Pain a Sign of Life — Reuben Walter

Talk of those things that edify ourselves, build us up, cause us to also seek for answers, cause us to search out His Word, search God's heart, what He's saying to us and how He's talking to us. Because we are people and human beings are subject to everything on this earth.

Pain as a Sign of Life

That's pain, rejection, suffering. We are subject to the elements, we're subject to the forces of nature. We're subject to dying. Soon as we start living, a battle between life and death begins. And this week the Lord has been pressing upon my heart this very topic.

On two occasions, one of them was in school and we were doing a science lesson and the Lord spoke to me concerning this one word, pain, a sign of life. That's the topic the Lord gave me this week. Pain, a sign of life.

Or in other words we could say pain, it's one of the four criterion for life. That is to be able to sense and respond to change in our surroundings. Cause in life's trials, sorrows, and its pain gives us tremendous insights and applications about how God deals with us in the spiritual realm.

The physical often gives us many good life lessons of the spiritual. And of course there is nobody that really wants to talk about pain. Pain is a very unwanted sensation in a human life. Pain is a sensation that we are constantly trying to avoid.

It's a sensation that causes us to react towards it and against it. But as we'll see today, Lord willing, it is the most necessary, one of the most necessary criterion for our spiritual life and even our physical life.

Just the fact that we are alive, just the fact that we live, is evidence that this one criteria for life is working. Because if we could not sense and respond to change, we would most certainly be in very grave danger before we know it.

So before we turn to the word this morning, let us bow our heads. Holy Father, we come before you this morning. We ask Lord that your holy presence would be here. We ask you Lord that your word would open itself up, that your spirit would give utterance, that you would anoint your word, Lord, to give us the necessary tools, Lord, to edify, to build up, to challenge, and to lead each other on to a walk that is in conformity with your son Jesus and with the Holy Spirit.

Dear God, we cannot do this ourselves. We turn to you and depend on you and trust that you will supply as a faithful father who has never forsaken those who put their trust in him. We thank you in Jesus' name.

Amen. The message is intended as an encouragement, not as a guilt trip, not as someone to try and examine ourselves, but to open up the reason why it is that there is pain in our lives sometimes. And it's for those who do suffer more than some of us do.

It's for those who are going through afflictions. It's for those also, for those of us who may feel no pain, also as a challenge that pain is very necessary. And feeling pain should not be something to be avoided at all costs.

Rejoicing in Participation in Christ's Suffering

1st Peter chapter 4. We'll read several passages out of the chapter. We're not going to read the whole chapter here. 1st Peter chapter 4. We'll start with verses 1 and 2. For as much then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind.

For he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. If we turn over to verse 12. Beloved, think it not strange concerning a fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.

But rejoice inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's suffering, that when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the Spirit of God, glorying of God, resteth upon you.

Their part he's even spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. Last verse, verse 19. Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful creator.

God bless his word. Shows here from this passage that pain and suffering is integral. And most of us know it. Anybody who's been alive for any period of time has felt physical pain. And any Christian who's walked with God for any number of years has felt spiritual pain and physical pain coupled together.

And we look at the children and we see there is no way that they want to feel pain. They do not want to suffer. We look at parents, we look at older people, suffering is something we try to avoid at all cost.

As I said before, it is the most unwanted sensation that we have, that the human life experiences. But if we go back right to the garden, we see that God said to Adam and Eve, first in painful toil, you're going to eat your bread.

And with the torrents and thistles, and to the woman, he gave the same word, that with pain and suffering, you will bear forth new life. And this provoked a message because there are several aspects to suffering and to pain.

It's not just one thing, it's three. I've come up, from my own experience, there's three reasons why the human soul needs pain. One, simply because we're sinful and we're living in a sinful world. Number two, it is to purify us and make us meat for the Master's use.

And number three, for the testimony of Jesus. Those points are what we will talk about today. But first, physically speaking, our bodies are built with pain receptors all over. Every square millimeter, there are receptors.

Physical Pain as a Spiritual Illustration

And our skin is one of the biggest defense tools against infections, against diseases, against attacks, from any kind of pathogen or disease. We have a defense, and it's our skin. And it's filled with receptors all over.

And it senses whenever there is a bruise, whenever we hurt ourselves, we hit ourselves, we cut ourselves, we step into a nail, or whatever. There are pain receptors there to tell us something is wrong.

And the sensation is instantaneous. It is immediate, because it is the body's defense against a greater threat. You just touch something hot once and you know exactly what I'm talking about. You have a child touch a hot object once, it's not going to do it a second time.

Not so easily anyway. Oh, there are some of us who want to make sure it really was a burning sensation, and we'll try it again. But the point is, those receptors on our bodies, they tell us there's a change been in our environment.

Whether the change is rapid, instantaneous, or whether it's gradual. When we go outside on a very cold day, and we're not dressed warm enough, our body's receptors tell us, Get back in. Get warm. Otherwise, you're going to be in trouble.

You're going to freeze. That's an example of a gradual change, whether hot or cold. And immediately, our body responds to the change in the environment, and we back off. We pull our hand away, or when the arm gets caught, or you step into a kneel, the pain receptor tells us something is wrong.

The rest of the body come to the aid to tend the wound, and dress it, or whatever is necessary to keep the infection and the pain from getting worse, from spreading, or from destroying us. Pain makes us take action.

In not all cases, that's the case. For example, if you have a toothache or a headache, incredible pain can be suffered. Both of these cases. Both of the cases, again, it's our body telling us that we need to do something about this pain.

And it certainly is great if we can have a painkiller at the time of an intense spurt of pain in the head, or a toothache, or any other suffering. It is wonderful to have something there immediately. But it only supplies temporary relief.

It does not take away the problem. Always remember that. Then we either go to a dentist and get it fixed, or we find out what is causing our headaches. Headache is a result of organs in the body that do not have the pain receptors as our skin does, and our muscles, and our bones, and our joints.

They have pain receptors there that tell us this is hurting. Watch out. A headache is a result of different organs in the body hurting that have no pain receptors, and so the pain is up in the head. It also tells us something is not right.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made, and in the battle between life and death, the sensing and needing to respond to changes in the environment is critical for a living organism to survive. Sensing and responding to change.

Most of us, you know, we know when we watch wild animals, their first sense and response to change is their noses and their eyes. When they see danger or when they smell danger, they respond to the change, don't they?

Most of us who've been trying to catch a deer, you know what it's like, or a coyote. They're not dumb. They don't walk into the trap. They have a built-in safety mechanism, and so do we. It makes us take action, and flipping this over to the spiritual, we can see the similar reaction.

Just as those one criterion for life is there to give us the tools we need to respond to a change, God gave us also pain as Christians, as a reminder and as a defense, and as a mechanism to help us stay alive in the battle between life and death.

God gave us receptors in our bodies, spiritually speaking, to fight against either what is coming against us or to pull away from a dreadful situation so that it does not hurt us more or destroy us. It makes us take action.

God has deliberately put these pain receptors there. Pain also makes us focus on what is hurting, makes us put our attention to what hurts us, and makes us do something about it. You can't ignore a searing pain in your tooth.

You can't ignore when you've badly hurt a limb, you've broken it or bruised it badly. You can't ignore it. Your body is designed that you must pay attention to it. You must do something about it. And this has also a very good spiritual application.

Affliction as a Means of Returning to God's Word

In Psalm 119 .67, David said, Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I have kept thy word. Spiritually speaking, God sometimes presses on ourselves something, and he presses it, and he presses it, till we must do something about it.

That's a wonderful thing. God's people, as God's people, we often avoid painful situations. We want to avoid them as much as any child does. We want to run from them. We will not deliberately go and touch something that's going to burn us.

But if we don't, in our physical bodies, if we don't respond, we'll either freeze, disease, or burn. And spiritually speaking, I think we can say the same thing. We'll either freeze to death, we'll become cold, lifeless, or diseases will eat in like a canker, and eat away the spiritual life and destroy us, or we're going to burn in eternity.

And so God has built us that way, and it's a good thing he did. It's a good thing that we have pain receptors in our bodies to show us things when things go wrong, and are wrong. Let us turn to, there's three books in the Bible that talk a lot about pain.

And I know for some of us, we don't really like talking about it, but it's a necessity for the child of God. The book of Job, the book of Jeremiah, and the book of Psalms, those three books contain a lot about afflictions, about pain, about suffering.

Job's Suffering and Purification

Probably the most common one to all of us is the book of Job. How does one man, endured and suffered incredible discomfort, incredible suffering and pain, and he did not understand why. He argued with God until the end.

And the thing is, it was not because he was bad. It's because God was just simply trying to work out his perfect will in his life, and purify him and bring forth the true goodness in him. There are several passages here I'd like to discuss.

Pain makes us take action, Job 23. Now this one here is what Job said. This passage here, after his three good friends had given him lots of counsel, he answered,. Even today, Job 23, even today is my complaint bitter.

My stroke is heavier than my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat. I would order my cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know, Lord, the words which he would answer me and understand what he would say to me.

Will he plead against me with his great power? No, but he would put strength in me. There, and then he says it, There the righteous might dispute with him, so should I be delivered from ever, forever from my judge.

Behold, I go forward, but he is not there. I go backward, I cannot perceive him. On the left hand, where does he work? I cannot behold him. He hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him. But he knows the way that I take.

When he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held his steps. His ways have I kept and not declined. Neither have I gone back from the commandments of his lips. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

Job comes to the realization here that there is a purpose for his sufferings. He comes to the realization that his pain was for his purification. That's a point I want to make. When we suffer, when God afflicts, when there is pain in our bodies, physically speaking, it's because God is trying to draw, it's because our bodies are trying to defend themselves against a disease or against an infection.

Spiritually speaking, when there is pain in our lives it's because God is trying to safeguard our walk with him so that we don't lose the way. And he works on our hearts. And if it's painful, we should not begrudge or become bitter or become calloused.

We need to see that God is doing it for eternal blessedness and for our eternal good. Pain also makes another part in Job here in chapter 33. These are the words here that the young Elihu said after all the others had said all they wanted to say.

And to his words, none of them said anything. Job said nothing to his words and his three friends said nothing to his words. He first gave them good counsel and said, I was listening to you guys all along, how you were bickering back and forth.

I was just hearing because I thought wisdom comes with age. Since I was the youngest one, I was quiet. And finally, when nobody had anything to say, he started speaking. And when he was done, Job never said one word.

When he was done, God immediately came on the scene and started talking with Job. And there are some interesting verses there in verse 14. Chapter 33 and verse 14. We need to go through the whole book to really get the whole message, but there are some good verses there.

Verse 14, For God speaks once, yea, twice, yet man perceives it not, in a dream, in a vision, in the night, when deep sleep falls upon men and slumbering upon their beds. Then he opens the ears of men and seals their instructions, that he may withdraw man from his purpose and hide the pride from man.

He keeps back his soul from the pit and his life from the perishing by the sword. He is chastened also with pain upon his bed and the multitude of bones with strong pain, so that his life he abhors bread and his soul dainty meat, his flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not even not taken out.

Yea, his soul draws near to the grave and his life to the destroyers. And if he goes down to verse 26 to 29, He shall pray unto God and he will be favorable unto him. He will see his face with joy for he will render unto man his righteousness.

He looketh upon men and if any say, I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profited me not, he will deliver his soul from going into the pit and his life shall see the light. Lo, these things worketh God oftentimes with man.

Those of us who have been Christians any number of years, I know from my own experience that God has not caused affliction in my life because I was bad or I was sinning. He was doing it because we are sinful, I mean we can't excuse that, because he was purifying us and drawing us closer to himself.

He was bringing me, he was breaking strongholds in my heart to make me see things from a different viewpoint. And believe it or not, mankind is more often than not tunnel visioned. We sense and we see a way and we think this is the way.

And sometimes for God to break those strongholds, we need to. There needs to be affliction in our lives. And when we look at it from Job's perspective, from Jeremiah's perspective, when we look at it from the saint's perspective, as Peter said, we see even our Savior had to be perfected through suffering.

It says in Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 8, he was made perfect through suffering. We just read it this past week. And so Peter again, Peter says, for as much then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, that's our text, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind, for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.

This word is so true. We talk, we think, when we see a person who's suffering, who's in pain, and we've all seen them. There's some among us now. There's no desire for going after the lusts of the flesh.

When we see a person in need, you feel helpless. We know there's only prayer that can prevail. We feel there's little we can do. And sometimes we feel the prayers are totally hitting a brass ceiling. They're not being heard.

And it makes a person wonder, why does God afflict people so much? Because God is after us. You see, he cannot get use out of us if we're in the grave, dead. We cannot bring glory and sing praises to his name.

And we hardly ever sing praises to his name when things are going well in our lives. We do for a short period. And so God, as it says in Hebrews chapter 12, lays upon us the rod of affliction so that he may comfort us in the end and lift us up so that he may bring forth the pure gold to which he is always longing for in a human life.

Personal Responsibility, Self-Control, and Unnecessary Pain

Sometimes the result of our pain is, sometimes our pain results from neglect in our bodies. Sometimes it results from abusing our bodies. Sometimes it's as a lack of self-control. Our diets, our lifestyles, reckless living, injuries due to carelessness or thrill-seekers, we suffer sometimes for it.

We know many people for seeking thrills, seeking after a high, have lost their lives or paralyzed themselves to the point where they are. But then we also see people who are genuinely doing something and by accident, which seems senseless to us, the person is badly injured, even paralyzed.

And we can't help but wonder, why God are you doing this? When we see somebody living a reckless, careless life and being injured, we don't feel too sorry for it. It looks like he was looking for it. But that's not always the case.

We see people suffering, which we have no idea why. They were not thrill-seekers. They were not living careless and reckless lives. In cases like that, we have to say, Lord, you know. Lord, you know the end from the beginning.

And you know what you want from this precious life. And you know what it takes to keep this life in the palm of your hand. And we have to submit to that fact. But I would like to give a word of exhortation, especially to the young people, that a lot of the stuff we do bring on ourselves, a lot of the pain that we sometimes suffer, we have brought it on, because we let our emotions out of control.

We let them follow after. We follow after our emotions and we do not practice restraint. It can bring us emotional pain, young people. And it can bring us emotional pain that is not necessary. Often by listening to a little bit of counsel, we can say, parents can tell you, you touch this, you're going to get burned.

You go there, it's going to hurt. If only we listen, right? But when we find it out once or twice, I think it should be enough, that the best safeguard. You see, you don't have to tell a child. I mean, it's best if he learns it by itself, that something is hot.

But for instance, you can teach a child that the electrical outlet is very dangerous. He never experiences the pain until he hurts himself. But you can, by much explaining, you can tell him that it's a very bad sensation of touching an electrical outlet in a way so you ground yourself out.

We can do the same to our young generation. You can safeguard yourself from many hurtful pains by listening to your parents' instructions and not allowing your feelings to get the better of you. Not allowing your attitudes to get the better of you.

All it will bring you is hurt in the end. And often when our attitudes are bad, we're hurting ourselves more than anyone else. And young people, you often don't realize it. It's very important that you can safeguard or protect yourself from many unnecessary pain by listening to parental and your leadership's counsel.

Because we've gone down that road. We've felt all that pain already. We've been burned many times. And if we don't pass that on to the next generation, they're not going to go one inch further than we did.

The Spiritual Danger of Feeling No Pain

Now to flip the coin over, there's also the tragedy of feeling no pain. And that's one of the lessons we learned this week in science. We may think, children sometimes think, feeling no pain is not a bad thing.

Why do I have to hurt when I run into a wall? Well, have you ever seen a leprous person? That's a pathetic sight. A person with leprosy, I've never seen one. I've seen pictures of one. And it is a dreadful and horrible disease that affects the receptors, the pain receptors in the skin.

It's a skin disease, but that's what it attacks first. What happens is the person with leprosy loses his sense of touch. He loses the sensation of feeling pain. And then he can walk down the road, he steps into nails, he's not even aware of it.

He cuts himself, he does not know what happened. Remember when the dentist freezes that tooth? So there's no pain there? That's a good case. But it looks like it drills around, you hear it, but you don't feel it.

When a person has leprosy, he doesn't even feel the sensation of being poked in his feet, being cut. And that's the first place it happens, in his walk. Leprosy affects the people in warm climates more than in cold climates.

But if they do not purposely sit down and check over their feet, or their arms, or whatever else, daily, and twice daily, and three times daily, infections set in. They cannot sense that there's been a cut, that it needs to be cleaned.

They cannot sense when there's infection of tetanus, when they step into a rusty nail. And you see many lepers over in India that have their toes all cut off. Now either their toes got cut off because of an infection, or they simply got gangrene, and did not feel the sensation.

And it can cause people to lose their feet, it can cause people to lose their hands, eventually causing them to die. It's a dreadful disease when there are no pain receptors. It's a dreadful situation to be in when there are no pain receptors in a human body.

If we turn this to the spiritual, we see the same thing happening. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 17. What happens to a human being when he does not sense what is right and wrong anymore? 17. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you henceforth not walk, as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of their blindness of their heart, who, being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

And then he says, but you have not so learned Christ. You see what sin does to a person? Sin is leprosy. And it only happens to a Christian. A non-Christian, we're not talking about getting leprosy. A non-Christian is a person that is in need of a savior.

Leprosy happens to people who've been alive. As I said at the beginning, pain is a sign of life. If you don't feel any more pain, we're dead. And here Paul says, these people have their feelings numbed out.

And they can no longer feel the sensation of pain. So we can see on a spiritual scale that it is the most blessed thing a child of God can have. It is able to snatch us away from the grips of the enemy as he tries to numb us.

When a disease sets in, the enemy is trying to callous us and numb us to this sin, to that unrighteousness, to this liberty and on and on until we're so callous that we don't feel the pokes anymore. I believe the enemy would snatch us out of God's hands within a matter of months after being born again if there were no pain receptors in our lives.

If there were no spiritual pain receptors. And so it is very important that a child of God does not try to avoid and push away pain, but to embrace it actually. And realize that it is God's ultimate purpose for his life.

In 2 Corinthians 7, verse 10 it says, Godly sorrow workers repentance to salvation that does not need to be repented of. You do not need to repent of that stuff. When God pokes us, when the Holy Spirit pokes us about this and that, embrace it.

Otherwise, if we don't, if we don't pull away, you know how those musicians, what happens to their fingers when they become so callous, they don't feel that pain anymore there. But it's okay in that case.

But I'll tell you, it's not okay in every case. Once you get poked so and so often in a certain place, the leprosy sets in or it gets calloused and you don't feel that pain anymore. Sin has a numbing effect on our lives.

And the dreadful thing is, the person that gets infected with that leprosy is not aware of it at first. Because the pain receptors become numbed out, pain receptors are slowly dying off, and they become calloused and we see, we've heard of Christians and we know of Christians who come to the point where they can even say, well, what's wrong with this?

What's wrong with that? Well, if this numbing has caused us to allow this into our lives, allow that into our lives, pretty soon, we don't feel the sting anymore. We can hear a swear word and it doesn't jolt us.

We can see a half-naked woman and it doesn't jolt us. Pretty soon, we can hurtfully talk to a person knowing he was offended at me and it doesn't hurt us anymore. Pretty soon, we can waste our precious time away doing nothing.

It doesn't hurt us anymore. Pretty soon, we can sleep in as much as we like. It doesn't hurt us anymore. Calloused. Jump in a vehicle and go when we please. It doesn't hurt us anymore. Slowly become calloused.

Insult a brother behind his back. It doesn't hurt us anymore. This is what happens. A numbing effect takes place and Paul warned Timothy of this very thing. We do not have our conscience seared with a hot iron.

Searing means it has been branded off and the pain receptors are destroyed and we can't feel. What we're doing affects us. It may affect others around us and we don't want that to happen. This is one of the reasons God has given us pain.

To draw us away. To draw us back to Himself and to purify us. As it says, that sorrow or that hurt is to bring forth a person. Bring out Christ in our lives. If we display ourselves, Christ goes down and is hidden.

That's what it's for. And that's why we should never ever let it come to the point where we no longer feel those pokes. So those two purposes are simply because we're sinful and we live in a sinful world.

Purify us. Kind of mixed it in there. And the third one, for the testimony of Jesus. 1 Peter 3 .18. It's pretty well the same thing as we said up till now. For Christ also had once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.

Suffering for the Testimony of Jesus

You see, Christ suffered to bring us life. To bring us to life. Do we think for a minute that we will ever bring anyone else to the life of Christ without suffering? This is another aspect of the Christian suffering.

That if that is what it took to bring us to God, it is no different for us. Where He says, arm yourselves with the same mind, believe it. It is no different. How we stand up in adversity, in insults, in physical suffering, in denying of ourselves, is what is really the testimony of Jesus.

And just as a woman in travail does not bring forth a new life without suffering and travail, so we as God's people will not cause anyone to come to Jesus unless we live a life, unless we take pain graciously and live in self-denial, take up our cross and follow Christ.

If Jesus had to suffer to this way to bring us, we cannot expect to live at ease and cause the world to see Jesus. If we are a vessel to which we bring new life into this world, we have to recognize that is another aspect of suffering.

It is going to cost us. It is going to hurt. And the hurting is to bring forth new life. Life in me and life for others. Paul said, death worked in me, but life in you. That is the threefold purpose of pain.

If we are going to win anyone to Christ, we got to walk in Christ's footsteps. And that is the way of the cross. It is not going to be a walk in the park to lead people to Jesus. We will not do it at ease.

The Hope of a World Without Pain

But God has promised a time to conclude here that there will be no more, none of that stuff anymore. You know that verse in Revelations, chapter 21, verse 4. He said, the time is coming. That is another aspect of it, by the way.

The fact that there is pain is the sign that we are still not in the New Jerusalem. The fact that there is pain in our lives is a sign that this world is still under the curse. That is a fact. In Revelations 21, verse 4, he said, that time is coming though.

God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. For the former things are passed away. So that time is yet to come, brothers and sisters.

We can't avoid pain now in this life. It's here. It's part of it. And it has a very good purpose. It is not useless, not senseless. As a matter of fact, in 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 17, it says, For our light afflictions, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

Wouldn't that make it all worthwhile? Wouldn't every piece of suffering and pain that we endure here make it seem like just a dream? Paul wrote that he suffered more than anyone else. And yet he said, our light affliction.

He suffered more than all the other apostles. He called it momentary. Just nothing. So we should say the same thing. They'll work for us a far more exceeding weight of glory. God bless you. God be the glory.