The Purpose of Scars

Acts 9:3-20

King James Version Chapter 9

3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.

8 And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.

9 And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.

10 And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.

11 And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,

12 And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.

13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:

14 And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.

15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.

17 And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

18 And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.

19 And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.

20 And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

Introduction

As I’ve growing older with age I have noticed that my idea of fun has started to shift. I’ve gained weight, I’ve grown slower and not as athletic and so every now and then the idea of golfing comes to mind. My wife especially was begging for just one date night at Top Golf. And so with her wanting to go we set a goal and achieved going to Top Golf with our mentor here recently. And we were fascinated at how at Top Golf, ever individual ball is micro-chipped to know exactly, how far, it goes, what hole it lands in order to calculate the score, but the one thing I’ve never considered is why the balls aren’t smooth....

And so I didn’t think much of it until I came across a story in a book I’ve been reading. And in the book the author takes us inside the conversation of a mentor and mentee if you will about, about how the golf balls were first made, in order to teach the mentee a lesson.

He says, “At first, golf balls were made smooth, without any dimples at all. But eventually during testing, one man started to noticed something strange. He developed a theory about it, and one day he came into work early to test his theory, because he thought that everyone would think he was crazy if he shared his theory with them.

His theory was that the golf balls that had been hit many times, the bruised and rough ones, actually traveled much further than the perfectly smooth ones did. Sure enough, he was right: these tiny imperfections created a think layer of turbulence around the ball reducing drag and allowing air to flow further and more smoothly around the ball. And that is why today, all golf balls have dimples on them.

I want to come from the topic today… THE PURPOSE OF SCARS…

PRAYER

OPENING

We hate them

They’re ugly

They often remind us of a painful experience

They carry memories of what happened, or even of what could have happened

They tell us what not to do and what to do

But while scars are often looked at as a negative… Somebody say there is purpose in my scars

WHAT ARE SCARS

Physical Scars

Emotional Scars

Trauma Scars

Scars - A growth of tissue marking the spot where skin has healed after an injury.

Scars determine that growth & healing have taken place

While you are frustrated about how life turned out , God is trying to show you how much you’ve matured

While you complained about how bad they hurt you, God was showing you how much you have healed and became thick skinned

SCARS MOLD YOUR CHARACTER

The New International Version (Acts 9:3 -9)

3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

Saul was weak in this moment, but he was forced into prayer & fasting,

He was forced in seeing a vision of healing

He was forced to deal with scars

I know you are afraid of your perceived weakness and shortcoming and you feel like your journey has always left scars,

but when you don’t give up and you don’t give in the scars molds and shapes you into the person who can travel much further in life, like the roughed-up golf ball.

The blemishes, scars, and setbacks are what give you the character to take you places other people are too soft and smooth to go

SCARS PREPARE YOU FOR THE FUTURE

King James Version Chapter 9

16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.

King James Version (Acts 9:20)

And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

What seemed unfair in the moment, and where I could imagine Saul would have wanted thing to be easier, but the scars will actually prepare you for life much better than the smooth life.

C.S. Lewis said it like this “hardship often prepars ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny”

What does Saul end up doing

SCARS DETERMINE OWNERSHIP

Amplified Bible Chapter 6

17 From now on let no person trouble me [by making it necessary for me to vindicate my apostolic authority and the divine truth of my Gospel], for I bear on my body the [brand] marks of the Lord Jesus [the wounds, scars, and other outward evidence of persecutions—these testify to His ownership of me]!

6:17. Paul’s calling as an apostle and the message he preached had been challenged by the Judaizers. He asked for an end to such trouble, and he offered as a final proof to his critics the marks of Jesus on his body. These “marks” (stigmata) meant signs of ownership such as were branded on slaves and cattle. Paul referred to the scars on his body, which were caused by persecution for Christ’s sake because they demonstrated he was a slave of Christ and not just a people-pleaser.