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May 30, 2004
Pentecost
Genesis 11:1-9
Pastor Robert Raasch

God Uses Foreign Languages for His Purpose

1. At Babel, to Scatter Mankind
2. At Pentecost, to Unite Mankind

caris umin kai eirhnh apo qeou patros hmwn kai kuriou Ihsou cristou

Isn't that right? What's the matter? Can't understand what I said? Maybe I should try a different language. How about this: "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Is that better? Now you can understand what I said? Good.

Language is an interesting thing isn't it? If you know the language a person is speaking, then you can understand what they're saying. You feel like you can communicate with them. But if you don't know the language, then their words sound strange to you. You feel separated from them. You feel like there's a wall between you and that other person. And there is. It's called "the Language Barrier."

Isn't it funny how human language works. It can either draw people together or keep them apart. Well, in our scripture readings for today, we have two situations which illustrate each of these two opposite effects. On this Festival of Pentecost, we want to consider two different events, one which occurred in the city of Jerusalem, one which occurred at the tower of Babel. In each case we see God using different foreign languages. In fact, today we will learn that:

God Uses Foreign Languages for His Purpose

1. At Babel, He Used Foreign Languages to Scatter Mankind
2. At Pentecost, He Used Foreign Languages to Unite Mankind

Our text here in Genesis 11 begins, "Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there." This is Moses' description of world history in the century immediately following the Great Deluge, otherwise known as Noah's flood. If you draw on your knowledge of Bible History, you may remember that when Noah's ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat in the modern day country of Turkey, there were only 8 people alive in the whole world: Noah, his wife, their 3 sons and their wives. At that point in time, God gave them the command, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth." And we can expect that that's exactly what that handful of believers did. They had lots of children. And each family, each generation, spread out further into the world. And as Moses tells us, some of them came to settle on plain in the land of Shinar. Shinar would be located in modern day Iraq or Kuwait, the land in between the Tigres and Euphrates Rivers.

And what did these people decide to do once they got there? They said to one another, "Come let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." Nothing wrong with that idea. They go on, "Let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens..." Nothing really wrong with that either. But what was their reason for building this tower? They say, "So that we may build a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."

Now, there's a problem. Those words tell us two things that are wrong with the people's plan. First, it is clear that these people are building for their own glory, not God's. They are looking to gain fame for themselves. They are putting themselves up on a pedestal. Rather than saying, "To God be the glory," they're saying "To us be the glory!" Somewhere between the time of Noah, and the time of Babel, this segment of the human race had turned its focus away from God, and back toward itself. These people had begun to practice a new religion called "humanism."

But that's not the only mark against the people. Consider the second reason they want to build this tower. "So that we will not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." Remember what God had told Noah when he got off the ark? "Fill the earth." By their determination to not be scattered over the face of the earth these people at Shinar were acting in complete defiance of God's command. They're saying, "God, you want us to do this? Well, were not going to do it. We're going to do what we want to do. And in they proved exactly what the Apostle Paul wrote said in Romans 8, "The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so."

Now, because God is both a just and a merciful God, he determined that he was not going to let these people do whatever they wanted to do. He determines to put a halt to their arrogant plans. Speaking as the three persons of the Trinity, God says, "Come let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." With one divine snap of his fingers, God suddenly causes everyone to speak a different language. The Bible says that God confused their language. That's where we get the word "Babel." In the original language, "Babel" means confusion. You might say that, suddenly, it sounded as if everyone was just babbling.

Just imagine for a minute what that must have been like. I mean, talk about mass confusion. Suddenly, you can't understand the person standing next to you. So you start walking around looking for somebody who can understand what you're saying. It would have been pure chaos. It reminds me of a game we once played at a youth rally. The leaders wanted to divide up this group of a couple hundred teens into 6 groups. So they said, "If your birthday comes in Jan. or Feb., then make the sound of a pig. And if is in March or April, then pretend you're a cow. And so on, down through the barnyard. And then what did we have to do? We had to go around and find everyone else who made the same noise you made. Can you imagine? 200 teens in a gymnasium running around going "moo" or "woof-woof" until they found everyone else who "spoke the same language." That's what the scene at the tower of Babel must have been like. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people wandering around trying to find the people who spoke the same language they did, and then going their separate ways. Talk about a major dividing point in the history of the world!

But now, the question is, "Does that bit of ancient history have any application for us in 2004?" Sure, it does. First, it answers the question "Why are there so many different languages today?" I mean, modern linguists who trace the history of languages back in time, still can't get back to just one common language. They can only narrow it down to at least 10 families of languages. And those families are very different from one another. Why is that? You know the answer: At the tower of Babel, God spontaneously created a very wide variety of largely unrelated languages.

Secondly, the account of the Tower of Babel answers another question that you've maybe asked as you tried to place an order at the local Chinese restaurant, or tried to carry on a conversation with a cab driver in a white turban, or tried to understand that teaching assistant in your college lab class. The question: "Why can't I understand this guy?" Or maybe as you studied for your Spanish final or worked on your German grammar, you thought, "Why can't we all speak the same language? The answer is found at the tower of Babel. The wide variety of languages in the world is not a testimony to the versatility or adaptability or the advanced evolution of the human race. It's a testimony to the perversity of the human race. Because mankind wanted to use its God given unity to make a great name for itself, God said, "No, from now on, you will be separated. You will be scattered. There will always be language barriers among you." That's kind of a sobering thought, isn't it? God, in an act of divine justice, used foreign languages to scatter the human race.

And yet, that's not the whole story, is it? For many years after the Tower of Babel, God used foreign languages for a completely different purpose. On the day of Pentecost, God had people spontaneously speak in foreign languages not to divide the human race, but rather, II. To Unite It

Think about the miraculous scene on Pentecost. The believers were gathered together in Jerusalem, when suddenly there was the sound of a rushing wind, and tongues of fire descended down onto their heads. The apostles were filled with the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit and then what happened? Suddenly there were all speaking in foreign languages. You might say that it was like the Tower of Babel all over again. The only difference is that this time there were other people around who could understand those languages. Luke tells us that there were "Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia." And what do those people say? They say, "We hear the disciples declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!"

Think about it. Here you've got all these people divided by nationality, by culture, and especially by language, and what does God do? He equips his disciples with the ability to speak in foreign languages in order to share with these foreigners the one thing that could truly unite them together. God gives his disciples the ability to tell the people about Jesus. When the disciples speak about he wonders of God, they're not talking about the sun, moon and stars. They were speaking about the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. These disciples were sharing the message of a universal Savior from sin.

My friends, you realize, don't you, that that's a message that transcends all the language barriers in the world? Every human being, regardless of race or language, has certain needs they want met. Every human being has the need to be right with God, the need to be forgiven, the need to be loved unconditionally, the need to have a purpose for life, and peace in death. All of these are needs which are met only through the life and death of Gods' Son, Jesus.

As the Holy Spirit leads people to put their trust in Jesus, whether through the preaching of God's Word or the washing of Holy Baptism, then he also unites them together as one. They become members of the Holy Christian Church, the Communion of Saints. Within that invisible, universal Church, there are no barriers of race or language or culture. The Bible says, "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus…There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal. 3:26, 28).

A number of years ago, I was reminded of that fact many years ago when I had the opportunity to listen to a tape that one of our WELS foreign missionaries had sent to the United States. It was a recording of a worship service conducted by his African congregation. As that African congregation sang in their native tongue, I couldn't understand a word they were saying. But I still knew what they were singing, because I knew the tune. They were singing "Jesus loves me, this I know." And I thought, "Wow, what a miracle. Even though those people seem so different from me. Their skin, the culture, their language seems so strange-still, I am united to them through Jesus' redeeming love for them and me.

My friends, on this day of Pentecost, we celebrate the fact that God poured out his Holy Spirit on the Christian church and gave those first Christians the ability to speak in foreign languages. But more importantly we celebrate that God has done the same thing for us, too. He has poured his Holy Spirit upon us. And he's given us to the ability to speak a language which is understood and appreciated by all. No, it's not Greek or Hebrew or Parthian. Rather, it's what we might call, the language of love. A love which God first spoke to us. A love that takes worthless sinners like you and me and treats us as if we are the most precious creatures in all the world. A love which says, "Take heart, son, your sins are forgiven'' That's the language of love God has spoken to us-so that we can in turn speak that same language to one another. Through the unconditional forgiveness we share with those who have sinned against us, by the conversations we engage in to build people up rather than tear them down, by those little acts of kindness done without thought of reward or recognition-as we live a live of love, we are reflecting God's love in our lives. And in so doing, we are speaking the language of love: Christ's love for us and Christ's love in us.

My friends, on this Pentecost day, rejoice in the love God has shown to you in Christ. Speak of it to others and live it throughout the week. No, you may not be able to speak Greek or know Latin. Your French may be rusty and even your English not so good. Yet when it comes to the language of love, God the Holy Spirit has made you fluent. May God give you and me the ability to speak that precious language more distinctly today, tomorrow and forever. Amen.