When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Matthew 16:13–19

We given an identity: who we are

Peter came into this world with a different name. As we all are, named by our parents, named within a language and culture and place. When Peter encounters Jesus, he is given a new name. This new name doesn’t rip him out of his context or relationships, but keeps him more firmly rooted in it.

Born as Simon, reborn as Peter. (Confusingly the gospels sometimes refer to him as Simon Peter!) Jesus gave Simon a new heart. This created in Simon a new person, a new being, a new identity.

This also means his primary identity isn’t even to his biological family anymore, it’s to Jesus and His spiritual family. Now this new spiritual identity actually allows him to love his biological family better, but the priority is set: He is Peter.

Before Jesus gives us any other gift, before He gives us any task or mission, before He requires us to do anything, He does something in us first. He takes our old heart, replaces it with a new one and calls us by a new name.

In Jesus telling Peter who he is, He is also telling Peter who he isn’t. Jesus didn’t call him “John” or “Mark” or any other name. He is Peter. And if he’s Peter, then He’s not someone else. Peter is not expected to be like anyone else but Peter.

Likewise for us. We are who Jesus has called us to be: there’s only one. He has given us a new heart, a new identity, and therefore, a new name. This is our name, we need not try and go around collecting other names for ourselves.

We are given a purpose: what we do

A name not only represents an identity (“this is me”), but a name from Jesus is also a calling. Peter, here, is called to something. He has a specific role to play in Jesus’ kingdom. For Peter, he is the representative of this group of first disciples. He’s going to lead the first church and be an influential leader.

When Jesus tells us who we are, He has a role for us to play, one He’s planned in advance. It’s unique and specific to us. It’s important for us to know two things: what we’re called to do, what we’re not called to do.

Peter’s calling is different than John. John’s calling is as unique and important in Jesus’ kingdom as Peter’s and it is different. Our differences in our identity lead to differences in our purpose, and these glorious differences lead to an exciting diversity. The church is a many coloured tapestry of different people with different gifts and purposes, all woven together by the master artist into a beautiful unity.

How tragic to reject our own identity and purpose and try and steal someone else’s. If we do that, we miss out, but so do all the others who would have benefitted from how God has created you—and only you—to live. We have a unique role to play.

As God gives out His purposes, He also equips us to fulfil them. That’s why we have the gifts we have. We have been given these gifts for them to be just that: gifts. They are not to be our possessions to be held on to, but gifts to be given to others. Others need them as much as we need others to give them to us.

This should be equal parts encouraging and challenging. It should be encouraging in that you are not created to be anyone else so, through the work of Jesus, we can be freed to be who we truly are.

This is challenging in that, when Jesus saves us He saves us from our small missions to His big mission. Our small missions are only about us and our little world, His mission is for His wholeness to pervade every nook and cranny of our hearts and our world. This is exciting and big, but also a challenge because it is difficult. Anything of any meaning or substance always comes with a resistance. Being a unique part of this big mission, though, is worth going through the resistance.

Christ through us, not us through us

As we go through this resistance, we don’t go alone. We have a community of others in it with us. Our good Father, God Himself, has adopted us into His family, the church. The One leading the church is none other than God Himself, Jesus Christ. And in each one of us who trust in Him, we have none other than God Himself, the Holy Spirit, residing in us, giving us what we need to work out our gifts according to our new purpose, through our new identity for His glory.

We don’t work alone, it’s not us working through us. Christ is at work through us.

This gives us a supernatural legitimacy. We didn’t come up with this plan or these ideas, it’s His. We have a new power as we rely on Him to keep us going.

Jesus has promised that He will build His church. We aren’t called to build our church, and when we do veer off the path and try to go our own way, it looks more like the Tower of Babel. A structure impressive to us, but small to God, that ultimately becomes a vanity project.

Jesus’ church is the only hope to resist the forces of darkness in our world. The church of the living God is immune to powers of death. There are gates of hell in our world and in the world to come. They are real and they are out to oppress and destroy. These gates are encroaching on the world, but is unable to swallow up this gospel formed family on mission that Jesus is building and leading. This oppressive force will never overwhelm the people of God.

Death–death! That thing that no human has power over, that we as humanity have always been held back and oppressed by, death itself will not overwhelm God’s church. In fact, it’s the opposite. Life is what springs up in His community, because that’s where He is at work, that’s where the Spirit is living in His people.

If death won’t overcome us, that means all that is less than death won’t overcome us, either. This is a radical freedom for every Christian. If death can’t stop us, what will?!

Just as real as the gates, are the keys given to us by Jesus. The “keys of the kingdom of heaven” in verse 19 are of life, of grace, of love. All that the darkness is not and can never be. The keys of God’s kingdom open us up to where Jesus is reigning and where life is always springing up.

This is no “pearly gates” in the future imagery, Jesus is talking about right now. This is how God is working in the world, through His church.

So we surrender our own faulty versions of our identity and take on the identity He has for us. It’s better, we feel more alive, and we didn’t realise how poorly the old identity fit us until we tried this new one on. This new identity comes with a purpose, and this purpose is nothing less than to join God in the renewal of all things.

We are given a community

As we join Him, He gives us His community. Our callings are community projects. We need others to help us discover our calling and we need others to express that calling through giving our gifts.

We need others to help us discover our gifts. Peter didn’t receive this new name or purpose in a vacuum. He received it in the context of God’s community, His church.

We need others to help us refine our gifts. In Matthew and other part of the New Testament we get to see how Peter works out this calling. The community refines him. We see failures. Just three verses later from this massive naming and calling, Jesus calls us another name: Satan! Peter needed time in the community to live into the purpose he was given. There are leadership failures, like latent racism and preferential treatment, how does Peter grow? By being refined by the community, being called out in order to lead better.

We also need others to express our gifts. If others aren’t around who are we giving our gifts to? The difference in a possession or a gift is in the giving. We need people to bless with our diverse gifts, it’s good for us and good for them. When Jesus becomes our possession, we will never run out of gifts for others.

What are you going to do?

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” This famous quote from poet Mary Oliver asks us what to do next. With Jesus’ work at work in you, what are you going to do next? A dangerous prayer to pray is to simply ask the Holy Spirit: “What next?”

Do you know your name? Do you know of other imposter names that draw you in?

What kind of unique purpose is God writing for you, and how is He asking you to join Him in it? Whose stories are you tempted to steal for yourself?

What are His gifts that He’s given you? How have you arranged your life in order to make the most of them?

How are you giving yourself to God’s church to discover, refine, and express these gifts?

Jesus has called you by name—a new name—into the fellowship of the Trinity. The Father, Son, and Spirit have a mission in this world and they have called you to be part of it. Now that we have all that we will ever need, what can we give? What does this grand, cosmic reality of the earth and heavens finally being one look like in how we go about our week?