A Pastor's Thoughts: Beautiful Scars

Most people don’t care for scars. Some people don’t care about their scars because they aren’t terribly prominent. Others, however, are very self-conscious about their scars because they are prominent and hard to always hide. I came across something very creative recently. A number of people have decided to use tattoos to adorn their scars and even tell the story of their scars. They are really quite creative and their accompanying stories are fascinating. These people went from seeing their scars as unsightly and disfiguring to redeeming their scars to tell a story of victory and perseverance. They transformed their wound marks from something perceived as ugly scars into what can now only be described as Beautiful Scars.

After fifty-five years of life; playing sports and working construction, I have lots of visible scars—probably like a lot of you. But not all scars are visible on our bodies. Some scars, maybe even most of our scars, are found on our hearts and minds. They are there as the result of sin—sins we commit and sins committed against us. I certainly don’t want to diminish bodily scars—some have come at great cost as in the case of soldiers who have been injured in war. But even soldiers battle with unseen scars; mental scars caused by the horrors of war. I know some of you have unseen scars as well. You’ve been abused and your abuser’s sin has scared your heart and mind. You’ve lost a loved one that left a scar on your heart and mind. You’ve gone through a divorce you were desperate to avoid and now you’re left with a scar on your heart and mind. You’re addicted to pornography that has left a scar on your heart and mind. Your obsession with money and possessions has left a scar on your heart and mind. Honestly, some of the scars caused by sin are infinitely more ugly than any visibly scars. Unfortunately, those scars can’t be covered up or adorned with creative tattoos. But there is a way to redeem those invisible scars; a way to turn those ugly scars into Beautiful Scars?

I have a friend who works as a therapist at Craig Hospital here in Colorado. She spends countless hours teaching people who have suffered some kind of traumatic injury to regain even some of their mobility and ability to function in society. Modern technological advances make rehabilitation from traumatic injury more and more successful with each new technological discovery. Unfortunately, there are no technological advances to treat the wounds left by sins. Don’t misunderstand, there is treatment for the wounds from the consequences of sin. There are great therapies to treat abuse, loss, trauma, etc. But none actually heal the sin. But there is a way for scars caused by sin to be redeemed? Ironically, our wounds; our scars are redeemed by the wounds; by the scars of Jesus!

Subject Text

1 Peter 2:24

24“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

Context

This letter was written to Jewish Christians who were forced to flee Jerusalem and settled throughout Asia Minor. Peter was probably writing from Rome during the brutal persecution of the Roman Emperor Nero. By the early 60’s A. D. under Nero, Christian persecution was fierce and unrelenting. In fact, Peter was executed during Nero’s reign of terror. The only thing Christians were guilty of is refusing to worship Caesar. Otherwise they were model citizens. So Peter reminds them in this letter that when they are persecuted for doing good, they are actually following in the footsteps of Jesus who suffered and died for them.

Text Analysis

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross,

Did you notice that our Subject Text assumes that we suffer from a condition that requires healing? A few weeks ago, I taught you about the theology of Substitutionary Attonement. That’s what Peter is describing in this text. You see, the consequences for sin is death (Rom. 6:23) and we have all sinned and fallen short (Rom. 3:23). Simply put, we all sin and deserve to be condemned to death. However, instead of holding each of us accountable for our own sins as we deserved, God in His infinite mercy and grace, sent Jesus as a substitute for us. So God held Jesus accountable for our sins and He was consequently put to death to pay for those sins.

“Only Christ himself, the sinless Son of God, could bear our sins on the cross. Christ took the death penalty for sin, dying in our place, so that we would not have to suffer the punishment that we deserve. In a transaction we cannot comprehend, God placed the sins of the world on Jesus Christ…Because all our wrongdoing is forgiven, we are reconciled to God. All who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior can have this new life and live in union with him…This is called substitutionary atonement. Jesus died as our substitute.”[1]

so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness;

There has always been an ethical element to humanity’s relationship with God. Specifically, being in right relationship with God means that we have the ability to be in right relationship with one another and to conduct our lives in such a way that reflects our right relationship with Him. Notice though what the text doesn’t say. Jesus’ death on the cross and the subsequent forgiveness of our sins isn’t conditioned on living a righteous life. In other words, there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation. If we live righteously in order to prove that we deserve what Jesus did on the cross then we miss the enormous magnitude of God’s mercy and grace. We have to be willing to accept that Jesus died knowing all along that we are sinners and that we are the ones who deserve the punishment of death (Rom. 5:8). Don’t rush past this and allow this truth to dissipate around you like a fine mist. Allow that truth to drench your life like a pouring rain. Do you know why this is so important? Only when we allow the magnitude of that truth to invade our lives will we have the strength to begin to die to the sins in our lives and live for righteousness. How can you help but love Someone who has sacrificed His life in your place? He demonstrated His love for us by dying in our place and we demonstrate our love for Him through our righteous lives.

“The idea of living a ‘good life’ must not be lost. As we identify with Christ in salvation, the goal is to live for righteousness. The death of Jesus Christ enables believers, even in the midst of suffering, to live a life that is right with God, that models the characteristics [modeled by Christ in His suffering]. ‘Righteousness,’ as it is used here, suggests the right kind of living, the ethical lifestyle that has been the focus of this [section of Peter’s letter]. By living for righteousness, the believer continues to live out the declaration of God’s praises not only through verbal testimony but also as a lifestyle testimony.”[2]

“by his wounds you have been healed.”

Peter lifts this text from Isaiah 53:5. It is such a tragically beautiful text that foretells of Jesus, the Suffering Servant. My daughter is a cardio-thoracic intensive care nurse at Children’s Hospital and she regularly tells me stories of children receiving heart transplants. It is always an occasion for celebration when a child receives a heart that gives them an opportunity at life. However, celebration and tragedy are woven together when we realize that some other child had to die in order to make a heart available. This part of our Subject Text reveals this reality in relation to Jesus. If you’ve ever been part of a baptism after someone makes a public profession of faith then you’ve experienced the celebration that comes with a redeemed life. What could be more exciting than watching someone receive a new spiritual heart through salvation? However, celebration and tragedy in this case are also woven together when we realize that Jesus gave up His life so that we could have new life.

When the text says that we have been healed, it is not referring to physical, mental, or emotional healing, it is referring to spiritual healing. God is concerned about every part of who we are—the physical, the mental, and the emotional. However, His primary concern is our spiritual well being because that is the part that determines whether or not we will spend eternity with Him. God knows that in eternity our heavenly bodies will be perfect and eternity is much longer than our short time on this earth. Furthermore, our physical, mental, and emotional health are irrelevant if we are destined to be separated from Him for eternity.

“As a result of its rebellion, [humanity] is desperately ill, a mass of open sores and unbandaged wounds. What is to be done. No more hypocritical worship. No, what is needed is just and righteous living. But can that atone for the past, cleanse the wounds, destroy the infection? No, writing new words over old ones will not blot out the old ones. Someone must come to wipe the slate clean. Someone must take the disease and give back health, must bear the blows and give back [well-being].

“What the Servant does in bearing the undeserved results of his people’s sin bring about positive results for the people. He is not merely participating in their suffering, he is bearing it away for them so that they may not labor under its effects anymore. He took the punishment that made it possible for us to have well-being, and he has taken the infected welts so that ours could be healed…The back of rebel is covered with the bloody welts of the lash. Yet his behavior seems only to ask for more. How can his back ever be healed? Only if someone takes those welts in his place…[Again], the Servant is not suffering with his people—he is suffering for them, procuring for them through his suffering what they cannot procure for themselves. This requires that the Servant does not deserve any welts of his own. Because he does not he can take those of his people and give them healing in return.”[3]

Application

Getting back to the tattoos I was telling you about at the beginning, some of them were really beautiful and creative. Even though most of them were decorative, many of them were descriptive. They told the story of a wound, injury, or illness that was overcome. That’s what was really intriguing in the context of our lesson. When our Subject Text says that we are healed because Jesus was wounded for us, it doesn’t mean our brokenness never existed. Being healed doesn’t mean we were never broken, it just means our brokenness doesn’t define us. It may be a chapter in the story of our lives but it isn’t the whole story of our lives. Yet that chapter is critical in the richness that is your life story.

You may have been abused as a child, you may even carry the scars of that abuse with you on your body and mind, but that abuse doesn’t have to define you. Christ took the sin of that abuse upon Himself so that you could be healed. Abuse is a chapter in your life’s story but it isn’t your whole story. It says something about you but not everything about you. Imagine adding to your story your ability to walk with others who have experienced the same things you have. Imagine sharing with them how they can experience healing the way you experienced healing because Christ was wounded for you. Isn’t that part of your story too?

You may have gone through a divorce or experienced some other traumatic broken relationship, but a broken relationship doesn’t define you even if it was primarily your fault. However, a broken marriage or some other significant relationship doesn’t define you. Christ took the sins you committed in that relationship and the sins committed against you upon Himself so that you could be healed. Divorce or some other broken relationship is a chapter in your life’s story but it isn’t your whole story. It says something about you but not everything about you. It offers you a unique perspective on important relationships that you can offer someone struggling with an important relationship in their life. It offers you the opportunity to share how you have been healed because Christ was wounded for your sins and the sins committed against you. That, too, becomes part of your story.

You may be a sex addict or a drug addict or you may have committed some terrible crime. Any or all of those things are chapters in your life’s story—maybe even chapters that are still being written, but they aren’t the only chapters in the story that is your life. Some of the wounds caused by your own sins or the sins of others may have left ugly scars on your life. However, I want to make you a promise, Jesus died so that your wounds can be healed; so that your wounds can become Beautiful Scars.

Inmate Leaves Baggage Behind Bars

Cris remembers, “When dad got drunk, dad got scary. You know, but as a little girl I always just wanted my daddy so much.”

Cris’s parents divorced when she was 5, and her mother, who was a Christian, was given full custody. But her father’s behavior continued to influence her.

She says, “I remember him always being really inappropriate. Very sexualized talk in front of me whenever I was a little girl.”

Then when she was 13, her father’s drunken sexual talk escalated.

She says, “It never went all the way to take my virginity. But, it was definitely physical.”

Her father molested her for three years. Cris was too embarrassed to tell her mother. Instead, she started drinking and doing drugs and seeking out attention from boys in the only way she knew how.

She says, at that time, “I thought my worth and my value was in my sex. You know, and that’s how you get attention, that’s how you get approval. That’s how you get love. Because that’s what I’d been taught.”

Cris was already addicted to drugs and alcohol when she left home at 17 to join the Air Force. She stopped using in the military, but once honorably discharged, she tried meth for the first time.

Cris says, “I remember thinking oh my gosh, I finally found the thing I’ve been looking for my whole life, you know, the euphoria, just—everything was heightened and, you know, it’s like, ‘This is great.’”

She was instantly hooked and began using every day. She recalls, “When I would try to go a day without meth, what I would describe it as this fingernail that would dig at the back of my brain and it would make me obsess, and I would just be like, you know, ‘What am I going to do, what am I going to do?’”

Increasingly crippled by the memory of her father’s abuse, Cris reached out to him for some sort of resolution. She says, “I wrote him this letter. Tell me you’re sorry. And that’s all I need and we’ll have a friendship and we’ll have a relationship and everything. And he wrote me back this letter that said no apologies, no regrets. And that-that was, that was a breaking point for me. And I got really serious about my drug addiction after that. Always so much wanting something from someone who didn’t have it to give.”

Cris was a functional addict, able to work as a bartender and even attend college. But she was always fearful of running out of meth and made a deal with her supplier: she would hand over her college aid money if he would front her the drugs.

Cris says that early one morning, “There’s this knock at my door. And I open the door and there’s what looked like a SWAT team. And they asked me my name and they were pulling me out of the door and they’re zip tying my hands behind me and telling me that I’m under arrest for conspiracy to traffic and distribute over 500 grams of methamphetamine. I had maybe…a half a gram in my house, tops. And so I’m like this is crazy.”

The DEA had tapped her supplier’s phone and mistakenly tagged Cris as an investor in his business. Cris was arrested along with 25 other dealers and charged with a federal offense.

Cris says, “We went before the federal judge, and just carte blanche he said none of us were getting released. And by this time the fingernail had started, so I’m starting to withdraw.”

Cris became desperate as her craving for meth intensified, confessing to another inmate that she felt she was in hell. Cris says, the other inmate “looked at me and she goes, ‘You think this is bad? Wait till you see the real hell,’ and that’s all she said. And that’s all it took. And it’s like all of those years of my mom talking to me about Jesus, I’m like oh my gosh, I’ve got to reach out to Jesus. So I went into my cell. And I remember getting on my knees and asking Jesus to forgive me. And come into my heart. ‘Cause I don't know where I would’ve ended up if that had not happened. But it wouldn’t have been good...”

Cris gave her life to Christ that day—and she was given something in return.

Cris says, “I stopped craving drugs. And I never felt it again. Then I realized that that was the moment He’d healed me. You know, He’d healed me. From an addiction that had spanned my entire life. It was just suddenly lifted and gone.”

Cris’s charge was eventually reduced to one count of drug trafficking and she was sentenced to a year in federal prison. She continued to grow in her faith and study the Bible. And she was finally able to forgive her father.

Cris says that in prison, “That’s where I gained the freedom in Christ. You know, where He really set me free. And I see my dad for what he truly was, and that was just a broken, hurting person who in himself needed the love of his heavenly daddy to fix him. You know and I think now that that was a lifelong quest that has finally been sated inside of me because of, you know, my heavenly Daddy.”

Today she is married and serves as director of a counseling ministry in Illinois. And as a child of God, she sees herself in a whole new light.

She says, “One of the things that I’ve learned from God is that I’m a treasure. You know, I’m special; we all are. And that, you know, our worth and value is set by what Christ did on the cross. So I’m, to Him, I’m worth everything.”[4]

[1] Bruce Barton, Philip Comfort, Grant Osborne, Linda K. Taylor, and Dave Veerman, Life Application New Testament Commentary, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2001), 1,113.

[2] David Walls and Max Anders, I & II Peter, I, II, III John, Jude—Holman New Testament Commentary, (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 1999), 37.

[3] John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah: Chapters 40-66—The New International Commentary on the Old Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998), 387-389.

[4] “Inmate Leaves Baggage Behind Bars,” The 700 Club, Accessed October 1, 2016, http://www1.cbn.com/video/SAL32v1/inmate-leaves-baggage-behind-bars?show=700club.