The MP3 of this talk can be found here.
The two most polarizing contemporary comedians right now are Louie CK and Dane Cook. You are not allowed to like both these guys. You are either a CK person or a Dane Cook Person.[1] But they both have bits about naming kids:
Dane Cook – “I want to a bunch of (my kids) after transformers…That would be great just to say Optimous Prime, come hear, you sit next to Megatron, we are going to have a little chit chat.”[2]
Louie CK – “You can name your kid anything you want. There are no laws…there should be a couple of laws.”[3]
And this makes sense because naming kids is way too big a responsibility for most of us to execute appropriately. But, it turns out that in some countries there are laws. Recently Sweden rejected the following names.
Metallica, 4Real, Lego, Google
(pronounced ‘Albin’)
It turns out that Denmark rejects 20% of all names. Sadly, because my name has been in my family for like 8 generations ‘stanford’ would not have been rejected even if it peaked in popularity in 1910 and fell to <1 in one million babies a decade before I was born. [4]
The reason that there is so much pressure in naming a kid is that that name will last a long time. But, will it really. I mean a lifetime is too long to be named ‘Google’ but even these memorable names will be forgotten pretty quickly.
The truth is, that names are exceedingly forgettable. http://theoatmeal.com/comics/brain
No one remembers my great grandparents. No one. When my dad died…they passed from history as if they never existed.
This is part of what makes cemeteries compelling and a little creepy. They are a collection of names without narratives. The names are preserved…but the stories are lost…they are quixotic monuments to our fundamental forgettabilty. Disembodied names floating in granite…futile attempts to be remembered.
http://youtu.be/0X6q7nt15uk
We are haunted by the idea that our names will someday pass into the abyss of obscurity. That no one will remember who we are. [5][6]
Why do you and the people around you work so hard? For some, it is the fear of failure, or the desire to achieve a modicum of comfort or security or power[7] but for some, it is the existential dread that no one will remember my name…that your existence will be unremarkable and that your name will be lost in the relentless march of time…relegated to the abyss of history’s ruthless forgetfulness. So you study calc and write papers and mess around with your organic chemisty playset in the hope that you can do something that will make you memorable. But you won’t.[8]
Genesis 11 and 12 contrasts two possible paths to for a memorable name…two visions to forge a name that will outlast your heartbeat…a you that will last longer than your little carbon collection:
I. A Critical Contrast
The main thing I want to bring out in this text is that Babel and the Call of Abraham demonstrate two approaches to ‘making a name’…two contrasting approaches on how to matter.
Genesis 11:4Then 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.”
Genesis 12:2And 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.
Babel is the last Scene of Act 2 and Abraham’s call is the first scene of Act 3. It is a contrast that straddles the transition from back story to story.[9]
You see Act 2 usually ends really poorly and Act 3 usually provides a glimmer of hope for the final solution. Consider the final moments of the most famous Act 2…the protagonist just had his paw hacked off by his conservatively dressed daddy who he just learned annihilates innocent planets for fun.[10] The story of the Bible really starts with chapter 12 because the rest of the story is about how God brings blessing to all people everywhere for all time all starts with this promise he makes through Abraham.[11]
Four insights emerge from this contrast
1. Choose Venture over Huddling
(What kind of Community?)[12]
So why did the men of Babel really take on this project? They wanted their names to ring out…yes…they wanted to be rememberd…yes…so you could say it was motivated by pride. But look beyond the bravado, and you find something surprising:
“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.”
They were afraid. And so they looked to technology to give them the means to huddle together with those like them. Look at how this contrasts with God’s promise to renew the world through Abraham.
[13]
You see, the problem here is not urbanization…the Bible is decidedly pro-city. Cities tend to be metropolitan mixtures, hotspots of diversity and because of this the gospel tends to thrive in cities. The Babel project was the opposite, it was an experiment in homogeneity.[14] It was an attempt to undo the fall through technology and social planning. And we still do this. We look for security in technology or visions for social transformation coming from the either the political left or the political right. But God’s plan to restore and renew the fractured social fabric is not in huddling with those like you and trying to implement a technologically or politically driven utopia.[15] It is in trusting him in his risky ventures. It is in a willingness to be dispersed for the good of others and do life with people very different than you.[16]
Application: Be willing to Venture. For some of you, you are still coming to terms with the fact that God has dispersed you to UC Davis…others of you have gotten comfortable here and are looking with nervousness to your next dispersal.
Now it is time for the segment of my talk called:
Stuff Adam Darbonne Says:
But this week it is different – This week we here from ‘serious Adam’ rather than silly Adam.
(I miss) being near family. And being near good friends, and the familiarity of the place I grew up, of the restaurants, and roads, and the culture… its having more than 4 months out of the year where I where I see the sun and its swimming in outdoor pools…being around people I’ve known for more than 3 months and who have known me for more than 3 months…I miss home. But God has been really clear that he has called me to Wisconsin right now and I have no promise that he will bring me back any time soon and so I have to be willing to give all that up. I have to be willing…to love Jesus more than California
Davis and CL can become really comfortable places…but God will send you somewhere[17]…and you best go.[18]
Grad school aps due in January – Missions agency apps due soon
2. Build Alters instead of Ziggurats
(What kind of Religion/Monument?)
The second big contrast between these passages is the kind of religious structures that the men of Babel and Abraham build.
Genesis 11:4 “Come let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves…” -Charis – ‘touch the sky’ (NIV)
Genesis 12:7-8 “So he built an alter to Yahweh, who had appeared to him…and there he built an alter to Yahweh and called upon the name of Yahweh.”
Most commentators believe that the tower is a Ziggurat which means that it was an elaborate temple that invited god to come and live in the city. Meanwhile, Abraham just piles up a few rocks a couple times. Surely the men of Babel are more religious.
But the contrast between Babel’s impressive ziggurat and Abraham’s modest alters is the contrast between respectable religion and walking with God in faith.
[19][20]
The men of Babel have a closed conversation (‘let us’) and take on their project…and they include a really impressive and prominent feature of their project for God. They figure, if build a sufficient religious infrastructure, God will have to get involved in our project. And this is what religion is all about. It is the idea that if I do enough for God it will put him in our debt and force him to sign off on our personal projects. But here is the thing…Yahweh does not play that game. Throughout the Bible he rejects that kind of religion. He will not be managed as a part of your life or won over by impressive religion. He wants you to listen. And that is why the little alters are more satisfying than the impressive zigeraut…because they are monuments to listening…they are monuments to one who seeks God’s guidance instead of trying to bribe or appease him.[21]
The first alter was a monument of thankfulness that Yahweh had invited him into relationship:
“So he built an alter to Yahweh, who had appeared to him.” 12:7
And the second was a monument of his dependence on his new God for guidance[22]:
“And there he built an alter to Yahweh and called upon the name of Yahweh.” 12:8
The alters are monuments of dependence and a willingness to walk with God in his project of cultural transformation. They are monuments of relationship…like the ring Brant just gave Anda (which incidentally he made…himself…which is pretty great). Brant didn’t give Anda a ring so that she would marry him, but as a recognition of the bond that had grown between them and that was growing deeper.[23] That is the difference between religion and faith.
One of the most important themes of the Bible is that God cannot be impressed. Religion is an attempt to domesticate God…I’ll build him an impressive tower, but he has to stay in it. Yahweh wants us to enter into a loving relationship of worship and listening where everything is on the table.[24][25][26][27][28]
Application: Build alters not ziggurats. God doesn’t need you to build him an impressive religion. He wants you to listen, to engage in relationship with him.[29]
3. Transform from Blessing Consumers to of Blessing Transmitters[30]
(To What End?)
The great irony of this passage is that Abraham’s name does ‘ring out’. He becomes one of the most famous men in history. And the men of Babel are never named. Their names are lost on the scrap heap of history. And that is because making your name is an issue of ‘First and second things.’ The question ‘How do I make my name’ is the wrong question
Why does God say he will make Abraham’s name great?
12:2 “I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing…and in you all the families of earth shall be blessed.”
God’s care and interest never stop with you. We were not designed to consume blessing…we were designed to transit it. Bronwyn: You are not the final person in God’s receiving line.
“Whenever someone sees God for who he is they loose their consumer mentality…God is a spiritual tornado, he will never bless you except to be a blessing.” -Keller
Consider how similar this is to the passage I taught out of 2 Cor last year:
2 Cor 5:15 “And Jesus died for all, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”
Application: Leayah is going to talk more about this next quarter, but you have to take note that listening to Yahweh and receiving his blessing ALWAYS leads to passing that on.
4. Consider generational timescales
(What kind of Timetable?)[31]
Notice one final contrast:
Babel Abraham
“our names”. “to your offspring”.
The men of Babel wanted to make their names great. It was all about them and their generation. But one of the themes of Genesis is that God’s plans unfold on multigenerational times scales. Abraham will never get to see most of God’s promises.
12:7 – “to your offspring” – God builds things on generational time scales – you may never see his promises – you are building something bigger than yourselves.
Change your time scale. We want to see all of God’s promises right now. But you might be a mess. I am. Your parents might have really messed you up…because theirs did…because theirs did. And so God’s promises to you might be that he will walk with you through the painful process of redeeming the sin bucket your parents handed you so that your kids and their kids their kids don’t have to deal with that crap and will have more freedom to be conduits of Yahweh’s blessing.
It is not about you…It is about your grandkids.[32] This is hugely counter-cultural. It is why many of you are like I was at your age…unable to even understand why anyone would consider having kids. But God sees your story as a chapter in a story of generations. It is not your story – your actions affect your children and are affected by your parents.[33]
Application: Set yourself up to raise children who are listening venturers. That means you need to marry one. More on that in January.
II. A Confusing Complication
(A Confusing anti-Climax)
So we see in the contrast between Genesis 11 and 12 two paths to an unforgettable name. And it could seem like the point is “Don’t be like the men of Babel, be like Abraham.” It might seem like I am saying “Abraham is the hero of this story, be like him.” And that would make sense, if what came next wasn’t totally deplorable.
You see God’s road to a great name starts out hard and badly – the opening story of Abraham’s new life of purpose is both difficult and tragic. It is a story of hardship and failure. It is our story.
So in the opening verses of chapter 12 God initiates his program of species redemption…his great act of undoing the fall and reclaiming us. And what happens next? Abraham has been God’s point man in his cosmic plan for precisely nine verses, before it gets REALLY hard:
10Now there was a famine in the land.
Really? This is how God rewards Abraham’s venture of faith? Really? This is God’s idea of blessing? Famine? I thought of this a couple weeks ago when Lindsey was sharing her testimony and talked about how her life got really difficult about the time God was calling her to follow him in his project of redemption.
“A loving God would not put this much on the new person.” –Lindsey Valdalez
But apparently when God says he will bless us to be a blessing he does not mean that your life is going to be easy. So then we get the story of how Abraham totally gets it and handles this new challenge really well.
Except we don’t…he handles it terrible. In 9 verses Abraham’s remarkable courage evaporates into a puddle of cowardice and fear. So many people read this opening story of God’s brand new plan of redemption and say…What?!? This is the best God can do?!? This guy horrible! He is pimping out his wife like a high end hooker!! [34]
What happened to the courage we saw 8 verses ago.[35]
But here is what you HAVE TO understand about Abraham if you are going to understand the spiritual life. God may have made Abraham’s name great – but it isn’t because Abraham is great.
This guy is mentioned like 70 times[36] in the NT but within X words of meeting him he is pimping out his wife. If you are going to read Genesis without getting yourself totally confused, you have to come to terms with the idea that these guys are not heroes…they are horrible…just like you and just like me. The Bible only has room for one hero…his name is Jesus.
“The Bible is not about good people and bad people…it is about bad people and Jesus.”
But that is the amazing thing about the Abraham path to greatness…you don’t have to be great. You can be a total shmuck…in fact, failure is required…But God responds to you not in accordance with what your actions deserve…but in accordance with his promise and his purpose.
Illustration
Armegeddon is a horrible movie with one great scene - Armegedon – “And they don’t want to pay taxes…ever.”[37] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0vy33Br_3s
The opening story of Abraham is supposed to serve the same narrative function as this scene in Armegeddon. We are supposed to say ‘the fate of the species is in the hands of these guys? Really? I mean, can’t we do better than that?’
If you look at Abraham and say ‘this is the best God’s got’ – that is exactly the way you are supposed to feel. This is not the story of a string of heroes who each advance God’s purpose. This is a story of God’s cosmic rescue plan in Jesus that he enacts through broken people…but who negotiate that brokenness in relationship with him. Abraham is not a righteous man…he is a man of faith.
You see, the Abraham story is littered with errors and brokenness…but the rest of the Bible still points to him as someone of note…why?
Well it is not because he was righteous. It was because despite his great moments and his deplorable lows, he always came back to a lively attentive trust in Yahweh. He wasn’t a good guy…he was a believer. At the center of Pauline theology is the idea from the Prophets that
“Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
And that's what made Abraham special. Despite the famine, he still believed God. Despite his deplorable actions, he still believed God.
Abraham is nothing special. But Abraham+Jesus is something God could utilize to initiate his story of human redemption.
And likewise, you are nothing special. But You+Jesus is something God can utilize to write the next chapter in his story of human redemption.
The contrast here is not between the bad people of Babel and the righteousness of Abraham. It is between a life of self reliance and a life of faith. It is trusting Jesus that will allow you to be a venture, to build alters instead of ziggerauts, and becoming conduits rather than consumers of blessing.
If you are trying to make your name like the men of Babel…if you are trying to work hard enough to matter…you need to know that you won’t. Give up the tower…build alters. Come into a listening, trusting relationship with God through Jesus. And if you are already trying to be an alter builder but are just sick and tired of the hardship and failure…recognize that God’s promises are stronger than your failures. Trust Jesus again. Build another alter tonight. Call upon the name of Yahweh, re-engage him in relationship, and get back in on being the next flawed but meaningful chapter in the story God started in Genesis 12.
____________________________________
[1] For the record…I am with CK. I love the insight, the honesty, the humility, the real attempt to get into the perspective of people he should hate and humanize them and, frankly, the despair.
[2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98vZuid_744
[3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNSf-KQORRk
[4] I thought about expanding my mockery of my name here and do my ‘The Rule of Stan’ bit: You see I have this theory about my name. It is not a very cool name. In fact – it is anti-cool. So, if you are writing a story or script and need a character who is a geek, a nerd, or a tool, don’t have the narrative space or motivation to develop the character, you just name him Stan and the audience will tap into an unspoken cultural expectation that ‘this guy has some glaring personality flaw.’ I have collected evidence for this theory from sources as diverse as Harry Potter, Three’s Company, Sex in the City and Second Hand Lions. But when it came to Gibson boy names…I actually came out the winner. My brother and I were both named after our Grandfathers…I was named after grandpa Stanford…my brother was named after the Italian grandfather…Nicola
[5] Cut a Wire Illustration here: “People do crazy stuff to make their name memorable…for just a little longer. Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell. The compelling antagonists of the first couple seasons of The Wire…They are the perfect team…the business man and the gangster. But then they start to grow apart…Stringer wants to leave the heroin game and make piles of cash in Baltamore real estate…”we could run this town” he tells his friend. But Avon isn’t satisfied being silently wealthy and powerful…he wants a memorable name. Stringer wants to silently control Baltimore…but Avon is content to rule a piece of it, as long as everyone knows whose it is…as stiringer puts it…he wants his name to ‘ring out on some ghetto corners. From Avon’s perspective, his name is going to be lost to the scrap heap of history…at least it is going to ring out now. Russell 'Stringer' Bell: You know, Avon, you gotta think about what we got in this game for, man. Huh? Was it the rep? Was it so our names could ring out on some…ghetto streetcorner, man? Naw, man. There's games beyond the…game.
Avon: Maybe I’m just a dumb gangster…but I want my corners
One of the greatest scenes…If I could only use it…as they reminisce they are planning how they will betray each other: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91CpbRq9Tiw I need to stop wishing I could play wire clips…since it is likely the highest rate of cussing per minute of any show I can think of in recent history.
[6] Unusable clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDMoKfvPe70 Then comes marlo…the coldest, most emotionless villain you will meet…he looses his cool exactly once…when his name is disrespected leading to the chilling ‘my name is my name clip.’
[7] Some of us are like stringer..we want to matter. Others are like Avon…we want people to know we mattered.
[8] “And you are slowly realizing that. And we are very, very pissed off.”
[9] It is the last in the sequence of offense narratives…and shifts into covenant narratives -Walton
[10] Language credit to Klosterman SD&CP
[11] The fall does not culminate in the flood…the pre-flood world is not as bad as things get…Babel is the climax of the fall narrative…Humans seeking greatness through self effort and self made religion is as bad as we get…the desire to create the ideal society has resulted in more human violence against other humans than any other motivation.
[12] Become a venture instead of a huddler.
[13] Jerome – Their scattering is for their own welfare[13] to protect them from their escalating idolatry. Sin has a positive feedback
Both Babel and Abraham are stories of dispersals motivated by grace – The men of Babel are dispersed by grace of protection/preservation from their escalating idolatry and Abram is dispersed by grace of promise/purpose
[14] You could say that Babel was the first suburb…if you wanted to be cheeky.
[15] Attempts a cultural solution to the sin problem – we will build and organize our way out of the brokenness – we will even plan god’s role – optimism of the 1800’s – but it turns out that technology just amplifies our beauty and our brokenness
[16] Bruggerman – Abraham’s multicultural purpose is the immediate response to Babel’s experiment in homogeneous community
[17] 12:1 – Go from your country – for some of you – you are still coming to terms with the terrifying reality that God has scattered you here – others of you are looking forward to another scattering – your 20’s are a gift – you should either put yourself in a position to be a pillar of a church and family – or you should try something crazy –
[18] Walton – be careful of focusing too much on the leaving – “We need to examine the God side of the equation more than the Abram side of the equation.”
[19] Interesting but ambiguous implications wrt technology – hey, the way you are making houses is crazy…lets try this new fired brick thing…then we can finally have some security…we can build a wall to keep our enemies out and build a tower to let the gods in
[20] 11:29 – Family with tragedy – “Haran died in the presence of his Father Terah”
11:30 – Sarah was barren – (with Haran dead and Sarah baren, it seems to a casual reader that this will be a story of Nahor)
[21] “When we treat God as a child to be cajoled or a tyrant to be appeased the Babel syndrome is surging in our veins…it is ‘God abuse’…Needy Gods can only be oppressive Gods.” -Walton
[22] Goldengay – God speaks to Abram about every 25 years – I haven’t even been serving God 25 years – I’m roughly on pace and I’m not even a mystic - ‘God is indeed economic with interventions.’ – says the guy who’s wife has been unable to communicate with him and required constant care for years – God is not chatty – because of the compressed narratives we get the idea that the patriarchs were just chatting it up with God – but only Adam and Eve had that kind of access
[23] I feel like there is a Beyonce joke here about God wanting you to ‘put a ring on it’ -
[24] If we do all this for god he will come down and bless our project. If we build a temple as part of our city, he will be in our debt become part of what we are doing. This is the heart of religion. I am going to live my life with my agenda, but I am going to do these things for God so he owes me and blesses my project…I’ll build him an impressive tower, but he has to stay in it.
[25] If your religious system somehow limits God’s claim on you by compartmentalizing him…it doesn’t matter how elaborate it is…it is offensive to him.
[26] –Walton – Up to chapter 11 humans are morally corrupt – they are violent towards each other and forgetful of God. But now, they have done something new. They have begun to re-create God in their own image. We have the beginnings of idolatry and human effort to ‘achieve’ god’s favor, to domesticate god and put him into our debt. The ziggurat of Babel stand in for all our attempts to domesticate god by instinutionaliszing him and putting him in our debt by rendering impressive acts of self selected devotion.
[27] And here is the thing, the men of Babel were way more impressive than Abraham. They were an impressive team of planners and engineers and God really should have been impressed. I mean they built an enormous ziggurat in the middle of their city so that he would get involved. They made sure god’s part was the most impressive part of their project…surely they deserved his involvement (or at least his disinterest) in their project to make their names great.
[28] They were engineers (which we all know is super impressive)…Abraham was a wandering Mesopotamian herdsman. But one of the most important themes of the Bible is that God cannot be impressed. You cannot earn his favor. You cannot put him in your debt through your efforts. Abraham’s alters were the better monuments because they were monuments to listening. They recognized that God takes the initiative in our relationship with him.
[29] The irony is that the men of Babel thought their god required maintenance and care…The revolutionary idea in this passage is that the true God does not require maintenance, care or appeasement…the true God provides care but requires open listeners. Do your gods require maintenance and care? Consider trading them in for one who will care for you.
[30] Make Others the Focus of Your Quest
[31] I might save this material for the relationship talk
[32] Lilies – Updike’s 4 generations remind me of Genesis
[33] The only story we get about Isacc is that he repeated the habitual sin of his father.
[34] Love the Kidner insight that we think it is weird that Sarah would be so old yet considered hot…but that we are far too preoccupied with the idea that beauty is co-equal with youth while ancient cultures may have been able to see a striking beauty in the stark wisdom and poise of a seasoned matriarch.
[35] I love this clip as an illustration (or attention re-set) for what is going on with Abraham and Pharoh…but I don’t think it has broad enough appeal to warrant the time. Thoughts?
http://a.espnradio.com/espnvideo/maynestreet/com_091102mayneSt_kimmel_revised.mp4
She felt like the only grown up in the room.
[36] I found numbers between 68 and 72
[37] I also like the Decemberist’s Castaways and Cuttouts as a picture of God’s call to unremarkable ‘heroes’ but think I will leave it on the table: “We're calling all bed wetters/And ambulance chasers/We're lining up the light-loafered/And the bored bench warmers/Castaways and cutouts,
