Baggage
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Let it Go
Let it Go
Big Idea: There are certain things in our lives we simply need to let go of in order to grow in our walk with Christ.
Have you ever travelled through an airport, the first challenge is getting all your baggage (families baggage) into the ticket counter.
You watch as people stand in line to check in their bags and they push all these bags with their feet, some they are wearing, some they have on rollers, others are just too big and are just pushed along the ground. Do not even start me on the weight fees for baggage.
BIKE PIC of Baggage, despised having to unpack and repack everyday.
Maybe we are bit like that at times, the fee for checking this bag is so much we open it up and put on three coats and an extra shirt just to lower the weight, we sacrifice our comfort to save a penny there at the scale.
LLIAM: Enter with bags, start laying bags down at the altar.
Here is my sermon helper today, my poor son, even at 17 years of age carrying all these bags. Where on earth would you be going if you had this much luggage, if it was my mother you would know it was just an overnighter.
So are we really talking about luggage, no of course not. We are talking about baggage though. We all carry baggage with us everyday, and that baggage is what I want to talk about today.
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
I shared a few weeks ago about losing my grandson, how the church I was attending did nothing to come alongside me, how I was bitter, angry, and was absolutely finished with these people who seemed more interested in my $200 fee for the church than in helping a brother, sister, child of God that was in pain. I also shared how I went to the early service the day after the funeral, how the Holy Spirit spoke to me in worship about perfect love versus my perfect hate. What I did not share was that my son and my now daughter in law actually blamed my wife and I for the death of our grandson.
No we did not have anything to do with it directly, but in their eyes because they were not married and we had voiced concerns about that in their lives, after all I baptised my son just 18 months earlier into the faith, about them having a child out of wedlock. Thus, it was our fault and God punished them because of our desire for them to lead a more Godly life. The reality is their pain was burning so bright and they were so lost they had to point that anger and bitterness, the hurt and disappointment somewhere.
They did not have a right relationship to take their pain to the altar, just as we know David did in 2 Samuel 12
Way too many of us are walking around in this world today carrying all these bags with us. They cause us to stumble, trip, fall, grow weary, and just get plain tired of life sometimes. These bags represent years of hurt, mistakes, pain, bad choices, bad relationships, and so much more.
However, in our Savior there is no condemnation for our past mistakes, missteps, sins against others, etc. because we are given the gift of eternal grace. It is time to unpack all of the that worthless weight you are carrying around and learn to live free.
Some of the baggage we are carrying through life is bitterness and anger from past pain and frustration. That spills over into our current and future relationships with people and with God, it creates collateral damage.
We have to learn how to let it go, we have to learn how to bring all that baggage to the altar and leave it there for God, let it die at the altar and set us free.
We have to choose forgiveness and repentance in order to be kind, tenderhearted, and loving toward other people.
Let us begin this two part series on Baggage with Let it Go
1. Know the Issue
First thing we have to do is identify what that bag is.
Could be a carry on or it could be checked baggage, maybe a day bag.
A carry on is something we take with us daily, maybe it is that chip on the shoulder that causes you to behave a certain way towards everyone.
The checked baggage maybe something deeper, something that only comes out when that memory is brought up to the surface.
The day bag might just be one of those things that you let ruin your day and look back at the end of the day and regret it.
So clearly to let go of an issue we must first no what the issue is, what is the real problem here, we might say we need to see the item that is packed inside that baggage.
Paul tells us in the Ephesians passage there are 7things we must get rid of:
Bitterness
Rage
Anger
Brawling
Slander
Every form of malice
Unforgiveness
Now in fairness, this is really just the beginning when it comes to the wide range of negative emotions, behaviors, and attitudes we often carry with us. The question we must ask today is: where do they come from?
I mean really, it is not like we just wake up in the morning and decide, hmmm I think today is a great day to be bitter or angry.
I cannot recall anyone ever telling me “I really hope something awful happens to me today—so I can be angry” or “I really hope someone offends me and hurts me today—just so I can withhold forgiveness from them.”
Yet, if we are really honest with ourselves, there are many of us who silently who silently hold onto bitterness, anger, envy, etc. in our hearts towards other people.
The first step then, as I said, is to identify the baggage you are carrying around.
Here are a few ideas on how we do that:
Bring the process to the Lord in prayer, ask that He search you and help reveal these areas in your heart that are holding you back.
Bring the process to a trusted friend and ask them to help you identify obvious areas of trouble or blindspots that you may be missing.
If it is serious enough, and you do not already have professional counselors or mentors in your life then find one. There is a really sad stigma around seeking mental health help when there should not be. The Bible is supportive of professional help:
For lack of guidance a nation falls,
but victory is won through many advisers.
Listen to advice and accept discipline,
and at the end you will be counted among the wise.
Plans are established by seeking advice;
so if you wage war, obtain guidance.
2. Bring it into the Light
Once we know the issue the next step is get rid of it somehow. Once we identify it then we need to let it go.
Well, letting go would be our worldly approach really. God has something better for us than just letting it go.
His plan for you and I is so much bigger than just letting it go and being done with it. He is interested in healing, restoring, and letting you walk in freedom from that baggage.
1 John 1:6–9 (NIV)
If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Colossians 1:12–13 (NIV)
and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
Paul tells here that we have been rescued form the dominion of darkness.
Bitterness, anger, malice, slander, etc. are characteristics of the worldly system, the darkness, but not the kingdom of light.
As washed in the blood of the lamb believers, it is critical that we regularly evaluate ourselves by considering the “fruit” that we produce.
When we identify and recognize that our fruit is rotten, i.e. baggage, we bring it into the light. We confess and we ask forgiveness or in some cases, we need to extend forgiveness to others.
God who is faithful and just, forgives and purifies us.
Consolidate is not laying it down
I know it sounds so easy, just come forward and set down your baggage and be set free. Who does not want to walk in the freedom of the light, unhindered by the baggage they are carrying?
I mean come on, if you could have a porter haul all that junk up to the room, back to your car, or off to ticketing at the airport who would not do it.
On my trip it was not until the third to last day that we were at hotels that had carts for my riding buddy and I to haul all of our baggage at once. Wow, was that a burden lifted, made it so much easier.
But you know what, we were still hauling our baggage, we just consolidated it. Sometimes that is what we do as humans, we do not let God have it instead we just consolidate it and think it is all better now.
So how do we actually move from carrying of excess baggage, excess junk and weight, without just putting on a bigger cart so it is easier to carry? What step are missing?
3. Trust the Process
It is not easy, I know with my son and daughter in law there was nothing in my power to restore that relationship. I was hurt, my wife was hurt, they were reeling from the pain of loss and trying to make sense of something so tragic as the loss of a child. In the end I knew two things to be true. First was, I have big shoulders as a dad and if you need me to carry that burden for you son then I will. Second, my God is my ultimate Father, papa daddy, and His shoulders are even bigger than mine and He never intended for me to carry that burden either.
It comes down to trusting God and letting Him have His perfect will be done in our lives.
Can I tell you, as I wrote this sermon and thought about this life experience as an example to share, tears were flowing down my face and I had to stop and really gather myself. I realized in a flash of short prayer that my tears were not residual pain, they were not baggage, they were tears for how faithful my God is. How He restored that relationship over time, how He blessed us through the dark days, how He brought strength to us during this very difficult time.
The devil meant to use this tragedy to divide a family, to cause pain that would tear us apart. He did not count on the fact that my wife and I would combat him on our knees in prayer and refuse to accept darkness in our relationships.
The process of letting go can be a very long and very difficult one. The process of identifying what it is that is holding us back can take significantly longer than you think it should even. The process of coming into the light in fullness might not be a simple hop-skip-and jump from one place to another.
There are going to be days those bags feel so heavy, you just do not want to carry them.
I REBUKE THE DEVIL AND DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY THAT HE ATTEMPTS TO SPEAK INTO SOME OF YOU LIVES RIGHT NOW
This is when we fall to our knees, we come to this altar, we lay our baggage down, we leave it at the altar. Do not try and pick it up, do not decide the carry on baggage is okay so you are going to handle that, there will also be a matching set when you do that and you will not leave things at the altar for God.
Let the hurt, the pain, the frustration, fear, anger, rejection, and all the negative darkness die right here at the altar.
We must remind ourselves, with God all things are possible, and we must be willing to trust the process.
1 Thessalonians 4:3a (NIV)
It is God’s will that you should be sanctified:
That is clear as day, you do not need a theology degree, no special word of interpretation, it is right there in plain english, It is God’s will that you should be sanctified.
That process is not a one time thing, it is a lifelong process.
Not a day
Not a week
Not a month
Not a 3 month internship at your summer camp
Not a 20 year journey in the local church leadership
It is not any one of those things, it is all of them. The process of sanctification is all of life and God uses all kinds of situations and circumstances to constantly conform us into the image of His Son.
Let me ask you a very important question today:
Do you trust Him?
Do you trust that He has a plan and a purpose for your life? That He will work it all together for good? That there may be situations the enemy meant for evil, and yet God will use these for His good in your life?
If you can wholeheartedly answer those questions with a resounding yes, then let go of the baggage and get moving. Today is as good a day, no it is the best day because I never saw someday on the calendar, to say goodbye to anger and bitterness, pain and hate, hurt and depression, rage and malice, and any other darkness you have been holding onto.
Today is a good day to let it go.
As we come towards the end of this message and a call to action let me bring your attention to the words of Jesus John chapter 10. Jesus explains this to His disciples:
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Some versions use the term abundantly instead of full, remember abundant is one more than what you need not so much you cannot count it.
The enemy seeks today to steal, kill, and destroy you. 1 Peter tells us he prowls the earth looking to devour. One of the ways he does this is by weighing you down with excess baggage, so much trouble and heartache that you feel so burdened you cannot move forward anymore.
Jesus came hat we might experience abundant and full life in the light of the kingdom.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Again, I ask you: Do you trust Him?
Do you trust that He has a plan and a purpose for your life? That He will work it all together for good? That there may be situations the enemy meant for evil, and yet God will use these for His good in your life?
Action Step: Throw off the baggage weighing you down. Run the race of freedom. Live in the light.
