Genesis 1:1-2, 26-31; Matthew 28:16-20
You have been wonderfully made for the journey to all those places you will go. I pray you realize that and trust you do so with humility. You are to be cheered for your many accomplishments and the manner in which you have conducted yourselves during the course of your high school journey, especially during this past year. As a result of what you’ve experienced and what you’ve learned, you have some of the stuff that is necessary for making the trip to all those places you will go in life.
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What you need, though, is much more than a high school education. You need to couple with that education a strong and an abiding faith in the Holy God of this universe who has revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He is the Way. He is the Truth. He is the Life. My prayer is that each of you is experiencing that Way, that Truth, and that Life. You’ve been shown that Way, Truth, and Life here at Tabernacle. This Graduate Dedication is not so much a graduation thing as it is a God thing. You are here to worship God. This is not about you; this is about God.
You are Christians and have a worldview that is dominated by the Risen and Ascended Lord Christ. Jesus Followers want to gather with others in worship and study. You need other believers in a gathering such as this as you journey into your future. And what a wonderful future it will be if you publicly declare with your lips, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. You are to do this always, especially on the Lord’s Day with others.
Jesus is a good example for all of us to emulate. He, too, was wonderfully made for the journey to all those places He would go. And He didn’t go very far geographically. But what an impact He made wherever He went! That impact is still being felt today. His example provides the impetus that prepares you for the impact you can make on humanity, if you will.
That is God’s desire: that you impact humanity for the good. That’s why you are wonderfully made. The Old Testament words we read from Genesis 1 are, indeed, words that affirm God’s desire. This ancient poetic expression is a reminder that it all began in the beginning with God creatively speaking the universe into existence. It doesn’t tell us how He did it. It may have been with a Big Bang or it may have been with a Little Bang or with no bang at all. Whatever any Christian’s view may be on how it happened, one thing is certain: God said, “Let there be…” and there was. He spoke it all into existence. And God saw that it was good – all of it, especially humankind.