Volume 2 Issue 11

THE VALUE OF PAIN

“W

hen ten thousand choice men from all Israel came against Gibeah, the battle became fierce; but Benjamin did not know that disaster was CLOSE to them. And the Lord struck Benjamin before Israel, so that the sons of Israel destroyed 25,100 men of Benjamin that day, all who draw the sword.” (Judges 20:34-3) This verse takes place in the context of a battle between the tribe of Benjamin and the remaining eleven tribes of Israel. The men of Benjamin had committed a great sin.

Near evening a Levite had come into the town of Gibeah along with his concubine. An old man came into the town from working in the field. He saw the Levite and his concubine and invited them to stay at his house. After arriving at the old man’s house some the men of Gibeah pounded upon the old man’s door demanding that he turn over the Levite so that they might have sexual relations with him. This was a gang of homosexuals bent on appeasing their lust with this stranger. The old man refused their demand. Instead the Levite brought his concubine to them. They raped and abused her all night. In the morning she was found dead at the old man’s door. The Levite took her body home with him then cut her into twelve pieces and sent them throughout the territory of Israel. This act of violence incensed the other eleven tribes of Israel against the tribe of Benjamin and the town of Gibeah. At the command of the Lord the Israelites went to war against Benjamin. Benjamin lost the vast majority of her fighting men, and the cost to the other eleven tribes was forty thousand – one tenth of her army. Fighting evil often comes with a heavy price.

The people of Gibeah had become corrupted. Gangs of homosexuals roamed the streets looking for those that they may use to satisfy their lusts. The old man mentioned above knew this and strongly encouraged the Levite to come home with him rather than spending the night in the open square. He knew the danger he faced if he remained outside.

The corruption, however, did not stop with the city of Gibeah. When the eleven tribes of Israel gathered together to confront the tribe of Benjamin, demanding the men responsible for the murder of the Levite’s concubine be turned over to them so that this evil may be purged from the land, Benjamin refused. “But the sons of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel. And the sons of Benjamin gathered from the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the sons of Israel.” (Judges 20:13-14) What had probably started out as a tolerance for homosexuality in the name of human rights in the city of Gibeah had lead to the overt practice of this sin and thewillingness of brother to kill brother in order to continue its practice. The people of Benjamin revealed no remorse for the murder of the concubine, nor is it recorded that they censured the gang of homosexuals for trying to take the Levite by force.

You may ask what all this has to due with the value of pain. When the men of Benjamin were about to be defeated by the Israelites the opening verse says, “but Benjamin did not know that disaster was CLOSE to them.” The word “disaster” is the Hebrew “ra” – the word for EVIL, and the word “close” is “naga” which means TO TOUCH. This is, of course, speaking of the PHYISCAL destruction that was about to befall them. However, just as physical death followed spiritual death in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve had eaten of the Forbidden Fruit, the physical death of the Benjamites followed the obvious spiritual death that allowed the practice of homosexuality to go unchecked. Any time sin goes unchallenged, whether on a personal level or on a national level it is the result of a spiritual deadening. The sense of TOUCH has been lost; thus, allowing evil to invade unimpeded. No longer does pain register upon the conscience.

Writing to Timothy, Paul said, “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars SEARED in their own conscience as with a branding iron.” (1 Timothy 4:1-2) The word “seared” in the Greek is “kauteriazo” and means TO RENDER UNSENSITIVE; that is, the sense of touch has been lost; where pain should warn of danger, no such signal is given. Also, it is significant that we get our English word “cauterize” from this same Greek word. Cauterization is used to staunch the flow of BLOOD. Thus, from a spiritual point of view when a conscience has been seared, the blood of Jesus that He shed for us on Calvary is not allowed to flow within the person. This in turn arrests the cleansing power of the blood, causing the conscience to become polluted, which ultimately brings about the total corruption of the person. At first the effects of a seared conscience may not be very noticeable. What once caused a pain within the conscience now senses nothing inappropriate; no alarm is sounded when spiritual danger is touching us within. Perhaps a person quits reading the Bible regularly, laughs at off-colored jokes that he knows is offensive to God, watches TV or movies that glorify violence, immorality, or even blasphemy, or simply quits praying. Whatever the initial effects of a seared conscience the end is the same: total apostasy unless somehow the conscience is cleansed of this affliction.

There is a disease described in the Bible that is so terrifying that those who had it were social outcasts. They were forced to cry out, “Unclean, unclean!” when someone not afflicted with it came near. Leprosy is this disease and it is first noticed on the skin. It progresses until the extremities of the body, such as the toes, fingers, ears, rot and fall off. Eventually the leper dies. It is a horrible disease that can bring about a horrible death. Because of this lepers were ostracized by everyone and forced to live outside the camp or city. To be a leper was to be considered a walking dead man. There was no cure and none is mentioned in the Bible, only a detailed account of what was required by the leper to be restored to the community if he found himself to be free of the disease, something that would be considered a miracle. Almost without exception the person afflicted with leprosy was spoken of as being CLEANSED, NOT HEALED if he was found to be cured. That is why leprosy is often used to symbolize sin. Before conversion “you were DEAD in your trespasses and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1) We were spiritual lepers.

After conversion a change begins to take place within the individual. Things that once were regarded as legitimate forms of entertainment, profane and obscene language that was causally spoken, and the acceptance of perverted lifestyles, now begin to prick the conscience, causing the newborn Christian to question between right and wrong. What happened? The blood of Jesus has cleansed the spiritual leprosy that was once destroying him

To better understand this it is necessary to have a better understanding of the disease, leprosy, itself. Leprosy destroys the nerves that transmit pain signals to the brain. At first thought that may not sound like a bad thing. What could be wrong with a disease that allows you to get hurt, but feel no pain? Pain is thought of as a nuisance, something to avoid if possible or relieve as quickly as possible if avoidance fails. How wonderful it would be, we reason, if when we burn a hand pain somehow would be absent, allowing us to continue using the hand or if we sprain an ankle we could continue walking unimpeded by the damage done. Would it be wonderful?

If you were told you had to lose one of you five senses – sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch – which would you choose? A few might choose sight because of all the evil and violence in the world, but most people would not choose it. They would never again get to see the faces of those they love or the wonders of God’s creation. The thought of being blind is extremely frightening for most people. Having the other four senses intact would not compensate for the loss of sight. Some may choose hearing – no more noise pollution. They may count it a small loss until they hear the sound of their child say, “I love you, Mommy” or realize music would be lost to them or the simple everyday occurrence of speaking on the phone without special equipment. Loss of hearing comes with a great price. Others may choose smell. It seems of limited value by those who take it for granted. Yet never again would have the smell of a rose bring you joy or the smell of new mown grass take you back to a pleasant time in your life; nor, would you be able to smell smoke in case a fire broke out in your home. Smell may seem unimportant, but those who have a cold complain not only about the misery they are suffering, but their inability to smell, which directly affects their ability to taste food. The sense of smell is closely related to the sense of taste, but would the loss of taste be so bad? After all if taste were removed we could eat all the foods that are good for us regardless of how they taste. Of course, we would also loose out on tasting that first cup of coffee in the morning, or that favorite flavor of ice cream, or perhaps most disconcerting of all, no more savoring that most wonderful of creations – chocolate. When people think about it, taste is not the sense they would give up. What is left is touch. If we do not give up sight, hearing, smell, or taste, touch has to go. But of all the senses touch is the most crucial. In fact, we can live without any of our five senses; EXCEPT touch and it is touch that leprosy robs the victim of.

Let us go back to the examples listed above. If we were to burn our hand by accidentally placing it on a hot stove and feel no pain what would be the result? The hand would remain on the stove, the flesh being destroyed. Depending on the degree of the burn the hand may completely heal, heal with scars, be grossly deformed, or it may need to be amputated. With no pain to alert us to danger our body becomes vulnerable to every danger that surrounds us. We may cut our foot, but with no pain we may not dress the wound appropriately, thus allowing infection to set in which could cause the loss of the foot. We may go blind as we forget to blink to wet dry eyes; ears could get frostbit causing them to turn black and fall off; the same would hold true for the nose. Eventually more and more of the body would succumb to the deadly effects of living a pain-free life. Leprosy would have claimed another life all because pain was absent.

The value of pain cannot be overstated. Pain actually allows us to identify with the members of our body; it allows us to identify what is of us and what is not. If you stub your toe a sharp pain travels along nerves from the toe to the head and instantaneously you recognize that particular toe as belonging to you, as being a part of your body. The leper on the other hand has no such association with his toe. He stubs his toe and he goes on as if nothing happened. The toe may be broken and bleeding, but because pain is absent, the care and attention it needs is not given. The body is broken, but because the nerves that transmit pain from the body to the head are damaged the head cannot fulfill its proper role of protecting the body.

The Body of Christ works the same way. Christ is the Head and we are the Body. “For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,’ it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,’ it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.” (1 Corinthians 12:12-16) There are times when we may feel that we do not belong to the Body of Christ. We may be suffering the pain of a broken heart or betrayal by the ones who say they love us. We cry out to the Lord and ask for relief, but none comes. We may begin to question our relationship with Jesus, our Head. We may feel abandoned by Him and others. What we need to realize is that the fault does not lie with Jesus, but with us OR those around us.

If we continue in unrepentant sin it is likely to result in spiritual leprosy. Our consciences will become seared and the cleansing, redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus Christ will be stanched. Instead of receiving the life giving “oxygen” of the Spirit of God that comes from a personal relationship with Jesus we suffocate under from the poison of our sin. This can cause great distress in the Body and there are times when drastic action must be taken in order to preserve the rest of the Body.

When a member of a leper’s body becomes so infected that it threatens the health of the other members, amputation is done. Spiritually, the same thing is sometimes necessary. Paul performed such an operation in the Corinthian church. “It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father's wife. I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.” (1 Corinthians 5:1,5,13) This man was committing incest while remaining a part of the Body of Christ through the Corinthian Church. He was obviously unwilling to acknowledge that what he was doing was sinful – his conscience had been seared. But the consequences of his sin were beginning to reach beyond him. The other members of the Corinthian Church were evidently willing to accept this behavior even though it was a gross perversion. Thus, to keep the infection from spreading Paul had them excommunicate him from their local Body. This man was no longer responding to the leading of the Head, Jesus, and he was causing others to quit responding also.

The other members of the Corinthian Body may not have been guilty of incest as this single individual was, but there ACCEPTANCE of the sin made them just as guilty in God’s eyes. Jesus once told His followers “He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.” (Matthew 10:41) These members of the Body of Christ through their sharing of themselves with others were to receive a reward greater than the one they would have received had they looked the other way in a time of need. The Corinthians who tolerated the sin of incest in the man were in danger of receiving a greater punishment than their own personal sins would have required. Instead of recognizing the danger the incestuous man was in and feeling his pain and becoming intercessors they were succumbing to his infection. They had forsaken their spiritual responsibility to feel the “pain” the man was incapable of feeling. “Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted. BEAR one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:1-2) We have an obligation to restore the hurting one by intercession when they can no longer feel the sting of sin. It does not mean we look the other way and whitewash the sin. Indeed, Paul turned the incestuous man over to SATAN for the destruction of the flesh (the old man) in order that he might be saved. This was no doubt painful to the man and to those who loved him, but it was necessary. Doctor’s sometimes perform painful procedures when treating us and children blame the doctor, but adults understand that pain is a part of the healing process. The processes that the Lord uses to restore us can also be very painful, but we should be THANKFUL that He loves us enough to continue until we are fully healed of whatever spiritual infection has set in.

We will be judged not only by how we respond to sin in our own lives, but how we respond to the sin, the pain, in the lives of those the Lord has placed in our path. Jesus suffered and died, not because there was sin in His life, but because of the sin in OUR lives. He was nailed to the Cross, not because He was guilty, but because WE were guilty. Yet we were beyond feeling. Spiritually speaking the sense of touch had been destroyed. Why? “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1) The flesh of dead people does not feel pain. The souls and spirits of the lost also do not feel pain. That is why the unsaved can participate in activities that are totally reprehensible and feel no shame, no guilt “This is the way of an adulterous woman: she eats and wipes her mouth, and says, ‘I have done no wrong.’” (Proverbs 30:20) This verse is speaking of much more than a woman who engages (eats) in adultery. This is referring to the SOUL (feminine) that commits sin and will defy the Lord by saying, “I have done no wrong”. It is this deadness of soul and spirit that the death and resurrection of Jesus overcame. Being born again brings with it the GIFT of spiritual pain, of being sensitive to what pleases and displeases our Lord.

The Prodigal Son had lost his sense of touch and brazenly demanded from his father his inheritance that he might enjoy life. Yet when his inheritance had been squandered on evil the Lord found a spot that was still sensitive to pain – famine. “He came to his SENSES.” (Luke 15:17) He returned to his father in humility ready to serve him. Instead the father made him part of the family again. Without the ability to feel pain he would have remained apart from his father. May we be thankful for the gift of pain.

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