Near the monkey bars, Sally and her friends gathered. They were talking and laughing; having a great time during recess. Over in another corner of the playground, beside the swings, Todd and his friends were gathered. They too were talking and laughing. They had also gotten a kickball and were kicking that around their circle. And in the middle of it all was Laura.

Laura was new to the school. Her family had moved to the area just a few weeks ago and Laura didn’t know anyone. So there she sat on the teeter-totter, just looking at the two groups on the playground. As she watched Todd and his group they began to play roughly. They punched each other in the arm to see who was the toughest. They kicked the ball to see who kicked the best.

She looked over at Sally and her group and they just snickered and turned their backs to her. They were too busy talking and laughing on their own to think about including Laura. So there Laura sat until the teacher looked at her watch and said it was time to go back to the classroom.

Across town, in an office building, Nathaniel sat in his cubicle and typed on his computer. He was divided from the other workers by glorified bulletin boards but they might as well have been electrified fences. No one in the office really talked to one another. Maybe in the break room during lunch there might be some small talk about the weather or the latest football game.

But mostly Nathaniel and his co-workers kept to their little paperboard cubicles, eyes glued to the computer screen, trying to get noticed by the boss for their work. The employee of the month got their name on a plaque and a special parking place right in front of the building for a solid month. Nathaniel wanted to be employee of the month. He wanted the parking place. He wanted his name on the plaque. With that thought in his mind he hunkered down to his desk and worked on his computer – just hoping to be noticed, pointed out, celebrated as the best.

Many, many years ago, before we even began to count the years there was another group of people. The whole world was their playground. They gathered together in their own little corner talking and laughing. They tried to figure out who was the toughest and the consensus was they all were. They were the best and it was high time the rest of the world realized it too.

They just wanted to be recognized. They were sure they were the best and wanted the rest of the world to see their name on the plaque. They wanted the prime-parking place. They wanted to be noticed not only by the others but also by the boss. They wanted to build a city with walls and a tower that would surely be recognized by all the other people as the best.

So they set to work gathering the mud and the straw. They mixed them together and laid a foundation using tar to anchor the bricks together. And as they worked and worked away they began to think about how great it would be to have the recognition they deserved. Why, for miles and miles around, people would be able to see the city and the tower they were building. All the people would think about how wonderful the builders were.

But as most attempts at greatness do, this group of people had something coming to them they never suspected. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, "Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it." Well someone should have told that to this group of people. They wished for recognition. They wished to be known. They wished to be noticed.

Well they were known. They were recognized. They were noticed. But they were not celebrated for their architectural accomplishments. They were not celebrated for their ability to join together with the exclusion of others in order to make a name for themselves.

Instead of the tower being built up there was an explosion. Now I’m not talking about the type of explosion you see in the Hollywood blockbusters with flaming buildings crashing down and windows shattering. It was an explosion of grace. Because God saw what this group of people were doing. God had to squint to see it at first because what was gigantic to the people was miniscule to God. But God sent an explosion of language among the people.

All of a sudden this group of people who had joined together in order to be recognized by all the other people on the earth – this group of people who had sought their own recognition over God’s recognition – they found themselves scattered by the explosion. Their vision was too small for God’s greatness. Instead of joining together to exclude others, they were to spread out over all the earth.

Quite a few years later another group of people were gathered together. They had just been through quite a series of events. They had expected things to turn out quite differently. One of the revolutionaries among them thought that surely by now he would be in a place of power. Surely by now his name would be synonymous with greatness. Surely by now the whole world would know who this rag-tag group of people was. They would be recognized and praised for what they had done, liberating the people from the tyrannical rule of Caesar.

But over the past few days, things had gotten a bit confused. They were not praised as they walked down the street. They were not living in the finest of palaces. They were sitting in a humble house, gathered together trying to figure out what in the world to do now.

And yet God did it again. God sent another explosion. The wind swept through the house and the people who had been sheltered inside exploded into the street. Their ideas of who was in the house and who was outside were confused. Surely these Elamites would not be able to understand, but yet they heard the explosion and they understood. Surely these Cretans would not be included in this explosion of God, but yet they heard it too.

People from all around the world heard the explosion and felt the shock wave as God broke through again and scattered this group of people who had expected a name for themselves. God scattered this group of people who were still struggling to digest it all and instead of giving them a name for themselves God gave them one Name to share with everyone.

And this group of people began to speak that Name in many different languages and people from all over creation heard that Name. It was not the name that people were seeking to make for themselves. It was a name that would explode in their own lives. This name when spoken should come with the warning label "Warning: Contents may explode." Because that’s what Christ does in our lives. Christ takes those barriers – those walls and towers – that we put up and explodes them with more power than all the C4 in the world.

In a television show on the Discovery Channel, the Mythbusters test out various myths to see if they’re true. One of the explosives they use often in their myth-busting is C4. C4 is a very unique type of explosive. Unlike dynamite which is very volatile even just to handle because it leaks nitroglycerine and may explode at any time, C4 is seen as a more portable and stable type of explosive. C4 on it’s own is relatively harmless. It can be molded like play-dough into whatever shape you need it. You could throw it in the air, you could toss it on the ground and it won’t explode. But once you set a blasting cap in there – watch out because that’s when C4 will explode with a massive amount of force.

If you just take this book, this Bible, it can be just a book. You can use it as a doorstop or as a decoration – something to look nice on a shelf. But if you open it up and add that key ingredient of the Holy Spirit, watch out! Warning: contents may explode. When the Holy Spirit sweeps into your life, all bets are off. It’s a substance dangerous to our current way of living… if we let it be. The disciples learned that when they felt the explosion of language on Pentecost day in Jerusalem.

What would happen if that same explosive experience swept into the playground and brought Todd’s group and Sally’s group together with Laura? What would happen if God’s explosive love knocked down those dividing cubicles in Nathaniel’s office? What would happen if all of a sudden it wasn’t about making a name for ourselves but about lifting up the Name that is above all names?

Now let me be very clear and reiterate that I’m not talking about Hollywood-style explosives with fireballs and burnings buildings. The explosions the Holy Spirit sets off in our lives, knock down dividing walls not load-bearing ones. The explosions the Holy Spirit sets off in our lives, change the course of our life by taking us down a new path, opening doors to new possibilities.

Because that’s what Babel was about – breaking down walls that divide. That’s what Pentecost is about – breaking down barriers to belief. That’s what we are to be about – not making a name for ourselves but making known the Name given to us. I really think we should start putting warning labels on our Bibles because they really can explode your life and take it in a whole new direction. All it needs is a little Spirit to start the reaction.