Last year over 100,000 people died from drug overdose. 25 years ago, that number was less than 20,000. I think that figures out to about a 400% increase in drug overdose deaths in the last 25 years. It seems, despite Nancy Regan’s best efforts, the American people are increasingly saying yes to drugs at an alarming rate. The residents of Georgia are responsible for about 2% of the nation’s drug overdoses. As a state we are a little better than average, better than some worse than others.
Numbers such as these have led organizations such as the CDC, USDA, and DEA to label America’s drug problem as an epidemic. However, it is interesting to note that over 70% of overdose deaths are connected to the use and abuse of opioids. Opioids are a class of drugs designed to relieve pain. Which makes me think America doesn’t simply have a drug problem, rather America seems to have a pain problem. We the people are a people in pain.
Turn on the T.V., talk to your neighbor, look in the mirror and you will see people who are physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually in pain. When you think about the sheer number of people in pain it is sad, but it is not surprising that the abuse of pain killing drugs is as high as it is. You see we have been conditioned to believe pain is bad; that pain should be avoided at all costs, that the only way to be happy is to be without pain. So, it stands to reason that if you are experiencing pain, you should do whatever you have to do to get rid of or at least dull the pain.
I am not so arrogant or ignorant to suggest that one 15-minute sermon can solve America’s drug problem. But that is not what I am trying to do today. All I hope to do today, with the help of saint Paul, is invite you to rethink your view of pain.
In chapter 8 verses 31-39 of Paul’s letter to the Romans a series of questions are asked. Paul has just made a rather bold statement. In verse 28 Paul wrote, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” In the verses that follow, our section for today, Paul anticipates there might be a few people who question the good working of God. The first question Paul anticipates this bold statement will prompt is found in verse 31. There we read, “if God is for us, who can be against us?” The question is quickly answered in verse 32 where Paul writes, “32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” God did not spare His own Son. Jesus endured the same trials and temptations that you and I face yet in His suffering Jesus did not sin. Through the suffering of God’s own Son, God worked good for us, He provided us a perfect substitute.
The next two questions are connected. In verse 33 the question is “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?”. That question is expanded in verse 34 with the question, “Who is he that condemns?”. Those questions are both answered in verse 34 with these words, “Christ Jesus who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Jesus died. He was nailed to a tree as the sacrifice for your sins and mine. Through the sacrifice of God’s own Son, God worked good for us, the sinners’ sentence has been served.
With these first two questions and answers Paul has demonstrated how God works good for us through the suffering and sacrifice of God’s own Son. However, Paul anticipates another question will be asked. So far, the question of God’s good working has revolved around pain that Jesus experienced on our behalf. What about the pain that we experience?
In verse 35 Paul asks the question this way, “35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” Paul’s list of painful things is not meant to be absolutely comprehensive of all types of pain people experience, but I think you will find it is comprehensive enough. As I worked through this list in the original Greek I thought of some everyday examples of pain. With “trouble” I thought of the pain caused by natural disasters like floods, fire, earthquakes, and tornadoes. With “hardships” I thought of the pain caused by sickness, disease, or some sort of bodily flaw or failure. With “persecution” I thought of the pain caused when people are fed to lions in a colosseum or mocked and ridiculed in a classroom. With “famine” I thought of the pain caused by hunger and thirst. With “nakedness” I thought of the pain caused by poverty and want. With “sword” I thought about the pain that so often accompanies the physical act of death. Paul’s list, as I said, is not absolutely comprehensive, but it is comprehensive enough. Chances are you have, are, or will experience pain such as this. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were curious as to how Paul was going to answer the question, “What good is God working through my pain?”.
Embedded in the question is an assumption. The assumption is pain is always and only bad; that pain, to use Paul’s word “separates” us from God. But notice what Paul says about pain in verse 37. “in all these things (that is the list of painful things previously mentioned) in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Somehow God uses pain to make us “more than conquerors” or literally in the Greek “super victorious”. Being made super victorious doesn’t sound like a bad thing to me.
To understand how Paul could say such a thing, perhaps it would be good if we first remind ourselves what it is that separates us from God. The prophet Isaiah, I think, says it most succinctly. In Isaiah 59:2 the prophet writes, “your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” It is not pain but rather sin that separates us from our God. It was not pain that caused Adam and Eve to hide from God in the garden of Eden. It was not pain that kept King David from confessing his adultery. It was not pain that drove Judas to betrayal and Peter to denial. And it is not pain that entices you from the paths of righteousness. It is sin. It is always and only sin that separates us from God. Now that you have been reminded that it is sin that separates us from God you are ready to see how God uses pain to make us super victorious.
Pain is not always and only a bad thing. Pain serves a purpose. Pain tells us when something is not right, it alerts us to injury and infection, and warns us about things that are causing us harm. Pain is the body’s emergency alert system. Pain in your ear is your body’s way of telling you to take an antibiotic. Pain in your appendix is your body’s way of telling you to get to the hospital. Pain on your hand is your body’s way of telling you the stove is hot. The purpose of pain is to keep your body from that which would hurt, harm, or kill you. Pain serves a purpose.
Think about what it is that causes you the most amount of pain. It is not old age, or internal infection, or physical injury. The thing that causes you the most amount of pain is sin. Now, I know some of you are thinking, “not all sin is painful”. Yes, it is true that the devil is very good at masking the pain of sin, at least in the beginning. There is no denying, in the beginning, some sin feels good. But just as there might be a temporary sense of euphoria as you leap weightless from the roof of your house, eventually gravity grabs hold of you, and you crash to the ground in a great deal of pain. So it is with sin. For a time, sin might feel good, but eventually reality grabs hold of you and leaves you crumpled up in pain. Nothing causes you as much pain as sin.
So, I think you see it now, right? You see how God uses pain to make you super victorious, don’t you? Just to be clear I’ll connect the dots for you. Sin separates you from God, which I think we can all agree is the most hurtful harmful deadly thing at can happen to you. So, God attaches pain to sin to tell us that something isn’t right, alert us to injury, and warn us of harm. God uses pain, not to separate us from Himself but to separate us from sin, and in so doing ultimately bringing us closer to Him. The pain that comes from living in this sinful world reminds be that I don’t want to spend eternity here, rather I want to spend eternity with Him. The pain that comes from being surrounded by sinful people reminds me I don’t want to follow them; I want to follow Him. The pain that comes from my sinful actions reminds me that I am not strong enough to fight the good fight on my own, I need Him. God uses pain to bring me, to bring you closer to Him.
As long as we are sinners living in a sinful world pain serves a purpose. But God is not some sadist who enjoys seeing people in pain. God’s ultimate use of pain is to lead us to a place where there is no pain, or sorrow, or mourning. In heaven there will be no need for pain because in heaven there will be nothing and no one that can hurt or harm us, nothing and no one that can separate us from our God. Which is why Paul so confidently answer the question about pain separating us from our God with these words, “38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
I am not so arrogant or ignorant as to believe a 15-minute sermon is going to solve America’s drug problem. I think it is a serious problem that deserves serious thought and prayer. But honestly, I’m not trying to solve a drug problem this morning. I’m trying to solve a pain problem. I am inviting you to rethink your view of pain; to see your pain not as something that separates you from your God but rather see your pain as something that God uses to draw you closer to Him. I am inviting you to rethink your view of pain so that you can boldly see how in all things God is working good for you. Amen.