Sermon Date: 5/30/21
(Gen. 10:1-32) (8-12)
When it comes to reading genealogies often it seems like empty space. Filler. In truth all of these names are important to God and to us.
- The boys: When we look into the history of Noah’s sons we see the foundation of our now civilization.
- With Japheth we have the sea faring ancestors.
- We know them as Europeans.
- The Bible refers to them as the gentiles.(V5)
- Ham which is the daddy of Canaan.
- The legacy of all Ham’s sons was that they were the most hostile neighbors that the Nation of Israel had then and even now.
- Even today, the descendants of Ham are located in Egypt and Syria and Palestine and Libya.
- I’m sure these names sound familiar to almost everyone here. . They are still to this day, hostile to the nation of Israel. Their legacy is a history of animosity and hatred for the Jewish people
- Shem.
- It is generally supposed that the Hebrews derived their name from Eber or Heber, son of Shem.
- If you trace Shem’s lineage you see that he was an ancestor of Abram, later known as Abraham, the Father of the Hebrew Nation and an ancestor of Jesus Christ.
- Each of Noah’s three sons have a legacy that they leave.
- God is giving us a record and a glimpse of who the world’s ancestors were here in this chapter.
- Many times we wonder why God would include all of this in the Bible. . These folk’s names were important because they all left a legacy in some way or another.
- We all leave a legacy with how we live our lives. Like them, we are all important and we will all leave a legacy with our lives.
- With Japheth we have the sea faring ancestors.
- Names are important in the Bible.
- If they were not, God would not have chosen to list so many.
- All throughout this chapter, we get name after name after name. Then we see Nimrod.
- Why Nimrod?
- The title of this sermon. You never know.
- In one of the first Bugs Bunny cartoons, Bugs called his nemesis Elmer Fudd a nimrod.
- The website Reddit says this about the word nimrod. “ Bugs Bunny accidentally transformed the word nimrod into a synonym for idiot because nobody got a joke where he sarcastically compared Elmer Fudd to the Biblical figure Nimrod, a mighty hunter.”
- When Bugs called Elmer a nimrod, he was making fun of his hunting prowess but people didn’t get the sarcasm because most had never heard the word before and assumed that he was calling Elmer a fool or an idiot.
- That meaning for the word has evolved in that way ever since. The Dictionary of American slang says this: Nimrod, a simpleton;
- So why does God bring out this man in scriptures?
- Many say that Nimrod is singled out here, among all the other people because of his name.
- You see, Nimrod means rebel and they see him being singled out as being rebellious against God.
- But look what God points out.
- (Ge 10:9) He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
- Also: (Ge 10:10) And the beginning of his kingdom was… He brings out all the cities he built.
- Because he is associated with Babylon we automatically involve him with the tower…
- I believe God told us about Nimrod because of his heroic actions.
- It wasn’t till after the flood that people began to eat meat. The animals were no longer docile but wild and fearful of man.
- Nimrod was and is being he held up as an example of what one man can do and also he is a historical record.
- He became the hunter and builder that people looked up to.
- People loved to be compared to Nimrod.
- Look at verse 9 again. (Ge 10:9) He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
- God is showing us that one man can make a difference in the world.
- If they were not, God would not have chosen to list so many.
- I want you to know, God placed you here on earth to make a difference.
- So many of us are sponges.
- Just soaking up what God blesses us with.
- Taking from life all we can and leaving crumbs for those behind us.
- What is a legacy?
- John Maxwell, puts it this way: “Achievement comes to someone when he is able to do great things for himself. Success comes when he empowers followers to do great things with him. But a legacy is created only when a person puts his organization into a position to do great things without him.”
- Each body of believers leave a legacy.
- What we leave as a legacy reveals our priorities.
- It shouts how we want to be remembered. It unveils whether we pointed to Jesus or our preferences.
- In a relay race, races [are] won or lost at the handing of the baton.
- To drop the baton means losing the race. All the hard work, all the … training, everything could be dashed with a single fumble.
- God’s plan for the church has always been that one generation would pass the baton of the testimony of Jesus to the next generation until His return.
- You and I are just one in a series of runners.
- The same is true of life.
- We have not successfully finished the race of life until we have passed on our baton to the next generation.”
- The bible says: (Pr 13:22) ¶ A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.
- So many of us are sponges.
How do you want to be remembered? I challenge you this day to resolve to leave your faith as a legacy for those that come behind you.