If you are rich enough, you can even enjoy your own funeral. Colorado farmer Jim Gernhart
proved this over and over. It all began in 1951 when he decided to rehearse his own funeral. He
rented the Armory in Burlington, Colorado, hired a pastor, and had a lavish display of flowers and a
good meal for 1,000 mourners. It cost him over 15,000 dollars for this mock funeral. But he so
enjoyed it that for the next 22 years he had an annual funeral until he died at age 97. He earned the
nickname, the living corpse. This is certainly covering the theme-prepare to meet thy God-to an extreme.
For most people, even the rich, this would be a pain rather than a pleasure, to go through 23
rehearsals for your own funeral. But the story does reveal the complexity of dealing with the whole
issue of pain and pleasure. God tells us in Rev. 21:4 that there will be no pain in heaven. This is
certainly among the greatest hopes that the mind of any man or woman can hold. But it is a
challenge to the mind to deal with all the implications of this one promise of God. It raises many
profound questions like: 1. If pain is done away with, does this mean pain is evil in itself? 2. If
there is no pain in heaven, does this mean all the saints will love and enjoy the same things, and the
diversity of time will be eliminated? Right now it is a pain for many to sit through a symphony,
while others consider it one of their highest pleasures. Some Christians enjoy certain types of food
which others find distasteful. Diversity covers many areas of life. Will all this be gone in heaven,
and all Christians be alike?
Pain and pleasure are subjects that every human experiences, but they do not necessarily do a lot
of thinking about them. I want to challenge you to do so, for they are Biblical subjects and subjects
that are relevant to every life. The first thing I want to consider is-
I. THE PARADOX OF PAIN.
Pain is both a burden and a blessing. We don't have to spend much time establishing the negative
side, for all of us have had pain that was pure agony, and with no value of which we are aware. If
we go back to the earliest records we have of human writing, we go back to the cuneiform writing on
clay tablets from Nippur, and we read this prayer of the daughter of the king of Babylon: "Pain has
seized my body. May God tear this pain out." The study of man is the study of how to triumph over
pain.
Pain entered this world through sin. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God they turned a paradise
of pleasure into a place of pain, for God's judgment was that Eve would have increase pain in
childbirth, and Adam would have to suffer in painful toil to produce food from the cursed land. Pain
was the beginning of the end of paradise, and all through the Bible and history we see the damage
that pain does. Find one man or woman in the Bible who did not suffer negative pain. It is so
universal that it goes even one step beyond sin. When we talk of sin there is always one
exception-the Lord Jesus. But when we talk of pain He is no longer an exception, but rather, a
prime example of the curse of pain. He suffered the very pains of hell, as well as the pain of human
rejection and cruelty.
You cannot study any life in history where pain has not played its evil role. Columbus had his
painful attacks of gout. Luther and Calvin both had such migraine headaches they could scarcely
speak. Napoleon's gastric problem made him write, "The pain cuts like a knife."
Beethoven suffered horribly from gull stone colic. Moliere had such pain while performing his own
play that he died hours later. Maupassant inhaled ether during his attacks of headache.
The list could go on endlessly, for there are no famous people who have escaped the curse of
pain. But the paradox is, pain can also be a blessing, and this too is universal. The pain of
childbirth is negative, yet none of us would be here, and none of us would have the joy of children
and grandchildren without this pain. The very blessings of life, love, and family, come to us by
means of the painful route of childbirth.
Pain is also the route by which we grow. We call them growing pains. It is the pain of stretching
the muscles that makes them better muscles. It is by the pain of exercise that we become stronger
and healthier. When I play a couple of hard sets of tennis, I usually suffer pain, but it is a sort of
pleasurable pain, for I know my body is better for the exercise. There is no progress in any respect
without pain, and so the pain is a form of pleasure, for pain is a symbol of progress. Pain is the price
paid for progress in freedom all through history. The Colombian National Anthem has this line, "In
furrows of pain, good now germinates." Every good thing we enjoy has come out of the pain of
those who have gone before. The pain of high risk and hard work. If not for the pain of the
founding fathers, and the pilgrims and pioneers, we would not have a long list of things for which to
thank God. If it was not for the pain of Christ and His church through the ages, we would have
nothing for which to give thanks.
Positive pain has played a major role in everything we call our blessings in time. Our life, our
freedom, and our salvation are all based on the pain of others. Pain has many positive purposes in
time.
1. It teaches compassion. It is your pain that helps you identify with, and have sympathy for others
in their pain. The very reason Jesus entered into the pain of human flesh is that He might understand
and feel the infirmities of the flesh, and thus, sympathize with our weakness.
2. It teaches humility. Paul was given the pain of the thorn in the flesh because he had such a lofty
experience of seeing the third heaven that he could be carried away thinking he was like a god. The
pain kept him humble and human.
3. One of the greatest purposes of pain is the power it generates in men to triumph over it. Most of
the great victories over pain have come because pain moved its victims to seek a way to help others
escape it.
Jesus suffered the pain of the cross for the ultimate goal of ridding the world of all pain. There
will be a painless paradise just because of the pain He suffered, and he suffered it because He could
not love man and let him go on enduring all the pain that sin had brought into the world. When He
walked this earth, almost all of His miracles were pain-killers. He came to destroy the works of the
devil that brought so much pain to man, and He did so by healing, forgiving, and by raising from the
dead. Ever since the mind of Christ has influenced history, and millions have given their life to fight
pain. It is the task of the church, the medical profession, and even the government to fight pain.
Every victory over pain is a foretaste of heaven.
See the wretch, that long has toss'd
On the thorny bed of pain,
At length repair his vigour lost,
And breath and walk again!
The meanest flow'ret of the vale,
The simplest note that swells the gale,
The common sun, the air, the skies,
To him are opening Paradise.
Author unknown
A major portion of all human energy and human resources are directed at relieving pain, and a
large portion of our prayers as Christians are for this very thing as well. The poet prays:
Dear Lord, for all in pain
We pray to Thee;
O come and smite again
Thy enemy.
Give to thy servants skill
To soothe and bless,
And to the tired and ill
Give quietness.
And, Lord, to those who know
Pain may not cease,
Come near, that even so
They may have peace.
Author unknown
The paradox is, it is because pain is so terrible that it moves people to such wonderful acts of
love and service to conquer it. The very evil of it is the source of so much good. Almost all of the
good things we treasure about civilization would not exist if there was o pain to conquer. The result
is, pain is a necessary evil in this life, and we must both hate it and love it, fight it and be thankful
for it. In heaven we will not have this paradox, for it will be gone and good riddance, but in this life
we can not escape the paradox of pain, and the ambivalence of loving and hating it.
The poet captures this paradox:
The cry of man's anguish went up unto God,
"Lord, take away pain!
The shadow that darkens the world Thou hast made;
The close-coiling chain
That strangles the heart; the burden that weighs
On wings that would soar-
Lord, take away pain from the world Thou hast made,
That it love Thee the more.
Then answered the Lord to the cry of His world:
"Shall I take away pain,
And with it the power of the soul to endure,
Made strong by the strain?
Shall I take away pity that knits heart to heart,
And sacrifice high?
Will ye lose all your heroes that lift from the fire
White brows to the sky?
Shall I take away love that redeems with a price,
And smiles at its loss?
Can ye spare from your lives that would climb unto mine
The Christ on His cross?"
Author unknown
Pain is so much like the opposite sex: You can't live with it and you can't live without it. It is a
pain that it is so, but it is so. The presence of pain in time is as necessary as its absence is essential
to heaven. There are some extreme views of pain. We will look at several of them.
1. There are those who say pain is good, and it is always good. It is warning system that tells us
that something is wrong so we will get it fixed. This is true, but there are many cases that the pain if
severe and hinders the healing process. It breaks the spirit and robs people of hope and in no way is
of value. If pain did not have an evil side to it, there would be no pleasure in seeing it will be
eliminated from heaven.
Nothing good will be denied the saints in heaven, and so pain is not good in itself. It is a relative
good in measure because of the nature of the present world and our fallenness. As soon as it goes
beyond a proper measure we do all we can to eliminate it. The whole medical profession exists to
fight pain. Amy Charmichael, author of many beautiful poems, went through a very painful
experience and she wrote, "Never before had I realized how much concentrated anguish a few square
inches of flesh could contain." She went on to write, "The ministry of doctors and nurses appeared
to me more than ever before as a divine thing then, and I felt that our Lord Jesus, beholding them,
must love them, and greatly desire to work together with them, laying his hand upon theirs as they
work..."
The goal is to eliminate pain. It can be used for good, but in itself it is evil and the thing to get
rid of. We do not want to deny the many values of moderate pain. Lucy, a Canadian, was born
with no sense of pain, and as the result she was in constant danger. She is mass of scars and bruises.
She has several severe burns because she could not feel her flesh burning. Very few people have this
curse of feeling no pain, but it is just that-a curse. It is good to feel pain. Lepers lose their fingers
because they do not feel pain, and they wear them off. It is our sensitivity to pain that keeps us from
many injuries to our body every day. We cannot deny the value of moderate pain, but it is blindness
to reality to think all pain falls into this category. Milton saw reality and wrote, "But pain is perfect
misery, the worst of evils, and, excessive, overturns all patience." To think otherwise would lead to
the conclusion that torture was good.
2. There are those who say pain if not real, but it is all in our heads, and we are deceived by the
forces of darkness to believe in pain. It is surprising how many people believe this and call pain an
illusion. This is a difficult position to hold when confronted with the reality of pain.
There once was a faith healer of Deal
Who said although pain isn't real,
When I sit on a pin
And it punctures my skin
I dislike what I fancy I feel.
For the majority of people this is an unrealistic view of pain.
3. Hindus and Christian Science say that pain is an illusion. They spend their mental energy in
denial of the reality of pain, and it is about as futile as the unrealistic efforts of the man in the old
joke. Three men were arrested in Russia, and before they knew it they were in front of a firing
squad. A blindfold was given to the first two and they eagerly put them on. But the third man
refused his. His comrade at his side whispered, "Take the blindfold Manny, don't make trouble."
When you are being shot it is to late to avoid trouble, and when you are hurting it is to late to
pretend pain is an illusion.
Whether you ever sing it or say it, everybody at some point feels it: Rain rain go away come
again another day. Rain is good and essential, but when it rains on our parade we feel cheated and
offended. It is a good thing at the wrong time. Rain so seldom seems convenient, and so rain is
often a pain, but a necessary one, and life if full of just such paradoxical pains.
Learning is good but often painful. Even Jesus learned obedience by the things he suffered. It
was a painful experience to be tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. It was painful to
be despised and rejected of men. It was painful to do good, and be judged evil. It was painful to
give and get no return of thanks. It was painful to be misunderstood, and to be forsaken by those
who cared for you. The life of Jesus was pain filled, but it was for the joy that was set before Him
that He endured it all-even the pain of the cross. It was worth it all because He knew the end result
was a painless eternity where not a pinprick of pain would ever rob His bride of one second of
joyous bliss.
All the heroes of the Bible are heroes because they overcame pain and pressed on to joy. Joseph
got to the throne where he saved people by the thousands, but the road was rough through the pit, the
prison, and the persecution. This is the road that many must travel. Mary Verghese, a young
medical doctor of India, was severely crippled in a car accident. She suffered through one operation
after another with almost unbearable pain. At first she gritted her teeth and endured the pain.
Gradually, however, she came to the conclusion that she could do better than that. With God's help
she could use the pain to make her a better doctor. From her wheelchair Mary operated on hands
crippled by leprosy.
Now she had a deeper understanding of her patience. She had not only learned to endure pain,
she had also learned to use it for the benefit of fellow sufferers and the glory of God. "I did not
understand depressed people when I was busy, happy and enjoying life. Not until I walked through
a dark valley of depression myself was I able to understand people and lend them a sympathetic ear
and hand." Out of her pain came the pleasure of serving and being caring. Pain and pleasure are not
always foes, but are friends. That is why we risk the potential of pain, for it is often necessary for
pleasure.
Charles Allen tells of his love for roller skating. When his children grew up he bought them
skates so they could enjoy what he did. They fell and got hurt and cried, but he did not feel guilty
for causing his children this pain, for it was worth it for the family pleasure they would enjoy
together. Every pleasure carries with it the risk of pain. The joy of victory is in every sport, but so
is the agony of defeat. The class yell in the school of experience is Ouch! It is painful and costly
even to have fun in this world. Art is painful too. Michaelangelo had to suffer many years of pain
and misery that millions might get pleasure from his sculptures and paintings.
If you enjoy a good book, it is because an author went through the enormous pain of creativity,
and the practical pains of work and negotiation. Pleasures are not pain free in this life: They are
often purchased by pain. Pain was the price paid for our perpetual pleasure. The cross was the
paradoxical pursuit of pleasure by means of pain, and by it Jesus purchased for us a painless
forever. Next we see
II. THE PASSING OF PAIN.
Whatever the values of pain in this life, they are no longer needed in the life to come, for life will
be at its best and without pain. That means no aspirin, no pain killers will be in the New Jerusalem.
There will be no pharmacy at all, for medicine will be obsolete where there is no sickness or pain.
The new resurrected body does not need any warning system, for nothing can ever go wrong. It will
be pleasure without pain just as God promised, pleasure at his right hand forevermore.
If pain were allowed in heaven, it would make it hell, for the higher a being climbs in sensitivity
the greater the pain. Animals suffer more than plants, and people more than animals, and people
who rise in their sensitivity suffer more than those who are dull. The ear that is trained to listen to
good music is offended by discord more than the uncultivated ear. The eye trained to see beauty is
irritated more by an ugly scene than those who are partially blind to its ugliness. As life advances in
quality it is more easily wounded by lack of quality. This means that in our perfected state it would
be torture to have to endure what we do in this fallen world with all of its imperfections. God has
promised us an environment to fit our new and perfected nature. There will be nothing in heaven to
cause physical, mental, or spiritual pain.
Howard Thurman tells of visiting with a friend when they heard the baby cry. It became quite
intense and so they went to see. The child had thrown off the covers and had his big toe in his mouth
and was chewing on it. The pain he was inflicting on his own body made him cry. He did not know
he was causing his own pain, and often this is the case all through life. We suffer because of foolish
things we do to ourselves, and we don't even know it. This will never happen in heaven, for with
pain, all that causes pain will also have to go. All the negative realties that make this a fallen world
will be gone.
Robert Ingersall, the famous skeptic, once said, "If I were God, I would make health contagious
and not disease. I would see to it that laughter was infectious and not sadness." God has revealed
that to be precisely what He intends to do in the new heaven and earth. The only reason it is not true
on this earth is because of man and his foolish choice to disobey God. All pain has been brought on
himself. But in the new heaven and earth the possibility of sin and disobedience is gone. There will
never be a time when God has to discipline one of his children and cause pain. There is a lot of this
in time, but never again in eternity. The whole purpose of the good pain of time, like the cross, was
to secure a life where no pain is necessary to achieve God's purpose and experience His best.
There will be many in heaven who suffered tribulation on earth, and many who were martyred,
and many who just had a poorly put together body that suffered a lot. Catherine Booth, the mother
of The Salvation Army, was in pain most of her life. She had tuberculosis and curvature of the
spine. She said she could not recollect one single day when she was free from pain. Yet she used
that pain-filled body to touch our world for Christ. She will enjoy the fruit of her painful sacrifice
for all eternity. The point is, it is worth suffering to do the will of God, for as Paul says in Rom.
8:18, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be
revealed in us." Paul's hope of a painless eternity helped him cope with the pain of time.
The health and wealth gospel is just too much too soon. Those who preach that God wants us all
in perfect health and blest with abundance are right, but they are ahead of their time. We have to
live in a fallen world until we get to heaven, and in a fallen world nobody escapes the present
sufferings. No matter how healthy or wealthy you are, you are not yet in heaven, and you will have
pain of one kind or another.
A military plane crashed at an Airforce base in Greenland killing 22 people. It was a grizzly
sight with body strewn over the runway and field. Each body had to be identified, and it was a long
gruesome task. It was after midnight before they were done. The base chaplain said that even at this
late hour someone was knocking at his door. It was a young Lieutenant who had helped him with
the task. He said nothing, but just stood there and began to weep. The chaplain could not control
himself, and he broke into tears as well. They stood with their arms around each others weeping.
Edward Beckstrom, the chaplain, writes this of what then happened.
After some moments, the lieutenant finally spoke through his tears.
"I realized," he said, "As we were picking up pieces of bodies today,
that the only other people out there with us were the people who go to
church here. I've always been an unbeliever, and I use to ridicule these same people who were out
there with us. Yet they are the only ones who would, or perhaps could, do what we had to do today.
It must have been a great act of faith that could help them see beyond the gore-to a hope."
That tragic day turned around the life that young lieutenant. As
he readily admitted, he had never been religious, had seldom gone
to church except for weddings or funerals, but from that time on he
was a new man. He took an active part in the Christian ministry of
that base. He began attending church regularly, singing in the choir,
and becoming totally involved.
The point is, those who have hope of a painless paradise can better cope with this world of pain,
and offer to a lost world the Gospel of hope in Jesus Christ. Escape from pain and enjoyment of
pleasure is what drives all people, and we have the ultimate drive in Jesus. Let this hope affect how
you cope with pain, and let it motivate you to want others to be in on this greatest news in history-a
pain free paradise.
