“A Case Of Identity Theft”

“A Case Of Identity Theft”

Text: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1

© September 23, 2007 by C. Edward Bowen at Crafton United Presbyterian Church.

Don’t try this at home! But what do you think would happen if you were to take a frog and drop him into a boiling pot of water. In all likelihood, the frog would immediately sense that something was very wrong and would do something to correct the problem – the frog would immediately jump out of the pot.

But what if you put a frog into a pot of room temperature water and then very slowly increased the temperature of water? The result would be that the frog would stay in the water until he ended up being boiled to death. You see, as the temperature gradually inched up one little degree at a time the frog probably wouldn’t even notice that the water was getting warmer until all of a sudden bubbles would start to form, and by then it would be too late.[1]

Back in the time of the prophet Jeremiah, the people of his day were a lot like that frog in the water that was very gradually getting hotter and hotter. In essence, Jeremiah was saying to the people, “Look around you! Don’t you see the problems that we have? Can’t you see the bubbles starting to form? Can’t you see that if we don’t do something right away to change our situation we’re going to be doomed?”

In Jeremiah’s day the people had been very slowly, but very steadily, drifting away from God. Very slowly, but very steadily, they had been wandering off and worshiping other gods and ignoring the kind of life that God wanted them to be living. And so as a prophet it was Jeremiah’s job to warn the people, to try to convince the people that they were headed in the wrong direction. But even though Jeremiah begged the people to change, even though he wept over the punishment that was soon going to face them if they didn’t change, by and large the people refused to listen to him. Just like that frog in the pot of water that got very gradually hotter and hotter, the people of Jeremiah’s day weren’t able to see what the big problem was.

In many ways we find ourselves today in the same kind of situation that was going on back in Jeremiah’s time. For instance, over in England are massive cathedrals that can seat thousands of people, but when Sunday morning comes, many of those cathedrals are nearly empty. A recent study found that only about one out of every ten people in England goes to worship on a regular basis. But that situation didn’t happen overnight. No, for quite a few years there has been a slow, but steady, decline. But for many people in England, they don’t see what the big problem is.[2]

Or take a look at what’s been happening in the Scandinavian countries. In countries like Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, on a typical Sunday out of every 100 people in the country, only three bother to show up at church. Again, that situation didn’t come about overnight. No, it’s the result of a slow, but steady, decline that’s been going on for years and years. But since that kind of decline has been going on for years and years, hardly anyone there gets concerned about it. They don’t see what the big problem is.

Or take a look here at the situation in the United States. Even though the overwhelming majority of Americans say that they’re Christians – some 80% say that – less than half of the people who say that they’re Christians can even name the four Gospels. Less than half of the people who say that they’re Christians know that the four Gospels are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And I think it would be safe to say that if people don’t even know the names of the Gospels, they probably aren’t too familiar with the stories and teachings that are contained in the Gospels. We’ve slowly, but steadily, declined to where we are today, but most people just don’t see what the big problem is.

About 12 years ago, back in my first church, one of most tense and contentious debates we ever had there was when the session attempted to define what it meant to be an active member of the church. At first a proposal was put forth suggesting that in order to be considered an active member of the church, a person would have to participate in worship at least 12 times a year, at least once per month. And, of course, there were going to be allowances made for people who were shut-ins or who were in nursing homes or for people who had some kind of problem that prevented them from coming to worship. Personally I thought that was a rather low standard to set, but when the people in the church heard about it, there was rioting in the streets – there were loud protests about how that standard was too high, too strict.

And so the session came up with another proposal: in order to be considered an active member of the church, they said, you had to participate in worship at least four times a year, at least once each season. But again riots broke out – people complained that even that standard was too high, too strict. In the end, the session agreed to pass a policy that said that in order to be considered an active member of the church, a person had to either participate in one worship service per year or make a donation of at least one dollar.

How did we get from where Jesus wants us to be to where we are now? In the Gospels, Jesus calls on us to love God with all our heart and with all of our soul and with all of our strength. Jesus calls on us to love God so much that we’d even be willing to take up a cross and die for our faith. So how did we get from there – from where Jesus wants us to be – to where we are now, where if someone shows up for worship just once a year we consider them to be successfully living up to the standard that Jesus has for us. Again, that sort of decline hasn’t happened overnight. No, it’s the result of a slow, but steady, downhill trend. But even though we’ve fallen so far from where Jesus wants us to be, most people just don’t see what the big problem is.

But the problem is that all too many people who call themselves Christians today are engaging in identity theft. In the past several years we’ve come to hear more and more about identity theft. It’s what happens when someone manages to get access to your Social Security number, or your bank account information, or some other vital personal data. And then they take that data and assume your identity. But, of course, they use your identity not to do good things for you. No, they take your identity and use it to do what they feel like doing – things like opening up charge accounts and buying all kinds of things for themselves, and then they leave you stuck with the bill. And so when your identity gets stolen, the result is you’re the one who ends up with a bad credit rating, with a bad name, with a bad reputation.

In a similar kind of way, I believe a real problem today is that lots and lots of people who call themselves Christians are engaging in identity theft. No, they’re not out there stealing people’s MasterCard numbers. They’re not out there stealing their neighbor’s identities and using them for their own purposes. Instead, I believe that lots and lots of people who call themselves Christians are engaging in identity theft by stealing God’s identity and using it for their own purposes.

Lots and lots of people walk around and say, “I’m a Christian! I’m one of God’s people! That’s what I am! That’s my identity.” But even though many people identify themselves as being Christians, even though many people identify themselves as belonging to God, they don’t bother to make the effort to then make the changes that need to be made in their lives and live the way that God wants them to. No, they simply identify themselves as being Christians, they simply identify themselves as belonging to God, and try to use that identity just to pursue their own purposes and do whatever it is they feel like doing their lives. And the end result is that as other people look at the way those identity thieves go about their lives, they end up thinking, “Is that what it means to be a Christian? Is that what it means to belong to God?” And in the process, because of the way those identity thieves live their lives, God’s the one who ends up getting stuck with a bad name, with a bad reputation, in many people’s minds.

Are you an identity thief? Do you lay claim to the identity of being a Christian, but then act in such a way that fails to live up to that identity? That’s a question that we all need to ask ourselves. Because the identity of being a Christian, of being a disciple of Jesus, is not just something that we can lay claim to just with our words. Rather, the identity of being a Christian, the identity of being a disciple of Jesus, is something that we have to lay claim to each and every day through the way that we live our lives.