
discussing the Saint Louis baseball team. Lou wants to know the names of the
team members. Bud begins telling him, “We got Who on first, What’s on 2nd
and I Don’t Know’s on 3rd.” Lou is confused.
“Who’s
on first?”
“yes”
What?
No,
What’s on 2nd.
I’m
not asking you about 2nd base. Who’s on first?
Exactly!
What?
What’s
on second. Who’s on first.
I
don’t know, that’s what I’m asking you!!!
I
don’t know is on 3rd!
And
on and on it goes. Total confusion!
Today
we continue our Bibles Stories series with The Tower of Babel and the Call of
Abraham. Great confusion is featured in this story. Babylon seeks to bring
order to their far-reaching empire of many conquered peoples by forcing them to
speak the language of the gods, the Babylonian version of Akkadian.
Before
Babylon, Enmerkar (Nimrod), ruler of the Sumerian empire built a temple
dedicated to the god Enlil. He called it É.TEMEN.AN.KI, the Foundation House of
Heaven and Earth, or simply House of Heaven. The ziggurat on its mount towered over
300 feet above the surrounding area. Sennecherib, the Assyrian king, destroyed
the temple in 689 BC.
Nebuchadnezzar
II of Babylon rebuilt the tower in the early 6th century BC. There
is a surviving stone stela with a drawing of a 7 level ziggurat with a temple
atop and an image of Nebuchadnezzar as the master builder. It is this tower
that inspired the biblical story of the Tower of Babel. Nebuchadnezzar wished
to unite his empire with one single language in the worship of Babylon’s gods.
The very name of Bab-ilini in Akkadian means “Gate of the gods.”
Here's
what Nebuchadnezzar wrote:
“Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon am I. In order to complete E-TEMEN-ANKI (House of Heaven) …I
mobilized all countries everywhere, each and every ruler who had been raised to
prominence over all the people of the world–loved by Marduk, from the upper sea
to the lower sea, the distant nations, the teeming people of the world, kings
of remote mountains and far-flung islands. The base I filled in to make a high
terrace. I built their structures with bitumen and baked brick throughout. I
completed it, raising its top to the heaven, making it gleam bright as the sun”
Did
you notice how this official statement reflects what was written in Genesis
11:3-4?
And
they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and fire 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…
Communication
can be tricky sometimes. I have to explain what I’m trying to communicate
through text quite often. The other day I was speaking to a nurse with a thick
African accent. I couldn’t understand some of what she was saying and had to
ask a few times before she got through to me.
You
can imagine the difficulties in getting anything done when there’s a
communications gap caused by different languages. Without a means to
communicate, the empire would be scattered, dispersed, lacking unity.
But
more than unity through one language, Babylon sought to make the tower as a
monument to its own greatness. It may have housed a temple to their gods, but
the tower was really a monument to Nebuchadnezzar’s dominance of the ancient
world. As Genesis 11:4 puts it, “let us make a name for ourselves.”
But
God confounded their speech, making it impossible to communicate. The very
thing the Sumerians sought to avoid happened. The people were scattered, and
building the tower was abandoned.
According
to the Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology, there are a number of sites
in Iraq that might be the site of the Tower of Babel. One site lies 11 miles
north of the ruins of the city of Babel at a place known as Borsippa, which
means Tongue Tower. It is believed to have been constructed by Nimrod the
mighty hunter mentioned in the table of nations in Genesis 10. Nimrod may be
the same person as the Sumerian ruler Enmerkar. According to Nebuchadnezzar, 42
ages before him, which would place the building of the tower right after the
great flood, an ancient ruler built the tower but did not finish the top.
Sounds
a lot like the Tower of Babel story. They sought to make a name for themselves,
but they ultimately failed. It is no mistake that what follows the Tower of
Babel story is the lineage of Noah’s son Shem, whose name simply means name.
From Shem comes Abraham, revered by Jews, Christians, and Muslims as the father
of our shared faith in his God. Not only that, the messiah is prefigured in the
names of Shem’s descendants. Arphasad had a son named Shelah which means
sprout. The messiah is referred to as the shoot of Jesse in Isaiah. The messiah
sprouts from the stump of the family tree. His son Peleg means split of
division. Jesus said he came to bring division between those who choose Him and
those who do not. Reu mean Friend. What a friend we have in Jesus. Serug means
branch. The messiah is referenced as a righteous branch in Jeremiah.
Originally
named Abram, which means father, Abraham was living in the Babylonian town of
Ur, which is in modern day Iraq. There is a reconstructed ziggurat there. His
father, Terah, moved him and Abraham’s wife Sarai, and his grandson Lot out of
Ur to go to the land of Canaan, but Terah stopped short and settled in Haran,
which is in Modern day Turkey.
God
called Abraham to leave Haran, his father’s house and his relatives and go to a
land that God would show him. God made Abraham this promise.
“I
will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great,
so that you will be a blessing.” (Genesis 12:2)
Did
you hear that? Babylon wanted to build a tower up to the heavens to make a name
for themselves. God promised, in response to Abraham’s obedience, to make his
name great. God promised to make Abraham into a great nation. The name, Abraham,
means father of nations or father of multitudes.
It
wasn’t by the work of his hands, nor by military might, that Abraham became the
father of Jews, Christians and Muslims. It was by his obedience to the call of
God. Because he was obedient and followed God to Canaan, God promised to give
him the land, more descendants than can be counted, and make him a blessing to
all nations.
God
said, “I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will
curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 12:3)
We
are here this morning, worshipping the God of Abraham. We are blessed through
Abraham’s obedience just as God promised. For through the descendants of Abraham
came Jesus. According to the gospel of Matthew, Jesus Christ is descended from
the kingly family of David.
So
all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from
David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the
deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations. (Mat 1:17)
We
see in the story of the Tower of Babel and the calling of Abraham two very
different approaches to life. Nebuchadnezzar achieved his goals in life through
brute force, conquering nations, and enslaving countless thousands. He built a
great city, one of the wonders of the ancient world. It was destroyed by the
Persians. All that is left is ruins.
Abraham
was a shepherd with no place to call home. But because he obeyed the voice of
God, he became the father of many multitudes. Nebuchadnezzar is remembered as a
tyrant. His legacy is found in history books, or in the sands of the Iraqi
desert. But Abraham is revered to this day as the father of monotheistic faith.
We are blessed because Abraham called upon the name of Yahweh.
For
through Abraham came Jesus, whose very name means Yahweh Saves. Nimrod and
Nebuchadnezzar sought to build towers to heaven to make a name for themselves.
But through faith and obedience to the call of God we share in the glory of the
name that is above all names, Jesus Christ.
For
in Jesus, God brought heaven to us. We don’t need a tower. We don’t need to
force our ways to the top to gain greatness. Like Abraham before us, we simply
need to heed that still small voice calling to us in our heart of hearts. Greatness
lives in us through the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
The
apostle Paul wrote to Gentile Christians in Ephesus,
remember
that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without
God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been
brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace… he
came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were
near, for through him we all have access in one Spirit to the
Father. (Eph 2:12-14a, 17-18)
We
are citizens of heaven through faith in Jesus Christ. With the Spirit of Jesus
alive in our hearts, we walk among our neighbors as ambassadors of heaven. For
we are the people named Christian, little Christs. We follow His loving voice
and seek to become like Jesus. Heaven is wide open to all who will obey the
call.
At
times in my life, I’ve worked to make a name for myself, pushing others while I
pursue that end. It’s gotten me in trouble with people before. My time is
running out on this earth. I still can feel that urge inside. I pressure myself
to make my mark, to leave a legacy. It’s all “chasing after the wind,” as
Ecclesiastes puts it. God calls me to let go of earthly agendas around fame,
importance, or influence. I must surrender such empty ambitions, even if these
well-intended ambitions align with God. No, I am called to give God glory in
everything, to seek to magnify the name of Jesus. For God has promised to give
us the glory of heaven, if we will believe the gospel and follow His voice.
The
choice is laid before us:
Make a name for yourself,
or
live faithfully in the great name of Jesus!
There
is vanity in self-serving agendas,
but
abundant life in serving the name of Jesus.
Comments
Post a Comment