Grant S. Sisson
Theme – Living through the pain
Three points:
1. We live through the pain for others
2. We live through the pain for ourselves
3. Jesus lived through the pain for us
The world's best cyclist, Lance Armstrong, says this about pain:
“I become a happier man each time I suffer.
Suffering is as essential to a good life, and as inextricable, as bliss. The old saying that you should live each day as if it’s your last is a nice sentiment, but it doesn’t work. Take it from me. I tried it once, and here’s what I learned: If I pursued only happiness, and lived just for the moment, I’d be a no-account with a perpetual three-day growth on my chin. Cancer taught me that.”
Life is filled with pain. Everyone has either experienced it, or will.
The classical artist Renoit is revered in the world of art. He left many works of art that are respected and admired the world over. But Mr. Renoit had a problem later in life that caused him terrible pain – he had arthritis in his hands. Arthritis in an artist’s hands is about like a musician whose hearing fails, and he really suffered because of it. It was so bad that he would wince in pain as he applied each brush stroke. In fact, it finally got so bad that he tied the brush to his wrist so he could keep painting.
His young assistant asked him, “Mr. Reniot, why do you keep painting when it causes you so much pain?” To which he replied, “My son, I do not paint for the moment. I paint for the legacy.”
What a striking thought. We humans all too often live our lives for the moment, and miss out on our legacy. Now, living IN the moment is healthy and good. Planning for the future is a present moment experience. But living FOR the moment leaves us with no plan for the future, no goals, no vision – and we know that “When there is no vision, the people perish.”
But people often will ask, “Why should I live through this kind of pain? What difference will it make? Is this what I was born for, to suffer? Is suffering all there is to life? If so, why even go on?”
The problem of suffering is probably the strongest argument in the atheist’s apologetic. It is a hard thing to deflect. It is true that we all suffer, that life is full of suffering, and that we cannot escape it. If you are human, and you are still alive, you either have already experienced it or will experience it.
There are lots of reasons, many of which are easily observable. We experience pain as the result of sin – either on the part of others or because we ourselves have done wrong. It is not fair, it is not just, it is not right that those who are innocent suffer because of things that others – especially those close to them – do. But it happens all the time. Someone chooses to drive after they have been drinking – and someone else winds up without a mother or father, or loses a child. Is that fair? A tyrant in political power oppresses his people, those he is supposed to be serving, and thousands die of starvation or other governmentally created problems – is that just? Yet these things happen all the time. Life is not fair.
There are three situations that need our examination this morning. When we suffer, we live through that pain for these three reasons:
I. We live through the pain for others. If you are a parent, you do many things you would rather not do because you know that your children need you to be there for them. They don’t cease to need you because you are going through a rough time, and you know it, so you grit your teeth and bear it, doing what is necessary for them. It is much the same way in all of life. There are so many people who are suffering the same way we ourselves have. At some point we realize that there is a therapeutic gain for ourselves to be had if we can alleviate pain in this world by helping others who suffer the same way we do and have. Do you remember the story of Adam, the little boy who was kidnapped and killed in the ‘80’s or early ‘90’s? His father suffered so intently that he had to do something, and his contribution to society was to create the term “code Adam” and so many things that we do now to find abducted children. He could easily have simply decided that this life is not worth it – it brings too much pain – and ended his life right there. But he found relief through honoring the memory of his son by helping others. So why did he keep painting when it caused so much pain? He didn’t paint for the moment; he was painting for the legacy.
II. We live through the pain for ourselves. So many of us live in the past, living in and re-experiencing pain that may have happened years before, over and over. But in doing so we are not mourning; we are not expressing the grief – what we are expressing is the rage and hurt. As long as we are angry we are not allowing the grief process to do its work, we are avoiding the reality of what has happened. We are still denying. Now anger and denial are a part of the process early on, but if we stay there we will not get to the grieving, and without grieving we will never get to the acceptance of what has happened, and without finally coming to acceptance we will never get to the comfort. It’s true that life is not fair. It’s true that things happen in life that should not have been that way. It’s true that sometimes we are hurt by the sins of other people. It’s true that whoever they were, and however great they may have been as parents and as human beings, they at some point messed up, and sometimes messed up big. And sometimes their sin broke our heart; sometimes their misplaced priorities left us out in the dark, scared and lonely and heartbroken; sometimes they did things that they intended to be in our best interests because of their love for us, and what they did backfired and worked against our best interests. Whatever the situation, they, just like everyone else, continually proved that they were nothing more than just plain old human beings, fallible and frail, weak and full of inadequacies. But the wise among us know that the past cannot be changed, that it simply is what it is, and must be accepted as such before one can move on with life. That is why Jesus said, “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” If we stifle our pain, if we are filled with accusations about the damage they did to us, we will never be able to find the comfort that Jesus promised. Mourning is not about blaming others; it is about acknowledging that there were unjust, unfair and tragic things in our personal history, and allowing the pain to be what it is. It is the way our hearts have been created to “flush out” powerful emotions by experiencing them. Sometimes they are so powerful that we feel that we are gong to be overwhelmed by them, and we deny or stay in the rage to avoid facing the hurt head on. But Jesus promises comfort on the other side. You see, once they have been fully experienced and allowed to be what they are through a period of grieving, their impact is reduced on us and we are able to move on with our lives and create something of value, something that will last. We don’t ever forget necessarily, and our lives will be different. But God will use whatever happens in our lives for our good – “All things work together for good, to them who are called according to His purposes.” So why do we keep on painting when it causes so much pain? Because we do not live for the moment; we live for the legacy.
III. We live through it for Jesus. If there was ever an example of someone who lived for the legacy, it was Jesus. It was His destiny to be a “man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” He was a High Priest who was familiar with our suffering. He has been there. As God in the flesh, he did not think it beneath His dignity to “get down on His knees” so to speak, at our level, and give everything of value that he had for us.
a. He didn’t have to do all that. He could have ended his suffering at any time, calling legions of angels down from heaven to destroy it all and set him free. But He didn’t. Why did he keep on painting when it caused so much pain? Because he didn’t live for the moment – he lived for the legacy he could leave to you and me. He lived so that you and I could have something of worth. And he didn’t lose that focus even at the most humiliating and painful way to die that had yet been devised by man. He died thinking about people like you and me who wouldn’t even live until thousands of years in his future.
b. Jesus never thought just for the moment. His concern was always for what was best for others – even on the cross he made sure that his mother was cared for in her old age. Such a tender and compassionate friend!
c. I have often wondered about how he kept his focus. He knew and was emotionally aware of reality of the fate that awaited him. He tried to warn his disciples as best he could. And even then, one of them betrayed him. What must have been going through his mind at the Last Supper, when Judas got up to carry out his dastardly deed? He knew what he was about to do. He had to be filled with fear, with pain, with dread. But what did he do? As Judas got up to initiate the events that would lead to Jesus’ death, he said, “What you do, do quickly.” Do you hear the pain, the sorrow, the dread in those words? He was saying, “Let’s not drag this out. If you’ve got to do it, go ahead and get it over with.” And he didn’t have to allow it to happen. If he would have been thinking for the moment, he could easily have called all the angels of heaven and stopped the insanity. But then there would be no salvation for the sinner. There would have been no legacy. You and I, whom he loves dearly, would never have had a chance to walk with God.
d. I have always wondered how he kept his focus, how he went through it all. But He kept on painting, even when it caused so much pain, because He didn’t live for the moment. He lived for the legacy that He left for you, and for me.
Conclusion
That legacy is the single most important thing that ever happened in all of history. The world is filled with violence and pain, because of people living for the moment; but that’s not the way God created it to be. The world is full of self-centeredness, of malice, of arrogance and pride, and innocent people are hurt every day because people are living for the moment; but that’s not how God wants it to be. I talk to people all the time who have no church family to belong to, who tried to walk with God, but someone told them they weren’t good enough. I read in the Bible where God’s Holy Spirit says that the mark of a Christian is love. Love means nurturing and encouraging each other. How can people who say they are Christian do such things? Because they have forgotten that God’s people live for the legacy. God’s people live for the legacy that Jesus left behind. The legacy that says that all people are worth it, all people are loved by God, and that we are to share God’s love with them because if we don’t, no one else will! So many people live for the moment – they want to be right, to win an argument, they want to feel like they are better than others – and in the process, many people who don’t know the God of love are pushed away. People that Jesus gave his life for. But we don’t live for the moment. We live for God.
If you have never committed your life to Jesus, then I ask you to consider doing that today. It’s the only way to get out of the pain caused by living for the moment, and into the peace that comes through living for God. No, the world won’t suddenly stop being violent; there won’t be a sudden peace accord where everyone agrees to leave everyone alone. But when you move out of the world’s reality and into God’s reality, you will have peace. Peace within yourself, because you will be motivated by a new Spirit that will come and live within your heart. A Spirit that will lead you into previously un-thought of, unknown blessings. An abundant life that passes all your fondest wishes or expectations. You’ll have peace with God, because you sins will be no more. All the times you have hurt others, all the times you know that you are at fault for harming others, even those you love; all the times you have hurt yourself through self abusing addictions, all will be forgiven. Yes, God loves you enough to do that. He loves you enough to live for the legacy. He loves you enough to die, that you might have hope to live forever with Him, beginning right now. Here’s what it takes: first you must believe that the things I am telling you are true. If you have any doubt, I would love to share with you why I believe these things. Next, you must realize that you too, just like all the rest of us, have done wrong, and ask God to forgive you. He will, that’s His promise. And you must be willing to reconcile your relationship with God by repenting, that is, turning away from the previous way of living for the moment and live for God. Then, confessing Jesus as your new Master, give him your life and be baptized, washing away your sin. Not the washing away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a clear conscience before God. If you will allow him to enter your heart, if you will give your life to him, the promise of the Holy Spirit and eternal life are yours. Will you come?
