"No Pain, No Gain"

There are many kinds of pain in life: physical, emotional, spiritual. Physical pain occurs when we break a bone, or cut ourselves, or any number of things that can happen to our physical bodies. Emotional pain happens several different ways, like when we lose someone we love through death. Or when we or even someone we love goes through something like a painful divorce. Spiritual pain can come from being in a seemingly hopeless situation, especially when it seems to our sinful human natures, like God doesn’t care.

Pain does different things to different people. Some turn to drugs or alcohol in an attempt to cover up their pain. Others try to ignore it or bury it, thinking it will just go away. The only trouble with that is that things that are buried alive will sometimes dig themselves back up. Some people turn to church – not God – to church to ease their pain. They see the smiling faces in the television churches, they see and hear preachers who smile and promise nothing but wonderful things for their lives.

But is this the reality of Christian life? If you look at Scripture, if you look at the words of our Epistle lesson for today, you see that it doesn’t take long to figure out that where there’s no pain, there’s no gain, and the way through pain to gain is by keeping our eyes on Jesus.

Pain is a reality – it’s a part of life. What was the most painful moment of your life? Of course, the answer each of us might give might be different. Maybe it was a divorce, or abuse, or neglect. One of the most painful days of my life was doing the funeral service for a much loved grandfather. Another was the day I help work a traffic accident where a pregnant mother and her unborn child were killed. It was a terrible, gruesome wreck. What made it more painful was that my daughter was pregnant with her first child at the time. The pain our son Gary went through when his wife divorced him was painful to me too.

No matter what pain you name, the root of that pain can be traced back to sin. Sin has marred everything that God created. Every transgression of the Law is inseparably connected with guilt, and guilt means punishment. We know from Paul’s letter to the Romans that the wages of sin is death. We are subject to that death from the moment of our birth.

One of the ways the effects of sin shows up in our lives is through pain. Sometimes, pain is a signal that death is near. Sometimes pain reminds us of our mortality. Sometimes pain moves our lives in a different direction. Sometimes pain is a signal that we need to go to the doctor. We can deny pain, or try to ignore it, but denial and ignoring it doesn’t deal with it. Eventually, the root problem must be dealt with.

How do you deal with the pain that is a part of your life today? Do you turn to the Word of God looking for answers? Do you deny here is a problem or simply try to ignore it?

Maybe you are here; maybe you joined this church thinking that by becoming a Christian you can get rid of your problems and pain. Well I have some bad news for you. The truth of the matter is that you have only signed up for more pain in this life – not less.

Let’s look at some of the greatest people of faith and ask this question; "How did they get through the pain?" The answer may surprise you. The first example in our text for today is Abraham. He is often called the "father of the faithful." Yet even he father of the faithful had his share of trials and pain along the way. Some of Abraham’s most painful moments are found in the 22^nd chapter of Genesis, where God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, to him.

How did Abraham make it through that trial? How was he able to raise the knife to slay his son? Verse 19 of our text gives us the answer: "He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back." Even in the most difficult to circumstances, Abraham focused on God, rather than on the circumstance.

The second example in this section is Moses. Moses may not come to mind when you think of pain and suffering. But think about Moses for a moment. He was raised with wealth, privilege, and every cultural and educational advantage that growing up in the home of the pharaoh of Egypt offered. But his compassion for his people led him from the palaces and majesty of Egypt to the desert of Midian, where he tended sheep for forty years.

Moses suffered because he trusted God more than his position and power. He had it all, and gave it all up. But he looked forward to what was ahead of him rather then what was behind him.

The third example is the prophets and the patriarchs. There was Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Gideon, Rahab, Samson, David, Samuel and the other faithful prophets. These faithful men and women suffered all kinds of pain and trials as carried out their appointed tasks and held firmly to their faith. Any volunteers this morning to be stoned? How about sawed in two? Scourged? Imprisoned? Mocked? To wear clothes made of goat skins? To live in a cave? To be tortured? They were able to do these things because their focus was heavenward.

All of the people I listed and many that I didn’t list suffered pain in this life – some of them more than you or I can imagine. They all knew an important truth; that without pain there is no gain.

Professional athletes understand. They go through a lot – lifting weights, working out, practicing every day during the pre-season and the playing season. They endure pain and injuries along the way. Why do they do it? Because each one has a dream of winning – of being the best in their sport.

The same is true in our spiritual lives. Apart form pain, there is no gain. As Christians, it’s not a question of if we’re going to suffer. The only question is when and how.

The way Christians can make it through the pains of life is in the light of the cross. All of the people listed in the 11^th chapter of Hebrews had two things in common. They were all sinners. They all had faith. We have something that they didn’t. We have the fulfillment of God’s promises in Christ Jesus. They all knew and believed that the Messiah was coming. We can look back and see the His cross.

We can look back to the cross and see all of our pain dealt with once and for all. As we look back, we remember what the prophet Isaiah wrote in chapter 53:4-5. He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. Our pains are nothing compared to the pain he bore on our behalf.

Richard Wurmbrand was a Lutheran pastor who lived most of his life behind the Iron Curtain of communism. Because of his faith, he was imprisoned three times for a total of fourteen and a half years. Because he refused to be quiet about his faith, he was tortured on a regular basis. Finally, it got to the point where Pastor Wurmbrand would tell his captors, "I’m going to preach – then you can beat me." He was willing to sacrifice his life because his eyes weren’t focused on his circumstances, they were focused on Jesus.

As we continue our race, there will be pain. How can we endure it: by looking to the cross, by looking to Jesus, by focusing on him. Our pain doesn’t go away, but we can bear it because we see what Jesus did for us, and we see where we are headed, where we are going as well. Amen.