Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna (modern day Izmir in Turkey) is one of the most celebrated characters of ancient Christendom, yet we know very little about his life. He lived from 69 to 155 AD and as far we can gather from his disciple, Irenaeus, he was a disciple of the Apostle John and consecrated bishop of Smyrna by John himself.
Of his martyrdom, we know more as it is one of the most well documented events of antiquity. The Roman Emperors of the period had unleashed bitter attacks against the Christians of this era and members of the church recorded many of these persecutions and deaths. Polycarp was arrested on the charge of being a Christian — a member of what was then perceived as a politically dangerous cult whose rapid growth needed to be stopped. Amidst an angry mob, the Roman proconsul took pity on such a gentle old man and urged Polycarp to proclaim, “Caesar is Lord”. If only Polycarp would make this declaration and offer a small pinch of incense to Caesar’s statue he would escape torture and death. To this Polycarp responded, “Eighty-six years I have served Christ, and He never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” Polycarp refused to compromise his beliefs, and thus, was burned alive at the stake. Tradition has it that the flames would not approach him and so he was stabbed by a Roman soldier.
But of what relevance is this account to us today? Two things strike one about his resolute faith in Christ. One was that for him to offer up his life for Jesus, he must truly have believed what he professed. Secondly, he would not participate in idolatry of any sort. He would not offer up even a pinch of incense to Caesar.
Are we as resolute in our faith? Death is not something we face as Christians practicing our faith in South Africa. That should never dull our minds to the reality that in the twentieth century, more Christians were martyred for their faith than in all the previous centuries put together since the death and resurrection of Jesus. And today Christians face persecution and martyrdom across the globe.
However, what we are faced with in South Africa is idolatry. And I suspect the idolatry we are most at risk of falling into and perpetuating is the idolatry of busyness. Today, we believe, not in one God, but in busyness. We believe in always being involved in something. We believe it is more important to be a human doing than to be a human being.
I’m not sure how many of you have ever compared the two accounts of the Ten Commandments in The Bible with each other. The longest of The Ten Commandments is to rest on the Sabbath. Not only is it the longest, but we find that in Exodus chapter 20, there are 90 words that make up this commandment. In Deuteronomy, this has been expanded to 129 words. Not one of the other commandments was expanded to this extent.
When Jesus was asked, what is the greatest of commandments, he replied, “To love the Lord your God, with all your heart, soul, mind and body and to love your neighbour as yourself.” The first three commandments can be summed up in Jesus’ first statement to love God, and the last six commandments can be summed up in his second statement to love one’s neighbour. Between these commandments, we find the commandment to rest, to take time out. As the Hebrew’s continued their walk with God, they found that if they did not observe this fourth commandment, they started falling short on all the others, which is why they placed such great emphasis on it.
But it’s not just the bible that tells us that. We know it from our own experience. When we are too busy, we start snapping at each other. We start missing out on quiet times, time to pray, read one’s Bible, or just to be. We also know it from current research. Marcus Buckingham in his book, “The One Thing You Need to Know” says that the one thing that marks out people who consistently outperform others is that they cut out what is not necessary. Jim Collins, in his book “Good to Great” says that one factor that marks great companies out against merely good companies is that they focus on what they are really good at and stop doing what they are merely average at.
This applies to you and what God calls you to be. You are good at certain things and you enjoy certain things. Where God is calling you to, is where what you are good at meets what you enjoy. Further to that, where your pleasure intersects with your skills, there is a need to be met in society. True greatness and pleasure rests in meeting the needs of others with your skills. Rather than have your fingers in ten pies, get your hands into one or two pies and take what you have and offer it to God. Cut out activities that drain you. Focus on being, not doing. You will find resistance. Some people will tell you that ‘Idle hands are the Devil’s hands’ and in some circumstances they are right. But in today’s context, we need to hear the fourth commandment. We need to rest.
Don’t even offer a small pinch of your time to mindless activities. Focus your whole being on God, have faith in Christ and offer your services to meet the needs of society.
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