Saint Polycarp

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Have you ever felt timid about your faith?

Have you ever wished that you could just share your faith, or how about not even worry about what the future will hold?

Today will are continuing our 2 part series on Spiritual Vets

Today we are going to talk about one of my favorites Apostolic Fathers

first what does Apostolic Fathers mean?

Well when we look back to the early Church we have different ages to look at

First is Jesus

The Apostles

then the Apostolic fathers

These men learned from the Apostles

Then we have the Ante-Nicene Fathers

these men came after the Apostolic fathers but before the Council of Nicaea

Then you have the post Nicene age

all of these title can also be call the Patristic Fathers which ended either in 451ad or 787 am at the second council of Nicaea depending on who you talk too

So who is this man that we will be talking about today? it is PolyCarp

Before we get going lets look at who mentored Polycarp

it was non other then The Apostle John

John appointed Polycarp as the Bishop of Smyrna which is in today’s modern day Turkey

In fact John even penned Jesus’ words to Polycarp in Revelation

Revelation 2:8–11 NIV

“To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.

The Church and Polycarp would indeed suffer, and even to the point of death as Polycarp was killed for his faith in Christ, but we will come back to that later

One of the areas that Polycarp fought against was the hearsay that Jesus was not fully human but fully God, denying the fact that Christ was both fully human and fully God. These people said that Jesus just made Himself seem human

Polycarp also went to Rome to discuss when Easter should be celebrated.

The Eastern Churches celebrated Easter on the 14th of Nisan the same day as the Passover no matter what day of the week it fell on

where the western Churches were celebrating Easter on the First Sunday following Passover because that is the day that Jesus rose from the dead, they could not agree so they decided to just let the Church celebrate it when they saw fit

While there Polycarp ran in to Marcion, who was teaching heresy, and Marcion asked if Polycarp recognized him, and Polycarp responded with, “I recognize. I recognize the son of Satan”

See Polycarp had no issues with being kind to those who had non-salvational issues, but he had no patience with those who distorted God’s Word.

Marcion was confronted about his wrong teaching and polycarp wanted nothing to do with Him, taking verses like

2 Peter 2:1–2 NIV

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.

Polycarp stood against a lot of false teaching that came up, and he was one of a few different men that were the best for it. I mean the apostle John trained him so going into the 2nd century he was one of the few that could make sure the right doctrine was being taught.

Polycarp also wrote to the Church of Philipi encouraging them to exercise Faith, Hope, and Love

He also told them to be

Good and truthful

Knowledgeable of God

Pure and Blameless

compassionate

Patient

sober

and to Fear God

We can learn some great life lessons from Polycarp

Exercise Faith

But He who raised Him up from the dead will raise up us also, if we do His will, and walk in His commandments, and love what He loved,

Polycarp

This quote echos the words of Paul in Romans

Romans 8:11 NIV

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

but the also the second part of this quote very much echoes his mentor wrote,

John 14:15 NIV

“If you love me, keep my commands.

We must not just hear the Word of God But take it to heart, and do it.

We have the Spirit of God in us, and the some spirit that these mighty men of faith in the early Church had, the same as the Apostles had, and we are not using it. we let ourselves become worried and we start to care more about what the world thinks and less of What God is asking us.

The way we switch this is but exercising our faith.

when we feel the Spirit moving us to do something, do it.

The more we say no, the more harden we become to the influence of the Spirit.

Exercise Hope

Let us then persevere unceasingly in our hope, and in the pledge of our righteousness, that is in Christ Jesus,

Polycarp

We exercise hope by trusting in Jesus as our righteousness and persevering in faith, even in trials.

Hebrews 10:23 NIV

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

When we exercise our faith we also need to make sure that we are living in the Hope that is only found in Christ. We know that He is not going to leave us, We know that His ways are the best ways. and we know that even in the moments that seem the darkest, He is our Light.

Exercise Love

Let us therefore love one another in the Lord, striving to be imitators of His patience, and not be lovers of money but lovers of God.

Polycarp

which really echos one of Paul’s letters

Ephesians 5:1–2 (NIV)

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

We are called to Love, it is apart of the greatest commandment.

If we cannot bring ourselves to Love one another, I would ask you today to perhaps examine your heart, see if your heart has been hardened.

I know that it can be hard, but God Loved us even while we were enemies of Him. In fact He set His son to die for our sins, even though we did not deserve anything but death.

He does in fact ask us to Love one another

So today I am going to ask you to look at Polycarp’s life and ask, what can I learn from these Church father and the life that he led.

Polycarp did in the end lose his life for Christ, as the did execute him for his faith.

I will tell you, the end of his life shows that He feared no man, His last words were

“Eighty and six years have I served Christ, nor has He ever done me any harm. How, then, could I blaspheme my King who saved me? You threaten the fire that burns for an hour and then is quenched; but you know not of the fire of the judgment to come, and the fire of eternal punishment. Bring what you will."

They then walked up to him to nail him to the wood, and He said, that he wasn’t going anywhere.

I read about these men of faith, these men that gave everything for God, and it makes me be inspired to be more like them, to put God above everything else and to serve Him more and more.

My hope is that you to will share this inspiration and put God over everything else and have a desire to serve him more and more

Communion

Matthew 26:26–28 NIV

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.