The Gift of Pain
Text: Luke 5:12-16
Luke 5:12-16 -- "And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." "And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him." "And he charged him to tell no man: but go, and show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them." "But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities." "And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed."
l. INTRODUCTION -- PAIN
A. General
-Some perhaps would beg to differ that pain really is a gift. We live in a world that makes Excedrin for headaches, Tylenol PM for relief of the night time aches that inhibit sleep, there is BC for the big headache, our society refuses pain.
-There is Darvocet, Dalmane, Demerol, Dilaudid, and a host of other D’s to knockout pain. Codeine, Mepergan, Morphine, Versed, and on we could go. They have a common purpose and that is to eradicate the pain that we live with.
-Pain medicines can be taken by mouth, intramuscularly, intravenously, intrathecally, subcutaneously, and a host of other routes. Medical science has spent much time and research on how to eliminate pain.
-So for one to attempt to say that pain is a gift might be a bit confusing to you. But allow us to really look at the purpose of pain and find out how it actually can help us.
B. Quotes Concerning Pain
Shakespeare -- "He who jests at scars never felt a wound."
Marcel Proust -- "Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed: To kindness, to knowledge we make promises only: Pain we obey."
William Faulkner -- "If I we to choose between pain and nothing, I would choose pain."
John Milton (Paradise Lost) -- "The mind is it’s own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven."
ll. THE MIRACLE OF LUKE 5:12-16
A. The Disease
It was insidious in it’s beginning. Just a mere spot, slightly tender to the touch but with time that would change. The small specks would began on the eyelids, on the palms of the hands, and gradually spread over to cover the entire body. The hair would bleach white. Crusty scales would soon envelope the affected spots. The joints would begin to swell and the swelling would gradually erupt into sores. The small nodules would soon deteriorate and leave a foul discharge. From the surface the leprosy would eat it’s way to the inner tissues. Skipping nothing it would venture into the fatty tissue, work on through the muscle, and finally devastate the bones. The nerve tissue was such that it no longer had the ability to sense the pain stimulus. Because of the absence of pain, the leper would find that fingers, toes, even limbs would have to endure horrible trauma without being able to feel. Without the feeling, the leper would extend his injuries never realizing the damage that was occurring. The lungs, the eyes, the nose and throat were not left immune to this horrible disease. They too had to endure the debilitations of the disease.
-The dread of infection kept men aloof from the sufferer because that was what the Law prescribed. The Law stated that the leper was unclean. Because of his unclean state, the leper could not live in the walled cities with others. He had to live beyond the reaches of men, beyond the reaches of compassion, beyond the reaches of joy, beyond the reaches of love, but worst of all living without the gift of pain.
-Pain can serve a definite purpose in our lives. Leprosy patients lose their fingers and toes, not because the disease can cause the decay, but because they cannot feel the pain. Nothing warns them when the water is too hot or a hammer handle is splintered. Accidental self abuse is what destroys the leper.
B. The Leper
-We have no way of knowing what state that this particular leper was in. He could have been in the very early stages of the disease or he could have been in the final stages. Regardless, of what stage that he was in, he needed help.
-He came to Jesus, this Man from Galilee, the very God manifest in the flesh, hoping for a miracle.
-No doubt this leper too probably had some areas of his body that the nerve endings had been compromised and he no longer felt the pain that could have saved him from further injury.
-I am preaching to people who live with pain. Perhaps it is a particular pain that you have lived with for a long time. As time has passed you have been able to scar it over and maybe it does not hurt as bad as it used to it is still there. Leprosy still tugs at the souls of men in the ’90’s.
-It has been a long time since God really has dealt with you the way that He used to. There were those times in the past that God longed for a greater relationship, a greater commitment but leprosy struck. Not only did you lose the ability to feel pain, you also lost your ability to respond to God.
-By the way, He still is looking for lepers. He still is looking for that commitment. He still is longing to make something out of your life. He can take that pain and turn it into something that will cause you to help others who are battling the same situations in life.
Psalm 91:1-2 -- "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." "I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust."
-What is it that makes us value the secret place most? The greatest difficulties of my life was the times that I have found the secret place to be the sweetest. Pain really is a gift.
lll. INTENSIFIERS OF PAIN
-There are particular things that we live with that remarkably has the ability to intensify our pain. There is not a single drug or man-made remedy that can relieve these elements that intensify the pain. The only hope of relief is a trip to Calvary. The Cross can heal.
-Any man who knew the Law, knew that the leper would be dealt with harshly. Leviticus 13- 14 provides the entire process that the leper had to be submitted to. There was the presentation to the priest. The priest would examine the suspected leper and then come away with a "clean" or "unclean" description.
-Should the suspected man find himself unclean then he would have to depart from the city and go to the lepers colony. The intensity of pain would soon escalate because of the elements surrounding him.
A. Fear
-Fear was the first that the man would have to deal with. Fear would branch off into a myriad of emotions. Fear of dying, fear of the inability to provide for and to see his family, fear of the rejection of society, fear of the rejection by his God, and fear of the isolation associated with the disease.
-I don’t know your story. Every man has one. When leprosy began to eat away at your soul, fear swept in. Can God really forgive this sin? Is He going to extend His love to me? Who else will this mistake affect? Can God still save me? Have I committed the unpardonable sin?
-The more that you thought about your problem, the greater the pain. Fear has a way of immobilizing our faith. That is what the devil would like for you to believe here right now. Fear has a way of causing our imagination to run away like a runaway mine car.
-Fear says, "Boy, you’ve really done it now. God will never be able to retrieve you from this mess."
Psalm 27:1-5 -- "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" "When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell." " Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident." "One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple." "For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock."
B. Anger
-Anger is another factor that can bolster the pain. Here was a man who had been involved in everyday living, now stricken with this horrible disease that made him an outcast. Anger at the system that he once loved now seemingly was betraying him.
-How could it be? He had participated in the annual Day of Atonement. He had before felt the relief of the sins being rolled back another year as the smoke ascended from the Tabernacle. He had been awed by the actions of Moses as they walked through the wilderness, getting water in dry places, and manna in barren areas. Miracle after miracle, he had witnessed, but now the Law said that he had to go to the lepers colony.
-Anger toward the situation. Anger toward the people involved. Anger, maybe even toward God.
-Years have passed now, the wounds do not hurt as bad but they are still there. Could it be that God would like to wash some things out of our hearts today?
C. Guilt
-As the leper went on through the process, he began to feel the weight of guilt settle down on his soul. He now felt like it was his fault that the ugly disease of leprosy had preyed on his body. If only I hadn’t. . . . If only I had. . . .If. . . . If. . . . If. . . .If. . . . . . .
-David’s cry encompasses the entire feeling of the moment:
Psalm 38:4-10 -- "For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me." "My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness." "I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long." "For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh." "I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart." "Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee." "My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me."
-Guilt is an intensifier of pain. Yet if the pain was not in the soul, there are those sitting on these pews who would not be here right now. Guilt can be made into a positive thing. The Gift of Pain. Guilt can serve a leper well.
D. Loneliness
-Perhaps the greatest of the intensifiers of the leper’s pain is the loneliness that he has to bear. Leprosy is a disease that will isolate a man from his surroundings, from his kin, and finally from his God.
-The lepers in the colony were put there by the Law. Isolated from society and yet isolated from each other. They could not find any hope in their surroundings. Loneliness only intensified their pain.
-One of the loneliest times that men have is not when they have been left alone by their co- workers, by their friends, or even by their families but when they have been left alone by their God. Job said it best concerning the most difficult kind of loneliness.
Job 23:8-9 -- "Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:" "On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:"
lV. UZZIAH’S LEPROSY
-Uzziah was Judah’s tenth king. Uzziah began his rule when he was 16. Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem and in the deserts. Uzziah was a great military leader. Uzziah was stricken with leprosy.
-Jotham was Uzziah’s son who was to inherit the throne from him. Perhaps in Uzziah’s waning days, he told Jotham where he got his leprosy. Uzziah got his leprosy from the Temple. It was a bad turn of events. It was poor judgment on Uzziah’s part, but he intruded into the office of the priest and attempted to burn incense on the altar.
-Jotham could hardly believe that such an event could happen, that one could get leprosy, a dreaded, dirty disease in the place of the holy. But it happened. In fact it happened in 810 B.C. But it could have happened in 810 A.D. Or it could have happened in 1970. It could have happened in 1985. Or it could have happened in 1994 or even 1995.
-Leprosy can still invade our lives when we handle holy things. What’s your story? Everybody has one.
V. CONCLUSION -- HE WAS BRUISED . . .
-As we all look inward, where is the leprosy? Is it in the beginning stages or has it almost devastated the inside?
-The thing about the miracle in Luke 5, is the fact that no one was supposed to touch a leper. But Jesus reached down and touched the leper’s hand. Clean touched Unclean. Clean healed the Unclean. That is the way it is with Jesus Christ, no matter how ugly the wounds of leprosy or sin may be, His Blood still has the ability to wash it all away.
-Allow me to let you in on something else. I am glad that you came today, I am glad that you are hurting. I am glad that you are struggling with the loneliness, with the guilt, with the anger, with the fear. Because you can leave that pain at an altar. Somebody has already borne it for you.
Isaiah 53:1-11 -- "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?" "For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him." "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." "He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken." "And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth." "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand." "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities."
Philip Harrelson
barnabas14@yahoo.com
