Identity & Purpose

Matthew 3:13-17

Back when I was in college, I was going through the candidacy process for ministry, which I can assure you was every bit as much fun as it sounds. This is the process folks go through when they are pursuing a calling to pastoral ministry. I was doing it with the pastor at the church in Grove City, where I attended school.

In the discussion of calling, the “candidacy guidebook” suggested there was a time in Jesus’ life when he did not know who he was or what God was calling him to do. And I remember that at the time, I thought, “No, that doesn’t make sense to me. Jesus always knew who he was and what his life was all about.”

I’ve changed my mind on that. If Jesus was truly human, then he shared in every part of the human experience. And a big part of the human experience is to wrestle with question of identity and purpose.

In 1992, Ross Perot ran for President as an independent. He chose a retired admiral named James Stockdale as his running mate. Stockdale was a political outsider, just like Perot. Nobody knew who he was. He had never run for dog-catcher, let alone vice president. At the debate, in his opening remarks, he famously began by saying, “Who am I? Why am I here?” It got a laugh from the audience, but his questions resonate with each of us. Who am I? Why am I here? At some point we all wrestle with those questions. If Jesus was truly human, then he wrestled with them, as well.

In Luke’s Gospel, we find young Jesus at the Temple. And when he answered his mother’s chiding question, he said, “I must be in my Father’s house,” referring to the Temple. It would seem that at that point, he knew something of his identity. But what about purpose? I think the answer is probably not yet.

Jesus didn’t begin his ministry till he was 30 years old. We don’t know why there was such a long delay. Some have guessed there may have been a very practical reason for the delay. By the time Jesus begins his ministry, Joseph has died. Maybe Jesus’ ministry did not begin until his younger brothers were old enough to tend to the needs of the family. Sometimes life gets in the way of God’s calling.

I’ve been serving on the Johnstown District Committee on Ministry for about 8 or 9 years now. We interview folks who feel a calling from God into pastoral ministry and try to discern if they have the calling, gifts, and abilities to do it. And very often, when we ask folks for the story of their calling, we hear some variation of, “I felt called by God into ministry many years ago, but life got in the way and I wasn’t able to answer that calling till now.” Maybe that’s what happened in Jesus’ life.

But there is another possibility: Maybe Jesus didn’t know his purpose, his calling, until he was 30-some years old. John’s Gospel suggests that Jesus followed John the Baptist for a time. Maybe Jesus was also seeking his Father’s will until he had a moment of awareness. His baptism was a confirmation of that calling: “This is my beloved Son, and I am pleased with him.” I can’t say that for certain, since I don’t have any way of knowing what was happening in Jesus’ mind before this moment. But I do think there was a time when Jesus was not yet aware of his purpose, and maybe even after his baptism the full extent of what God was calling him to do was not yet known.

Because we are all fully human, each of us also has an identity and a purpose. And each of us struggles to know our identity and discern our purpose in this life.

As believers, we find our identity in Christ. We are adopted into the family of God through our faith in Jesus Christ. And in Christ, we also find our purpose. God calls each and every one of us into his work. Each of us is called into ministry.

And I have to say, the Church has not always done the best job with this. Very often, it seems the Church has slipped into a way of thinking that a small handful of people are called into ministry. And the rest are just there to receive ministry. That’s not the case. All of us are called into ministry. And not all ministry is pastoring.

Some are called to be evangelists. They have particular gifts for sharing the gospel with people who do not know Christ.

Some are called to be teachers. They have the gifts to grow and develop faith in others, whether they are adults or youth or children.

Some are called to be church planters. They have the gifts to establish new communities of faith.

Some are called to the work of administration. They have the gifts to organize the church to accomplish its mission and ministry.

Some are called to leadership. They have the gift of vision. They can see the big picture and lead the church to adopt a vision for mission and ministry.

Some are called to prayer. Some are called to discernment. Some are called to encourage others. Some are called to service. Some are called to medical ministries. And so on.

But all are called to ministry. God’s calling comes at the intersection of three things: First, our passions. What do we care deeply about? Second, our gifts. What abilities has God given us? And third, need. What need is there in the world around us that God wants us to meet? The answers to those questions vary from person to person, but there is an answer for each of us. All of us are called to ministry.

Where is God calling you? What gifts do you have? What passions do you have? And what needs do you see in the world around you? The intersection of those is where God is calling you into his work.