The curse of our selfishness and rebellion results in us being driven by a desire to dishonor instead of honor...

This week, we are continuing to look at the story of Noah and the Ark. Wednesday, we saw that God’s sign for all humanity throughout history to be reminded of God’s promise to never flood the earth is the rainbow. In the rainbow in the midst of the rainstorm, we see a word picture that is Divinely designed to remind us of God’s right and just response to selfishness and sin and God’s grace and mercy towards selfishness and sin. We see God as a promise maker and a promise keeper. We see humanity given a new and fresh start with a new and fresh hope. Today, as we jump back into this story, we see humanities response to the new and fresh hope in Genesis 9:18:

 Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth; and Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated. Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father's nakedness.

So, Noah responds to the new and fresh hope that he had received as a result of God’s grace by getting drunk and passing out naked? Really? Noah gets drunk and naked in his tent? When people tell me that they do not read the Bible because the Bible is boring, I often wonder how much of the Bible that they have read, because the Bible is filled with stories that are far from boring. But why did Noah get naked? Was the effect of the wine resulting in him having hot flashes? Was he hot? Was he naked because he was trying to set the stage for a night of romance with his wife? Or was he just being drunk and stupid?

Moses does not say. All that Moses tells us is that Noah allowed himself to become controlled an influenced by the wine to the point that he passed out in his tent. What Moses does tell us is that Ham, who was the youngest son of Noah, saw him naked and went out and told his brothers. Now to fully understand the significance of what Ham did here, we first need to understand something about the ancient cultural norms of the day.

You see, in ancient societies, the honoring of one’s parents was seen as a sacred duty. And as part of honoring your parents, you would have never let your parents be seen in a dishonorable situation. Part of honoring your parents would be to tactfully cover up any dishonorable behavior by your parents.

Ham, however, does the exact opposite. Ham gazes and gawks at his drunk and passed our father and then calls his brothers to join in the fun. Ham’s brothers, on the other hand, do what Ham refused to do. Instead of joining in on dishonoring their father, Ham’s brothers honored their father by gracefully and tactfully covering up their father’s dishonor. The brothers walked backwards, in honor of their father, and then covered his naked body with a cloak. We see Noah’s response to each of his son’s actions in verse 24:

When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. So he said, "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers." He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant. "May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant." Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood. So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.

Noah, upon awakening from his drunken stupor, becomes aware of the responses of each of his three sons to his dishonorable behavior. Upon discovering Ham’s dishonorable actions towards him, Noah responds by cursing Canaan, who was the son of Ham. But this morning why would Noah curse the son of Ham instead of Ham himself? I mean it was not Canaan who was dishonorable?

As Noah looked at the responses of his three sons, he saw a reflection of the heart attitudes toward him and God’s activity in their lives. Noah saw in the actions of his sons the nature and character that drove those actions. And Noah’s response to what he saw was to proclaim what the future would hold for their descendants. You see, what one generation does in moderation, another generation will do in excess. What is caught and taught by one generation will be passed down and amplified by the next generation.

And that is exactly what happened in this story. The descendants of Ham, which later became known as the Canaanites, developed into perhaps one of the most wicked cultures that ever existed. The Canaanites as a culture was marked by a desire to dishonor God and to dishonor others. And it is in this story that we see God reveal for us a timeless consequence that the curse of selfishness and rebellion brings to humanity. And that timeless consequence is that the curse of our selfishness and rebellion results in us being driven by a desire to dishonor instead of honor.

Just as it was with Ham, just as it has been for humanity throughout history, our selfishness and rebellion produces within us a desire to dishonor others. I mean, if we were brutally honest this morning, how often can we find ourselves in the same place as Ham? How often do we want to have the honor that others have received and do not want others to have the honor that they received? How often can we be tempted to dishonor others so that we can be in a position to receive honor? How often can we be tempted to absorb honor and glory for our accomplishments instead of deflecting that honor and glory to God? You see, these are not 2013 issues; these are human nature issues.

So here are some questions to consider. What do your attitudes and actions reveal about what drives the desires of your life? Are your attitudes and actions driven by a desire to dishonor? To dishonor God? To dishonor family? To dishonor coworkers? To dishonor classmates? Or are your attitudes and actions driven by a desire to honor God and others?

Are you driven by a desire to absorb honor and glory? Are you a glory hog? Or are you driven by a desire to deflect honor and glory to God and others?