Incredible Impact
Early Christians knew little else but that they were followers. There were no electric guitars or dazzling experiences. Their Christian journey was just following – following that often cost them family, career, and even their lives. Yet their impact was incredible, and it wasn’t because they were persons of power and influence. In the early generations of the church, as it is today, most of the followers of Christ were just common folk, not the well-connected elite with access to the power brokers and shakers and movers. Their power and influence would be wielded in a far more strategic venue: the hearts and minds of a watching world. As persecution mounted against them from the political and religious establishments, they were unintimidated and unmoved as followers of Christ. Some died in the arena as fodder for hungry lions; others were covered in pitch and were set of fire as human torches to light the streets of Rome. The reality of a Christ worth living for – dying for if necessary – stirred the curiosity of their world.
The lifestyle of these followers was so dramatically and productively different from the people around them. They loved and cared for one another. They cared for their enemies, even the worst of them. they were selfless, sharing with each other and those in need. Politically and economically disenfranchised, they had hope and trust in a transcendent reality that left them strong in the face of poverty and persecution.
Polycarp, a bishop in the Asian City of Smyrna, faced certain death when, during the public games in February A.D. 155, the large excited crowds began to rally against him. “Away with the atheists!” they shouted, “Let Polycarp be searched for!” His whereabouts betrayed by a tortured young girl, the police came for him. Yet not even the police captain wished to see him die. On the brief journey back to the city, the captain pleaded with the old man, “What harm is it to say, ‘Caesar is Lord’ and to offer sacrifice and to be saved?”
When Polycarp was brought to the arena, the proconsul gave him the choice of death or cursing the name of Christ and making sacrifice to Caesar. The bishop’s response was that of a fully devoted follower: “Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” Threatened with burning, Polycarp then helped put things in perspective for his enemies: “You threaten me with the fire that burns for a time, and is quickly quenched, for you do not know the fire which awaits the wicked in the judgement to come and in everlasting punishment.” In spite of the appeals of his persecutors, he remained immovable and was bound to the stake and set afire.
In life, Polycarp’s greatest pursuit had been Christ, even to the point of death. As the flames rose around him, he prayed his final prayer: “I bless Thee that Thou hast granted unto me this day and hour, that I may share, among the number of the martyrs, in the cup of Thy Christ, for the resurrection to eternal life.”
When asked why they were different, these early Christians testified that they were followers of the man called Christ, who gave them something so wonderful that they would never consider an alternative. Their impact was so powerful that in the fourth century the emperor Constantine recanted of his opposition and embraced Christianity, declaring it the official religion of the Roman Empire.
From that time on, the entire Western culture was shaped and formed for centuries by the power of fully devoted followers. Until just recently, our laws, art, literature, music, and mores all bore the imprint of the foundation that these followers laid.
Their legacy calls to us.
Yet, as we embark on our journey as followers of Christ, we inevitably feel insecure and vulnerable, naked and out of control. Following is always filled with a sense of uncertainty. Even so, getting to know Him as He really is proves that He is eminently worth following.
Follower come to know Him as One to whom we can trustingly submit. We find that any risk in the process of following Christ is well worth the reward. Over the last two thousand years millions have followed Him, and no one has ever ultimately been disappointed.
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