Made for Mission

Who are you? Why are you here? Where are you going? 

These are the questions of life. When we lose sight of these questions, we can forget not only who we’re meant to be, but what our purpose is. We drift. We settle. We chase the urgent over the important. But when we come back to these questions, we can begin to reconnect with who we are and our greater purpose for being here. 

Choosing to be a follower of Jesus means beginning a new life in Him. In Christ, we have an entirely new identity. The “who are you?” question is answered as, in Jesus, we are called and marked by God as His People. We answer the “why are you here?” question as our new identity expresses itself by worshiping God and existing in communities of believers.  

But how do we determine where we’re going? How does our identity connect, not only the people around us, but to the world as a whole? A natural follow-up question for us to ask in light of our identity and purpose is this: how does being in Christ change the way we live on mission in the world?

The good news is, when it comes to the question of mission, Jesus did not leave His followers without guidance: 

“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” – Matthew 28:16-20 

As we encounter these final words of Jesus, the first thing that we should note is that there’s a command at the heart of this passage. It’s a straightforward one: we are to go to all nations and make disciples of Jesus.  

Making disciples has been, from the very beginning, the mission of the Church. When we hear the clear command of Jesus alongside the other promises that He makes to support it, we begin to see the clear truth that, in Christ, mission is the expression of our identity towards the world. 

Our identity in Christ through faith is revealed through our commitment to the mission of making disciples. The beautiful reality of Jesus’ mission for His people isn’t just that He calls us to it, but that He also provides us what we need to accomplish it.  

At this point, you might be wondering, “Okay, it’s great that Jesus calls us to make disciples. But what does that mean?” Well, as we look at this passage, we can see three ways that being in Christ changes the way we live on mission in the world: 

1. We Go with His Authority (vv. 16-18) 

After His resurrection, Jesus instructed His disciples to meet Him in Galilee. The theme of Jesus ministering on mountains is prevalent throughout Matthew’s Gospel and is often used as an allusion to God’s work in the Old Testament. Just as God gave His commission to Israel at Mount Sinai through Moses, Jesus comes as the new and greater Moses to lead people out of slavery to sin and give them a new mission.  As He does, He reminds them that they carry something incredibly significant: His authority.  

Jesus’ statement of authority highlights that, by His death and resurrection, He has taken His place as the rightful King over both heaven and earth. The prophets had spoken of a future King that would establish God’s reign over all creation (Daniel 7:13–14, Ps 110:1–2, Is 9:6–7). Jesus is now reminding His disciples that He has fulfilled that prophecy and is the one true Lord over all.  

It’s from this place of Jesus’ authority that we are commissioned to make disciples of all nations. Because we are in Him, we not only represent His authority, but we carry His authority with us. Those who have put their faith in Christ and find their true identity in Him are now under His jurisdiction and represent His authority to all people. The authority of Jesus completely shifts how we approach living on mission in the world.  

If you are in Christ, you already carry His authority into every area of your life: your workplace, your school, your neighborhood, your family. It doesn’t mean we approach those places with arrogance or force. But it does mean we can have confidence in every area of our lives. It means we represent a Kingdom that cannot be shaken and a King whose authority will never end.  

So when you share the Gospel with a friend, a co-worker, or in a public setting, you can approach the situation with confidence because you have the authority of the Lord behind you.  

2. We Pursue His Purpose (vv. 19–20a) 

When I was in high school, our varsity basketball coach used to make us do a drill where we’d get into a half squat with our hands out to the side and hold that position for eight minutes. It was brutal. After the first few weeks of practice, we began to question why we were doing it. It felt like torture.  

But one day, our coach stated the purpose of the process. He wanted us to be a great defensive team, and in high school basketball, quarters are eight minutes long. If we could hold a defensive position for that long, we’d be conditioned to play tough defense throughout the game. Once we understood the purpose of the drill, it shifted the way we approached it. Afterwards, we leaned into the challenge because through it, we knew we were pursuing a larger goal.  

Making disciples is Jesus’ ultimate purpose for His people. We learn what a disciple is earlier in Matthew when Jesus first calls disciples in Matthew 4:19. There, He states, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” We might wonder how to pursue this mission of disciple-making, but Jesus guides us here too. In Matthew 28, Jesus gives us three principles for making disciples: go, baptize, and teach.  

Jesus’ mission is an offensive one, not a defensive one. His disciples are to make disciples of all nations by going to them. Yes, that means going to our neighbors and networks, but it also means going to all people groups around the world. The scope of Jesus’ mission is as broad as the peoples of the earth, and Christians are to go and make disciples of all of them.  

Next, we are called to baptize new believers. Jesus commands baptism as the ordinance of initiation into the Christian faith. It is a public display of an inward trust in the Gospel of Jesus Christ: that He is Lord, He died for our sins, and He bodily rose from the grave (1 Cor 15:3-5). They are baptized in the name (singular) of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, marking their identity with the Triune God.  

Finally, as people trust in Christ and find their new identity in Him, Christians are to teach them how to live out that new identity through God’s Word. Sometimes the process of going, baptizing, and teaching can be challenging, but it’s the way that we pursue our purpose! 

3. We Carry His Presence (v. 20b) 

Jesus ends the Great Commission with the promise that He is with us continuously. Jesus doesn’t send us out on mission alone. This is incredibly comforting and significant for both our lives and the mission.  

In Jesus, we find wisdom when we don’t know the next step, comfort when the weight of life feels too heavy, strength when our resources run out, courage when fear tries to hold us back, and joy that no circumstance can steal. Therefore, we can step fully into the mission knowing that we are not alone. Jesus is always with you, and you carry His presence with you wherever you go!  

And so, in Christ, we go with His authority, we pursue His purpose, and we carry His presence. Because of this, we learn that not only are we commissioned to make disciples, but we are empowered by the very work of Christ to do so.