Scars

Last time I left us with a meaning from the cross that gives us new purpose. We said that the cross reinstates our kingdom vocation. The cross gives us a meaning and a purpose for what it is we do here in this life. We said last time that the reason we do good—the reason we live in ways that avoid sin—are not things we do in order to keep some kind of moral contract with God. But we do good because God has reinstated a kingdom vocation for us. So now we live in gratitude to God. And the best possible way to show gratitude to God in the way we live is to return again to the kingdom vocation he has given for all humanity.

But we also acknowledged last time that we are all people who still are born with a sinful nature. We still carry that sinful nature within us. We are still broken people. So how is it that sinful people best follow this idea of living out a kingdom vocation? Let’s unpack that here today.

Jars of Clay

2 Corinthians 4:5–12 NIV

For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

What is Paul up to in this passage? People who lived at this time also had pots and kettles made of bronze. It was lightweight, yet durable. Clay pots were fragile. Much more fragile than the stoneware dishes many of us have in our kitchens at home. And clay pots were not artistic showpieces to be set on the mantle and displayed as flower vases. They were common vessels for everyday chores. People then did not have Nalgene bottles or glassware. They did not have drinking fountains or indoor sinks. Every house needed jars to hold water. And mostly these jars were made of clay. And often they would wear out and have cracks.

Paul says that God has placed his greatest treasure into fragile, cracked jars. In my house I have a fireproof safe. It holds important documents and other irreplaceable items. No one can break in and take those things without a great deal of work to get it open. The items inside would not be destroyed in a fire. We use things like a safe to hold things that are important to us so that it will be protected.

But God takes his treasure and puts it in something fragile and cracked. And this seems to be his intentional plan all along. So maybe there is something here for us to learn about what it means for us to be redeemed people who are called to a kingdom vocation. Before we can describe what a redeemed kingdom vocation looks like, let’s start by talking about what it means to be redeemed.

What it means to be redeemed

Maybe the place we need to begin in talking about redemption is to talk about a common misconception. Before we note a few characteristics of redemption, let’s focus for a brief moment on what is NOT a characteristic of redemption—although we commonly treat it as though it is.

Redeemed does not mean fixed. I think we commonly hold it somewhere in the back of our minds that redemption means fixing everything that is broken. We hold onto this ultimate ideal in our minds that God’s redemption of the world means fixing everything that is broken. Since the Bible tells us that we have been redeemed through Jesus, that must certainly also mean that all of our brokenness is fixed through Jesus. To be certain, the Bible does speak about a recreation of all things with a new heaven and a new earth, and in that new creation of all things, everything that is now broken will be fixed. But that is not the same thing as redemption. We need to go one step further today and split some hairs with exact definitions so we can leave here with an accurate understanding of what our redemption means for us and for this world we live in today, right now.

Redemption does not mean everything that is broken gets fixed—yet it is redeemed. Let me explain what that looks like. All the vehicles I own are over ten years old and have quite a few miles on them. They all have a list of items that don’t work quite right anymore: a rear wiper, a bad power window, a malfunctioning key fob, side mirror adjustors. And all of them have dents, scrapes, scratches, and cracks. But at the same time, they all run quite reliably. They all have things that are broken, but they still do the thing that a car is supposed to do—get people around where we need to go. Since they are older vehicles, sometimes that needs attention. A while back, one of my vans had a battery that had gone bad. No amount of charging would bring it back. So I had to replace the battery. Now it starts right up again. It’s been redeemed, but at the same time it’s still broken. The van has been redeemed to once again do what it is I need it to do—to get people around places. But it is certainly not perfectly fixed to factory conditions—there are still dents, scrapes, scratches, and cracks.

Maybe sometimes you and I get the idea that for us to be people that are redeemed in Jesus means that somehow we are automatically restored to a perfect factory condition. That somehow everything that was broken is completely fixed and brand new again. But I think you and I who have walked in the faith for any considerable amount of time can attest that this is not the case. We can say that we are redeemed people. But I think we are aware—especially those of us who get a little older—that we also have dents, scrapes, scratches, and cracks.

My body has been through a lot the last three years. Doctors went in and took out a section of my colon that had cancer in it. They pieced me back together, and my body has been trying to figure out ever since then how to get back to normal. I’ve got some pretty significant scars left behind. This is literally true. Every time I go to change my shirt, the reminder is right there on my body from the surgeries I have had. I have scars. I have been redeemed, but I have scars. The cancer is gone. But I am not perfectly restored, good-as-new. Redeemed does not mean fixed.

I think it’s safe to admit that we are all broken. We’ve all got dents, scrapes, scratches, and cracks. Some of us get up in the morning and wonder if we will have the physical energy to even leave the house. Some of us care for a family member whose mind struggles just to remember our names. some of us here have dealt with things like MS or Parkinson’s for many years. Some of us have watched children or grandchildren struggle through life. We all have scars.

And then there are the scars that are inside. The ones that people don’t always see. Some of us carry scars of rejection from broken families and lost relationships. Some have scars of career hopes that have been torn apart. Something that we have worked so hard to achieve has been taken away. Some of us carry scars of broken promises. Other people have let us down. Maybe the people we thought we could count on to be our friends did not stand by us in a time when we needed them. And we know that for some people out there in our community, the church itself has inflicted wounds and left scars and left people wondering if they can ever come back. Let’s be honest, for some of us this is very real because it has been within our own families. Our own loved ones have distanced themselves from the church because there have been wounded, and the scars still show.

I think it’s safe for us to say here that whatever it means for us to be redeemed, it means we still have scars. To think about our redemption in a way that completely washes over all our scars and ignores our brokenness is simply not being honest. It’s like the ostrich who sticks its head in the sand and pretends not to be aware of the obvious. To be redeemed does not mean we are perfectly restored to factory mint condition. Redeemed does not mean we get new car smell.

So what does it mean that through the cross we are redeemed?

Maybe my old van has lots of dents and scars. Maybe there are plenty of things in that van that are broken and don’t work like they are supposed to. But that van does the thing that I need it to do the most. It gets people around places. It fills the most important purpose that vehicles have.

You and I have been made with a most important purpose as well. Jesus was once asked a question about the greatest commandment. He answered that the entire law of God is summarized in these two statements: love God above all, and love others. Loving God above all means we focus our worship on God and God alone. We talked about that several weeks ago when we looked at the plagues in Egypt. Loving others comes out in the way we live our lives in relationship with those around us. It has to do with this idea we brought up last week about living out something we are calling a kingdom vocation.

We are redeemed through the cross. Jesus puts back in place everything we need to do that which matters most—to love God above all, and to love others. And as redeemed people, we are able to do this through the cross even with all of our dents, scrapes, scratches, and cracks—even with all of our scars.

Redeemed for what?

So let’s bring this to a close by considering what this idea of kingdom vocation is all about. What is it that we are redeemed for? We are fully acknowledging that we are people who have been wounded and who carry scars. How does that look as we pursue loving God and loving others?

The temptation for us in our culture today is to dismiss any and all notion we might have of kingdom vocation because may too easily assume that our scars disqualify us. Sure, this idea of God having a kingdom vocation sounds great for some people. But not me. I’m too damaged. I’m too broken. I’ve been wounded too many times and I’ve got too many scars. This is such a strong temptation for us to dismiss our kingdom vocation because we live in such a throw-away culture. We live in a culture that immediately throws out anything broken. We throw out anything that loses its efficiency. We fire workers who underperform and replace them with younger workers—and when those workers are no longer useful, then we throw them out and replace again. Sometimes we throw out things that are still perfectly useful. About a year ago I replaced my old audio system at home. I took my old amplifier and speakers and sold them on Craig’s List. And I replaced it with a new bluetooth wireless sound bar. Here’s the honest truth. There was nothing wrong with my old system. In fact it worked perfectly. It just wasn’t the newest thing. So I sold it and got the newest thing. Marketing experts make a living on convincing us we need to throw out whatever is old and replace it with the newest thing.

God even went this route once. Remember the story of Noah and the ark? God looked at how broken and wounded people had become and he said, let’s wipe it out and start all over again. The whole earth is going to have that new car smell again.

But God does not do that with the cross. Through the cross God takes wounded and scarred people and redeems them back to his original purpose—for us to love God and love others. Even though we all have scars, God does not throw us away for something newer and better. In fact, he takes us just as we are. Scars and all. And no matter what kind of scars you have, God says you have been redeemed. So get to work. You’ve still got a kingdom vocation.

The Hebrew language uses the word shalom to describe the goal of our kingdom vocation. That word shalom is often translated in our english Bibles as peace. Scholar Nicolas Wolterstorff and others have suggested that a more appropriate english word for shalom is flourish. The goal of our kingdom vocation is the flourishing of God’s world, and all within it. Here are three quick examples of how I see that right here at Fellowship in the few months that I have been with you.

Some of you here help out regularly in the Love Inc food pantry that is open two days a week. There is an opportunity to open our doors to people In this community who maybe find themselves in a situation where almost all of their income goes to pay for housing or other bills. Maybe some of those people are sick and deal with an overwhelming flood of medical expenses. Maybe the food pantry won’t take care of all the problems that some people must face every day. But people should not have to go hungry on top of all that. It is a necessary place to begin in order for others to be able to flourish in our community.

The Deborah’s House offers mothers a safe and stable place to learn some basic skills that maybe most of us take for granted. Skills like planning a simple family budget, or how to prepare healthy nutritious meals for your kids. Here at Fellowship we have opportunity every week to help provide for these women as they strive to take a few steps forward in their lives. Every step they take is a step towards flourishing in our community, and we get to help out with that.

Many of us also find it relatively easy to provide the tools our kids need to learn and grow in school. But not every child has the advantage of this. The Backpack Buddies helps kids thrive in their education by sharing the tools and resources that children need to flourish in their school. We get to help the kids of our community flourish in this way.

Those are three quick examples of things we do right here at Fellowship. What about you? What can you do in your neighborhood? In your workplace? With your relationships? What do you have and what can you do that will help other people flourish in their lives just a little bit more? THAT is kingdom vocation. THAT is why you have been redeemed. And every single one of us here can do this—scars and all.

After Jesus rose on Easter, he began appearing to his disciples. This is now the resurrected Jesus. And the resurrected Jesus is showing even more supernatural abilities than he showed before. But there is one striking detail that the gospel writer, John, points out for us.

John 20:26–27 NIV

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Did you catch it? Maybe you’re thinking the amazing thing here is that Jesus walks through walls and suddenly appears inside locked rooms. Sure that’s amazing, but I think something else here is more amazing. Jesus has scars. Jesus who is resurrected; Jesus who is victorious over the grave; Jesus who has a glorious resurrected body; Jesus still carries the scars of the cross.

Maybe that’s meant to tells us something—that Jesus still has scars. Maybe we can find some encouragement here for us today—those of us who also carry around the scars of our wounds. Today it’s helpful to know and understand that Jesus shares something along with all of us. The redemption we have received through Jesus is a redemption that Jesus shares with us. And just as you and I are redeemed people—scars and all, Jesus also reigns in glory—scars and all.

Because scars don’t mean we’re done. Scars don’t mean we’re no good for anything anymore. Scars don’t push us away on the trash, or leave us to be thrown away. In fact, I think God is out to show just the opposite. If God can use people who have dents and scrapes; if God can use people who have scratches and cracks; then that only reinforces that God can do anything.

2 Corinthians 4:7 NIV

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

So don’t count yourself out or think that your life is worthless just because you carry a few scars. Our scars are all the more reason to pursue shalom and encourage one another to flourish in this world. Because we are redeemed. And that’s what redeemed people do best.