home > Pastor’s Desk > 2024 > November 1st > Commissioned For A Purpose

COMMISSIONED FOR
A
PURPOSE

Think about your life for a second. How important are you daily activities? What if I told you that God’s grand plan for the world isn’t just about some extraordinary few, but includes you, right where you are in the tediousness of every day life? You may have heard this sort of thing from an animated and passionate preacher: That the same God who set the stars in place has a purpose for your life that echoes into eternity… sure, that’ll preach, but what if it were actually true?

A few weeks ago, in the lead up to my commissioning as pastor, I was asking my kids about the overarching story of the whole Bible. They were just like me when I was their age-they could recount individual stories pretty well—Noah’s Ark, David and Goliath, Jonah and the big fish, Jesus—but they struggled to explain the greater story of the Bible to me. It made me realise that we often view Bible stories in isolation, like they’re a collection of Grimms’ Fairy Tails we can learn moral lessons from, rather than one epic story that is moving towards a climax of huge significance. Now, I’m not saying that there isn’t wisdom for life in the Bible, there is! Loads of it in fact! I’m saying that often we can’t see the forest for the trees and miss the real meanings of the smaller stories and fail to recognise that they all connect to a larger story: God’s vision for the world, the lengths He’s willing to go to see and our part to play within that vision.

This story begins in Genesis, when God creates the world. Once creation is complete, God seems to step back from direct control of everything and instead, commissions humans to rule and reign on His behalf.

So God created man in his own image,in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Genesis 1:27-28

A commission, by definition, is an instruction, a charge, or a command given to a person or group. It’s a call to action. God wants the humans to fulfil His vision for the world.

God’s original commission was for humanity to be fruitful, multiply, and rule over creation on His behalf. After all, they were created in His image. Adam and Eve were the first representatives of God’s authority on earth. Through them, humans were tasked with caring for creation, multiplying, and filling the earth with the goodness of God.

You probably know the end of this part of the story though. Instead of trusting God and partnering with Him, they chose their own way, doubting God’s goodness and wanting to define life on their own terms. This causes a huge rift between the humans and God. Strangely enough though, God doesn’t abandon His plan for humans. Instead, God chooses Abraham out from among them to be his representative. He promises that Abraham’s descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky. There’s an echo of the eden commission here to be fruitful and multiply.

And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Genesis 15:5

If you know the story, you’ll know that when God fulfils this promise it actually cause great trouble for Israel and begins an exodus out of Egypt. They gather at the foot of Mt Sinai and there God meets with His people and commissions them to live in a way that is totally different to the way of the surrounding nations. Here we find another echo of the eden commission.

“Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”
Leviticus 19:2

The call to “be holy, for I am holy,” is a call to be the image of God to the surrounding nations. In other words, when the nations look to Israel they should see what the one, true living God is like.

You probably know the end of this part of the story though too. A quick reading of the book of Judges will expose how Israel chose their own way instead of trusting God and partnering with Him, doubting God’s goodness and seeking to define life on their own terms. This causes a huge rift between the Israel and God.

Strangely enough though, God doesn’t totally abandon His plan for Israel either. Once again, God chooses one, a king named David, out from among them to be his representative. In 2 Samuel 7 God promises to establish David’s household and his royal line is commissioned to rescue Israel, so that Israel be the kind of nation that reflect God into the world, so that the nations will know that Yahweh is God.

There’s an echo of the eden commission here to be fruitful and multiply, in the establishment of David’s household and to reflect God’s royal nature.

You may already know the end of this part of the story too though. The kings chose their own way instead of trusting God and partnering with Him, doubting God’s goodness and seeking to define life on their own terms they lead Israel away from God which causes the division of the kingdom and ultimately their destruction, invasion and exile to Babylon.

Strangely enough though, in the face of total disobedience and rebellion God still doesn’t abandon His plan and He chooses messengers out from among Israel to remind the people of who God is and call them back to being who He’s created them to be. They’re called the prophets and there’s a striking story told by one of these prophets that displays God’s faithfulness and commitment to his plan even in the face of mankind’s epic failure: The Valley of Dry Bones

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones.  And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.”
Ezekiel 37:1-3

The dry bones represent the failed partnership between mankind and God that was mediated through Israel and the kings. It looks as though there’s no coming back from their failings and I wouldn’t blame God if He just cut His losses and gave up on the whole human project-But here’s the difference between God and me: God is faithful to His promises. Now, it’s not because His human counterparts are faithful, it’s simply because that’s who He is. He is a faithful God. It seems that no amount of someone else’s unfaithfulness can change that. And so, in a beautiful picture of God partnering with a human, God commands Ezekiel to prophecy to the bones and as he does, they begin to come back to life.

God then goes on to tell Ezekiel that He’s not done with the humans just yet. He still desires for his plan to be fulfilled. However, there’s been so many failures the question remains:

Who could possibly be the faithful partner that God could commission to fulfil His vision for the world?

Here’s where God took the most extraordinary step—Recognising mankind’s failure, Jesus came, and accomplished for mankind what we could not do for ourselves. Jesus was the prophet, sent to remind Israel of who God is and call them back to being who He’s created them to be. Jesus was the king, from the household of David, sent to lead Israel back to the heart of God that they may be reconciled to God. Jesus was the Israelite, send to live a “holy” life, different to all others, that the nations would look to Jesus and see what the one, true living God is like. Finally, Jesus was the human, the true representative of God, perfectly trusting and obeying the Father’s will, even to the point of death on the cross. Through Jesus’ life, teaching, death, and resurrection, God’s vision for the world has been restored and the mission to reconcile all creation to Himself under His rule is being fulfilled.

But here’s the remarkable part: Jesus didn’t finish the mission and leave it at that. He has invited us—His followers—to join Him in this restored mission. Jesus issued a new commission, one that echoed the original call in Genesis but carried new significance in light of His redemptive work. This is what we now call The Great Commission.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising 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 28:18-20

In this final commission, Jesus is inviting every believer to participate in God’s plan to restore the world, and this invitation extends to all of us today.

When Jesus tells us to go and make disciples, He’s continuing the call to “be fruitful and multiply”—not just in a biological sense, but spiritually, by multiplying followers of Christ. When He instructs us to baptise and teach others to obey His commands, we are ushering in the same God-given authority to rule and reign on His behalf. It’s a continuation of the mission God gave humanity in the garden, now fully redeemed through Christ’s work on the cross.

Being a Christian means you’ve been commissioned by Jesus to live with purpose, participating in fulfilling God’s vision for the world. Every day, in your work, family, and community, you’re invited to join what God is doing, entrusted with representing Jesus to those around you. The Great Commission isn’t just for pastors or church leaders; it’s a call for each of us to make disciples, share the good news, and live in obedience. So, ask yourself: How are you living out this mission? Jesus has entrusted you with his purpose, He has empowered you with His Spirit and He promises to be with you always, to the end of the age.

Amen.

Your Pastor,

Harry Cuthbertson.

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