Just after we had moved to Pennsylvania, as I was making my first purchase at a local business, the owner asked my occupation. When I told him I was a pastor at The Blue Church, he (a lifelong resident of the area) replied, “That’s a pretty popular church, isn’t it?”
Now I am not normally at a loss for words, but this was an exception. I had several thoughts.
Is he asking if the people who go to the Blue Church like it here? Aren’t they the ones whose opinions matter? Or is he asking if the people of Springfield like the building? It is beautiful, after all. Or does he mean popular like a restaurant is popular when many people go there to eat?
After what seemed a long time, I choked out, “Well, there are quite a few folks who attend our church, if that’s what you mean.”
He replied, “Yeah, it always was a popular church.”
He was trying to be kind, of course, and give us a compliment, for he immediately began telling me about his church, which has five (or was it seven?) pastors, and is housed in a very large building.
But I kept coming back to his question, and our “popularity.” I had to smile when I wondered if the church at Smyrna was popular while its members were being persecuted for their faith, and known for their poverty (Revelation 2:9). And then my mind turned to the church at Laodicea, which, no doubt, was a popular church, since they were “rich” (Revelation 3:17).
It is interesting that in the mind of God, their descriptions are reversed. His comforting message to the church at Smyrna was: “I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich.” They were poor, genuinely poor, in the things of this world, but God counted them rich in faith.
On the other hand, God’s haunting words to the Laodiceans were, “You say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.”
They were rich in the things of this world, but God saw them as poor and naked.
So should we strive to be popular? Absolutely. Popular with God. For ultimately, His is the only opinion that matters. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith, and the one who will judge both our motives and methods at the Last Day. 1 Corinthians 3:10-15
“God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance,
but the Lord looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7