Take Only What You Need (Rev. Dr. Charley Reeb)
How many of you took a vacation this summer? Now, how many of you travel light?
I remember observing a young couple in an airport a few years ago. I was at baggage claim waiting for my luggage to appear. The husband was standing there impatiently with one small carryon bag hanging around his shoulder, waiting for his wife’s luggage.
I couldn’t help but laugh as I watched the dutiful husband with great effort pick up three large suitcases from the luggage belt. He dragged them onto a luggage cart and began to roll it out with his wife. He must have seen the grin on my face because as he passed me he said, “3 days. We were only in Atlanta 3 days and this is her luggage!” She playfully slapped him on the shoulder and said, “Well, I have a hard time figuring out what to wear so I just bring a bunch of outfits. What’s wrong with that?”
Some of us can’t help but carry a lot with us. We recognize this whenever we move. What’s the most common question we ask when we move? “How did I accumulate so much stuff?” I get it.
Brandy and I said to each other as we were getting ready to move to Lakeland, “Did my belongings reproduce and give birth? Where did all this stuff come from? It keeps multiplying!”
A ministry colleague has a wife who is a flight attendant for a major airline. One day she watched as a passenger overloaded with bags tried to stuff his belongings in the overhead bin of the plane. Finally, she informed him that he would have to check the oversized luggage.
“When I fly other airlines,” he said irritably, “I don’t have this problem.”
She smiled, “When you fly other airlines, I don’t have this problem either.”
Carrying a lot of baggage can create many problems in life, and I am not only referring to suitcases or stuff. I am also referring to emotional and spiritual baggage. Most of us over pack in life.
We weigh ourselves down with issues and wear out the people around us. Do you feel weighted down by all the baggage you are carrying? It could be grief, guilt, worry, anxiety, shame, jealousy, anger, pride, or resentment. It is hard to enjoy life and be at peace lugging all that stuff around, isn’t it?
Wouldn’t it be great to be free of all the baggage you are dragging around? Today I am going to show you how.
Some of you may find that hard to believe. Maybe you have tried for years to let go of all your baggage but you can’t bring yourself to do it. Perhaps you are thinking, “Really Charley, one little sermon is going to do it for me?” Yep. Because in all your struggles with your baggage you’ve held on to one thought, one idea that keeps you from letting your baggage go.
Some of us get up every morning and over pack our hearts with baggage. Some of you have been doing it so long it is simply habit. You are worried sick about your children and you think, “I must worry all the time so I will be more prepared when something happens.” You are bitter about how your loved one treated you several years ago and ever since you have your guard up all the time. You feel so ashamed about something you did and you think if you carry that shame around long enough you will earn forgiveness and mercy.
For years you have been carrying this junk around and it has not only affected you, but it has had a huge impact on your relationships. Have you ever considered the impact that excess baggage has on relationships?
I read about a powerful drama that makes this point really well. In his book Traveling Light, Max Lucado writes, “A wedding is reenacted in which we hear the thoughts of the bride and groom. The groom enters, laden with luggage. A bag dangles from every appendage. And each bag is labeled: guilt, anger, arrogance, insecurities. This fellow is loaded. As he stands at the altar, the audience hears him thinking, Finally, a woman who will help me carry all my burdens. She’s so strong, so stable, so . . .
“As his thoughts continue, hers begin. She enters, wearing a wedding gown but, like her fiancé, covered with luggage. Pulling a hanging bag, shouldering a carry-on, hauling a makeup kit, paper sack—everything you could imagine and everything labeled. She has her own bags: prejudice, loneliness, disappointments. And her expectations? Listen to what she is thinking: Just a few more minutes and I’ve got me a man. No more counselors. No more group sessions. So long, discouragement and worry. I won’t be seeing you anymore. He’s going to fix me.
Finally, they stand at the altar, lost in a mountain of luggage. They smile their way through the ceremony, but when given the invitation to kiss each other, they can’t. How do you embrace someone if your arms are full of bags?”
Some of you carry so much baggage that you are unable to have healthy relationships. Your marriage suffers. Your friendships suffer. It is time to do something about it. Some of you actually showed up to worship today with a lot of baggage. Your heart feels heavy and your soul is tired. It is good you brought it with you today because this message is going to set you free from it.
I want to help set all of us free today by taking a look at one of the most beloved passages in the Bible – the 23rd Psalm. There are two verses phrases in the Psalm that have the power to set us free from what we are lugging around. One of them is verse 3: “He restores my soul.”
Now remember David was a shepherd. He wrote this psalm out of his own knowledge as a shepherd. The background of this phrase is life changing. Carolyn Gibson writes, “From time to time a shepherd is required to restore his sheep for sheep have a tendency to get ‘cast down.’ Phillip Keller, in his book, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, describes what happens when a sheep is cast down. It finds itself on its back, all four legs straight up in the air, and unable to get back up. The attentive shepherd will set it back on its feet, massaging life back into its limbs. The shepherd restores the sheep.
“What causes the sheep to become cast down in the first place? Most often it’s because they have too much wool! The sheep’s fleece becomes very long, heavily matted with mud and burrs and other debris so that it is weighed down with its own wool, rendered totally helpless and useless.
“Sheep do not enjoy being sheared, but it must be done and when it is over, there is a great relief. Take a look (photo). There is no longer the threat of being cast down and there is pleasure in being set free from the hot, heavy coat. Set free to follow the shepherd once again” (“Traveling Light”).
That’s what God wants to do for you today. He wants to shear you of all the heavy wool that is weighing you down. He wants to take from you all the things that have you stuck in the mire of life.
Jesus gives us this invitation in Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
Here is the message that will set you free today. You ready? Letting go of your baggage means trusting God with burdens you are not supposed to carry.
You see, so many of us carry all this baggage around because somehow we think we are supposed to be carrying it. We feel obligated to carry it. We think it is our job. We feel guilty if we are not lugging it around. Where does it say in the Bible that we are supposed to lug our burdens around? I have never read it. Instead, the Bible tells us over and over again to give our worries and cares to God. Not only because God wants us to be at peace, but God also wants to use us! God wants to use you! But how can he if you are exhausted, if you are lugging around a bunch of stuff?
So how do we let our baggage go? Well, that leads to another powerful image in the 23rd Psalm. It is verse 2: “He leads me beside still waters.” If we want to be set free from our baggage, to be sheared of our heavy wool we have to be still. God can’t do it unless we are still before him. He can only lead us when we are still.
A pastor tells about a woman in his congregation. She is one of those overcommitted types, always frantically busy, never stopping to catch her breath. “I’m too busy” is her constant cry. The pastor finally asked the woman, “How do you ever expect God to get hold of you if you never stand still?” It’s a good question. And maybe an essential question for you this morning.
It is only when we are still that God can lead us. You see a lot of our baggage revolves around worry and anxiety. That’s why we can’t sit still. But when we finally take the moment to be still before God, he can lead us. Twice in the 23rd Psalm it says, “God leads us.”
Once again Lucado puts it so poignantly: “God leads us. That means God isn’t behind me, yelling, ‘Go!’ He is ahead of us saying, ‘Come!’ He is in front, clearing the path, cutting the brush, showing the way. Just before the curve, he says, ‘Turn here.’ Prior to the rise, he motions, ‘Step up here.’ Standing next to the rocks, he warns, ‘Watch your step here.’ He leads us. He tells us what we need to know when we need to know it” (Traveling Light).
This is what Hebrews 4:16 says: “We will find grace to help us when we need it” (Heb. 4: 16 NLT, emphasis mine).
Lucado compares God’s help to the way a father gives plane tickets to his family. When Lucado travels with his kids, he will carry all their tickets in his satchel. When the moment comes to board the plane, he stands between the attendant and the child. As each daughter passes, he places a ticket in her hand. She, in turn, gives the ticket to the attendant. “Each one receives the ticket in the nick of time. God will do the same for you. He places himself between you and the need. And at the right time, he gives you the ticket…God leads us. God will do the right thing at the right time. And what a difference that makes. Since I know his provision is timely, I can let go all my worries, all my baggage and enjoy the present” (Traveling Light). This is exactly what Jesus tells us to do.
Take a look:
“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” -Matthew 6:34 (MSG)
Lucado writes, “That last phrase is worthy of your highlighter: ‘when the time comes.’ ‘I don’t know what I’ll do if my husband dies.’ You will, when the time comes. ‘When my children leave the house, I don’t think I can take it.’ It won’t be easy, but strength will arrive when the time comes.” I don’t know how I am going to…. You will when the time comes…
Letting go of your baggage means trusting God with burdens you are not supposed to carry. It means meeting today’s problems with today’s strength and giving the rest to God.
God’s got this. God’s got your back.
Let me give you one powerful verse of scripture to take with you each day to remind you to allow God to lead you:
You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern. -1st Peter 5:7
Whatever baggage you are carrying today, whatever it is, just give it to God and trust that he will work everything out for the best. Now notice it says “Throw.” That is the actual Greek word in the text. I like that because throwing means you get rid of it completely. You “chuck” it to God. You are free of it. It doesn’t belong to you anymore. Now this doesn’t mean we just sit around and do nothing. We do have a part to play but that part is obedience.
To help you “chuck” your baggage to God, I encourage you to write down all of your baggage on a piece of paper and then throw it into the trash. Just throw it away, and as you throw it visualize that you are throwing it over to God.
Now, I’m sure most of you know that I’m a very cultured person. Very sophisticated. Did you know that? I love good film. Really good film, like “Caddyshack.” I am still amazed that that didn’t win the Oscar. I’m still amazed that Bill Murray didn’t win the Oscar for that. Big hitter, the Dalai Lama. And “Fletch,” why didn’t “Fletch” win the Oscar? Good film. Also, there’s another one that I enjoy. Ever seen Pixar’s movie, “Up?” I’m learning to watch those a little more with Paul. You know, I never knew this. This is a revelation to me and some of you parents will say, “Well, duh, Charlie.” You know, those movies are kind of written for adults, too. I can actually sit through some of them.
But “Up,” how many of you have seen “Up?” What a great movie. It’s about this guy who wants to go to Paradise Falls, this beautiful place. He thinks, “How can I fly? How can I get to Paradise Falls?” Then he has an idea. “I will connect helium balloons to my house and I will float there.” That’s what he does. It works for a while. He floats and he floats and he’s headed to Paradise Falls and he floats and he floats.
But then some of the balloons begin to pop and the house begins to sink and he’s frantic. “What am I going to do? How can I stop this? How can I rise again?” Then he discovers the only way to do it is to throw out all of his stuff, to let it go, to throw it out. That’s what he does. He throws out the furniture, throws out the clothes, throws out all of his stuff, and what happens? As he does that, his house begins to float, float, float, float, higher, higher, higher.
What’s holding you back from soaring with the Shepherd? Pride? Shame? Doubt? Just let it go. The Shepherd will take care of all that. Let the Shepherd grab hold of you. Trust God’s heart. He knows you are tired and worn out, carrying baggage you don’t need to carry. Don’t you think you have been carrying it long enough? Isn’t it time to let the Shepherd have it? He is waiting for you to throw it all over to him. You can trust him. The Shepherd’s got this.
Devotional Guide:
Monday – Read the 23rd Psalm out loud (whether you are alone or with a group). Which part of the Psalm stands out for you today? We all have favorite parts of this Psalm but depending on where we are in our lives there may be a particular verse that speaks to us. What is that verse for you? Why does this verse speak to you and what is the message? How will you apply that message to your life today?
Tuesday – Verse 3 of the 23rd Psalm is powerful – “He restores my soul.” Some translations say, “He refreshes my soul.” Does your soul need restoring? The sermon this week reminded us that sometimes the heavy baggage and burdens we carry can wear us out emotionally and spiritually. We need to let go of the burdens and grab hold of God’s hand and he will restore us. Read and memorize Matthew 11:28.
Wednesday – Today go back to verse 2 of the 23rd Psalm – “He leads me beside still (or quiet) waters.” In order to give our burdens to God and find peace, we must be still. Some folks are burned out spiritually because they cannot be still. How can God lead us if we are too busy to be still before him. The noise from our worries and fears can also drown out the voice of God. How will you work on being still before God this week?
Thursday – Read Hebrews 4:16. One translation of this verse reads, “We will find grace to helps us when we need it.” Many of the burdens we carry can be found by completing this sentence, “What will I do if…” The verse reminds us that God will give us what we need to cope and overcome when the time comes. Read Matthew 6:34. How would your life be different if you could let go of the worries of tomorrow and embrace God’s presence with you today? What have you been missing in life?
Friday – Read 1 Peter 5:7. The word “cast” in Greek literally means “throw.” You can throw your burdens to God! Once you do that, those burdens aren’t yours anymore. You can then put your focus on God and being obedient to him. Try writing down all of your burdens on a piece of paper and then throwing it in the trash. What are the burdens in your life that need to be thrown out? In what ways would your life and faith improve by throwing away your burdens?