SCARS - How Do I Deal with Physical Scars?
January 8, 2023
2 Corinthians 12:1-10
Introduction:
I promise you that if you’d been beaten with a thick stick 3 different times…and also been whipped 5 other times with a cat of 9 tails for a total of 195 blows…you are going to have some scars…Now put on top of that a time when people have pelted you with rocks and left you lying bloody in the street…and you’ve got a trifecta of physical scars for the world to see. (2 Cor. 11:25)
I believe that’s exactly what the Apostle Paul was referring to when he tells the Galatians: “From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” (Gal. 6:17)
This church has been arguing about legalistic stuff…they’ve fought about stuff that had no importance to salvation…They’ve made preferences a bigger priority than the cross…and Paul ends his letter to them by saying…
“Quite frankly, I don’t want to be bothered anymore by these disputes. I have more important things to do - the serious living of this faith. I bear in my body scars from my service to Jesus.” (The Message)
I’m not gonna fight about stupid stuff…my focus is on living for Jesus…don’t believe me…Look at my scars!!!
My body has scars over 60% of it…most of them from being burned when I was 10…the other 7% are from surgeries…and 3% from stupidity…not one of my scars are from being beaten in the name of Jesus!
And yet, both these scars have something important in common…
I. THEY ALLOW GOD TO FLEX HIS MUSCLES!
Let me give you a little background…14 years before Paul writes his second letter to the Corinthians, God gave him a vision…like John the Beloved, it’s a revelation from the Lord…He sees beyond the sky, beyond space into the 3rd heaven…Paradise…he hears things he’s not permitted to tell…Paul doesn’t know if he’s alive or dead when this happens…“In the body or out of it”…Many believe this happened at his stoning in Lystra which happened 14 years before. We just don’t know for sure…but its clearly a life changing occurance…they are surpassingly great revelations…listen to what he writes:
2 CORINTHIANS 12:1-7
This is the only time in scripture Paul reveals this incident…and he does it for one reason… “God gave me a glimpse of heaven…and if my scars help someone get there I’ll brag about my scars.”
It’s why He says in 2 Cor. 11:30 “If I must boast I will boast of the things that show my weakness.” And in 2 Cor. 12:5…“I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.”
You see, a man that has received a revelation of heaven would be exalted by believers…many would brag about this…but what about bragging about the times he was insulted, went through hardships, endured persecutions and difficulties…The times when he despaired of hope…and then…“God flexed His muscles!”
Scars reveal more of our faith than revelations…because God reveals more of His power in our weaknesses.
One of the greatest lies perpetuated in the Church today is that God wants you to be healthy, happy and wealthy…and if you are not then you are outside His will. People that spread this lie have never invested themselves in Scripture…which tells us “to consider it pure joy when we encounter all kinds of trials and tribulations…because by the testing of our faith, endurance is produced, making us full and complete not lacking anything. (James 1) Jesus himself said, “God causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matt. 5:45)
God never lets our pain be in vain…He has a perfect plan…It’s where He provides grace thats sufficient and where His power is made perfect in our weakness…
Kyle Idleman in the book Grace is Greater shares a powerful illustration of how God’s grace is sufficient…no matter what we are going through. Listen:
In your hand is a simple cup. It’s empty, and the emptiness represents your weakness. But someone directs you to a nearby hose. it’s coming out of a very high and very long wall. You can’t see the other side, but the faucet works. You turn it on and water begins to seep from the hose. It’s not spraying - just kind of trickling. You’re hoping there’s enough to at least fill your cup. The water moves right up to the rim, then stops. That worked out well.
You get the symbolism? Right - the water represents God’s grace, exactly what we need. (I always worry people won’t get my metaphors.)
Time passes, and here you come, back to the hose. No sign of the cup, but you’ve got an empty bucket this time. Let’s make the bucket a symbol of having a bit of a health scare, or maybe some financial issues. You really need some strength; this is a nice-sized bucket.
You turn on the hose and the water comes again, gradually filling in the bottom of the bucket, then up the sides, and once again to the rim before it stops. How does it know?
Time passes. This time you have a large, red wheelbarrow full of emptiness, and you’ve brought it to the old hose. Maybe you’ve lost your job, and with it your confidence. Or maybe your marriage is in a bad place, worse than you realized. Maybe it’s a special-needs child and you’re overwhelmed.
You turn on the hose and the plumbing still works. The water comes out with that familiar swish, and the wheelbarrow begins to fill. And you know where it stops. You sigh with relief. Once again, there’s just enough.
Next time you pull up in a semi truck, hauling a tank behind you the size of a trailer. This is big. Radiation treatments. A child in prison. An affair. You turn on the hose. Water begins to flow into the tank. You’re sure there won’t be enough, but it keeps coming. For hours it flows - and then right when the tank won’t take another drop, the hose runs dry.
This is how the grace of God works. There is always enough. However much emptiness you bring to him, that is how much grace he has to give you. The emptier we are, the more of his grace we can receive. The weaker we are, the more of his strength we can discover. That’s why Paul says he can take pleasure in his weakness.
That is a perfect illustration of why God’s grace is sufficient. When we’ve had a bad day…or when we’ve spent 3 months in the burn unit…He flexes His muscles when we need a cinder block moved or a mountain.
Let me also challenge you with this truth:
II. SCARS KEEP US HUMBLE
God doesn’t hate a lot of things but He hates pride in people…He doesn’t hate prideful people…He hates what pride does to people…Just like when it says in Malachi 2:16 “God hates divorce” it’s not saying God hates divorced people…it’s saying “God hates what divorce does.”
Pride does horrible things to the soul…it separates us from God’s grace.
It’s exactly why James 4:6 reminds us that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Pride is the enemy of God…He stands in opposition to it…Pride is the exact opposite of Jesus’ attitude…“He humbled himself…Phil. 2 tells us “In your relationships with one another have the same mindset (attitude) as Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped and used for His own advantage…rather He made Himself nothing.” (Phil. 2:5-7)
Even though Jesus was God in the flesh…He let go of this privilege…He didn’t use it to stroke His ego…He made Himself nothing. He became obedient as a servant…He even died on a cross…Humility at its greatest. The sinless Son of God…allowing Himself to be crucified by His creation for His fallen creation.
The Apostle Paul knew about pride…he was an Israelite, from the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee of Pharisees…He walked in pride of all this, arresting, persecuting and killing followers of Jesus. All that changed when He met Jesus…He testifies to this fact to Timothy.
1 TIMOTHY 1:13-16
By the way Paul doesn’t say “I was the worst sinner…He says “I Am the worst.” His salvation was through God’s mercy and immeasurable grace…not just for when he was stoning Stephen…but right now! It’s dangerous when we think…I was…but now I’m good.”
It’s the reason Paul says “Therefore in order to keep me from becoming conceited I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me.”
The word that’s used for “thorn” means a “sharp stake.” It’s in his flesh…It’s physical…and it’s continuously painful…that’s what torment means.
3 times he begs God to remove it…“Take it away Lord!!!”
And then verse 9 in our text has a 3 letter word “BUT.” Think about that word and when you’ve heard it.
“I love you…BUT.”
“She’s alive…BUT.”
“We’re happy with your work…BUT”
“That was a great message…BUT”
God responded to Paul’s urgent plea… “No…BUT my grace is enough for you…my power is made perfect in weakness…”
Have you ever begged God to take away the scars…and He’s answered you…“No…BUT…I‘ll fill your cup, bucket, wheelbarrow or tanker with my grace!”
You’ll experience my power most when you’re weakest…
There is nothing that humbles us more than when God says, “No, but Trust Me” and watch what I do that you can’t.
Paul knew…“That in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose…and His purpose was to mold us into the image of His Son Jesus.” (Romans 8:28-29)
[At ten years old covered in skin graft scars I had no idea what good could come from being burned…I used to pray for God to take them away…to let me look like everyone else…He never did. It felt like a curse in JR High…they made me self conscious and ugly…I hated them…
But, over time God has changed how I view my scars…They’ve become a physical story of how He saved my life…They’ve certainly changed how I love and treat other people with scars…they changed my heart for ministry…I’ve come to value why God allowed them, why He hasn’t removed them and what His purpose for my life is…]
If we trust God, our scars can make us more like Jesus…?
