The Right Reaching | The Garden, The Flood & The Promise | Julia Veach

0:45 Genesis literally is the origin. It means the beginning. It is the start. I love a backstory. Anyone love the details of a story? Yeah. Okay. Just me. That's fine. Tell me what you're wearing, what you throw in that weather. You know, like I'm in to the backstory, the origin, but I really do believe that the origin of a problem can help teach us how to respond to an issue. And if we start with the story, it can help us, it can aid us into stop repeating certain problems. Thank you guys so much. I was going to get to the scripture and just, but you're doing great. Yeah. They're like, hurry it up here. But we are jumping into a very lighthearted, encouraging story on this holiday weekend, the Tower of Babel.

1:41 You know, just, you know, here we go. In Genesis 11, if you want to follow along, we are talking today in the origin of the story of division. Now, the division is one of the enemy's favorite tactics, his favorite tools. We see it in the garden with Adam and Eve. We see it in the story with the first families, with the brothers, with Cain and Abel. We see that division separates us from the love of God. We see that the enemy uses division in healthy homes, in healthy churches, and he separates us from believing that we have great things in store. It says that God gives us a hope and a future, and the enemy would do nothing more than to separate us from the belief that we have a hope and a future. So today we're going to look at Genesis 11 as we look at his origin story of the scattering of nations.

2:52 And chapter 11, verse 1 through 9, it's a time when humanity spoke a single language, and they worked together to build a tower. And this tower was to amount to great heights, to touch heaven, it said, and it's a symbol of unity, and it's a symbol of even shared purpose. But beneath that, which under the surface we need to look, was ambition and pride. And in response, God confused their language, giving rise to many languages and many cultures and diversity as we see it today. So verse one, it says, 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 us make bricks and bake them thoroughly. They used brick instead of stone and tar for mortar.

3:50 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 will be scattered all 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 have 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. If you are taking notes today, I've titled this talk, The Right Reaching. You see that they're reaching in this story to build something massive, to build something ambitious. And there is a wrong way and there is a right way to strive and to reach for what God has for us. And let me just tell you, there is also a wrong reach. Anyone that's over 40 and has ever pulled a little something says amen. Yeah, yep. A little stretch, a little extension. You know, the stretching and the reaching is, it's a real thing when you get to a certain age. I don't know about you, but I get out of my bed like kind of a different way than I used to. It like, it requires just an extension. It requires just like a movement.

5:41 it requires me touching my toes a few times now Chad and I we've just made it a goal lately that we are going to aim to stretch more like to you know to reach to um we have um I mean I don't know if you have this but we have like these party tricks like um we don't have like a lot of talents I mean, we're very good at procreating apparently, but we, we have like, you know, when everyone's like, oh, like I've got like double jointed elbows and I can juggle and like, I don't know, like I can, I can whistle upside down. I, all those things, like I can't even whistle. So when we're in those settings and everyone like, you know, just is like, oh, look at my talent, look at my talent. Chad has this awesome talent where he can kick really high.

6:37 Now, I know that you don't believe it. Wait, do you guys want to see it? Wait, come on up here, babe. I have the microphone today. They want to see it. You wore your, he's not in those skinny jeans. Oh, see, I told you. Okay, you're not prepared for this. Okay, come over. Okay, wait. Oh, we're stretching here. Taylor is already sweating. She's a dancer. Okay, we cannot injure ourselves, you promise? The kids need both of the parents. So, okay. I think we're going to count him down. And this is our party trick. He can kick very impressively high. So here we go. Three, two, one. Oh, wow. Wow. Give it up for Chad. That was.

7:35 So obviously we need to do a little more stretching in our house. You were ready for that. Did you? Yeah. Some of you really knew that he could kick only 20 inches off to the ground, but But wow, where are we at? This is, it's a holiday weekend. Anything goes. Tower of Babel. But I do think that today, if we're being honest, we are all reaching towards something, right? We are reaching for something. Maybe it's success. Maybe it's love. Maybe it's connection. Maybe you came in today reaching for truth, reaching for meaning of life, reaching for comfort or peace. The question isn't if we're reaching, but I love that this story is so thought-provoking on ambition and motive that it gives us just a deeper understanding of what the Tower of Babel represents, and it helps us question what we are really reaching for and why. See, we're raising boys and we want them to reach big. We want them to dream big. We want them to build great things in their lives, but we want it to be the right reaching. We want them to understand at a young age that we submit ourselves to God's will in our lives. And he leads and we extend to where he's going. And I think that there is some truths that we can learn from in this passage. And the first one in verse one, it says, now the whole world had one language and a common speech. It wasn't just language. Language is powerful, but it says, and a common speech.

9:33 They were in agreement, but we need to aim or reach for alignment, not just agreement. Reach for alignment, aim for alignment, not just agreement. So they were in common speech. So they shared the same culture. They shared the same mindset. They were heading in the same direction, but they were unified in what they said. They were unified probably in how they looked, but not necessarily in who they served. Because they were serving what? Their own mission and their own mindset. Language is powerful. It shapes cultures. It directs decisions. It's very helpful for marriages to communicate correctly and to not start our sentences with remember. Remember I told you, obviously, I did not remember if you have to start a sentence with remember. Language, communication, powerful tool. Okay. But without God's guidance, shared language in this story leads to rebellion.

10:43 I mean, that's kind of a strong word, but it leads to a disconnection from God's plan and God's will. what looked like unity, what looked like a shared common goal was really just uniformity. Like we're doing the same thing, we're going the same way, but there was no diversity of thoughts. There was no room for alignment or accountability. There was no iron sharpening iron or challenging because it was same way, same idea, same logo, same look, same way. Last summer, we went to Montana and we were out on this lake. And when I say we, it was me and the boys. And the boys are like, let's go take this kayak out on the water. Now, it was really windy. And you're like, okay, backstory. We're getting a lot of details. Montana, wind, we get it. You know, we don't need all those stories. Just tell us about the boat. Okay. It was very windy and it was kind of ripply. And we were like in this bay and we were trying to go out to the open water. So the boys get in and this is like a little, like slightly treacherous, you know, like the guy from the, the boathouse, he came over and he's like, ma'am, I just don't, I, we're just telling people like, we don't think that this is very safe. He's like, go at your own risk. I mean, it's Montana. They're like, do what you want.

12:20 And I'm like, okay, boys, I know it looks scary, but we were built for this. We are made for adventure. Your father is made for comfort. That's why he's at the swimming pool right now. But we ride at dawn. I'm just like, we're hyping them up. Okay, all the boys get into the kayak, canoe, I don't know. We have rows, you know? And okay, so I'm like, first thing, the most important thing is that we are all cohesive in our rowing. So we're going to dip down to the water, we're going to use our strength, and we're just going to, we're going to go at the same time. So you're going to follow the leader, and we're going to go. Now, all the boys, I mean, this is like the beautiful thing about children. They just come out so differently. You know, like one kid is mad at the other brother. Like one brother is like frustrated, like, and then the other brother's just like happy to be there, you know? Like, so, but I'm like, the most important thing is that we are in unison. Like row down three, two, one, go. And we were like, with all our might, like struggling. And time and time again, we were just being pulled all the way back to the shore. Now this is getting frustrated, but I am determined to get us out to the open water because I love a story because I want, I don't know, like the boat like flips over and it's like, we like survived.

13:46 I don't, I, why am I made this way? Why do I like that? I don't know. Dad, dad, tell me if you're listening, what happened here? But I'm like trying to get out of open water and we kept going back and finally we had to give up. But then I realized that the problem was not that we weren't moving in sync. It's not that we weren't in agreement. The problem was that who was steering it is that I'm not an experienced rower, kayaker, boater person and we were going the wrong direction. So obviously to go that way, You know, you just, you have to row in a different direction. So it wasn't so much that we weren't doing things exactly right, is that it was the one who was steering them.

14:43 It was that the alignment wasn't in the right spot. And it wasn't just our effort. Our effort was fine. And it wasn't just the wind. It was that we were literally just going the wrong way and in the wrong direction. I love how Amos 3.3 says it in the message translation. It says, do two people walk hand in hand if they aren't going to the same place? Because agreement is powerful when it is submitted, when it is aligned with God's plan and aligned with going and being in the right place. Just because a group has the same aesthetic, It has the same vibe. They had one voice. The people and the builders of Babel had one voice, but they did not have vision from God. And they were not aligned with God's plan.

15:50 I love that when we say, God, we really do want your will done for our life. We want to align with your plans and we want to align with your purposes. We submit our efforts in that place. We say, use what we have and use my efforts to do what you have envisioned and to do what you have planned. Agreement is powerful, but only when it's aligned with God's ways and God's truths and God's plans for our lives. Amen. The second thing I love in verse 11 too, it says, as people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shina and settled there. A plain, not a mountain, not a rolling hill. they found a comfortable flat surface.

16:53 Now up until this point, eastward is a direction that we have seen in a few stories where it represents a shift from God's presence. In Genesis 3, 24, it says, after he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the garden of Eden, cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way of the tree of life. See, Adam and Eve were driven east of Eden after the fall. Then in the story of the brothers with Cain and Abel, so Cain in Genesis 4 verse 16 says, so Cain went from the Lord's presence and lived in the land of Nod east of Eden. So moving eastward has shown already in the previous few chapters that it is a shift away from God's plan and God's presence.

17:50 And though they were obeying God's command to, in Genesis 9, he says to fill the earth, to Noah, they were, he says, be fruitful and increase and fill the earth, they stopped short. So they were going, but then they stopped. Instead of spreading out, they stayed and they settled. And they began building a tower east, away from his presence, in a plain, comfortable, flat surface. What an interesting picture. And I think that as we see that, movement does not always mean progress. just ask anyone that works out and eats donuts at the same time that was me yesterday shout out to confessing in the microphone they stopped short they settled for comfort they settled for convenience they did not spread all over the plane they stayed together that's easy now people make fun of me Like my dream is like to live on a commune and like, you know, like we just like, we all see each other every day.

19:11 And like we have communal dinners and like everyone stays together forever. But that's, I mean, that's not God's plan. Like he's got to launch people out and people have to go, you know, and my kids are going to have to go spread their wings one day, apparently. That's, I know, it's so sad. But like God has called us not always to be safe and comfortable. And some of that takes mountain charging, mountain climbing, mountain exploring faith and ability to trust God and to say, I'm not going to stay in the plain. I'm not going to stay in Shinar where it's comfortable and where it's easy. I'm going to go to the city of Los Angeles that needs Jesus and needs people that don't all talk the same, walk the same, look the same, and vote the same.

20:12 I'm sorry, but I want to be in a place where God is allowing us to depend on Him to lead us over the mountains and to lead us into the valleys and to be with us because his ways are better and his thoughts are higher than ours. So they're moving. They're ready to build, but it is not the progress that they think it is. They can be busy. They can be active. We can even be disciplined, but we can still be stuck. We can be stuck. And there is nothing like feeling like you are stuck in a place and separated from the will of God. And let me tell you, comfortable is not always calling. It's not. You can feel like the wind of heaven is at your back and there is a peace and there is an ease, but there are still challenges at the same time. And you can't make sense of it, but you just know that you know that you know that you are in the right place at the right time. And God has placed your feet and planted them on the soil that he has for you. I love that thought that activity doesn't always equate to advancement. Just because you're doing, just because you're moving, doesn't mean that God is advancing his kingdom. You know, I think that movement towards purpose is, it is how God has designed us, but it does require a great amount of faith and dependency and to say, God, is this where you want me to go? Is this who I'm supposed to walk alongside? Is this where you have me?

22:15 See, God's command in chapter 9 was to fill the whole earth, but then they stopped. They didn't keep going, and they settled when God called them to scatter. They stopped when God called them to move, and they chose the plain over the mountain, and they chose ease and safety, and they chose the convenience. And I don't know about you, but I just wanna say yes to the mountain required journey that God has for me, if it includes his way and his plan. And I want to choose to plant my life where it's shaping me and it's building me. Amen.

23:07 The third thing in verse four, it says, come let us build ourselves a city. Not his city, our city, my city, my thing, so that we may make a name for ourselves. See, the right reach, the right kind of reaching is a reach with purpose, not with pride. It's a reach with a purpose-filled life, not that says, I want my way and my advancement and my success and my name to be big. And we have to be careful with this. We live in the land of opportunity. We live in an area where there is a lot of opportunity, a lot more opportunity than most cities in the whole country. And opportunities come our way.

24:06 And we have to be careful that those opportunities, even though they may look glamorous or even though they may look enticing, they may not be the right opportunities. And we have to submit those opportunities and say, okay, I submit my pride and I humble myself. And like David, I say, search me and know me and speak to me because I want to walk in the right purpose and in the right way. See, they reached for heaven, but they did not connect to God. They were ascending, but their goal wasn't worship. Their goal was heights, not heaven. Their goal was not to glorify God. And the best way to combat pride is to be in worship. Come to Thursday 10 a.m. prayer. I promise you just sit there and you're just like, oh, all of my agenda is just kind of out the window. It literally, if you've been to Thursday 10 a.m. prayer, you're just like, okay, I came in with my petition. I came in with what I'm believing for. God, you're going to move because you are on my schedule. It is my way. No, I'm just kidding. No. But you sit there and you're like, oh, by the end of it, you're like, oh, okay. I just submit. You know, like God, we worship you. We submit our lives to you. These are your children. This is your church. This is your money. This is your marriage. Like, use this, Lord. This is your way. And their focus did not have God at the center.

25:54 And their focus was upward and inward. And it was about making a name for themselves. And I love that God's mission is not, it's not just upward and inward. It's reaching outward. It's serving the city of Los Angeles. It's encouraging others. It's to bless. It's to connect. That that purpose is to be outward, not to build upward, and not to advance inward. And reaching for greatness can look differently for so many people. I recognize that there are very successful entrepreneurs in our community. I recognize that there are stay-at-home moms. I recognize that there are people in our community that are students. There are teenagers.

26:50 There are grandmas. There are people in different cities that are reaching or looks different. And purpose looks different in every season that we walk in. You know, we have four children. I have played different hats in different seasons. One of our child has severe special needs. And I have to have a flexibility, but I have to have the ability to say, God, let your purpose be my focus in every season or every hat that I'm walking in. Because if I want my way, I'm gonna fight that resistance and that pride is going to lead. It's his way. The most powerful reach is not always vertical.

27:45 It's relational. It is touching the lives around us. It's being intentional. And it comes from a heart that honors God and honors others, amen. The fourth thing, and worship team, you can come join me, is that we reach with unity, not just effort. Verse six and seven, it shows that their reaching led to division. And they were building this massive structure and it didn't work. Their efforts did not pan out. And I think about sometimes when sometimes we strive for something or we work hard for something and it did not pan out. How frustrating is that to invest into something and it just didn't work, where our efforts were labored in vain.

28:53 But what a picture of saying, And oh, if we built with unity, our efforts weren't in vain. At the end of the story, we had a beautiful community. And we had unity, not just uniformity, because we developed real relationships along the way. and I think that when the enemy has come through several of these chapters and these books this book of Genesis and these chapters of Genesis has come to divide and separate the families and Adam and Eve story and to separate and to divide I think about wanting and desiring peace and unity and to be connected to the love of God.

29:59 I love harmony and peace and quietness in our home, mostly because I feel like I can think, you know, it's just like, let's just turn off all the televisions and the music and stop yelling for just a quick second so I can just get my thought through. But really, I love just when everyone gets along. Unity is very powerful.

30:27 And I love how Psalms 133 says this. It says, how good and pleasant is it when God's people live together in unity. For there, the Lord bestows His blessing. It's not in the effort. It's not in what we are accomplishing. it's in the connection that we're establishing with one another. Our actions can bring people together along the journey or they can push others away. What a reminder of how beautiful inclusivity is and inviting people along the journey. And what we're reaching for can determine what we are building in terms of relationships. Build something that draws people together, not separates people or pulls them apart.

31:24 And the last thing is the right reaching makes room for God to reach back. For God to extend his hand to our hearts, to our lives, to our fractured pieces, to our pride, to our self-doubt, to our ambition.

31:51 Because in that place, we say, God, I'm tired of building my way. I'm tired of exerting my own energy and efforts. But God, would you reach back to me? they tried to ascend to heaven on their own terms but that real connection to God it's never earned it's received it's allowing God to meet us in our broken places in our broken spaces and saying God we need you today. We need you to use us, but we need you to come to us and we receive your wholeness and your healing and your goodness and your grace. Amen.