Participants: Clifford Goldstein
Series Code: CFTF
Program Code: CFTF000012
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00:21 Hi, Cliff Goldstein here
00:24 And I want to welcome you to the Program 00:26 Contending for the Faith 00:28 A while back I ran into someone, a woman whom I hadn't seen 00:36 or quite frankly thought about for 35 years 00:42 Now you know you're getting older when you can 00:46 work in numbers like that. But anyway 00:49 I hadn't seen this woman and we caught up 00:52 and she had been married three times, divorced twice 01:00 and frankly from the hints in her voice and her body language 01:06 I wouldn't have been surprised if soon those two numbers 01:10 would've been tied. And she had four kids whom, 01:17 from what I could tell, sounded as troubled by life as she was. 01:22 You know for some reason it struck me so sad too 01:29 because I remembered her three and a half decades earlier 01:34 and I really doubt that, back then, as a young woman 01:40 dreaming about her future, dreaming about what her life 01:45 would be like, dreaming about who she would marry and so on. 01:51 I seriously, seriously doubt that three husbands 01:58 and a few drug addicted kids, including sadly one vampire 02:04 transsexual, I sincerely doubt they were part of the package. 02:11 They were part of what she was hoping for. 02:14 Yeah you know, life is full of surprises isn't it? 02:19 Umm our narratives, the story of our lives 02:25 they sometimes get written not in lyric poetry 02:31 But they get written sometimes in prose. 02:34 Stark gritty prose with adverbs and adjectives 02:40 That we wouldn't have appended to the nouns and verbs 02:44 of our lives if we were given that choice. 02:49 How many of us have faced things in life 02:54 that if we could've chosen we would not have chosen? 03:00 And yet, so often, so often it doesn't seem we have the choice. 03:07 Do we? Things are often chosen for us. 03:12 And now, heading toward the decrepit age of 58 03:21 I sometimes think about many in my generation 03:26 And you know sometimes I can hardly imagine how vast the gap 03:33 how vast the gap must be between what they had hoped for 03:38 in life and what they got. Oh who can get on the list 03:44 you know bad marriages, some- times more than one per person 03:49 or two. Shaky finances or poor health. Sick kids 03:55 Unexpected death, bitter disappointment, 03:59 failed friendships, addictions 04:02 The list goes on and on and on 04:05 And no doubt these are not the parts of the plot 04:09 that we would've scripted for ourselves 04:11 if we could've done it all over again. Right? 04:17 You know come with me to the Bible 04:21 Come with me to Genesis 4:1-2 Genesis 4:1-2 04:49 Now it's very interesting, the original Hebrew 04:56 in Genesis 4:1, you could read it literally 05:01 I have gained a man, the Lord. It's the word for Yahweh 05:08 the old YHWH, the sacred name. 05:12 And the commentators for millennia have been debating 05:16 for millennia the meaning of the text 05:18 It's very possible that she understood 05:23 this one to be the hoped for seed. The one promised in 05:28 Genesis 3:15. What's called the proto evangelicum 05:34 or the first gospel promise. Thus the point is 05:39 if that's truly what she meant there 05:42 then Eve sure had great hopes for that child 05:48 Yet even in their fallen world, in the fallen world 05:52 even with the pain and the bitterness of being the 05:56 only humans to have ever known the unfallen world 06:01 I have no doubt that whatever plans they had for the future 06:05 whatever their hopes, whatever their dreams 06:08 whatever specially for their children 06:11 I have no doubt that this was not part of it. 06:15 And Genesis 4:8, and Cain talked with Abel his brother 06:21 And it came to pass that when they were in the field 06:25 that Cain rose up against his brother Abel and slew him. 06:31 I mean can you imagine that? Can you imagine? 06:35 Talk about the disappointment. Talk about life throwing a curve 06:42 And what they did expect. Or look at this. 06:49 Exodus 2:21. And Moses was content to dwell with the man. 06:55 And he gave Moses, Zipporah his daughter. 07:00 So Moses, basically a fugitive for forty years 07:05 marries the daughter of this priest of Midian 07:08 And they're wandering in the desert for forty years 07:12 having to eat only manna. A group of people 07:16 who weren't even their own. Hardly sounds like anyone's 07:19 dream life does it? Then there were even more problems. 07:25 We know from Numbers 12:1. And Miriam and Aaron spoke against 07:32 because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married 07:36 For he had married an Ethiopian woman. 07:41 So She marries into a family that doesn't even like her. 07:47 And I like this quote here from Ellen White 07:50 "Yielding to the spirit of dissatisfaction 07:53 Miriam found cause for complaint 07:56 in the events that God had especially overruled 07:59 The marriage of Moses had been displeasing to her 08:03 That he should choose a woman of another nation 08:06 instead of taking a wife from among the Hebrews 08:08 was an offense to her family and national pride. 08:12 Zipporah was treated with ill disguised contempt" 08:17 Now I don't really know how much Zipporah knew of Moses 08:24 his background, whatever, when she married him. 08:28 But somehow I don't have a problem 08:31 thinking that whatever she envisioned for herself 08:34 and for her married life, this wasn't it. 08:38 ok, let's go on. What about the story of Leah? 08:45 ok, with the story of Leah. Now you know the story. 08:49 I've got the text here. Laban had two daughters 08:51 The older was Leah and the name of the younger was Rachel 08:56 and you know the story. Jacob wanted one, he wanted Rachel 09:03 and not Leah and so on. And he worked all those years 09:07 for her and then the wedding night comes 09:09 and the father slips in Leah instead of Rachel 09:13 and so on and so forth. And then he wakes up 09:16 and sees he was with the wrong woman 09:17 and so he works for seven more years and he finally gets Rachel 09:22 I mean, come on talk about a marriage made in heaven. 09:26 Ok you know the rest of the story, 09:29 what happens after Laban got caught 09:31 You know, so Jacob goes and he marries Rachel as well. 09:38 So there's Leah. I don't think Leah's life 09:44 turned out to be what she, or what any young woman 09:49 would've wanted. do you? 09:51 It hardly sounds like a loving happy home 09:55 And certainly her marriage wasn't anything 09:59 I imagine she ever dreamt it would be. 10:03 But then again life has a way of doing that to us. Doesn't it? 10:08 And the youthful Jeremiah. I think of the youthful Jeremiah 10:14 He came from a patrician family 10:18 A priestly family, a priestly caste I believe 10:22 or was he a Benjaminite? I can't remember, but 10:24 All I know was he came from upper crust and so on. 10:28 And yet, whatever his hopes and ambitions 10:32 They certainly didn't include being railed against 10:36 castigated and deemed a traitor by his own nation. 10:40 Here's a small taste of what this man was feeling 10:46 Lamentations. Look O Lord and consider 10:51 for I am despised. Is it nothing to you? 10:54 And all who pass by look around and see 10:58 Is there any suffering like my suffering 11:00 that was inflicted upon me. That the Lord has brought on me 11:05 in the day of his fierce anger 11:07 From on high he sent fire. Set it down into my bones 11:12 He spread a net for my feet and turned me back 11:16 He made me desolate, faint all the day long 11:21 My sins have been bound into a yoke. By His hands they were 11:26 woven together. They have come upon my neck 11:30 and the Lord has sapped my strength. 11:32 He has handed me over to those I cannot withstand. 11:37 I mean, who? Who would want this for their life 11:42 if they could choose? I guarantee you 11:46 this is not the life that Jeremiah wanted for himself 11:51 And don't you think David and Bathsheba 11:56 would've preferred a different narrative? 11:59 than ultimately the one that unfolded? 12:03 I have no doubt Uriah, Bathsheba's husband 12:07 would've wanted a different marriage, a different narrative. 12:11 Whatever he imagined as a young man 12:14 and when he saw the beautiful young Bathsheba 12:17 and took her for his wife, what- ever he would've dreamed about 12:21 and hoped for, I'm sure it didn't conclude 12:25 being set up by the king he faithfully served 12:29 so the king could cover up the affair he had 12:32 when he slept with Uriah's wife and then had him killed. 12:38 had him killed to help cover the whole thing up. 12:42 Again, I don't know anything in Uriah's mind 12:45 But whatever his hopes and dreams were 12:48 I know they didn't include that. 12:52 And of course Job, Job. The story of Job. 12:59 One day when Job's sons and daughters were feasting 13:03 and drinking wine at the older brother's house 13:06 a messenger came to Job and said 13:08 the oxen were plowing, the donkeys were grazing 13:12 and the Sabeans took them off with the sword. 13:14 And then later on he gets over that 13:17 Another servant comes and tells him that fire from God 13:21 fell out of the sky and wiped out all his sheep 13:26 and his servants and so on. 13:28 And then he barely got over that and another servant 13:31 comes to him and says, your sons and daughters were feasting 13:35 and drinking wine at the eldest brother's house 13:38 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert 13:42 and struck the four corners of the house. 13:45 It collapsed on them and they are dead. 13:49 And I am the only one who has escaped to tell you. 13:53 Whoo! And as we know it got a whole lot worse for Job 14:00 before it got any better. 14:03 You think that Job, young Job dreaming about his future 14:08 his life, his family, what it would be like 14:12 You think he expected something like this? 14:15 You think this is something that he wanted? 14:18 Talk about nasty unexpected curves. 14:21 Talk about a gap. A gap between what you hoped for 14:27 and dreamed about and what you got. 14:31 Whoo! And then John the Baptist 14:35 What about John? I'm sure from a relatively young age 14:41 John knew he was gonna have a hard life. 14:46 ok? You know I knew it was not gonna be hard 14:50 and it wasn't gonna be every thing he expected 14:54 But it wasn't rocket science, it wouldn't take rocket science 15:00 to imagine whatever he dreamed about 15:02 Those dreams didn't include what he faced. 15:07 I mean come on, first of all it was bad enough 15:12 Gettin his carcass thrown in a prison 15:15 I mean that would've been bad enough 15:17 But meanwhile he's sitting there rotting in jail 15:21 while Jesus is out there doing all these miracles. 15:25 That had to have been tough! 15:27 Why is he doing all these things I can imagine John thinking. 15:31 And I am still rotting here. 15:33 Somehow I don't think it was supposed to work that way. 15:37 Was it? I can imagine John thinkin about that. 15:42 But hey, what happens next? 15:45 We know from Mark 6, on his birthday, Herod gave a banquet 15:53 for his high officials and military commanders 15:56 and the leading men of Galilee. 16:00 When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced 16:03 she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. 16:06 The King said to the girl, look how cheap this gets 16:10 The king said to the girl, ask me for anything you want 16:14 and I'll give it to you. And he promised her with an oath 16:18 Whatever you ask I will give up to half of my kingdom 16:23 She went out and said to the mother 'What shall I ask for'? 16:29 The head of John the Baptist she answered. 16:33 At once the girl hurried in to the King with the request. 16:37 I want you to give me right now 16:39 the head of John the Baptist on a platter. 16:43 The King was greatly distressed. 16:46 But because of his oath and his dinner guests 16:50 he did not want to refuse her. 16:52 So he immediately sent an executioner 16:56 with orders to bring John's head 16:59 The man went, beheaded John in the prison 17:03 and brought back his head on a platter. 17:06 He presented it to the girl and she gave it to her mother. 17:12 Ugh! Again look, how cheap! How cheap this is! 17:17 Not exactly the life, and not exactly the death 17:22 that anyone would've wished for themselves. 17:25 Don't you think? Yeah life is full of surprises. 17:31 And often they're not good surprises 17:36 You know I've said for years I'm so glad 17:41 that God doesn't show us the future. 17:43 Sure we know the ultimate future 17:46 We know what has been revealed. 17:49 But our own immediate future, or what's gonna happen in our life 17:54 I am so glad we don't see that because I can't imagine 18:00 how discouraging it would be for an awful lot of us. 18:05 And then what about the Pharisee 18:09 Saul of Tarsus. No doubt a bril- liant and ambitious young man 18:15 The cream of society. A man who was apparently moving up 18:20 the ranks and no doubt probably was gonna have a great future. 18:25 And I'm sure he spent plenty of time dwelling on that future. 18:30 And what he hoped he would do and what he would accomplish 18:33 in his life as a spiritual leader among his own people. 18:39 As I said, I'm glad we don't know the future. 18:43 coz I doubt though as John the Baptist was anticipating 18:48 the future, I mean as Paul was anticipating the future 18:54 that this is what Paul had in mind. 18:57 Five times I received from the Jews 40 lashes minus one 19:03 Three times I was beaten with rods 19:06 Once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked 19:10 I spent a day and night in the open sea 19:13 I have been constantly on the move, 19:15 I've been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits 19:19 in danger from my own countrymen in danger from gentiles 19:24 in danger in the city, in danger in the country 19:27 in danger at sea and in danger from false brothers 19:31 I have labored and toiled and often gone without sleep 19:35 I have known hunger and thirst and often gone without food. 19:41 I have been cold and naked and beside everything else 19:45 I face the daily pressure of my concern for the churches. 19:51 Yeah things don't necessarily turn out for us 19:58 as we would've expected, as we had hoped 20:02 Of course, sometimes they do. 20:05 Sometimes they turn out even better than what we've hoped for 20:09 But again, as I look around, I look around 20:16 at many of my generations in the church outside the church 20:20 it doesn't make a difference. And I can't help but think 20:25 of the gap. The vast gap between what they had dreamed 20:32 dreamt, and hoped their life would be 20:35 and what that life ultimately turned out to be. 20:40 You know I remember one time, I had thought about this before 20:45 I remember one time years ago, I was visiting the Amsterdam Zoo 20:52 and over in Europe, I still don't get used to this 20:55 you gotta pay to use the bathroom there. 20:56 And I go to use the bathroom in the Amsterdam Zoo 21:01 and there was a woman there, an older woman in schmatta 21:07 I guess I don't know, that's a Yiddish word 21:09 I don't know, like a dirty little dress or something 21:13 I don't know. Schmatta. You learned a new word, 21:15 a Yiddish word. And she's sitting there at the table 21:19 She's got a cigar box full of change 21:22 And her job is you pay the woman 21:25 And I remember afterwards I wrote a poem about her 21:29 And I just envisioned her as a young woman 21:33 whatever her hopes and her dreams were 21:37 And I contrasted that because now she's here this old woman 21:43 sitting in front of a, outside of a smelly toilet 21:48 with a cigar box full of change Again, talk about a gap 21:53 The gap between what you might have envisioned for your life 21:58 and what life ultimately gave you. 22:02 But then what about Jesus though 22:06 What about how his life turned out 22:09 You know of course on one level Jesus was "the lamb slain 22:14 from the foundation of the 22:18 Of course Jesus was to come to die. 22:22 It was the whole purpose of the plan of salvation 22:26 Jesus was to come and die. That was the whole plan of the gospel 22:32 He had to die. He had to give his life for us. 22:36 He gave his life because He was the only one 22:41 who could make atonement. We are sinners. 22:45 We have violated the law of God. If you heard my previous talk 22:49 that I gave called the mathematics of salvation 22:53 You'll know we do not have what's needed for salvation 22:58 We don't have the right record 22:59 We haven't kept God's law good enough. Only Jesus did. 23:05 And the whole plan of salvation is settled on the idea that 23:10 Jesus would come. He would live a perfect life 23:14 He would die as a substitute for us. 23:19 He would pay the penalty for our sins. 23:22 And His perfect life would be credited to us. 23:27 And this is the great hope of the gospel. 23:33 You know I've said this before and I'll say it again 23:37 I know that in the end if I'm not saved 23:43 regardless of what Jesus does in me 23:46 regardless of the great changes that Jesus has done in me 23:50 and believe me, if you woulda knew what you wanted to know me 23:55 before I became a believer, some people find me intolerable 23:58 enough now after 34 years 24:01 you won't imagine what I woulda been like before I knew the Lord 24:04 But I'm sure of one thing, that in the end 24:09 if I'm not saved by a right- eousness outside of me 24:14 a righteousness in place of me a righteousness covering me 24:19 then folks if I'm not saved by that then 24:21 you could stand on that wall at the end of the millennium 24:25 and you can wave down because I know I'm not going to be there 24:31 So there's no question Jesus came and died for us 24:35 That was the point. And the Bible also says 24:39 that Jesus had a divine human nature 24:43 Don't ask me to explain that 24:45 I don't understand how you explain that 24:48 Please, I don't know how a can opener works 24:51 much less I could understand the divine human nature of Jesus. 24:56 He was fully God and fully man 25:00 Let's concentrate for a moment on the human side. 25:06 His humanity. The side of Jesus that in Gethsemane 25:11 that cried out, My Father if it be possible 25:14 Let this cup pass from me. Ok 25:36 Of course not, of course not! 25:40 And that was the side of Jesus crying out 25:46 his human side crying out for something different 25:50 between what anybody would hope for in life 25:53 and what life gave him, gave him instead. 25:58 Now I think I'm stating the obvious here 26:02 Life can and does do us all dirty ok? 26:08 But we shouldn't be surprised, should we? 26:12 I mean after all look at what the Bible teaches 26:16 Look at what all these faithful people went through 26:19 You've all read Hebrews 11 and it talks about these people 26:22 that had trials and scourgings and mocking 26:25 They were sawn asunder they were beaten, they were driven away 26:29 and on and on. These were God's faithful people 26:32 And if God's faithful ones faced this, what about us? 26:39 who sometimes, let's face it, 26:42 are not always so faithful, are we? 26:45 Notice too in some of the people I mentioned earlier 26:52 some of them were victims of wrong choices they made 26:59 and some of them were victims of choices other people made. 27:03 But that's just how life is in a fallen world. 27:07 But that's what we have to remember. This is a fallen world 27:11 And it's a world that's not destined to last forever. 27:15 ok, the world is fading away. Thus we shouldn't be surprised 27:20 at all the unfair, unjust things we face 27:24 You expect what in a fallen world? Paradise? 27:28 Eden's long long gone folks 27:32 But listen carefully because this is how I wanna end it 27:38 Thanks to Jesus we have this hope. It's all gonna be alright 27:44 And when it's over, when Jesus does come back 27:49 and this is all over and done 27:52 then the gap, the gap between what our lives are now 27:57 and what they will be like then 28:01 will be infinitely, infinitely greater 28:05 than the terrible gap between what you had hoped for 28:08 when we were young and what we got instead. |
Revised 2015-03-12