Identification Please

Earlier this year it became apparent that my passport was about to expire. It had taken me many places and served a guarantee of sorts on many occasions that I was who I said I was. I had used it to fly into and through Canada, the States, Guatemala, the U.K. and France and had nervously had it inspected at American land border crossings dozens of times when heading down to North Dakota to do some shopping. Having a passport is a perk of citizenship, it allows you to travel around the world and declare yourself (in my case) a proud Canadian. It also bears a promise that should something go wrong while abroad – as long as I am in possession of that passport – the Canadian government will vouch for me and do everything within its power to bring me back to my home and native land.

For some people getting a passport is easy. You take your birth certificate and some standardized photos and attach them to an application form, pay the fee and drop them in the mail. For some getting a passport is more of a challenge – my lovely wife for example is not a natural born Canadian citizen. Even growing up as a citizen of a friendly, commonwealth country she had a long and sometimes arduous journey through the immigration and citizenship processes before she was deemed worthy by our government to carry a little book around that says she’s Canadian. Easy or challenging though the price of travelling the world as a Canadian is the passport application process – and every year in Canada tens of thousands of people go through it for the privilege.

That who passport situation got me thinking though about a spiritual reality that has a lot of similarity: The Bible talks about a type of Spiritual passport that marks us as citizens of heaven – it’s called Baptism. Baptism is a rite by which we publicly and willingly identify with Jesus just as our passport identifies us with our country.

In the Old Testament the visible mark of inclusion in the community of God’s chosen people was the act of circumcision. It was (and still is) a painful reminder of the cost of following Yahweh and claiming kinship with his people. In the New Testament, Jesus introduces a new type of identification that went beyond a physical marker – a type of identification that opened up citizenship in the Kingdom of God to all people – but that came at a high price: Baptism. It’s an identification not just with a chosen people – as circumcision was – but an identification with Christ himself, as in the rite of Baptism we re-enact the death of Christ in going under the water, and the resurrection of Christ in coming up out of death as a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). The price of Baptism is not identifying self-mutilation, as it was with circumcision – but rather a complete and utter dying to self so that we can realize new life in Jesus Christ. Death requires sacrifice though; death requires forfeiting the life we know for the promise of something beyond it. Baptism then requires sacrifice – and as a pastor I have to admit that I’m troubled that for so many people it’s a sacrifice they are reluctant to make.

It has been over a year now since I had the privilege and joy of baptizing anyone at Estevan Alliance Church. It’s been over a year since anyone in our congregation felt to compelled to identify with Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection. I have tried on several occasions to get a baptismal service happening, I have offered Baptismal class and had no one show up, we have announced baptismal services and then had to embarrassingly change course at the last minute because no one came forward. In our prayer meetings, our staff meetings, our board meetings and our ministerial meetings we have prayed and prayed and prayed for a breakthrough in this area – and seemingly to no avail. And I have to ask myself what is holding people back from following Jesus?

In so many other metrics our church is growing. Attendance is going up, giving is going up, prayer in on the rise, there is an air of optimism about the future that encourages me greatly – but in this key – this essential – area we are failing miserably. Is it the culture we now live in that shirks away from identifying with Jesus and the Church because of negative public perception? Is it the busyness of the local situation that in its militant pragmatism doesn’t see the quasi-symbolic nature of Baptism as something that matters? Is it the theological language of our movement that has put so much emphasis on Baptism being the ‘outward evidence of an already occurred inward reality’ that has lulled people into the false belief that Baptism is only a fringe practice? Is it the pastor’s (i.e. mine) fault that Baptism hasn’t been taught well enough or frequently enough to make its importance understood? Or is it that people don’t consider identification with Jesus to be a priority anymore?

I’ve heard it said that people will sign up for membership in all sorts of clubs, associations and industries  without a second thought if the opportunity is presented to them – but getting them to become members of their local church is like pulling teeth. And people will sacrifice all sorts of things (time, money, flexibility) for a piece of identification – be it a driver’s licence, boating licence, journeyman’s certificate or whatnot, but they won’t sacrifice anything to identify with Jesus through Baptism. And I’m not talking even about people outside of the church – who may not believe what the Bible teaches, or agree with the positions that the church takes on social issues – I’m talking about people who regularly attend, serve in ministries and who claim to have drank the Kool-Aid – these are people who won’t come forward. What is wrong with this picture?

Perhaps it’s a Canadian problem. We’re so used to getting everything without sacrificing anything in this country that the prevailing attitude has spilled over into our faith communities. In many other countries to take citizenship requires you to forfeit any other citizenship you may carry – in Canada you can be Canadian AND something else – it’s no problem at all. Or perhaps it’s a consumeristic problem – we don’t see what we gain out of this transaction so we don’t consider it value for the investment. Whatever the case it’s an error that we desperately need to correct if we want to be used by God for anything more than taking up space in the church sanctuary on Sundays.

We need to understand what Paul is talking about in Philippians chapter 3 when he talks about all other allegiances and identifiers being rubbish in comparison to his identity in Christ. We need to understand that no piece of identity is more valuable than our identification with Jesus. Why are we willing to go to great lengths to identify ourselves as a citizen of Canada (talk to any immigrant you know and ask them about the process of becoming Canadian) and not be willing to stand up and be baptized to identify ourselves as citizens of heaven? Remember that a passport does not make you a citizen any more than your baptism makes you a Christian – but to make an impact on the world outside our borders you need to do something to prove your citizenship – a passport. I don’t want to sound heavy handed, but if you want to make an impact on the world outside of the four walls of your church for Christ – you’re going to need your spiritual passport too.

All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Philippians 3:15-21 (TNIV)

I’m not passing judgement on anyone’s relationship with Christ. But I am questioning whether many of you are willing to live up to what you have already attained in Christ. Whatever the reason is, something has got to change. Another attempt at a Baptism and Membership class is happening this Saturday at 10:00 AM at the church. You’re invited to come, be prepared to stay until 2 and I’ll order in lunch for the group. It’s time to step up and show the world your identification. 

So who should I expect to see on Saturday?