Pain

Pain – And the problem we have with it.

1 Peter 2

¹⁹ For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God.

 

We think as humans that pain should not exist if there is really an omnipotent God that is all loving. 

We are told that all things are possible with God.

So why is there pain?

There is a reason but it is not something that is right on the surface of scripture.  It is not something we can open our bible and turn to a verse and there it is plain as day the reason pain exist.

We have to become the theologians we are asked to be.  You may say what is a theologian?  A theologian is one who studies the concepts of God. 

You all should be doing this every time you open your bible.

So lets put on our theologian hats and dig into this.

We know that God gave us free will, which means we can chose to do whatever we want.  If this is so then is God going to stop you from actually following through on doing what you desire to do?  If He did then this would be withholding free will which would contradict a righteous God. 

We also know that God established the ‘Law of Nature” in which all things abide by.  These laws were designed for those things created without the ability to reason. 

We ask why would He create the “Law of Nature” if He did not intend man to live by it?  But lets take look at the world in which we live in.  We live in a time and place where we have the ability to talk to one another through air waves which is “matter”, we travel about our towns that are made of concrete, wood, asphalt, etc, which is “matter”.  We are made of flesh, muscle, blood and water which is “matter”.  “Matter” does not have the ability to reason does it?  So “matter” would have been without limits if God did not establish them, this is the Law of nature.   If “matter” had no law to follow we would be unable to exist as we do or at all because every time it did not suit the needs of a soul it would change. 

So in saying this we know that not all "matter" agrees with each person all the time because we have free will to choose how we interact with it.  We have free will on how we use it whether for good or evil.  We can use a piece of wood to build a house with or we can use that same piece of wood to kill someone with. 

So at the Fall when the choose was given to Adam, how was he going to use what God had given him; he chose evil.  At that moment Pain was introduced to man. 

So you might be saying to yourself as we often tend to do that is to blame someone else for our misfortunes; that do to one man’s choice to do evil we are all to suffer? 

But lets think about this; were we not all conceived from Adam?  When Adam chose to do his will and not God’s will he chose to then follow the “Law of Nature”.

Man was intended to have authority over the earth and all living things.

Genesis 1: ²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

He was to live above the “Law of Nature” not under it.

So this is why Pain is a part of our life.  In everything we do, there is a possibility of pain to be experienced.  There is no exception when considering our “cure” salvation or our Discipleship walk.

 God says to be "cured" to work out our salvation, we need to:

1.     Surrender our ‘Self-will”

2.     Surrender our “Self-sufficiency”

3.     Surrender to do God’s will

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to our conscious, but shouts in our pain: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world!”  - CS Lewis

First to surrender our “Self-will”, (it is all about me), is to be shattered. This involves pain.  Remember “breaking” a child of a bad habit.  Maybe you were that child. 

·        All is well if it is about me needs to be broken

·        Retribution needs to be God’s – bad people ought to suffer

·        Vindictive passion needs to be broken – “I will teach Him”

 Second is to Surrender our “Self-Sufficiency”. 

“God wants to give us something, but cannot, because our hands are full” – St Augustine

As long as we have any other resort we will not seek God.  If your life and family stand between the recognition of your need of Him, He will make that life less sweet.

Honest, Kind People who are self-sufficient can expect misfortune to fall on them!

 

Thirdly is Surrender to do God’s will – Abraham was tested in this manner with Isaac as a sacrifice.

Martyrdom is the supreme enacting and perfection of Christianity regarding this surrender.

 

Christian renunciation – (abandonment of a right) does not mean “Apathy”.  But A strong will accompanied with a perfect readiness for obedience is.

Shelly was a mother of two with a degree in finances and was taking care of her mother.  She gave of herself to her family all the time.  She was married to Joe who worked a full time job and was layman at their church.  Shelly depended on Joe ‘s job for their financial needs and her abilities in investing and saving to keep their life style comfortable.  But as time went on Shelly started to feel anxious about the house hold budget.  Taxes were continuing to go up, bills were getting higher and things started to become tighter and tighter.  She began to feel the pressure of the household budget on her shoulders.  Joe became ill and had to go on medical leave.  The house hold began to spiral out of control.  The anxiety became to much and shelly had a nervous breakdown.  As she lay in the hospital she began to ask God why was this happening to them?  Joe was a leader in the church, I have given myself to the family and now this.  What a mess.  I just do not know what to do. 

What am I suppose to do?

That is the Problem, God responded!  I have had something to give you for a long time and your hands have been to full.  You have looked to yourself for everything.  When was the last time you seeked my guidance in your daily life?  You waited until you experienced pain before I got your attention.  I want you to be mine.  I will not take anything less than complete surrender.  But you have free will to choose just remember if you choose your will then you are choosing the “Law of Nature” to control the outcome of your decisions.  

But if you will surrender to my will you are choosing wisdom and righteousness to control the outcome of your decisions.   

Dependency

“I once visited a “church” that manages, with no denominational headquarters or paid staff, to attract millions of devoted members each week. It goes by the name Alcoholics Anonymous. I went at the invitation of a friend who had just confessed to me his problem with drinking. “Come along,” he said, “and I think you’ll catch a glimpse of what the early church must have been like.” At twelve o’clock on a Monday night I entered a ramshackle house that had been used for six other sessions already that day. The “sharing time” worked like the textbook description of a small group, marked by compassionate listening, warm responses, and many hugs. The parallels to the early church are no mere historical accidents. The Christian founders of AA insisted that dependence on God be a mandatory part of the program. My friend freely admits that AA has replaced the church for him, and this fact sometimes troubles him. I asked him to name one quality missing in the local church that AA had somehow provided. I expected to hear a word like love or acceptance or, knowing him, perhaps anti-institutionalism. Instead, he said softly this one word: dependency. “None of us can make it on our own—isn’t that why Jesus came?” he explained. “Yet most church people give off a self-satisfied air of piety or superiority. I don’t sense them consciously leaning on God or on each other. Their lives appear to be in order.”
(Church: Why Bother? p. 49-51)
Via Philip Yancy

Jesus called out to the Father asking for this very thing – Dependency for his disciples.  Those that the Father gave him. 

Jesus knew the one thing we needed more than anything else… 

He did not pray asking that those who follow him or I should say are his family, have an easy life.  He did not ask that we should never experience hurt, fear of the unknown, sadness; nor did he pray that we receive everything we want.  He did not pray that whatever we set our mind to we should be able to achieve. 

What Jesus did pray for was two things,

He prayed that we not be taken from this world but that we be protected from the evil one.  And He Prayed for oneness. 

John 17

²⁰ “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Questions;

   Who is Jesus praying For – Those who will believe (That is us) Jesus prayed for the disciples and    he prayed for all future generations of believers.  He knew you before  were born.  Your picture is in the photo album and your chapter in the book has been set aside; ready to be penned.  What is your chapter saying?

   What is His Prayer requesting - That all who believe may be one.   How so? Just as the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father.  Is this possible?  It must be because Jesus  asked the Father that this be allowed.  We know that all things asked in our Lords name will be answered.  But are all things given?   This depends on this oneness.             

Why was Jesus requesting this unity?  - He obviously knew how important it was.  It was one of the  only things other than protection for the evil one that he asked the Father for.  I believe all things regarding true discipleship hinge on this oneness  with God.  Jesus knew it.  He spent hours with the Father in Prayer  everyday. 

 

Jesus then reiterates to the Father that He has in fact given us His glory.  What is this glory?  What does he mean?

 

The Hebrew word means “weight – worth” of something - The glory of God is the worthiness of God, more particularly, the presence of God in the fullness of his attributes in someplace or everywhere.

 

What this means is we have the attributes of God in us.  WOW!!!  Do you feel one with God?  Jesus prayed that you will. 

Matthew 11:50

No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son decides ⁵¹  to reveal him.

 

Did he not pray that we would also be in them. 

 

Remember that at this point in time Christ was about to be arrested.  He knew what was going to happen, He knew the Fathers will and was staying on task.  Yet he wants us to be with Him.

 

He wants us to know their purpose.  He wants us to be one with Him.  Some of us here today maybe are saying I really do not feel absolute oneness with God.  You may think this is absolutely absurd to think you can be in that close of fellowship with God.  Not so!  What you are experiencing is either a lack of trust or of Faith. You may have become small-minded and cynical.   Jesus prayed for us requesting that we be one with them.  This is Jesus’ prayer, not ours.  The question we have to ask is am I willing to or wanting to become one with them?  Am I will to give up myself and my admirations for total dependency on God.  Notice how I said Total!!!!!!     

Retaliation

We all know what retaliation is. 

 One night my daughters were fighting and it got carried away.  My oldest hit her sister and the youngest is supper feisty and took off after her sister to hit her back.  I am yelling at them to stop, to only hear “SHE hit me first!!”

In another setting in the Middle East, there was an interfaith dialogue going on between a Christian leader and a Muslim cleric. They were discussing the differences between Islam and Christianity. The cleric stated that the difference is simple: “Christianity teaches that when struck you should turn the other cheek; however, Islam teaches than when you are struck you strike him back – this is better for you and him.”

Too much of the world’s ethic is to: 1) If they hit you first hit them back; 2) get even. Many times the justification for retaliation is that ancient law, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” And this retaliatory ethic to right an injustice is appealing to me, especially initially when I feel I have been wronged.

So is it wrong?

Matthew 5:38-42 reads:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.”

Jesus’ teaching here is confronting the popular misuse and abuse of the Old Testament law, known as the law of retaliation, in Latin, “the Lex Talionis.” The law of “life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth,” etc.

Why is He doing this?  We need to ask ourselves some questions.

 

       First – What does the Old Testament law say about retaliation? What was the purpose of the Law?

Second - Who is Jesus speaking too? Does His teaching contrast with that of the Jewish leadership and culture? Jesus stated earlier that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Third – How are we to re-act to violence or terrorist acts in this day and age? 

Does the teaching go beyond what we as Christians are able to realistically do?

1st - Imagine yourself for a moment in ancient times in a situation where you and your family lived in a place with no police force, no courts, no government – no king or other authority ruling over you. Then one day as you are going about your business, you are shocked that one of your neighbors had intentionally hit your daughter so hard that four of her teeth are permanently knocked out. What would you do? There is no authority to report it to – to seek justice. What if the situation was worse, and your child was intentionally killed? You would probably want to take the matter into your own hands and seek revenge. Maybe you would even want to punish him in greater degree than his offense. After you take revenge, the other family may feel that they have been mistreated and may want to respond, setting up a cycle of retaliation and revenge between you and them – the Hatfields and the McCoys.

Genesis 34 records an actual incident like this between Jacob’s family and the family of Shechem. After Jacob’s daughter Dinah is physically abused, Dinah’s brothers, Simeon and Levi, seek revenge by first deceiving Shechem’s family into getting men circumcised, and then they take the retaliatory action of killing all the males. Of course, it is clear from later in Genesis 49:5-7 that God did not approve of this action.

So God knew this and instituted the law of retaliation into the Mosaic law for the nation of Israel, designed to prevent personal acts of retaliation and revenge. The injured person or relative of the injured person could go to the governing judicial authority in Israel to seek justice. The appropriate punishment in the case of murder or maiming is where the law comes into play: “a life for a life,” “an eye for an eye,” “a tooth for a tooth.” The punishment must fit the crime – no more than the crime but also no less. It was strict but fair. It was designed to prevent and deter such crimes. It was there to remove punitive actions for crimes from the hands of the victim and his family and put them into the hands of the governing judicial system. It was designed to appropriately punish the offender.

Yet this is the irony and abuse of how people misunderstand this law. It is misunderstood now the same way it was misunderstood at the time of Jesus. A very law that was designed to prevent actions of personal retaliatory revenge is used to justify it!

The misunderstanding of the law would say if someone slaps you on the cheek, slap him back (after all “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”). If someone sues you, sue him back. If you are forced to go a mile by a Roman soldier, resist and fight back.

 

So what was Jesus view on the Eye for Eye Law.

Matthew 5:38-42 reads:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.”

Notice that unlike the three Old Testament passages, the first part of the formula “life for life” is not cited; rather “eye for eye” is the first element. 

Jesus is dealing with issues of insult, offense, inconvenience, and bother not murder or life threating actions.

 2^nd - So who is Jesus speaking to?  Jesus was talking to his disciples and the crowd that gathered to hear him. 

What should the disciple do?   He told them that the call to discipleship goes beyond a passive response. He further calls us to take a positive action: 1) turn the other cheek; 2) give your cloak as well as your tunic; 3) go the extra mile; and 4) give or lend to the person who asks you.

 

But someone might say “No one has ever given me a backhanded slap, sued for my clothes, forced me to carry a pack for a mile, or asked me for a loan as a really needy person.” But the point is these are just examples of offending situations.

Let me give a modern example. One day I was driving in to work and all of a sudden, this car came whizzing alongside and quickly cut in front of me causing me to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting him. The next thing I know I floor the gas pedal, catch the guy who cut me off, and starts to tailgate. Then after about a minute of that, I realize what I am doing and back off.

When we are confronted with situations like this, when we are offended, when we are insulted, we have two choices: we can escalate the conflict with retaliation, or we can de-escalate the conflict. We can be a “war maker” or a peacemaker. Jesus said in the beatitudes, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). We are peacemakers when we de-escalate these situations of conflict and extend a blessing instead.

When we turn the other cheek, we are a peacemaker.

When we forego the lawsuit, we are a peacemaker.

When we go the extra mile, we are a peacemaker.

When we give to our brother in need, we are a peacemaker.

Too much of the world’s ethic is to: 1) If they hit you first hit them back; 2) get even. And not one of a peacemaker. 

So Jesus is trying to confront that type of teaching and mindset. He addresses the issue on what you should do if offenses of conflict or insult happen to you.

 God wants us to take actions of personal revenge out of our hands. We can turn them over to the governmental authorities if appropriate, and even if that doesn’t work, we need to turn them over to God Himself. As Paul states in Romans:

Repay no one evil for evil… . Beloved do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord (Romans 12:17, 19).

3^rd – So how are we to re-act to violence and terrorist acts today.  How are we to feel about people who have committed heinous crimes against innocent people?  Do we look at what Jesus says here in Matthew and say we need to turn the other cheek?  Do we pray for these people that do these acts?  Do we or should we seek revenge?

We now know that the Law - “life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth…..” was established by God for the judicial system and not the individual.   These capital punishments are to be determined by our judicial system.  Our Government should seek to uphold what God has established for Jesus said “5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them. ¹⁷  5:18 I ¹⁸  tell you the truth, ¹⁹  until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter ²⁰  will pass from the law until everything takes place. 5:19 So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others ²¹  to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” 

But as disciples we should never seek revenge on an offence committed against us.  For God promises vengeance is Mine.  We do need to pray for those that hurt us whether physically or verbally.    We need to always show them Christ. 

III. Conclusion

It is difficult to determine Jesus’ teaching on this regarding its scope of applicability.

But in some church groups today, these verses are used to argue for governmental pacifism in relation to war or even capital punishment. This is where I feel it does not extend.  He is not addressing the Roman government or even the Jewish judicial authorities. See Matthew 5:1, when He is seated, that “His disciples” come to Him. The teaching is what a disciple of Jesus should do when personally confronted with these types of situations. It is more of a bottom-up approach to diffusing conflict and more than that, giving a blessing instead.

 

Struggling with Sin?

We have all struggled with sin.  Throughout history people have struggled with sin.  Here is just a small assortment of some of the more famous People;

·         Abraham – self-reliance (Genesis 12: ¹⁸ So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!”)

 

·         Jacob- deceit (Genesis 27: ¹⁹ Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”)

 

·         Aaron -

·         Moses –

·         Joshua – Numbers 11: ²⁸ Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”²⁹ But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” ³⁰ Then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.

·         David - lust

·         Peter - Denial

·         Thomas - doubt

·         Paul

·         Luther

·         ME

·         YOU

 

 

It has been thought throughout the centuries that there was two kinds of sin;

·         Original sin – Satan/Pride

·         Actual sin – the act itself

 

But I believe though that after one reads what Paul says in Romans 7, we have to think there maybe one more. 
Romans 7: ²¹ So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature^[d] a slave to the law of sin.

How can Paul, who has confessed that he has sinned against God, that Jesus died for him and has been resurrected to eternal life, who has been on mission trips spreading the gospel, baptizing and making disciples, thus living a sanctified life still be struggling with this matter. 

 

Don’t these struggles ever stop?

 

First we need to define what we are trying to overcome.  Let’s define the other type of sin.  As Steve Deneff has in the book “the 7 Saving Graces” we have;

 

Three kinds of Sin;

·         The original sin – (the snake – Satan/pride-putting yourself in the center of your world)

·         The actual sin – (the bite – the act of doing or not doing, addictive behavior)

·         The residual sin- (the venom – the affects that the original & actual sin has on our habits, personalities, behavior, worldviews.)  Examples; laziness, low self-esteem, stubbornness, flippancy, restless spirit.

   

We know when the original Sin came into play – Adam and Eve.  Satan tempted their pride with His own and there we have it.  He continues tempting us but there is hope. 

 

The actual sin can be seen in so many places in scripture but here are some examples;

 We can see the complaints that Israel had in the book of Numbers were driven by Original sin and then Actual sin occurred.

1.       Complaints about their hardships (sin- not relying on God and instead complaining what he has not done for them)

2.       Complaints about lacking in their wants  (sin- Lusting/Greed)

3.       Rebelling against God’s leaders (sin- lack of trusting God)

4.       Not willing to take responsibility for their actions (sin- lying/disobedience)

5.       Refusing to believe God would provide (sin- lack of Faith)

 

So what complaints do you have today?  Examine your complaint.  If, your complaint is about how someone is being mistreated by another than I would say that this would be an acceptable one.  But if your complaint fits into the ones just mentioned then we need to seek forgiveness. 

 

We need to have a sensitivity to sin in all of its form.  We need to be confessing the specific sin so we can be restored.  To rid ourselves of the Original and Actual sin is to be sanctified; to rid your-selves of the residual sin is called the “way of holiness”.  

 

So are you working on being Sanctified? 

·         This starts with confessing that you know in your heart you have rebelled against God.  This means in your heart you know Christ died for you so you can live forever with Him.  Then know that He will return to judge the living and the dead. 

·         After confessing this are you allowing God to show you the things you need to change.  Are you making these changes?  Ridding yourself of making “yourself” the center of the world.  Stopping the behavior that is causing harm to your relationship with God. (drunkenness, lewd gestures, foolish talk, lies, etc)

 

Are you on the path to holiness?  This path is the same one to be sanctified, you are just on it for a while longer……

·         This starts with knowing that at any moment our vulnerabilities maybe used against us.

·         We need to confess these sins and abandon them.

·         We need to produce and practice virtue

 

Are these the same sins we already confessed?

They are the template we need to examine ourselves against;

1.       Lust

2.       Gluttony

3.       Sadness

4.       Greed

5.       Anger

6.       Envy

7.       Pride

 

“The end of our faith, the salvation of our souls, is the actual conversion of our whole nature into the image of Christ.  The end is a person that esteems others as more important than self.  It is a content and generous heart.  It is a soul that has taken ownership of the spiritual climate in his or her church; that has learned to wait on God; to see with faith, to rejoice in suffering, and to suffer with the world.”

(Steve Deneff)

 

Can this be obtained?  I believe all things are possible through Christ.  Can I do this on my own? NO!  We have a lot of hard work ahead of us to become all He has asked us to be.  We can do all the input – that is read and study and discuss but if we are not willing to perform the output - examine ourselves truthfully and make the changes in our behavior, attitudes, and thoughts then we have done nothing!

 

It is not going to be easy!  But I can persevere knowing this promise “John 14:21 - ²¹ Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

 

Do you Love Him?  This is what it really boils down to if you can make your way down the “Path to Holiness”.  How much do you really Love God!  Love covers a multitude of sins remember….