Promises: Who’s Carrying Your Baggage? Matthew 11: 28-29; Matt. 16: 24-26
A few years ago, I decided to treat myself to a nice vacation, so I headed down to Savannah for the weekend. A couple friends and I had gotten a swanky hotel and were planning on bumming around the city for a couple of days just for some rest and relaxation, and on my honor, I completely behaved. You are not getting any confessions from me in this sermon, nor any “chief of sinners, though I be” moments here.. But as my friends and I walked into this gorgeous hotel, we watched an odd scene.
There was a young bellhop managing the suitcases, and this wealthy-looking lady came in with a truckload of gigantic, heavy suitcases. The poor young man was barely 5’4” and slender at that. We watched as he loaded up every single suitcase and started dangerously teetering forward and side to side wobbling with the heavy load of luggage. I was beside myself wanting to help him and asked if he needed an extra hand as he went by. With a look of horror, he said, “NOOO! This is my job!” and kept lugging the heavy bags forward. The rich lady, however, paid no notice to his struggle. She was utterly oblivious as to what she had dumped on him, and I hazard a guess that she wasn’t going to tip him well for the struggle either.
Watching all of this got me thinking…who’s carrying your baggage or my baggage, and I don’t mean the Samsonite version? Who’s carrying your baggage? In Matthew 11:28, we read that Jesus says, “Come unto me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” How many of us carry heavy burdens? How many of us can sleep eight hours, drink all the water we need in a day, exercise, eat lean meat and vegetables, and still wake up the next morning feeling weary and burdened, or as the King James Version puts it, “heavy laden?”
It doesn’t matter how strong you are, how good a leader, or even if you’re the best of everything. If your soul is tired no amount of forced perfection will keep you from feeling weary and heavy laden. It’s your soul that needs rest, not your body. As the old hymn says, “Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care? Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer.” Jesus says to come to him if you are weary and carry heavy burdens and he will give you rest.
Who’s carrying your baggage? Does every bit of it rest on your shoulders? Are your past decisions weighing on you? Are your mind and your soul so overwrought that each thought feels like it takes every effort your body has? Take it to the Lord in prayer! Or as Jesus says in Matthew 16, “Give up your own way, take up my cross, and follow me.” You will never find rest until you realize that you are not meant to carry your baggage. That’s not your purpose. You were designed to walk with the Savior, to have that relationship where the One who loves you takes your burdens and carries them for you. You were meant to have faith that God is bigger than your burdens. This is why we believe Jesus—for that promise. God will carry your burdens for you—and help you through them.
But now, we have to be careful. We’re told to take it to the Lord in prayer, but that means our baggage falls on God’s shoulders, and not everyone else’s around us. No one else should become responsible for your spiritual baggage. The preacher is here to help, but ultimately things have to be worked out between you and God. Jimmy Swaggart, an old televangelist, told a story many years that talks about dumping your burdens on others.
A chicken and a pig were on the farm one day. They decided to make breakfast for everyone at the farm. The chicken turned to the pig and said, “Alright, I’ll provide the eggs for it, and you provide the ham and bacon.” The chicken, however, only had to lay a couple of eggs. The pig would have to be killed to provide his part. Jesus said, “Come unto me,” but he did not give us permission to dump our burdens on others. Jesus has the shoulders to bear it.
We sometimes have to stop and ask who exactly is carrying our baggage. The truth is it’s your baggage and your responsibility. No one else can go to Jesus for you to fix it. Your pastor can’t carry it for you. No one else can fix what is broken in your life except you and Jesus. Now you can find help and get treatment. There are always people willing to help you with the burdens you face, but that doesn’t mean your burdens become their burdens. The chicken was willing to make the pig give everything for the breakfast. The rich lady was willing to unload all her heavy bags on the poor bellhop at the hotel. When we have tremendous spiritual baggage and troubles, they should go to Jesus, who will carry the heavy load for us. If you need rest, you will find it in Jesus and Jesus alone, for he said clearly, “Come unto me.”
Finally, if we’re laying down our baggage and resting in Jesus, we have to ask what exactly we are to carry? You see, we don’t get away totally free here. Jesus doesn’t just take it all and let us run around with nothing to do. In Matthew 16, we hear that if you want to follow Jesus…now it’s one thing to believe in Jesus, it’s another to follow. If you want to follow Jesus, give up your way of doing things, take up the cross and follow Jesus. It’s a give and take. Give up what you’re doing to Jesus and take up the cross from Jesus.
Now pastors often love to give a laundry list of things that this means. Usually the first is tithing to the church. And yes, you are supposed to tithe. You want a church or a ministry, you got bills to pay, that’s how life works, but taking up the cross isn’t just about an offering plate. Sometimes pastors say it’s about volunteering and doing outreach. Yes, that’s certainly a part of taking up your cross, but anyone can do those things…donating time or money whether you’re a follower of Christ or not. Maybe it means you show up every time the church door opens, and yes you should. But, as we all know, even the wicked can sit in church among the righteous and still look all dressed up.
Taking up your cross means something more. It’s not an activity or a job list. It’s a matter of the heart. Just like your pastor felt the call of God to lead and pray and become a minister, each one of us feels a call too. It’s a willingness to work for the good of God’s kingdom. You take up your cross when you prioritize that working for and living with God is more powerful than any other force, or struggle, or issue in your life. It’s your joy in spite of the pain and trouble. It’s your very breath of life to come into this place and living within us. You can deal with every little thing in the world. But God isn’t interested in how well you navigated Planet Earth. God is interested in your heart and your soul.
So maybe in life you have some heavy baggage. Perhaps there’s something in your heart and soul that you’ve carried around for years. Maybe there are dark and dirty things that you carry in your life, that are hidden, that you and you alone wrestle with every day. Maybe you believe in God, you come to church, but you’re kind of staring at the cross not so ready to pick it up. Maybe you just feel a little broken and weary, and it’s never ending.
Jesus says to you, “Come unto me.” Jesus will welcome you and will carry your baggage. That doesn’t matter if it’s one carry on bag, or all the suitcases going through Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. It’s time to lay those burdens down and find that Jesus’s burden is light. It’s a cross, a calling that we carry, to love God, love our neighbors, and share that love in this world. Come and find a calling, come and find a moving, guiding, loving Savior. But most of all, come and find rest for your souls in Christ.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/579070553079503