This is the next part of my ongoing series exploring the letter written by St Polycarp to the church in Philippi, collaborating with my friend Adsum Try Ravenhill of the Raven’s Writing Desk.
You can read the previous parts at these links: I; II; III, IV, V.
Dear Adsum
You are in my prayers; I know things have been very difficult as you alluded to in your last letter. I deeply appreciate your love for the church, despite all the reasons you have not to love her. You inspire me to love Christ’s bride again.
And, I’m sure Mrs R is a lucky woman, even if your love of verbs is not the reason why.
For today I’ll pick up Polycarp’s sixth chapter:
And let the presbyters be compassionate and merciful to all, bringing back those that wander, visiting all the sick, and not neglecting the widow, the orphan, or the poor, but always “providing for that which is becoming in the sight of God and man;” abstaining from all wrath, respect of persons, and unjust judgment; keeping far off from all covetousness, not quickly crediting [an evil report] against any one, not severe in judgment, as knowing that we are all under a debt of sin. If then we entreat the Lord to forgive us, we ought also ourselves to forgive; for we are before the eyes of our Lord and God, and “we must all appear at the judgment-seat of Christ, and must every one give an account of himself.” Let us then serve Him in fear, and with all reverence, even as He Himself has commanded us, and as the apostles who preached the Gospel unto us, and the prophets who proclaimed beforehand the coming of the Lord [have alike taught us]. Let us be zealous in the pursuit of that which is good, keeping ourselves from causes of offence, from false brothers, and from those who in hypocrisy bear the name of the Lord, and draw away vain men into error.
This is in some ways a strange one for me to write to you. I am a presbyter (Pastor, or Elder, in our modern parlance) and you aren’t. I think it’s true, nevertheless, that the Church’s Elders are not ‘super-Christians’ but just ‘faithful Christians’ so we can all aspire to their requirements.
Polycarp lists five categories of things that elders should be. His context is a church where elders have not always been these things. Firstly, we are meant to be ‘dispensers of grace,’ when he calls elders to be compassionate and merciful to all.
I’m still learning this. I’ve served as a Pastor in two churches for around ten years now, which makes me still ‘inexperienced,’ but I was appointed much too young with much too much arrogance—in exactly the sort of church environment you alluded to in your last letter. I was not a man of compassion or mercy.
Thank the Lord that he broke me.
I’ve told you some of that story privately, but I am grateful that he would teach me to love with his rod of discipline. It is vital that Pastors love their people and dispense grace to them. Sometimes that grace comes with truth that can be hard to stomach, but it always loves and remembers that all sinners desperately need the cross of Jesus. Would you pray for me that I might pastor with compassion?
Secondly, he appoints them as guardians, those who turn back the wayward. I could wax lyrical on the connections to the Temple doorkeepers in the Old Testament, or the way this plays out in the Lord’s Supper, but suffice to say that compassion does not mean that Elders don’t sometimes need to turn back those who are going off course. We correct with love, but we must still correct. Will you pray that I might have the courage to speak when I need to, and the wisdom to understand when that is?
Thirdly, he reminds them to visit the sick. This is a key responsibility of Elders that I think we (and I) have neglected in our age. We should visit and anoint with oil (James 5), pray, and listen. It would help us remember we’re not big shots beyond the grace that it might give to those who are sick. A lot of modern ‘managerial’ Pastoring could be helped with more sitting with the elderly, infirm, and sick.
I hope many have sat by your bedside when you’ve needed them to. Will you pray that I would see where I’m needed to bless without being blinded by what looks ‘productive’?
Fourthly he exhorts them to show no partiality—not neglecting the orphan or the widow or the poor. Our British middle-classed churches need to learn a lot here, as do I. Consider this a nudge to write on the topic. I suspect some of my partiality is ingrained in ways I can’t see, mostly it requires active effort to avoid it. Would you pray that my eyes are opened where they need to be?
Fifthly, he encourages them avoid anger and unjust judgement, as well as the love of money he’s already discussed. Polycarp exhorts elders to not be quick to believe the things that are spoken against others. This is particularly difficult in our present cultural moment. There’s an assumption that you should make quick decisions about who is a bad actor and who is on ‘our team.’ Not making quick decisions is usually understood to mean you’re on the other side, by everyone. But, in cases where accusations are thrown around, slow and careful decisions based on evidence is the way to go.
Especially if we’re aware of ways that some churches have failed victims of abuse, we must still remember to not believe things spoken against anyone too quickly. Proper investigation is vital. Equally we mustn’t treat those who do fall too harshly, which is again our tendency. Polycarp’s reasoning is simple: we are in debt due to sin. This is not a manifesto for waving away accusations on the basis that we’re all sinners, but it is one for restoring people to the church with the gospel when they fall. Would you pray that I remember that all are sinners, particularly that I am deeply in need of the grace of Jesus?
This is a church that’s had a pastor fall due to sin, that’s why Polycarp is writing. He’s keen to help them see that forgiveness for pastors who fall is the way of Christ. Slow judgement, kind judgement, and forgiveness are the way. None of this is very popular today.
I’m of the opinion that this doesn’t mean that we restore fallen pastors to the pastorate but to the body of Christ, assuming they repent. This call to remember our own sin and forgive others in hard in our anger. I’ve known pastors who sinned abhorrently and forgiving them is difficult work in the soul.
Knowing that we are all sinners is, Polycarp contends, supposed to make us keen to serve Jesus with fear. I suspect we don’t talk enough about the fear of God: the almighty Lord of all is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12) and terrifying to behold. We should tremble in his presence, even knowing that we are fully accepted on the basis of Jesus’ sacrifice for us.
Polycarp ends on a note that feels discordant to his calls for mercy and forgiveness. He reminds them to avoid three kinds of people: those who tempt others to sin, those who are false Christians, and those who bear the name of Jesus hypocritically. I don’t think it’s discordant at all, it’s of one piece, we are kind, merciful, and forgiving with those who repent. Those who do not but remain prideful in their sin are, he suggests, not to be treated as Christians at all (Matthew 18). Those pastors who do not repent when confronted with their sin are not strayed shepherds, but wolves. It’s precisely those people who elders are supposed to be guarding against.
My friend, ‘be eager with regard to what is good’ and avoid temptation. Keep going.
With love
T. M. Suffield
Photo by Vlad Sargu on Unsplash
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