Don't turn your Bibles to the
second chapter of Genesis. That's where we'll start. It's
not where we'll end up. We'll start there. I'd like to
direct your thinking this afternoon to the topic of pain and suffering. It's a large topic and a lot
to be said about it. We'll just touch a few items
of it today. Pain and suffering is a tremendous
problem in the world. We see it all around us. And
the Bible definitely tells us where it came from and where
it's going. And we need to understand that.
God is sovereign, as we all know, and he could have decreed no
evil, no suffering, no pain, no death in creation, but he
didn't. And I'm not about to try to answer
the question of why today. That's way beyond me. but we're
gonna just talk about the characteristics and the everyday parts of pain
and suffering. As I said, we see pain and suffering
all around us. We see it among Christians and
non-Christians. Now, as far as Christians are
concerned, we know one thing for sure, and that is that the
Lord promised us that he would take care of our needs, right?
The way I would put it is food, shelter, and clothing are promised
by our God to be ours as Christians. So I don't believe we as Christians
need to worry any part of the world. I know that brings up
a lot of questions. But really, Christians are not going to experience
pain and suffering as far as not having enough to eat. But non-Christians certainly
do. are some countries that experience more pain and suffering than
others, and there are some parts of history that have experienced
more pain and suffering than others. Then there is the fact
that it applies to physical pain and suffering as well as mental
pain and suffering, and we see both. I think it's very interesting,
in a few of the passages we're going to look at today, that
perhaps the mental side of pain and suffering is more involved
than even the physical in the Bible. The contrast of pain and
suffering is pleasure and joy, and the Lord is responsible for
all four of those things. We need to think about our reaction
to pain and suffering in our lives, both in the regard of
seeing it in others and having it in ourselves. And when it's
in others, how do we react? Are we sympathetic? Are we judgmental?
When it's in ourselves or touching us, how do we react? Do we judge
ourselves? Do we just go into depression?
Or do we let it lead us to more faith and spiritual growth? I'd
like to start off with just a brief word study as far as the Greek
words. The main Greek word for pain
is lupe. And it means grief, sorrow, pain,
affliction. It's interesting that it's used
of the pain in childbirth in John 16, 21. So it can relate
to real physical pain as well as the pain in your mind leading
to sorrow. That's kind of the chief word
there. There's both a noun and a verb
form of Lupeo. The verb form Lupeo means to
grieve, or to pain someone, or if it's on yourself, if it's
to become sad, sorrowful, or distressed. You can, in 2 Corinthians
7, 9, you can become sorrowful enough to repent. And that's
that same word, lupeo. And let's just turn to John 16,
20. because it uses this word. I think it's real key to understand
how this word is used to understand pain and suffering. John 16,
20 and 21. This is in Jesus discourse. Verily, verily, I say unto you
that you shall weep and lament that the world shall rejoice
And ye shall be sorrowful, that's the word, but your sorrow shall
be turned into joy. And he's talking there about
him being absent. A woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow,
because her hour has come. But as soon as she is delivered
of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish for joy that
a man is born into the world. So that is related to, it's interesting,
verse 20, is more of the mental suffering or pain from the Lord
Jesus being gone from the earth and us wanting to be with him,
whereas he compares it to verse 21 and a woman in child labor,
which is a real physical pain, and then it compares to the joy
of having that child afterwards. So it's the contrast of pain
and then joy. Most occurrences in the Bible
seem to be the mental and spiritual side of this word, just from
the brief look I did of it. Then there's another Greek word,
odunē. The verb form is odunāo. It's only used six times in the
New Testament. It means to cause pain or to
feel pain, even physical torment or mental, spiritual pain. It's
used of the woes of the tribulations in the last days in Matthew 24,
8. So we know that during that period
of time, there's going to be a lot of mental pain as well
as physical on the earth, and that's the word they use. In
Luke 16, 24 and 25 in the rich man and Lazarus, it's used of
there in the sense of I am tormented in this flame. The other side
of pain for non-Christians, of course, is the ultimate destination
of non-Christians in great torment. So that's this word, odune. There's
just one other word, panos, which is used four times and used in
Revelation 16 and Revelation 21. I guess we ought to turn
there. Revelation 16, 10, and 11. It's used, I think, three times
in verses 10 and 11 of Revelation 16. And the fifth angel poured
out his vial upon the seat of the beast, and his kingdom was
full of darkness. And they gnawed their tongues
for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their
pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. And then
Revelation 21.4, is a great verse for us. This
is not the end of it all. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former
things are passed away. All those things are listed in
there. There's not going to be any more of them when we're at the
end times with the Lord. So, in a nutshell, and we'll
just go into a little more depth about it, When you look at just
the uses of the word in the New Testament, you find out where
it started, and it's in the fall. We're going to go to that next. The fact that none of it is in
a Christian's future. No pain is in an ultimate future.
It describes hell, and it's used in chastisement, and we're going
to talk about that too. So, let's dive into a few passages. Let's go to Genesis 2-9. And let's talk about the origin
of pain and suffering. It's very interesting. In Genesis
2-9, after, I think I got the wrong, I think
it's 3-9. No? Wait a minute. Oh, in Genesis 2-9 he talks about
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I just wanted
to point that out because we're not talking about evil per se
this afternoon, but of course evil is very connected to pain
and suffering. And you had the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, and of course you had the tree of life. And
Adam and Eve were not supposed to touch or have anything to
do with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And that is
the word ra in Hebrew, Or in Greek, the Septuagint, it's Poneros,
so that is evil. And then in Genesis 3, 16, and
17 is where we really want to camp for a minute. This is after
the sin of both Adam and Eve, and you know the judgment that
came down on them. And it's related directly to
pain. In 3, 16, under the woman, he
said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow. That's the word lupus. thy sorrow, and thy conception. I don't know why the King James
says conception there. It has nothing to do with conception.
It's the word stenogmon, and it means sighing, moaning, or
groaning. And thy desire shall be to thy
husband, and he shall rule over thee. Then, continuing on, and
unto Adam, he said, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice
of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded
thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it. Cursed is the ground
for thy sake. In sorrow, there's the word,
shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. So, he speaks
later of the sweat of his face to Adam. So what we get in the
fall from Adam and Eve's sin is pain for the woman, for women,
in childbirth, and pain for men in work. And you know, they call
work, work, because it's work. And you know, you can say to
your kids, you know, I want you to pick something that you like
doing and all that, and that's all true, but work is work. And although we don't, all of
us, or many of us, sweat literally anymore, work is pain. It's supposed to be. And so,
sorry about that. But this is where pain comes
from. And in Rome, so it's the curse. It's the curse of the
fall. And you can play all these what-if
games about what would have happened if there had been no fall, and
of course that's ridiculous for Christians to do who believe
in the sovereignty of God. Totally ridiculous. But of course
a lot of people say that there, and we can probably say there
wouldn't have been any pain, suffering, nothing like that. The animal kingdom would have
been different, all of that. But anyway, what we've got is what
we got, and we did fall in God's sovereignty, and as a result,
pain. It's very interesting, and let's
turn to Romans 8.23. Along those lines, Romans 8.23
says, Let's pick it up in Romans 8. For the creature was
made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath
subjected the same, in hope because the creature itself also shall
be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth, that's, groaneth is that stenogmous name,
word that's the same used in the Septuagint for the moaning
of childbirth. And travaileth in pain together
until now, and not only they, but ourselves also, which have
the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within
ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our
body. So all of creation, is groaning and moaning and in pain,
all because of the fall and because of the curse, but it's to be
relieved in us ultimately in the second coming of the Lord
Jesus. So that's the origin. And in
Romans 5.17, it says, for if by the one man's offense death
reigned through the one, we're not talking about death, but
this is also where death started, is at the fall, of course. And
then Romans 8, 18 to 22, it talks about, we just read, the sufferings,
the futility, the corruption, the birth pangs of creation,
the curse. So that's the beginning of pain
and suffering. What about the end of pain and
suffering? Let's go to, well, we already read it, Revelation
22, two and three. We didn't actually read that. Revelation
22, 2 and 3 talks about that tree again. 22, 2 and 3, it reappears. In the midst of the street of
it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of
life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit
every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing
of the nations. And there shall be no more curse
but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and
His servants shall serve Him. So that's the cessation of the
curse, and we're back to the tree of life, which Adam and
Eve couldn't touch after the fall. So it's the return to no
pain and to a much better existence. Revelation 21.4, we already read
that. God shall wipe away every tear,
so there'll be no sorrow, no reason for tears. No more death,
no more sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. But for now, we live in
the now right now. In general, we have it. And it's due to sin in general. Our bodies and body parts wear
out. We get diseased. We experience
pain. The world experiences famine,
war, pestilence, plagues. And it's just Not easy going
right now. Turn to Ecclesiastes 12. I love this passage, the older
I get. And this will kind of remind us of
what's happening to all our bodies. Ecclesiastes 12, 1 through 8,
is very descriptive of getting old. Remember now thy creator in the
days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years
draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. While
the sun or the light or the moon or the stars be not darkened,
nor the clouds return after the rain. Okay, now he starts the
symbology. And you know, many commentators,
Bible commentators say, don't take this stuff too literal.
Don't try to make something out of every phrase, but you kind
of can't help it. In the day when the keepers of
the house shall tremble. What are the keepers of the house?
They're your legs. And the strong men shall bow themselves, and
the grinders cease. That's your teeth. Because they
are few. And those that look out of the
windows be darkened. There's your eyes. And the doors
shall be shut in the streets. I'm not going to go there, but
I think that's obvious. When the sound of the grinding
is low. And he shall rise up at the voice
of the birds. Can't sleep all night, anything
will wake you up. And all the daughters of music
shall be brought low. Also, when they shall be afraid
of that which is high, and fear shall be in the way, and the
almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden,
and desire shall fail, because man goeth to his long home, and
the mourners go about the streets. So, person could get depressed
over that. I mean, God could have made us
so that we got better and better with age. You know, we kind of
did a reverse thing and we got younger as we got old, but he
didn't. He made us so we would get old,
body parts would fail, and we'd have to trust him more and more
as we got older and older and closer to him. So what should
the Christian's attitude be to pain and suffering? The first thing we need to understand
is the role of chastisement. So let's turn to Hebrews 12 and
spend a minute there. Chastisement is a huge subject. And before we start reading this,
let me just say that I do not believe, and I don't think we
should as Christians believe, and we shouldn't judge others
with this attitude, that every piece of pain and suffering in
a Christian's life is due to him having sinned. It's just
not true. We're going to end up with a
passage to show that. But when we do experience pain and suffering
ourselves, the first thing we should do is examine ourselves
to see if that is why it is. Hebrews 12, 3-11. Let's read
this. And let me point out that the
word lupus is in verse 11. So there is a tie here. Now,
and I'll just read that first. Now, no chastening for the present
seems to be joyous, but grievous, lupus. So there is some pain
in a spanking. There's no way around it. So
let's read this passage in light of what he's saying. Verse three. For consider him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself, this is talking
about our Lord, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have
not resisted unto blood, striving against sin, and ye have forsaken
the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My
son despised not the chastening of the Lord. Now just stop a
minute. Chastening is the word pideo. It means discipline. instruction, training, whipping,
beating, scourging. But it has a strong element in
it of teaching something. God does not chastise us for
punishment. The Lord Jesus already paid for
all our sins. He doesn't need any more punishment.
But He chastises us to teach us something or to get us out
of something we're doing. And I think He does it effectually.
My son despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou
art rebuked of him. Now that rebuked is a word which
means to convince or to convict, to rebuke. And that's what he's
doing when we get chastised. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye
endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what
son is he? whom the Father chasteneth not.
But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then
ye are bastards, and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers
of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in
subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily
for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for
our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now
no chastening, for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby. So the whole purpose of chastisement
is to correct us, to teach us, and to get us on the other side
of something that we're doing so that we stop doing it and
so that we're joyous again. The whole purpose. And it does
relate to pain. So, whereas there's a lot of
pain in the world just from the fall, you know, we're all going
to get old and feeble. Well, if we live, we're going
to get old and feeble. We're going to experience pain
and suffering. All will do that. But God specifically uses pain
to teach us what we need to know as Christians. Now, there's another
aspect of that And that's, let's turn to James 1, 2-4. James 1, 2-4, now we can talk
about trials, which are closely related to chastising. James
1, 2-4 says, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into
divers temptations, or maybe trials, knowing this, that the
trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have a perfect
work that ye may be perfect in the entire wanting method. So
a lot of the trials that come upon us, and face it, a lot of
the trials are pain and sorrow of some kind, are to teach us
patience. They're once again teaching us.
And so that's a form of chastisement. Then look at 2 Corinthians 12. 2 Corinthians 12, 7 to 10. Let's remind ourselves about
Paul's thorn in the flesh. That had to be some pain. I personally
think it was probably his eyesight, but there's a lot of other things
out there that could have been, maybe. 2 Corinthians 12, seven
through 10. And not, let's see, whoops. And lest I should be exalted
above measure, Through the abundance of the revelations, there was
given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet
me, lest I should be exalted above measure. I mean, this was
a buffeting, so it couldn't have just been weak eyesight, right?
It had to be something a little more intense than that. For this
thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my
strength is made perfect in weakness. There's weakness. Most gladly,
therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power
of Christ may rest upon me." So this, once again, is very
related to pain and suffering. It was something that was buffeting
him. It related to showing him his weakness. It related to knocking
him down a level and not letting him get proud about all the revelations
he'd been given. So it was a form of chastisement
or of humbling that the Lord chose to use with this great
Christian, Paul. to keep us humble and centered
on Christ. So, we have seen that pain is
all around us. A lot of it is due to the fall
and just in general. In Christians' lives, we need
to see it as being under the sovereignty of God, certainly.
And we should first examine ourselves for stubborn sin. Don't forget Job, what all happened
to him. You know, Job was a tremendous
righteous person, wasn't he? But if you've read Job a few
times, you know that he had a little bit of ego, didn't he? And God
was dealing with that. He was keeping him humble in
what happened to him. And it certainly was a lot of
pain and suffering. In Job 5, 17 and 18, Behold, happy is the man whom
God correcteth. Therefore despise not thou the
chastening of the Almighty. For he maketh sore and bindeth
up. He woundeth and his hands make
whole. Then look at Revelation 3.19. As many as I love, I rebuke and
chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent.
In 1 Corinthians 11, 27 to 31. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat
this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall
be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that
cup For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh
damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause
many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we
would judge ourselves, we should not be judged." So there, once
again, how God will use various forms of pain and suffering to
get our attention. I want to end with a very important
passage in all of this because not all pain and suffering in
Christians' lives is for specific sin. Turn to John 9. It would be so easy just to sit
back and to examine each other's lives Any time any one of us
is going through any form of pain or suffering, the rest of
us just say, oh, he did something bad. But it's not that way. And look at what the disciples
said to our Lord in John 9, 1-3. And as Jesus passed by, He saw
a man which was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him,
saying, Master, who did sin? This man or his parents that
he was born blind? Jesus answered, neither hath
this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should
be made manifest in him. So here the disciples were, and
they were so proud, and they come across this poor blind guy,
and they say, point over him and start whispering probably
and say, Lord, who sinned for him to have that kind of problem?
Did he sin or did his parents? And Jesus said to them, you're
wrong, you're totally wrong. This just happened to show the
power of God, that's all. So, the disciples' worldview
was that good things happen to the good, bad things happen to
the bad, and it's just not so. It's not so in this world. You
know that good things happen to the bad, and bad things happen
to the good. And we all know that. But God
is in control of it all. He causes the bad things to happen
to the good and the good things to happen to the bad, and we
need to always look to Him as being in control, to examine
our own lives when it's coming close to us to see if we have
sinned, but then to go on from there and just understand that
pain and suffering are in this world while we're in it due to
the fall, due to all of man's sin, and one of these days we'll
be out of all of it. So, praise the Lord for that.