2/26/12 “Studies in Pain 3: Labor Pains” Romans 8:18-26
I. Introduction
A. For me, it is so helpful just to understand pain. If it’s in context, I can usually handle it.
1. That was Job’s problem, of course. God never told him why.
2. Through the story of Job and a hundred others, we know many of God’s purposes for pain.
a. To teach us to trust (2Cor.1:8-9)
b. To purify us
c. To drive us to Him
d. To demonstrate that He is God
e. To move us to give up on finding our hope in this world, and to long for heaven instead.
II. Pregnancy and birth pangs (labor pains)
A. From the first book of the Bible to the last.
1. Genesis and the birth of pain.
2. Gen.3:16 To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children."
a. The addition of pain
B. In the Bible, birth pangs are the very model of pain, the very symbol of pain. When the Bible is searching for a way to describe just how acute and gripping a person’s pain is, this is where it turns.
1. “Trembling took hold of them there, anguish as of a woman in labor.” (Psalm 48:6) 2. “They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame.” (Isaiah 13:8)
3. “You who live in 'Lebanon,' who are nestled in cedar buildings, how you will groan when pangs come upon you, pain like that of a woman in labor!” (Jer.22:23)
a. Cf. Jeremiah 30:6 “Ask now, and see, can a man bear a child? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor? Why has every face turned pale?”
C. One of the remarkable things about this is that none of the Bible’s authors is a woman, and yet still the pain of childbirth becomes the very epitome of pain, not something that males can experience.
1. Honestly, so much of the Bible is male-oriented. But not here.
a. It made that much of an impression!
2. It also shows that the Spirit is sensitive to this kind of pain.
D. What we learn about the effect of pain
1. Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am bowed down so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see. (Isaiah 21:3)
a. Can’t see or hear: absorbed with one’s own pain
2. We have heard the report of it; our hands fall helpless; anguish has taken hold of us, pain as of a woman in labor. (Jeremiah 6:24) Cf. Jer.50:43.
a. Loss of strength b. Sense of panic
3. For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor, anguish as of one giving birth to her first child, the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands, “Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.” (Jeremiah 4:31)
a. Feeling like you’re dying
b. Crying out: modesty, politeness, not wanting to impose on others: all these are suddenly irrelevant
E. Now at this point I could easily turn this into a Mothers’ Day sermon. To honor and admire mom’s for what they’ve gone through for us all is certainly fitting, and even commanded. But that’s not my agenda this morning. A woman’s pain in childbirth is a God-given aid to help us to endure the pain of this world in hope and joy.
F. The power and beauty of the analogy of labor pains (Labor pains are not just the very model of pain, but the model of the reason for pain, the purpose of pain, and the joy of pain
1. John 16:20-22 “I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. 21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.”
G. Romans 8:18-26 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. 26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
1. Rom.8:22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
a. This age is spoken of as the age of labor.
b. This means that for the believer, pain is temporary!
(1) “Weeping may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” (Ps.30:5) If you know things are going to be better in the morning, it makes the night much more endurable!
2. The age to come is described as the age of birth and new life.
a. Rom.8:19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.
3. Our pain is described as labor pains, and that these labor pains are leading up to a great birth moment, a great birth event.
4. The key is realizing that the pain is not empty, it is producing a harvest of joy and treasure.
a. Not just preceding the blessing, not just leading to the blessing, but in some way effecting the blessing
5. The story of Job tells us that even in the case of a righteous, God-loving man, vain pain pulls us down into misery and hopelessness.
6. A friend who had to go through labor and delivery knowing her baby was dead.
III. Application
A. “Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! 6 He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.” (Ps.126:5-6)
1. When you’re in tears, you need to remember that you’re sowing, and keep sowing.
2. What does it mean to keep sowing even while weeping?
a. Keep working, keep living?
b. I think it means to keep acting in such a way as you expect to reap in the future.
c. It’s not enough to keep on keeping on. What God asks is that we go through the pains and efforts of labor with the birth of the baby in mind, not just because there’s no other option.
d. Faith that the seeds you’re sowing while you weep are going to yield a harvest of joy.
e. What He asks of us is what Jesus did in Heb. 12:2 “For the joy set before Him He endured the cross.”
B. He is with us.
1. Many women complain about their husbands lack of sympathy while they’re in labor.
a. “I can’t do it!” “What are your options?” I think that if I’d ever endured what she was enduring I would have said something like: “Yes, you can! I’m right here to help you, and we’re going to make it through!”
b. But this is not the way it is with Jesus! He’s been here in our place of pain. He’s felt it to its full extent!
2. “He had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2:17-18)
3. “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen, nobody knows but Jesus. Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen! Glory hallelujah!”
a. This is not a song of complaint or self-pity, it’s a song of praise to Jesus for how He knows and He is with us in our pain!
4. “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need...He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.” (Heb.4:15-5:2)