Now, can we turn again in our Bibles, this time to the book of Genesis, page 12, if you're using a church Bible.
We're going to read a couple of sections from Genesis 11.
Over the next four Sundays, we're going to be looking at different scenes from the life of Abraham to help us answer some important questions.
Now, this time our question is, what's gone wrong with the world?
And to help us to answer that, we're going to be in Genesis 11, beginning at verse 1.
Now, the whole world had one language and a common speech.
As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
They said to each other, come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly.
They used brick instead of stone and bitumen for mortar.
Then they said, come, let us build ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves.
Otherwise, we'll be scattered over the face of the whole earth.
But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.
The Lord said, if as one people speaking the same language, they've begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.
So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth and they stopped building the city.
That is why it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world.
From there, the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
And then from verse 10 to 26, we get a family tree of Shem.
But we're going to pick up in verse 27, where we're introduced to the account of Tira's family line.
Tira became the father of Abraham, Nahor and Haran.
And Haran became the father of Lot.
While his father Tira was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans in the land of his birth.
Abraham and Nahor both married.
The name of Abraham's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah.
She was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah.
Now Sarai was childless, because she was not able to conceive.
Tira took his son Abraham, his grandson Lot, son of Haran,
and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abraham.
And together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan.
But when they came to Haran, they settled there.
Tira lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.
Amen. This is God's word.
So as I said, we're thinking about this question, what's gone wrong with the world?
In 2025, so just last week, there was a global concerns report.
It was a survey done, 30 different countries across all continents,
asking people to reflect on what concerns them most about the world.
And the top four answers were these.
Inflation, immigration, corruption, and conflict.
Now as you think about what's gone wrong with the world,
I wonder if you would agree with those, or what else would you add?
There is probably a lengthy list that we would each have.
When we come to the message of Genesis 11,
and indeed the message of the whole Bible,
we see that there are visible problems in society.
We are aware of them.
Crime, abuse, injustice, war.
But all of those problems, they stem from a deeper source.
The Bible helps us to see what's gone wrong,
that when people act as if they are God,
or when we live rejecting God, what the Bible calls sin,
that is what the Bible says is what's gone wrong with the world.
To think about the classic G.K. Chesterton anecdote you may have heard,
when the Times newspaper back in the late 1910s,
invited people to write in and respond to this question,
what's gone wrong with the world,
he simply wrote,
Dear Sirs, I am yours sincerely, G.K. Chesterton.
That people are the source of the world's problems,
was Chesterton's observation,
and I think it's the observation we see in Genesis 11.
So we're going to explore today the problem of a failed human project.
To recognize it as a monument to self, this Tower of Babel,
and then we need to see God's responses to it.
So over the next four weeks, as I said,
we're going to be meeting Abraham.
Abraham described in the Bible as the father of faith,
and we know he's a key figure within Christianity,
also within Judaism and Islam,
a huge figure to consider.
Today he's kind of in the background, we will meet him.
I guess it's an invitation to come back and find out some more next week.
He lived an amazing life.
If you want to do any homework,
read Genesis 12 to 22 over this week or the coming weeks.
And you see a man where God is working in his life in remarkable ways,
getting involved in his story.
We are going to hear some really rich and wonderful promises
that God gives Abraham, which are good news for everybody.
We also see real challenges, which are a challenge and enable his faith to grow.
And the story of Abraham is also going to help us to answer some key questions.
It's going to help us to answer questions like,
who is God?
How can I know God?
What does faith in God look like?
And today, what's gone wrong with the world?
And what Genesis 11 does for us is,
while it reveals that the world has walked away from God,
it also offers hope that God will send Jesus to bring us back to himself.
So we're going to look, first of all, at the human problem,
and then we're going to look at God's answer.
And the human problem can be summarized here as pride and personal glory.
In the early 1900s, cruise liners, those big old ships,
they were the way to travel.
And in the early 1900s, there was a great race on
to see who could build the fastest ship to cross the ocean.
Or other companies were interested,
who could build the most luxurious ship to cross the ocean.
And the White Star Company, they went down the luxury line,
leading them to build and then launch the Titanic.
Incredible design and incredible luxury came together.
But the Titanic also came with a boast.
There was the claim that this boat was unsinkable.
And so when the first voyage began,
there was the expectation that Titanic was on the route
to bringing the boat and the company great fame and great glory.
But we know what happens, don't we?
In 1912, it sank.
And tragically, over 1,500 lives were lost.
It wanted a name.
It wanted glory.
But that name is associated with tragic failure.
The story of the Tower of Babel is its own Titanic building project.
And this is about making much more than just a grand city and a high tower.
It's a people wanting to make a name for themselves.
That Babel was a building project aimed at personal security
and personal glory
and people becoming godlike in their ambition.
And the outcome of that building project,
a name associated with shame and confusion,
a monument to human folly.
So the author of Genesis 11 wants to tell us that story
and he uses language and he picks up themes to support his point.
So look with me at our text.
And it begins in the first couple of verses
with the people of the world on the move.
Now the whole world had one language
and a common speech.
As people moved east, they found a plane and they settled there.
So notice that at this time in history,
humanity is united.
They share a language.
They share a culture.
Think about how different that is from our experience today.
We just have to look around this building
and we recognize different languages and cultures.
And we go outside into the festival
and we recognize that there's an incredible diversity.
And that's a great thing.
And we celebrate that.
But at this point in history, unity,
the first danger sign for this united people
is here in the idea that they are moving east
and they are settling.
And we might think, well, what's the problem with moving east?
Well, if we go back earlier in Genesis,
we discover whenever people are moving east,
they're moving away from God.
So after Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden
eat the forbidden fruit and God sends them out,
they are sent east.
After Cain commits the first murder
and kills his brother Abel,
he is sent to wander east.
So when we discover that all the people are moving east,
this is a sign that the world is walking away from God.
And the fact they're settling
reminds us they are comfortable in this position.
So the people of the world, they're on the move
and they're also a people on a mission.
That's there in verses three and four, isn't it?
They're working together on this epic construction project.
And remember, they have no machinery.
They have very basic tools,
but they're taking the best of modern tech that they had.
They've got brick and bitumen
and they use it for this great building project.
Now we are familiar, aren't we,
with the competition to build big.
I guess last century,
all the big buildings were probably situated in America,
but now it's moved towards the Middle East, hasn't it?
And those great towers,
those skyscrapers are a sign of ambition and power,
a way of placing one's stamp on the world.
So the biggest at the moment is the Burj Khalifa,
but there's competition from Jeddah and Riah
wanting to build bigger,
that they are known as the place
with the highest skyscraper.
Well, on this original building site of Babel,
you can hear the personal pride,
the sense of ambition,
the drive for glory.
It's there in the language, verse three and four.
How many times do we find them saying,
let us build ourselves so that we may make a name,
otherwise we'll be scattered.
Here are a people,
and the Bible tells us,
they have been made in God's image,
because everybody is, including us,
but they are not interested
in getting God's opinion,
getting God's input,
or seeking God's glory.
Look at the reason why they're building the tower.
They want to build the tower
to avoid being scattered.
And we may instinctively think,
well, that's okay, security's a good thing.
But not when we go back in the Bible
and we discover God has said to people,
fill the earth,
spread out,
so that the glory of God
would fill the earth.
God says, scatter,
and they say, gather.
God says, spread my glory,
and they say,
no, we want our own glory,
thanks very much.
Because the text tells us
they want to make a name for themselves.
We are made to worship God,
but personal glory is clearly
their number one priority
in this new city.
They are not honoring God,
wanting to make his name great,
and they're not trusting
that God will make a name for them.
They want to make a name for themselves.
And notice too,
they want to make a tower
that reaches to the heavens.
And that's not simply saying
we want to build up and build high.
And that's saying
we want to reach God's level.
We want to become like God.
So here is a people,
and they're using the technology
that's available to them,
and they're all working together
effectively to get rid
of the need of God.
And so we're given,
just in a few short verses,
here is a snapshot of a people
who are walking away from God,
working to get rid
of the need of him.
And so Babel functions
as a giant monument to the cell.
If anybody has been on holiday
in any of the ancient Roman sites,
or maybe you've been
to a place like Vietnam,
you are going to have seen
monuments and images
all over the place.
And those were used
to claim personal glory
and authority
for the person who is depicted.
Babel is like that.
And we can also say
that Babel is the first
truly secular society.
You know, the idea of secular,
removing God from the picture.
That's exactly what they're doing.
It's the foundation of Babel,
the sense of what progress
looks like in Babel.
It's all built on self
with no word of God at all.
The dream of these Babel builders
is we can provide the security
and the status
and the good life
that we are looking for,
and we don't need
to concern ourselves with God.
Back to our question,
if we ask Genesis 11,
what's gone wrong with the world?
The answer is
that we as people
have walked away from God
and his ways.
The problem is human pride.
The problem is when
we seek personal glory
at the expense of God
and his design for our lives.
I wonder if we thought
about life in those terms.
I wonder if we've asked ourselves
the question,
or can we see why
Genesis gives that answer?
A brief look through history
might help us.
Think about the world empires,
you know,
the desire for expansion.
What are they built on so often?
Look at your history books,
you'll find greed,
injustice,
slavery,
exploitation,
racism,
and the desire
for personal glory.
Think about the world wars.
At 20th century,
people were celebrating,
oh, look how technologically
advanced we are.
Look at all our scientific progress.
How is the progress used
to create weapons of destruction
and mass destruction?
Or look around
at contemporary society.
What are some of the things
that worry us?
What makes the headlines
or what gives us
sleepless nights?
Think about migrants
and the realities
of human trafficking.
Think about the hate
and the violence
that we're confronted with
in our news headlines
day after day.
Maybe it's the race
of the companies
to build powerful AI
and we have that fear.
Well, what if it becomes
untethered and on the loose?
What if people are asking,
not should we,
but simply can we?
Maybe our anxiety
is to do with social media,
social media platforms
or social media influencers
and maybe the impact
that it has
on a younger generation.
Go to the roots
of all of those things
and we're going to see
elements of human pride,
human ambition,
human self-interest,
seeking personal glory
and not seeking God.
And the Bible says
that's a recipe for chaos
and suffering
in so many ways.
And then instead
of just looking out,
if we look in,
if we're brave enough
to turn the spotlight
on ourselves,
what do we find?
Isn't it true
that our own personal pride
and our desire for glory
that that can produce harm
in our relationships?
Isn't it our seeking status
and glory that leads us
to perhaps tear others down
so that we can build ourselves up?
Because if I want to be number one
and if I want my name to be great
and then you also want
your name to be great,
well, what happens?
Well, now we've got clash
and conflict
and something has to give
and there's going to be winners
and there's going to be losers
and there's conflict.
But maybe we also find this.
Maybe we also can identify
with Babel in this way.
When we remove ourselves
from God's story,
when a society or a person
removes oneself
from God's plan
for how life is supposed to be,
we're still trying to build
a life for ourselves
and we're still trying
to make progress,
but maybe we're not sure
exactly what that's supposed
to look like.
What is progress
supposed to be?
What does the good life
really look like?
And for many people,
it leads to a feeling
of being anxious
and frantic and hopeless
because we can't figure it out
by ourselves.
There is something within us
that as people,
we often dream
that we have the answers,
but we're not so good
at seeing that often
we're part of the problem.
I came across the beginning
of the UN Charter
in 1948 this week.
So after the Second World War,
that determination
that the nations would work
together for peace.
And even to just read
the preamble,
you discover what big claims,
I mean,
great ambitions,
but big claims
that we can make
for ourselves.
Listen to how
the Charter begins.
We,
the peoples
of the United Nations,
will succeed
in getting rid
of the scourge of war.
We will promote
social progress
and better standards
of life
in larger freedom.
You know,
that sounds wonderful,
doesn't it?
But what's the reality?
There is still
the horrors of war.
There is still
the reality of oppression.
Millions of people
are still being bought
and sold
by people traffickers.
The heart
of the Babel problem
is the problem
of the human heart.
So we left to ourselves
are not going to fix it.
When we reject
and remove God
and His design,
when we replace God
with self
at the center,
when a life
or a society
is driven by pride
and a desire
for personal glory,
Genesis 11
reminds us
it creates
so many problems.
Some of you
might remember
the episode
of the sitcom
Friends
where Rachel
wants to make
an English recipe.
So she decides
she's going to make
an English trifle.
But the problem is
that her cookbook
has got two pages
stuck together.
So she's trying
to make trifle,
she turns the page
and she's reading
the instructions
for making
a shepherd's pie.
You try and make
a trifle
with the ingredients
for a shepherd's pie
and the result
is obviously
going to be
a disaster.
Now far more seriously
Genesis 11
is telling us
as people
we have taken
God's good idea
of progress
but we're following
entirely the wrong
direction
because we're rejecting
God in favor of self
and it leads to chaos
and confusion.
And so what we need
to see next
is God's responses
to see as their hope.
So if that was
the problem
pride and seeking
personal glory
let's see God's
responses
because there's
two responses
the first response
that we need to
recognize is the
response of judgment.
So look at verse 5
and notice the irony.
So here's these
people that are
trying to make
a tower that reaches
to the heavens
but the Lord
came down
to see the city
and the tower
that people were
building.
And I think
the author of Genesis
is inviting us
to imagine God
as it were
stooping down
and squinting
maybe he's getting
his magnifying glass
out if you've seen
Honey I Shrunk the Kids
trying to see
this tiny speck
of a tower
that the people
thought was so
grand and glorious.
God is so much
greater.
And so it's full
of irony
but verse 6
reminds us
this is no joke.
The Lord said
if as one people
speaking the same
language
they've begun
to do this
then nothing
they plan to do
will be impossible
for them.
Notice God knows
the human heart
and he recognizes
that the Tower of Babel
is really only
phase one.
This is a people
who are entirely
set on
I'm going to
build a life
without God.
And so what happens
is that the creator
of the universe
the designer
who tells us
how life should go
he intervenes.
He has been
insulted
and rejected
and rebelled
against
and so God
gets involved.
Some of us
will likely
have been
or will go
to the cinema
to watch
The Odyssey
Homer's
kind of epic
poem
on screen
7th century
or so
Greek poem.
It has loads
of weird stuff
in it
but one thing
that I think
Homer gets right
is
it is a bad
thing
to insult
the God.
the story
is full of
even more
so
it is a
serious thing
to insult
and to ignore
the one true
and living God.
And so God
comes
and he confuses
language
and he scatters
people
and we can just
imagine the chaos
you imagine
any project
where nobody
can communicate
because there's
culture barrier
and there's
language barrier
and what happens
here is that
God will not
allow the people
of the world
to continue
on their own
merry way
in rebellion
against him.
And so this is
judgment
on sin
that rejects
God
on hearts
that are turned
inwards
in human pride.
They wanted
a life
and a world
and progress
without God
but in the
Lord's judgment
it all comes
crashing down
and it will
come crashing
down.
And so there is
that warning
of a God
who judges
rebellion.
But that's only
one of God's
responses.
The second
response
is the promise
of rescue
and reconciliation.
So, so far
I think we've
been dealing
with the bad
news of what's
gone wrong
and hopefully
we're seeing
that it's honest
but it's not
yet hopeful.
To find hope
we need to turn
to that second
passage that we
looked at.
We need to
turn to that
family tree
and you might
be thinking
well what on
earth has a
family tree
got to do
with hope
and I guess
the next few
weeks will
unveil that
so bear with
me in that
sense.
But one way
to think about
it is this.
So over the
summer our
family we did
a little bit
of a Spider-Man
movie catch-up
because there's
a new one
coming out
and if you
know anything
about the
superhero genre
think about
what you have.
You have
often a very
unexpected hero
who is chosen
in a surprising
way in the
end to save
a city or
save a world.
That's a
superhero trope
but it's also
in a sense a
biblical principle.
God chooses
one for the
sake of the
many.
And what we're
going to see in
the coming weeks
is that God
chooses Abraham
a very old
man who had
previously been
worshipping idols
and he's
going to
speak to
him and
he's going
to save
him and
as we saw
he sets
him on a
journey and
what God's
going to do
for Abraham
is he's going
to make a
name for
Abraham and
he's going
to give
Abraham wonderful
promises and
one of the
things that he
says to
Abraham is
that Abraham
from your
family will
come a source
of God's
blessing to
all nations.
It's there
at the beginning
of chapter 12.
So through
Abraham's family
comes a hope of
rescue and
reconciliation.
God's going
to extend
salvation.
to the whole
world.
And so
Genesis 11
prepares us
for the truth
that there is
hope coming.
That yes,
the Bible is
very honest,
the world is
in a mess.
And yes,
God does
judge sinful
rebellion,
but wonderfully,
yes,
also God has
a plan to
redeem and
rescue and
restore.
And the
whole Bible
tells us that
he does that
wonderfully through
his son,
the Lord Jesus,
who comes from
Abraham's family.
So let's just
look for a few
minutes at how
Jesus is God's
answer to the
human problem.
That while we
as people have
walked away from
God,
God comes to
bring people
back to himself.
So first of all,
who is Jesus?
Well, we know
that Jesus is the
eternal son of God,
glory of heaven,
worshipped by
hundreds of
thousands of
angels,
but he is the
God who came
down to us
to become one
of us.
Fast forward to
the New Testament.
First book of the
New Testament is
the book of
Matthew.
Matthew begins
his story of
the life of
Jesus in a way
that I think we
find as modern
people surprising.
It starts with
a family tree.
Why start an
exciting story
with a family
tree?
Because Matthew
wants us to
know Jesus is
the one from
Abraham's family
who is the
promised one.
He is God's
redeemer.
He is the way
God will reconcile
people to himself.
So God the
Father sends
God the Son
into a world
that needs
rescue.
And Jesus,
the Son of
God, he comes
and he lives
a perfect life.
So different
from the people
of Babel,
so different
often from us.
Full of
humility.
Serving others,
taking upon
himself the
title of a
servant,
washing his
disciples'
feet.
He lives
always and
only for his
Father's glory,
not trying to
make a name
for himself.
And he comes
with an amazing
message.
I am the way
back to God.
He has come
from the
Father so we
could know
God as
Father.
And then as
we come
towards Jesus'
death, we
discover that
he dies,
this perfect
one.
He dies on
a cross.
And the Bible
tells us why.
In 1 Peter 3
verse 18,
we are told
Christ died,
the righteous
for the
unrighteous,
to bring
us to
God.
Do you
know that's
the goal of
Jesus coming
into the
world?
That's the
greatest good
that Jesus
brings so
that you
and I,
by trusting
in Jesus,
we can
know life
with God.
God gives
us himself
to restore
what sin
has ruined.
And then
after his
resurrection,
so Jesus
dies three
days later,
he's risen,
he returns
to heaven,
because Jesus
belongs there,
and from
heaven he
sends his
spirit.
And we
read about
it in Acts
chapter 2.
And did you
notice what
happened in
the book of
Acts?
There are
nations,
people from
different languages
and places,
and together
they hear the
good news of
Jesus.
So here's a
new people
united,
different
languages,
different
cultures,
worshipping,
celebrating the
good news of
Jesus.
And we
can go to
the very
end of
the Bible,
Revelation
chapter 7,
you get this
vision of
what's life
going to be
like in
the new
creation.
And we
find people
from all
nations and
tribes and
peoples and
languages,
and they're
worshipping,
and right at
the centre,
the source of
their word is
Jesus.
So do we
see what God
has in store
to do through
his son Jesus?
He is uniting
people together
again.
Not in pride,
because pride
separates,
in worship.
A group of
people no
longer thinking
about our
own glory,
but now
captured by
God's glory.
And what the
Bible tells us
is that history
is progressing
in a great
building project,
but it's not
ours,
it's God's.
And Jesus is
the master
builder,
and he's also
the foundation.
And what Jesus
is doing right
now is Jesus
is calling people
from different
places and
different backgrounds.
And he's
giving people
the faith to
believe.
So people are
being united
to Jesus,
and they've
been brought
together into
the church of
Jesus.
And that takes
us to the
mission of the
church.
Why are we
here as a
local church?
We have a
mission.
We are workers
together on
Jesus'
building projects.
So what do
we do?
We tell people
about Jesus,
we put the
love and
the grace
of God
on display
so that
others can
be restored
to life
with God
too.
We are to
help people
to both
see and
to feel
that Jesus
is God's
great answer
to our
human problems
in the way
that we
practice unity
and peace
and love,
in the
welcome that
we extend,
in the
kindness that
we offer
across
difference.
So we
have here
in Genesis
11 both
the indication
of what's
gone wrong
with the
world,
our walking
away,
our sinful
pride,
but it
also offers
hope that
the God of
grace and
love is not
done with
people and
that rather
he will come
in Jesus to
bring us
back into
relationship
with God.
And so
Jesus today
invites us to
come to
him.
for rescue
and
reconciliation.
Let me
pray for us.
Our God
and Father,
we thank
you that
the Bible
tells one
great story
of redemption,
that while it
is very
honest about
the reality
of the sin
in our hearts
and lives,
our own
pride and
our seeking
glory for
ourselves,
it also
shows us
your grace
and your
salvation,
that you
sent Jesus
to our
people who
are walking
far away
from you
to bring
us back
home so
that we
could call
you our
father,
so that we
could live
for the
glory of
Jesus and
not for
our own
glory.
And so
we pray
that you
would help
us to
wrestle with
these realities,
to bow our
knee to
Jesus and
to be so
glad to live
to make him
known and to
enjoy his
glory.
And we
pray in his
name.
Amen.