Life in Christ: Truth / Colossians 2:6-8, 16-23 / Lance Blythe

Great to continue in this Colossians series this morning.

And I wonder if you have ever uh met someone before in person who you knew from afar, but you had this opportunity to meet them in person.

Have you ever done that before?

Someone who you've known their reputation, maybe some kind of celebrity, some sporting person.

Uh maybe you lit you work in a big multinational corporation, you know the CEO from a distance, but you've never actually met them, and one day you were having coffee with them.

Have you ever had this experience of meeting someone who you felt you knew but you only knew them from afar?

And now you met the true, real, in-the-flesh person.

What was it like?

Were they what you expected them to be?

Particularly someone who you had a high uh expectation of, somebody who you really liked from afar.

Have you ever had the experience that you liked them?

You thought they were you'd get along really well with them, and then you met them, and they weren't very kind.

They didn't have much time for you, they didn't look at you in the eye, they were too busy, they pushed past, they they didn't slow down and spend time with you, and you're left thinking, oh, I didn't think they'd be like that.

Or maybe you've had the inverse experience of that, somebody who you really didn't like.

You were like, no, I'd never get along with them, I don't agree with them, they've got a reputation that goes before them, that they're pretty brutal and mean and rough, and and they wouldn't sit well uh in my life, and then you met them and they were lovely, they were warm, they were generous, they asked you questions about you and they were interested in your life and who you were, and you got to know them, and you thought, oh, now I've got a problem.

Now I actually like them.

It's a funny thing when you meet someone for the first time in person, but you felt you knew them, you knew their reputation, you knew of them, but you never met them uh for real in the flesh.

Which version of the person do you keep after that encounter?

Which version of the person is the one that you move forward with?

It's actually a trickier question than it seems because if you love the person but they weren't very kind in in person, you might think, oh, they were having a bad day.

You'll make excuses for them, you'll try and make gaps for them, you'll say they were busy, it wouldn't be in their fault, they wouldn't have really been like that.

We just didn't get a good chance to make a connection.

If we had another chance, it would be better.

So you choose to maybe believe in the reputation and not what you met on that day, or the person who you didn't think you'd like and they were lovely, we've got a real problem.

Now I can't box them into the kind of box I had them, that they're mean and nasty and unkind.

Actually, they're far more complex and complicated than that.

There's something that I need to do with the reputation versus the actual person who I met.

And this is the question that we come to in Colossians chapter 2 today.

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

This is the question that the text will ask us through the lands of faith in Jesus.

Will you love Jesus alone?

Or are you at risk of adding some things to him?

Running off some reputation, running off some ideas, running off some nice sounding thoughts, running off some things that you've heard, and adding to a collection, a mosaic of things that are about the reputation of who he is, what you heard he's like, and building this picture of faith that may not actually be who he truly is.

So we're gonna jump into the text from Colossians chapter two, and just to give you a heads up, we're gonna read two kind of chunks of chapter two.

We've split it up a little bit because Paul does one of these Paul things if you read some of his letters where he talks about something and then runs off over here and then comes back to something.

And so we're gonna stay with the something over here, leave the bit over there for Andrew to speak on next week.

And oh, how I'd love to speak about that bit today.

Andrew's got a great bit to work with next week, but we just can't fit it all in the time allotted today.

And so I'm gonna do a little bit of the setup and the through ball today, and Andrew's got the pressure to kick the goal next week.

And so pressure's on for you next week, Andrew.

And so don't miss our week to come.

We're gonna read uh chapter two, verses six to eight, and then we're gonna jump to verse 16 after that.

And you'll see the logical follow-through of the idea that Paul's uh working through.

Verse six of chapter two.

So then, just as you receive Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

And then jumping to verse 16, therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a new moon celebration, or a Sabbath day.

These are a shadow of the things that were to come.

The reality, however, is found in Christ.

Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you.

Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen.

They are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual minds.

They have lost connection with their head, from whom the whole body supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews grows, as God causes it to grow.

Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belong to the world, do you submit to what rules?

Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch.

These rules which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use are based on merely human commands and teachings.

Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

And so the church in Colossae is clearly under pressure.

There's clearly some things going on that there's a movement to add and to include and to incorporate all sorts of other ideas into their faith.

And there's a lot of debate among scholars as to exactly what it is that Paul is talking about here.

It's not fully clear the things that Paul is speaking about, but he hints at, he alludes at, he gives us some ideas to work with.

It seems that it's a letter to some friends who know exactly what he's talking about, and we're kind of reading on, trying to piece together the pieces from our perspective.

But what it seems is in the text is that there's some cultural practices and some religious practices that are being woven into the church into Colossae.

Some of the cultural practices, there's this mention in there in verse 18 about angel worship.

And what we know within the city of Colossae is that they were very superstitious.

They would wear um jewelry and necklaces and have practices to bring good luck, to keep the gods happy.

There were these cultural practices around superstition.

And so maybe these practices were finding those their ways into the church and their worship.

Maybe people were just continuing on as normal.

It's just a cultural practice, it's just a piece of wood, it doesn't mean anything.

And were continuing on their cultural practices after they came to faith in Jesus.

And Paul is saying, Why would you do that?

Why would you continue on these things that you know have lost all meaning and power?

There's some religious practices that Paul seems to speak to in verse 16.

There's food laws, Sabbath laws, religious ceremonies.

These seem to be part of the Jewish religious system that you need to adhere to these laws and these practices and ways of living if you are a Jew.

These are the ways that you honor God and practice your religion.

And Paul says they were, but now they are a shadow.

They are but a shadow of Christ who has come in the fullness.

They are a shadow, they give some shape, they give some meaning, they give some context, some idea of who he is, but they are not God themselves.

They are merely just a shadow of him who has come.

We have met him in bodily form in Jesus.

So the question for the church in Colossae is: will they continue to mix these concepts?

Will they continue to add to a mosaic of faith that is following Jesus, or will they turn to the faith that they were given, the one that they were planted in?

The same question that I started with today.

Will we settle for the reputation of someone?

Or will we look them in the eyes and live with the actual experience of the person?

This is the dilemma for the church in Colossae, and this is our faith dilemma for us today.

Because we too can be caught in creating this mosaic of faith, taking all sorts of good and interesting and nice ideas and adding them into our understanding of Jesus, mixing them up into this beautiful, colorful picture of who it is, to what it is to follow Jesus and what he might be like in our world today.

We too have the same challenge that Paul is teaching into, writing this letter towards for the church in Colossae.

Why don't we think about it like this today?

My question is, do you live a Jesus and kind of faith?

Or a Jesus full stop kind of faith?

Paul is cautioning the church against a Jesus and approach to faith.

He's saying don't take on a Jesus and approach to faith.

Instead, it's a Jesus full stop.

Put your attention, put your heart, put your mind, put your eyes towards Jesus full stop.

Don't worry about any additions and ideas and pictures, they're just shadows, reputations.

Turn your eyes towards Jesus.

This is what Paul is inviting the church in Colossae and us today to practice.

You know, when I was early in my pastoral leadership journey, I felt a lot of pressure.

I felt a lot of pressure that I had to perform, that I had to lead well, that I had to have answers, that I needed to be the model of faith for people who I was leading in ministry.

I felt a lot of pressure.

People needed to be discipled, ministries needed to be run, answers needed to be given, confidence needed to be found in the ministry and in its leader, there needed to be security, stability.

All of these things were needed so that people would be drawn towards Jesus.

And I figured if I was a good enough leader, if I could grow, if I could be everything that people needed, then they would be drawn towards Jesus.

If I could answer their questions, if I could live a morally sound life, if I could be all that is needed in the right, godly kind of leader, it would set up great ministry.

And this pressure that I felt led me to want to read and study and listen and understand everything I possibly could to try and stuff as much into me as I could so that it'd be enough to give out to other people.

And in many ways, my faith started to become a Jesus and approach to faith, Jesus and competence, Jesus and understanding, and wisdom, knowledge, Jesus and right living, Jesus and right decisions, Jesus and high morals, Jesus and perfection.

The pressure that I felt was rubbing off on this pursuit that I needed to have more.

I was constantly chasing after more so that I could be enough.

And one day as I was reading out my Bible, taking notes, doing this very thing, I read something and I thought, oh, that's fantastic.

That'll work.

That'll fit in a in a sermon, that'll fit in a teaching series, that'll work in a small group.

And I felt like God said to me, Lance, sometimes I tell you things just for you.

It's not about them.

Sometimes I want to tell you something just for you.

Not to make you a better leader, not to make you a better pastor, not to give you an answer to somebody's question.

Sometimes, Lance, it's just about me and you.

That you might know me and you might follow me.

And it hit me, it made me stop and think.

It had such an impact that I wrote a little note on this sheet of paper.

I stuck it in a journal or front of the Bible or back of my bedroom door.

I can't remember where.

I just remember reading it time and time again, and it said, it's not always about them.

And I read it every single day, reminding myself it's not always about them when God speaks.

It may well be just a word, an encouragement, a thought for me.

I didn't realize it at the time, but I had found myself falling into the trap of a Jesus Anne's kind of faith.

And God in his graciousness was gently calling me back to a faith centered around just knowing Him.

Leadership, ministry, wisdom, understanding, all of these things, they would come in time.

They'll sort themselves out.

But what mattered most was remaining deeply planted in Jesus.

I needed to cultivate and care for a Jesus full stop kind of faith.

And what can happen in our lives is that we can be so easily caught up with all manner of things that bring identity and understanding and purpose and meaning to our lives, but they're all Jesus and pursuits.

We don't realize it.

We think they fall in the category of a Jesus full stop kind of faith, but actually we need to take time to listen carefully to ask questions and realize they fall in the category of a Jesus and pursuit of faith.

Could be Jesus and morals, values, right living, clean living, Jesus and perfect answers, understanding, knowing the answer to the question that you're asked at the workplace or in the friendship circle.

Maybe it's Jesus and justice.

Jesus and evangelism.

Welcome to my news feed this week.

These are the two ideas that were bubbling away all week.

One person is saying, we are all for justice.

We need to feed the poor, we need to clothe the naked, we need to house the homeless.

Faith in Jesus is all about justice.

The next person gets on and says, No, it's all about evangelism.

What's the point of feeding them if they're not going to go to heaven?

We've got to tell them about Jesus.

Jesus in justice.

Jesus in evangelism.

Both could be caught up in the Jesus full stop kind of faith.

But we identify ourselves, we we give guidance and understanding in our life based on some of the things we put after the end.

What about dare I say it, Jesus in the Bible?

We're a Bible-believing church, some churches identify themselves as.

Then the next one down the road says, Well, we're a spirit-led church.

Jesus in the Bible, Jesus in the Spirit, we start adding these additional things to give us a sense of identity, meaning, and purpose.

Are we adding beyond what's needed and what's found in the identity and person of Jesus?

And maybe we look at our world and we interpret our times today through different movements and ideas and persuasions in this world.

Could it be that your faith is a Jesus and conservatism kind of faith?

Maybe others of us here are a Jesus and liberalism kind of faith.

The exact opposite, and maybe others are a Jesus and moderatism.

There you go, I just gave all of us a whack.

We're all even now.

How easy it is to see Jesus through the political landscape of our days, to create his identity based on where we are and not the other way around.

Culturally, maybe Jesus and success, Jesus and health, Jesus and wellness, Jesus and prosperity.

Is there an image of what it looks like to be the model, ideal Christian in your mind?

If I asked you to picture what your life thriving and Jesus doing everything that he desires in your life, if I asked you to picture what would that look like, what would come to mind?

Quite possibly in that picture there's a bunch of Jesus and all sorts of things that come next.

I hear people say, sometimes I'm not a good enough Christian.

I think they're marking themselves against all of the things that come after the end.

I notice, I don't hear it overtly, but I notice subtly that I think we sometimes look down our noses and say, Oh, they're not really living the Christian way.

And what I think is they're not really adding up to the things that come after the end.

Jesus and Jesus and Jesus and maybe even it comes to our most sacred parts of our lives.

What about Jesus and marriage?

Jesus and family, Jesus and parenting, Jesus and children.

Whether it's because we long for and don't have, and somehow it's subtly been woven into our identity of faith, or we have and take for granted and think this is a picture of God's blessing in my life.

But if one was to be taken away from me, I'd have a faith crisis.

If something happened in my marriage or in my children, my faith would be at risk, and I'd say, Jesus, why would you do this to me?

They're Jesus and approaches to faith.

Subtly and unknowingly, these things creep into our picture of who Jesus is.

Many are wonderful, they're beautiful, they're great, positive things.

They may well be shadows.

They show us a shape, they give us a hint.

There's a picture of who Jesus is because of the shadow.

It looks a little bit like him, but it's not him.

This text invites us to a Jesus full stop kind of faith.

Because there's plenty of nice sounding, big, promising, seemingly sensible ideas and concepts that look good, but they're shadows.

They're a reputation.

They hint at him, they represent something of his nature, but they're not him.

Now, at this point, many of us might think, well, nice ideas, good thoughts.

I can hold that uh out here and wander a little bit with you, Lance.

But really, let's be honest, why would you be consumed in the shadow when you can have the real thing?

I wouldn't do something so silly like that.

Why would I build my life on the reputation, on the mosaic that you're talking about?

Why would I be consumed in that stuff when I could have Jesus in his fullness?

We talk about this all the time.

You guys speak from the platform all the time, you're like a broken record, just turn your eyes on Jesus, focus on him.

I get it, I get it, I get it.

Why would I do that?

And you see, the subtlety I think is, and the truth is, we can find that a more attractive option, the shadow than the real Jesus, because we can know him, because there's an invitation into relationship, and because we can speak to him, he can speak to us, and what comes with knowing someone, what comes with speaking to someone is being willing to allow them to speak back.

And this Jesus in the flesh as he truly is, well, he speaks back, he challenges us, he pushes us, he makes us feel uncomfortable if we would choose to let him.

He will um potentially knock back our hopes and ambitions and our dreams.

The reality is that actually dealing with the in the flesh version of him, the real Jesus, full stop kind of Jesus, means we are gonna be put off.

We're gonna be challenged, we're gonna find it difficult to walk with him sometimes, just as the examples were.

Given in the scriptures.

The disciples don't find him all that easy.

Neither do we.

The benefit of a reputation, the benefit of a shadow, it doesn't talk back.

It's two-dimensional.

It's easy.

We can reach our own conclusions, our own definitions.

We can shape the story we want based off the shadow and the reputation.

We can build all sorts of ideas and we can make it clean and simple and easy.

Fit our ideas into nice fitting boxes that line up that have all of the answers.

The reputation of someone who you've never met, well, it's easy to judge them.

You meet them in person and you realize, well, they're a mix of all sorts of complex, competing, interesting ideas.

It's great, but it is harder to interpret.

And it's also easy to find more peace and comfort with the Jesus, the shadow of Jesus.

Easy to sit in that space where we can understand, where we can be happy, where we can make sense of, where there's not a lot of challenge, and where we can go on living our life because Jesus may well not bring health, may well not bring wellness, career, marriage, family, or the answer to our dreams.

He may not meet our expectations for conservatism, liberalism, or moderatism.

And he may well ask us to think again.

Because the things he says, the things he does, the teaching that he provides, it's hard.

And the ground zero for some of this teaching comes in in Matthew 5 and 6, the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus teaches, and everything that he says, you read it and you think, Well, how could I live up to that?

How could I go on with the ideals and the stories and the things that I hold that are meant to be true of him in light of some of the things that he says here?

He says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek, blessed are the merciful, and then this kind of thing we don't want to hear, blessed are those who mourn.

We're not meant to mourn.

We're meant to celebrate, we're meant to have joy, we're meant to have satisfaction.

And Jesus says, You're blessed.

When you mourn, you'll inherit the kingdom of God.

It doesn't preach too well when Jesus is meant to make my life better.

He says, if you're in anger and you lash out and ridicule others, well, you may be in danger of the fire of hell.

And I can think, hang on, but where's my cheap and easy grace?

I just got angry once.

Come on, I thought I'd get forgiveness for anything.

And he's inviting me to take something more seriously, to step into a more deeper and costly understanding of grace and who he is.

He says, if you even look lustfully at someone, you've committed adultery.

Well, who among us now has a moral standing to run from?

Turn the other cheek, love your enemies, pray and fast in secret so that no one you see, no one would see you and think highly of you.

But practice your worship in secret in quiet so that God alone would see you and so much more.

These are just the snippets, just the tiny little outtakes, just the 20-second little TikToks of Jesus that describe to us something of who he is, and they leave us a bit uncomfortable.

Should we take them seriously?

Should we let them speak into our lives?

They're hard to understand and know what to do with.

It sounds like such a simple thing.

A Jesus full stop kind of faith.

Yeah, I'm up for that.

That's easy, I'll do that.

But all too easily it becomes more comforting and reassuring to live in the shadow, to live in the things that we can make sense of, to stick with the reputation and not take seriously the one who calls us to look to his face and be transformed by him.

Jesus full stop faith is humble, it's surrendered, it's courageous, and it's approach to God that says, You have revealed yourself in Jesus, God, and so change me, mold me, make me different than I am today so that I might be more like you.

This is the cost of a Jesus full stop kind of faith.

And so you might be wondering, well, how would we do that?

What would it look like?

I understand that maybe there's some things I gotta work on.

There's a realigning of my vision for myself and my faith, but but what can I do?

What what what might it take to live a Jesus full stop kind of faith to the full?

And Paul starts our reading today with a little bit of a clue.

He gives us something to work with here in verse six and seven.

He says to the Colossians, and may these be words to us today, as we're gathered here, so then just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Paul gives these four ideas in the text of what it looks like, four behaviors, four characteristics of what it is to live our lives deeply in Christ, to live a Jesus full stop kind of faith.

He says we're to be rooted or planted in him.

Built up, strengthened, and overflowing with thankfulness.

And I just want to work through these four things with us for a moment.

Rooted, planted, built up, strengthened, and overflowing with thankfulness.

First of all, the image of being planted.

It draws us to Jeremiah 17, 8, the Old Testament prophet who wrote that they will be like a tree planted by the water, that sends out its roots by the stream.

It does not fear when heat comes.

Its leaves are always green, it has no worries in a year of drought, and never fails to bear fruit.

This is the picture of what it is to be rooted in him, planted deeply in Christ.

There's an image that will come up on the screen.

It's an image of a great grand tree that's planted deeply in Christ.

It's the picture of a Jesus full stop kind of faith.

And a Jesus full stop kind of faith doesn't worry if we're in a season of droughts.

It doesn't need to fight and thirst for approval.

It doesn't need today to go its way in order for it to be sustained and survive.

It's not afraid in the heat of the day, and it's not afraid in the lack of rain.

Its nourishment, its strength, its guidance comes from deep below, from the life-giving stream that passes by.

And a Jesus full-stop kind of faith doesn't buckle when pressure mounts, when society heaps on the heat, when the hardship of life comes, when discouragement and disappointment, when anxiety uh takes hold, when all of the things don't go to plan, and all of the stuff that you thought was what Jesus had for you doesn't come.

A Jesus full stop kind of faith is planted and rooted deeply and carries a deep sense of peace.

It says, I know it's hot.

I'm not gonna pretend this isn't hard.

I'm not gonna just say everything is fine, but I know where my source of life comes from.

This drought, this heat, this discouragement, it will not define me.

It will not be the picture of who I am, but my sustaining strength, my nourishment, my life comes from another place.

I don't need to be justified by anything or anyone else other than Jesus Himself.

I am in him.

Life in Christ.

It's this picture of a tree planted by the stream.

And then Paul goes on to say, we are built up and strengthened.

And what we don't see in our English version, but it's there in the original Greek text, is that Paul uses what might be what's described as a passive voice, meaning that it gives an inference that we don't do this work ourselves, but it is work done by God.

He is the one who plants, he is the one who builds up, and he is the one who strengthens.

We are the participants in this work with him.

We remain planted, we go through building up, we are strengthened, but it is not our work doing it, it is him at work in and through us, we are the active participants, and this matters in understanding a Jesus full stop faith versus a Jesus and faith.

Because when we start to fight and grab and clutch and pull things in when we feel it's on us to build ourselves up, to strengthen ourselves, to make sure that we have the answers and the work and that we're all together, what we're doing is a Jesus and approach to faith.

Taking ideas, searching and seeking after nourishment and encouragement and strength, and not trusting the waters of provision and nourishment that flow straight past where God has planted us.

He is the one who plants, he is the one who builds, he is the one who strengthens, we are the co-workers.

We our lives get to be a part of his redeeming, healing, kingdom work in this world.

When we get it back the front, we start to slip into Jesus and approaches to faith instead of a Jesus full stop mode, idea, and practice of faith.

And so while planted, built up, and strengthened is in a passive voice, thankfulness comes in the active voice.

And here it means that there's something to do.

We don't just sit in a kumbaya, I've got nothing to do, it's all up to God, it's his kingdom, his work.

I get to sit back on my nice lovely couch at home and do nothing.

No, we're invited in to not just be a participant, but an active contributor to the work through the declaration and the overflowing of thankfulness here in the text.

We overflow with an attitude of joy and thankfulness and confidence because of the inner work that He is doing in us.

He does the inner work and we allow the overflow to come.

Like the bright green leaves on the tree, they're a sign of the nourishment and the strength and the health that is deep beneath the surface.

So too is thankfulness, joy, and praise evidence of the source of our faith, the one who is nourishing, strengthening, and guiding us.

We put our energy and our efforts and our thoughts into how these practices of thankfulness overflow in our lives.

How do we assess a Jesus full stop kind of faith?

Well, we picture ourselves deeply planted in Him, like a tree beside a stream.

We recognize and know and practice that we are being built up and strengthened by, in and through him.

And what we get to do is to be an overflowing fount of thankfulness, joy, peace, and praise.

We don't have to have the answers.

We don't have to do the building, we don't have to do the strengthening.

What we get to do is to be a blessing to others in this world.

We get to be the sweet sense of heaven here on earth now.

That is the work that we're called to.

That's the picture of a Jesus full stop kind of faith.

So I'm gonna land our time today with a commissioning.

I want to commission you into the places that you will go to tomorrow.

With this great story from Reese, didn't we, just a few minutes ago, of the ways he feels called to live out his faith in his workplace.

And I love some of the things that he said.

I love how he took this approach that I'm not gonna berate my work colleagues, I'm not going to turn on them, I'm not gonna tell them they need to be better, I'm not gonna take this kind of moral high ground because I I understand I was there, but what I am going to do is just be who I am.

I'm gonna focus on who Jesus is and his ways, and I'm gonna be present to the people who are there at my workplace.

There's so much in some of what Reese shared with us that I think uh we can take with us and applies into some of what Paul's writing in this letter today.

So some of my ideas today, a Jesus and kind of faith or a Jesus full stop faith, it might preach okay, it might it might work well in in our setting here, it might give you some mental brain tingles and it feels good and all of that, but unless it translate in translates into something of meaning tomorrow or this week, then it matters little.

Unless we actually embody this approach to faith in the vocational settings that we're called to, but we continue to live bound to a lesser picture of faith than what I think God has for us.

And so I want to pray for you, I want to pray a blessing over you as we land this service, commissioning you into the vocational setting that you head to tomorrow.

It might be a workplace, it might be a parenting, family setting, it might be grandparenting, it might be a setting of study.

Whatever it is, you know the vocational setting, the place, the thing that you will head to this week where you need to live a Jesus full stop kind of faith.

One that is authentic, real, and full, shaped by Jesus, molded by who he is, and following in his ways.

So I invite you to stand as we um have this moment of prayer, and as we did at the start of the service, if you would like, you can open your hands like receiving a gift, a gift from God as we pray for you and the setting that you will go to tomorrow.

Let's pray together.

Well, gracious God, thank you that you are the one who plants, you are the one who builds up, and you are the one who strengthens.

And so in faith, with the confidence, we believe that tomorrow we will go to the places where you have planted us, where you have called us, where you have sent us.

And these places align with the faith that you have planted within us.

These vocational settings are the opportunities where we can be the scent of heaven on earth.

So, Lord Jesus, would you mold us?

Would you shape us?

Would you move us more into the image of you that you have created us to be?

We don't want to be people who settle for shadows, reputations, or ideas, but we want to walk in the ways of you, Jesus.

We want to look into your eyes, into your face, and earnestly seek you and live your ways in this world.

And so, Lord God, I pray a blessing over every person here in this room or online who seeks to receive this commissioning from you.

As we go tomorrow, we go in the name of the Most High God.

We go in the name that is above all names, we go in the King who would entrust his work, his kingdom, his heart, his love into people like us.

And so, Lord, as we go, would a bubbling, overflowing thankfulness go with us?

Would your love and your justice and your ways overflow from us?

Would our pursuit of speaking your truth overflow from every part of our lives?

Would a thankfulness for who you are and how you work and the things that you have done, are doing and will do, would the thankfulness for those things overflow from us and be a blessing to all those who are around us this week?

God, it is a joy to know you.

What a privilege that we can call you Father.

What a privilege that we can call you friends.

Would this profound truth transform, heal, change, and send us to the world that you have called us to.

We love you, Jesus.

We love all that you have done for us.

We say thank you in this place.

Send us into your world, your people.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.