Don't Waste Your Pain

Introduction

Opening Illustration:

Bob Gross the rising NBA Star…it was an important game and they really needed him to play if they had any hopes of making the playoffs. The problem was that he had a badly injured ankle that was giving him a lot of pain. No problem, the doctor injected him with with a strong pain killer in three places in his foot. He felt no pain. Not long into the game he went up for a rebound and many in the arena heard a loud snap. But because he couldn’t feel anything he tried to run down court as if nothing happened. He crumpled and fell, and that was not only it for him in the game, but it for him in his career. The inability to feel pain ruined him.

Point: IT’S COUNTER-INTUITIVE BUT PAIN, OUR DEEPEST HURTS, IS OFTEN TIME GOD’S GREATEST GIFT. PAIN IS FAR MORE HELPFUL THAN HARMFUL. DR. BRAND WHO WORKED WITH LEPERS IN INDIA SAID, “Pain is often seen as the great inhibitor, keeping us from happiness. But I see it as a giver of freedom”.

GREATEST GIFT. PAIN IS FAR MORE HELPFUL THAN HARMFUL. DR. BRAND WHO WORKED WITH LEPERS IN INDIA SAID, “Pain is often seen as the great inhibitor, keeping us from happiness. But I see it as a giver of freedom”.

C.S. Lewis once wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains…[Pain] is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world”- C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain.

(RUTH CERTAINLY FOUND THAT OUT IN OUR STORY)

WHY SHOULD I LISTEN:

THE UNIVERSALITY OF PAIN:

OUR STORY IS ALL ABOUT PAIN:

FAMINE

SICK, SUFFERING CHILD- MAHLON. NAME MEANS WEAKNESS OR SICKLY. NAMES WERE MEANINGFUL THEN.

LOSES HER HUSBAND, KIDS

LOSES A DAUGHTER IN LAW

SHE’S LOST MONEY AND STATUS. SHE’S A WIDOW NOW.

VERSE 21 SHE SUMS UP WHEN SHE SAYS I WENT AWAY FULL BUT CAME BACK EMPTY.

IRONY TO HER LOSS- SHE’S AN EPHRATHITE. ARISTOCRATIC CLAN. A STATEMENT OF STATUS AND PRESTIGE. LIKE SAYING SHE’S A VANDERBILT, A KENNEDY, A ZUCKERBURG. SHE’S FROM PALO ALTO, OR PORTiLLO VALLEY. HER STATUS SHOWS US THAT PAIN DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE…IT’S UNIVERSAL. FROM THE PROJECTS TO THE GATED COMMUNITY.

APPLICATION- ALL OF US IN THIS ROOM HAVE EXPERIENCED PAIN. IT’S COME TO OUR ADDRESS. PAIN OF A BROKEN HOME. PAIN OF A FAILED MARRIAGE. PAIN OF BETRAYAL, LOSS JOB. PAIN OF KIDS WHO HAVEN’T DONE WELL. ALL OF US WALK WITH A LIMP.

BUT THE QUESTION WE MUST ASK WHEN PAIN COMES OUR WAY IS WHAT IS GOD SHOUTING TO US IN OUR PAIN? IT’S ONLY HERE THAT WE ARE ABLE TO STEWARD WELL THE GIFT OF PAIN. OUR TEXT SHOWS US THREE THINGS ABOUT PAIN WE MUST SEE IF WE ARE GOING TO EXPLOIT IT FOR THE GIFT IT IS, TO MAKE US BETTER, AND NOT BITTER.

PAIN IS PURPOSEFUL

EXPLANATION: 1:1. THE PAIN OF A FAMINE, AND LOSING EVERYTHING CAUSES HER TO GET UP AND MOVE TO ANOTHER PLACE. AND THEN WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. MORE PAIN, SEEMINGLY UNBEARABLE PAIN COMES INTO HER LIFE AS SHE LOSES HER HUSBAND AND KIDS AND JUST ABOUT ALL THAT SHE HAS. THIS SECOND WAVE OF PAIN WILL ULTIMATELY DRIVE HER BACK TO BETHLEHEM, AND WORK HER UP TO BE RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF AN AMAZING MOVE OF GOD.

POINT: SO WHAT WE HAVE THE PRIVILEGE IS SEEING ALL FOUR CHAPTERS OF HER LIFE. AND WE WANT TO SAY TO HER, CALM DOWN. WHAT’S HAPPENING TO YOU IS NOT RANDOM. THERE’S A PURPOSE TO IT. IT GETS BETTER. RIDE IT OUT. BUT THAT’S NOT HOW SHE SEES IT. WELL HOW DOES NAOMI SEE IT? LOOK AT …SEE IT, SHE’S UPSET WITH GOD, AND EVEN BITTER WITH HIM. WHEN WE LOSE PERSPECTIVE WE TEND TO DRIFT INTO THIS. WE BLAME GOD. BUT WE NEED TO SEE THERE’S A PURPOSE HERE.

BIBLICAL EXAMPLES- JOB. Writing to the Corinthians about their pain, Paul said, “But it hurt you only for a little while. Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain turned you to God. It was a good kind of sorrow you felt, the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have”- , Living Bible. THERE’S A PURPOSE TO PAIN. AND THIS IS WHERE PAIN BECOMES A GIFT.

Mary Verghese Illustration: Promising young doctor who got in a car with a guy one day, went to pass, and hit oncoming car head on. Left her paralyzed in her legs for a long time. Face deeply scarred. With some encouragement from a prominent doctor she decided to continue her career as a prominent doctor at a leprosarium. It is said that when she wheeled into examine these lepers all their sense of despair and self pity went away. jHer face like theirs bore scars. She was known as the wheelchair doctor who brought hope to the lowest of the low, because she could empathize. Out of her pain came her purpose.

Application- it has been said if you want to find your purpose in life take inventory of your pain. Me with multiethnic ministry. I know many social workers like this. Don’t waste your pain, your pain has a purpose.

PAIN IS TRANSFORMATIVE-

EXPLANATION:

NAOMI RETURNS TO BETHLEHEM AFTER ENDURING SO MUCH PAIN, AND THE WHOLE TOWN IS STIRRED. I THINK IT’S BECAUSE THEY ARE BOTH SHOCKED SHE’S BACK, AND THEY ARE LOOKING AT HER FACE AND SEE A CHANGE. THE TEXT SPEAKS TO THIS. HER NAME NAOMI MEANS PLEASANT, BUT SHE SAYS CALL ME MARA WHICH MEANS BITTER. NAMES WERE IMPORTANT…SHE’S GONE FROM PLEASANT TO BITTER. THAT’S WHAT PAIN DOES, IT CHANGES US. IT WILL MAKE US EITHER BETTER OR BITTER. PAIN CAN BE AN ASSET OR A LIABILITY, IT’S ALL IN HOW WE STEWARD IT. PAIN CHANGES US.

BIBLICAL EXAMPLE OF JACOB WRESTLING WITH GOD AND HIS HIP BEING TOUCHED…IT CHANGED HIM. JOSEPH GOES FROM BEING AN ARROGANT PUNK WHO BELITTLES HIS BROTHER TO BEING A COMPASSIONATE BROTHER WHO IN SAYS…WHAT CHANGED HIM? YEARS OF PAIN AS HE’S BETRAYED...

ILLUSTRATION: MAN WITH BIRD IN HAND. SAME WHEN PAIN IS IN OUR HAND- IT’S ALL ABOUT HOW WE STEWARD IT.

APPLICATION: HOW DO YOU STEWARD THE PAIN OF FATHERLESSNESS? WILL YOU RESOLVE TO BE A BETTER MAN? HOW WILL YOU STEWARD THE PAIN OF…BETTER OR BITTER?

PAIN IS TEMPORARY-

EXPLANATION: SO THEY COME HOME AND THE TEXT SAYS IT’S THE BEGINNING OF BARLEY HARVEST. AROUND APRIL OR MAY. THIS WAS A UNIQUE SEASON MARKED BY INTENSE JOY AND REJOICING. IN CONTRAST TO NAOMI’S SEASON OF WEEPING AND LOSS. THE WRITER IS TELLING US HER SEASON OF PAIN IS ABOUT TO BE OVER, AND SHE’S GOING TO MOVE INTO A NEW SEASON OF HOPE AND SUNSHINE AND JOY! PAIN IS TEMPORARY.

JOB FOUND THAT OUT- WEEPING MAY ENDURE FOR A NIGHT.

ILLUSTRATION: KORIE, MY LITTLE WIFE HAS GIVEN BIRTH TO THREE BIG HEAD BOYS, ALL NATURAL. LET ME REPEAT THAT LAST PHRASE, ALL NATURAL. I WAS THERE TO SEE HER IN WRITING AGONY, FEELING THE FULLNESS OF EVERY CONTRACTION AND PUSH. AND YET SHE WANTED TO DO IT AGAIN? WHY? TWO REASONS- SHE UNDERSTOOD PAIN WAS JUST A SEASON, AND FOR WHAT WAS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF PAIN- THE JOY OF HOLDING THAT LITTLE LIFE. HER PAIN GAVE BIRTH TO JOY!

THIS WAS JESUS…HE ENDURED THE UTTER AGONY OF THE CROSS, THE WRITER OF HEBREWS SAYS, FOR THE JOY THAT WAS SET BEFORE HIM! WHAT WAS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CROSS...

CONTINUE BY TALKING ABOUT A FOCUS POINT?

EITHER WAY DEAL WITH THE APPLICATION…YOUR SEASON OF PAIN IS JUST A SEASON. YOU’LL GET TO THE OTHER SIDE!

ALTAR CALL/GOSPEL PRESENTATION. RUTH’S CONVERSION. HERE’S THIS FOREIGN WOMAN/IMMIGRANT, TAKING A LEAP OF FAITH, PUTTING HER LIFE ON THE LINE…YOUR GOD SHALL BE MY GOD. THAT’S CONVERSION. SOMEONE NEEDS TO TAKE A LEAP OF FAITH TODAY...