The Inevitability of Suffering

Order of Service

• Scripture Reading — Genesis 3:16-19
• Sermon
• Pastoral Prayer

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Sermon Title: The Inevitability of Suffering

Scripture: Genesis 3:16-19

I. Suffering Is Inevitable: The Testimony of Genesis 3

A. Context: God's words to Adam and Eve after the Fall are addressed to all of representative humanity

B. God lays out a life of pain for both man and woman

1. The man's labor will be filled with toil — thorns and thistles instead of fruitful harvest
2. The woman's child-rearing will be filled with pain and grief

C. The Hebrew word for "pain" in Genesis 3:16 carries the sense of grief, vexation, and despair — not merely physical pain, but the emotional anguish of watching children grow up in sin and rebellion

1. Eve's experience in Genesis 4 illustrates this: her joy at Cain's birth is quickly turned to grief as he murders Abel
2. The word "multiply" in Genesis 3:16 echoes the same word in Genesis 1:28 — what was to be fruitful multiplication is now multiplied pain

II. The Root of Suffering Is Death

A. In Genesis 2:17, God warns not of suffering but of death — the Hebrew is emphatic: "dying you shall die"

B. Suffering is the fruit of death entering the world; death is the source of suffering

C. The capstone of Genesis 3:19 — "you are dust and to dust you shall return" — summarizes the whole passage

1. Adam was created to rule over the ground; now the ground rules over him, both in painful labor and in swallowing him up at death

III. The Hebrew vs. the Modern Worldview of Death

A. The modern view: death is distant, at the end of the road; life is to be filled and enjoyed now (the "bucket list" mentality)

B. The Hebrew view: death is not at the end of life but present throughout it — every day in a fallen world is lived in the shadow of death

1. The agrarian life of ancient Israel made this plain — the threat of failed crops meant starvation and death for the family
2. Israel's liturgical harvest festivals were annual reminders that God provides life in the face of death
3. The Reformers and Puritans — Luther, Calvin, John Owen — buried children and hardly wrote of it, because death was expected; life was the exception

C. Ecclesiastes illustrates the Hebrew view

1. Solomon checks every box of the "bucket list" yet the refrain remains: "vanity of vanities, all is vanity"
2. Death hangs over even his greatest achievements — he has a Genesis 3 outlook on life
3. True wisdom does not produce happy assessments of life, but honest ones — and honest assessment is the path to true contentment and joy, not deceitful happiness

IV. Suffering and the Life of Christ

A. The movie Inside Out illustrates the failure of forced positivity — "sadness" sitting with someone in pain accomplishes what "joy's" cheerleading cannot

B. The church too often plays "joy" and not "sadness" — we tell the suffering to put on a smile rather than sitting with them in their pain

C. Jesus modeled the right pattern:

1. He spent 33 years in a fallen world before the resurrection
2. He wept at the grave of Lazarus before conquering the grave — John 11
3. Philippians 2 — he emptied himself and made himself nothing; vanity of vanities preceded resurrection glory

V. Pastoral Application

A. A sober Genesis 3 understanding of suffering should shape how we comfort fellow believers and evangelize unbelievers

B. Are we truly listening to the suffering, or rushing past the cross to the empty tomb?

C. We must weep with those who weep before we can truly rejoice together in the one who will one day wipe away every tear