Second Sunday after Pentecost

Second Sunday after Pentecost
June 6, 2010

Can Pain Ever Be Good?
James 1:2-3

Pain is bad. When we hurt ourselves, our bodies will tell us that we are in pain. These pain receptors signal our brain that something bad is happening. Our senses can get us to stop hurting ourselves before the damage becomes permanent.

Hot ashpalt, bare feet. As a kid, I thought that running back to our spot on the beach for my sandals was a waste of time and that I could handle walking on a scorching parking lot. I was wrong. Pain told me to stop after two steps.

My first time playing in Wisconsin snow was awesome. But it was very cold. After a while (and after ignoring my mom's call to come inside), I started to get warm and I thought how wonderful this warm feeling was. That is until I realized later that I had gotten so cold that my pain receptors had shut down and I was experiencing freezing pain. When I went inside, the pain was like your leg falling asleep and then walking up—pins and needles—but much more intense and to your whole body.

I heard a story about a man who had been struck by lightning and who survived, but had lost his sense of sight and temperature. This poor fellow would be out in the snow in shorts and flip-flops, as his feet were bitten by frost. He kept hurting himself, until many of his limbs were permanently damaged.

With pain, we hurt ourselves plenty. Without pain, we would really mess ourselves up. So it makes sense to say that pain is good. It keeps us from really hurting ourselves.

Pain is good for believers, too. With pain, we still are selfish and sin against God and hurt ourselves and others. But if there was no pain or consequences, we would really mess up our lives.

Consider how often we secretly envy the unbelievers, who seem to feel no pain: “I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong... From their callous hearts comes iniquity; the evil conceits of their minds know no limits... This is what the wicked are like—always carefree, they increase in wealth.” (Psalm 73:3-5, 7, 12 )

Most unbelievers follow the laws of the land. But they don't care about God's Word. So they spend their lives offending God with their selfish lives. Yet nothing happens to them... until the end of time. Consider Jesus' story about the weeds.

Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
"The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?'

" 'An enemy did this,' he replied.
"The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'

" 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.' " (Matthew 13:24-30)

Imagine, God forbid, that we were unbelievers again, like the man who had been struck with lightning. We start with small sins, and we'd keep pushing the envelope, until we destroy ourselves.

Using your bare hand to touch a hot pan on the stove will result in pain. That's bad. But that pain protected you from spilling boiling water on yourself. That's good. Pain is useful and keeps us from doing bad things that will hurt us.

This is why James said, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (James 1:2-3).

We face trials of many kinds. But the worst trials come when our wicked selves and the devil conspire to use our pain against us. When our grandma dies, it hurts. And we ask, “Why did Jesus let this happen? Doesn't He love me anymore?” The conspirators whisper back, “No, Jesus lied. He doesn't care about you. You are all alone.” They want to turn your grief into a crisis. The devil knows that our pain is a terrible thing to waste. He wants to turn our loss into his gain.

How do we respond to this painful test? We call the devil's words and our doubts what they are: lies that were meant to destroy us. And when your dad dies, it still hurts. But we are ready for the lies that going to come flooding into our thoughts. We persevere because we trust in Jesus' promises. And everytime the devil tries to trick us with his lies, we see right through him and see Jesus' cross, where He died for us.

The longer you live, the more pain you see. As believers, we are blessed that our pain serves a purpose. It gets us ready for our storms of doubt and crises of faith. In the end it gets us ready for our own death.

So, yes, unbelievers seem to have much less pain in their lives. Our lives often seem devoted to pain and tests and trials. But rejoice in your trials and temptations, because pain is good. It opens our eyes to see that we need Jesus and that He is only thing we need. Pain hurts, but Jesus uses it to pull us back to Him.

Amen.