Today we begin a new sermon series entitled, “Summer Baggage.”

Many times we hear someone say something like, “That person has a lot of baggage.” Or you may hear, “They are bringing a lot of baggage into their relationship.”

We hear people talk about “emotional baggage.”

Ministry Pass defines emotional baggage this way:

Invisible burdens weighing us down on our journey. (Ministry Pass)

Today I brought some baggage from home. A few years ago we bought a new luggage set to take with us on our Alaskan cruise. On the outside this looks like a large suitcase. But as we open it up we find out there is a lot more on the inside.

That’s the way it is with most of us. We keep our baggage tucked away nicely out of sight of everyone else. We try to hide what’s really going on within. But the reality is we are ALL CARRYING INVISIBLE BURDENS THAT WEIGH US DOWN ON OUR JOURNEY.

We all have “baggage.” Some of these burdens are caused by others and some of these burdens are caused by our own decisions. I want you to think about the invisible burdens that are weighing you down this morning.

In discussing this with some friends this week I asked them what they thought of when they thought of different types of “baggage” that we tend to carry around with us. I thought the responses were insightful:

Baggage caused by stress

Financial baggage

Baggage caused by the busyness of life

Baggage of past choices

The baggage of past trauma/past hurts

Over the next few weeks we will look at different types of baggage that often invade our lives and that are extremely heavy to bear. We will also look at the Biblical solutions that will help us “have a lighter load to carry.”

Today, we will be looking at the

The Baggage of Bitterness

Join me please in Matthew 18 and let’s notice a parable Jesus told

Matthew 18:21–35 ESV

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

As I read through this parable this week and gave it some thought I realized that there are...

Some Things We Need to Remember:

We Need to Remember we Also Owed a Debt we Could Never Pay

In this parable Jesus tells the story of two men who both owed a debt. The first man owed 10,000 talents!

The Christian Standard Study Bible notes:

The ten thousand talents was equivalent to a billion days’ worth of peasant wages. This was more money than was circulating in all of Palestine. The talent was the largest unit of currency (equivalent to approximately six thousand days’ worth of wages)...

The point Jesus was making is that this man owed more money than he could repay in several lifetimes. His debt was insurmountable. When it came time for him to repay the debt he began to beg and plead for more time to repay the debt (v. 26), although it was an impossibility.

However, the king decided, out of pity for the man and his family, to forgive him of the great debt that was owed. He completely wiped the man’s slate clean. It’s not that he required him to pay back a percentage of what he owed, but rather, the man who owed an insurmountable debt was COMPLETELY FREE of the debt.

This parable reminds us of our OWN DEBT WE OWED TO GOD...

Thus we see that in this allegory the sum represents the sinner’s hopeless debt to God...Forgiving such a loan is an astounding act of grace.

Aren’t you thankful for the ASTOUNDING ACT OF GRACE that God demonstrated toward YOU and I so we could be forgiven of the HOPELESS DEBT we owed to a holy God? We had no hope to ever pay our debt in this lifetime or even in eternity. Yet God made a way for us to be forgiven…He allowed Christ to pay the debt that we could never pay so that we could be FREE FROM THE BAGGAGE OF SIN!

However, this parable also reminds me of another truth...

We Need to Remember we Live Among Broken People who will Cause us Pain

The man in this parable was not only indebted to the king, but he had someone who was indebted to him.

Just as we have hurt God by our sin and rebellion against Him, we all know people who have hurt us in some way. We often feel like the hurt they have caused us is like a debt. We feel they OWE us an apology. We may think that we DESERVE to see them hurt the way they hurt us. We might think in our minds, THEY WILL GET WHAT’S COMING to them or WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND.

We live in a broken world and we live among broken people and SOONER or LATER other broken people will cause us PAIN!

The man in this parable not only owed money, but was owed money. Rather than treat the person who owed him a small amount of money with the MERCY and GRACE he had just received, notice what he chose to do...

Matthew 18:28–30 ESV

But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.

How are YOU going to react when people cause you pain?

Are you going to extend GRACE and MERCY to them like GOD extended grace and mercy to you or are you going to WITHHOLD the grace and mercy that you have received?

We learn from the book of Ephesians that there are different ways we can react to this...

Some Ways we can React:

We Can Be Angry or we can Stay Angry

Ephesians 4:26–27 ESV

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.

There are some things that should make us angry. Anger in and of itself is not necessarily sin. It’s ok to be angry for the RIGHT reason and for the RIGHT season.

However, BEING angry and STAYING angry are two different things. We should allow the momentary anger we feel or have about someone or something to MOTIVATE us to DO the RIGHT thing in the RIGHT way at the RIGHT time.

However, if we STAY angry and STEW in our anger, it usually leads us to doing the WRONG thing in the WRONG way. Someone pointed out to me last week that when we ACT and REACT out of unhealthy anger we tend to do so immaturely. I had never thought about that before.

When you are angry do you react maturely or immaturely? I don’t know about you, but I tend to react in a childish way. I tend to act IMMATURELY when I’m angry and if we STAY angry we probably aren’t going to be making mature decisions as a result!

Paul said, we must not let the sun go down on our anger. We must not give opportunity to the devil. When we STAY angry, when we go to bed angry, we are giving the enemy a residence in our minds and emotions. When you STAY angry you find that your anger is controlling you rather than you controlling your anger.

When looking at things from a human perspective we might assume a lady by the name of Corrie ten Boom would have become a bitter, angry, old woman. After all, she was in a concentration camp during the Holocaust and survived unspeakable things. But instead of STAYING angry she dedicated her life to traveling and sharing God’s message of forgiveness. She is quoted as saying...

“There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.”

On one occasion while she was speaking, one of the former guards of the concentration camp that she was at, came to hear her speak. She really began to struggle and a variety of emotions began to rise up with in her. However she chose to practice what she had been preaching and she CHOSE to forgive him.

She went to him, embraced him, wept with him and held his hand. After this encounter she admitted:

“I had never known God’s love so intensely, as I did then. But even so, I realized it was not my love. I had tried, and did not have the power. It was the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Corrie Ten Boom could have carried around the baggage of bitterness the rest of her life. She could have STAYED angry. However, by God’s grace and through the power of the Holy Spirit she chose to FORGIVE.

How about you? Are you going to STAY ANGRY? Are you going to let the BAGGAGE of BITTERNESS weigh you down. Are you going to grow into a bitter old man or a bitter old woman, if your bitterness doesn’t take you out first?

Something else we learn from the passage in Ephesians is this...

We Can Experience the Freedom that Forgiveness Brings or be Imprisoned by our Own Bitterness

Forgiveness bring FREEDOM, bitterness brings BONDAGE! Paul goes on to say in this passage...

Ephesians 4:31–32 ESV

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

He tells us to PUT AWAY THE BAGGAGE of bitterness, along with wrath, anger, slander and malice.

According to the Blue Letter Bible the word for “BITTERNESS” means “EXTREME WICKEDNESS”. It refers to a “BITTER ROOT” that produces “BITTER FRUIT.” Remember if we SOW SEEDS of bitterness, what kind of FRUIT do you think we are going to reap? Anne Peterson said that the seeds of bitterness...

…ripen into full grown resentment. (Anne Peterson)

Instead he instructs us to carry a much lighter load. We are to rid ourselves of the BAGGAGE that weighs us down and instead GIVE AWAY kindness, and Christlike forgiveness from a heart that has been made TENDER by the Holy Spirit.

Before we leave this behind I want to mention two others things...

Two Final Things:

A Lack of Bitterness Does not Mean a Lack of Boundaries

Forgiving someone who has violated you in some way, especially if that person is not sorry and unwilling to repent, is a scary thing. Forgiving someone does not mean that you should put yourself in a dangerous situation. A lack of bitterness does not mean a lack of boundaries.

For instance, Jesus told us how to handle those within the church that have sinned against us with an unrepentant heart...

Matthew 18:15–20 ESV

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

If the person who claims to be a believer is unwilling to repent after being confronted on three different occasions, by three different groups of people, then boundaries must be established and you must separate from that person in hopes that they will repent.

Just because you free yourself from the “BAGGAGE of bitterness,” it does not mean that you don’t have BOUNDARIES. Forgiveness and reconciliation are not the same.

You can FORGIVE and rid yourself of the BAGGAGE of bitterness without the other person ever recognizing or confessing their wrongdoing. While they may continue to live in the BONDAGE of their sin and pride, you can live in the FREEDOM that Christ has provided for you.

While RECONCILIATION is the ultimate goal it is not always possible. While forgiveness only takes one, reconciliation takes two.

Christ provided a sacrifice that is SUFFICIENT to forgive EVERY PERSON of EVERY SIN ever committed. Yet reconciliation only takes place with those who recognize their sinfulness, repent and throw themselves on the mercy of God.

The “ball” is in your court. FORGIVENESS and RECONCILIATION to God is made possible through Christ. Christ has already paid the price for you to be forgiven. What will you do with the FORGIVENESS and RECONCILIATION He offers to you?

Have You Experienced God’s Forgiveness?

Share the Gospel

Today you should have a small piece of paper and a pen close by. If you are a Christian today I want you to think about the “hidden baggage” you have in your life. It may be the “BAGGAGE OF BITTERNESS”. It may be some other type of emotional baggage, it might be the baggage of addiction, it might be the baggage of pride, it might be the baggage of unforgiveness, it might be the baggage of something you did in your past that continually haunts you and weighs you down.

It might be something we’ve talked about today and it might be something we’ve not talked about today.

Whatever it is I want you to write it down on that piece of paper. I don’t want you to put your name, but just write down the name of that baggage…bitterness, pornography, unforgiveness, addiction, pride, selfishness...

Whatever it is, write it down and then get up and drop the piece of paper in this suitcase. This is going to represent you coming clean and honest with God about the baggage that’s weighing you down.

Paul says to “PUT IT AWAY.” Dropping that piece of paper in this suitcase is an illustration of you putting it away. It’s an illustration of you leaving it behind. It’s an illustration of you taking layer, after layer, after layer, of unseen burdens off of your shoulders and placing them on the shoulders of the Lord Jesus.

His YOKE is EASY and His BURDEN is light. He will take your baggage. He can handle your baggage.

Will you give it to Him today?

Say something to the non-Christians...