Poor Demas, a man covered with the shroud of the one who lost his faith.
His short story goes like this: The first time Paul was imprisoned, Demas stayed with him. But Paul had a second imprisonment. That was when Nero, the Emperor, led a zealous persecution of followers of Jesus. Demas knew that Paul’s arrest guaranteed his own execution. What followed comes from these words from Paul:
“For Demas, in love with this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica” (2 Timothy 4:14).
There is some question about how far Demas fell. It could be that he only abandoned Paul, avoiding persecution. Rather than open identification as a Christian in a hostile environment, he fled.
Or it could have been a total loss of faith, doubts that encircled and defeated his once strong faith. No good answers came, and his faith left.
When we consider falling away from Christ today, we can think of it as a virus. The virus takes two shapes, paralleling the two possibilities of Demas’ fall. The first possibility is to avoid identification as Christian. Today the stigma of being a follower of Jesus is becoming more severe. Temptations to avoid public identity are never far away. They arise in conversation with friends, with family, with neighbors, with the myriad of people who scorn the things of God. More and more, a clear Christian witness today often brings open scorn and heavy consequences.
The other strand of virus stems from Paul’s phrase that he was in love with the world. More and more what the world admires is at odds with the abundant life Jesus offers. And we hear the message of the world, complete with rewards and reinforcements, far more clearly and more often than we hear the call to take the narrow way.
In either case, what ensues is a looking back to discover a faith that is no longer there.
Keeping with the metaphor of virus, we do have vaccinations. One simple but essential one is Christian community—gaining encouragement from being with other Christians. Finding Christian community has taken different forms in the times of pandemic, but we have new options. We can attend worship in an international setting like Canterbury Cathedral. A more personal setting keeps us with our small groups. In these we find intimacy and growth. And the most obvious source of community is to stay tuned to the worship and gatherings of our own congregation.
The warning from Demas’ story takes us to a far weightier theatre than our own personal walk. We live in times of multiple plagues with new and dark forces roiling the landscape. And so “we look unto the hills, from where does our help come?” We know the answer: “Our help comes from the Lord.” Only his mercy and blessing will take us out of the chaos. OK, but how does that come. He tells us:
If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and
seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2nd Chronicles 7:14)
This is what lifts followers of Christ out of the perspective of personal faith. We are instruments of the healing of the land. God looks at “my people called by my name” and names his expectations.
He lays out several conditions for his healing. I will only explore “turning from places of wickedness” and will look at three in particular--corporate, social, and personal.
The first evil concerns the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They are bereft of vaccinations for COVID-19 and will not see any in the near future. And the people of Bangladesh, Bolivia, Uzbekistan, and many other nations. The reason is simple. The United States and the European Union have bought up as many vials as possible for the citizens of these countries. The rationale seems to be, “Are we not the exceptional people?” The exceptional Uzbeks and others will get their vaccines but they will have to wait and wait and wait.
The second evil, the social one, is the rift that has contaminated civil discourse. We make little effort to listen to those of different views, much less show respect for them. It is a toxic and damaging contamination.
Simon the Zealot and Matthew set our example. Simon was a revolutionary, wanting to overthrow the Roman government. Matthew was a tax collector, semi-employed by the Roman authorities. No doubt they got into it, but their higher allegiance to the Lord made room for respect and friendship.
The third wickedness is pornography. From the statistics that I see, it is likely that some readers of this may be addicted; probably some leaders in our congregations; certainly members in our pews. The statistics horrify:
Three of the top ten web sites that are the most viewed are hard porn, often with graphic material of teen-agers, young teen-agers.
45 million people are regular users of pornography. 10% of users are women.
35% of all downloads are of graphic pornographic material. That is more downloads than Netflix.
Like Nicolas Kristof wrote about these and other facts, “Folks, this is disgusting.”
Pornography is a silent but deadly virus. It is an invisible scourge, venomous and toxic. It leaves no visible scars but tears apart marriages and deadens souls. There is help for this addiction, hard won but firm. The Holy Spirit’s light goes deep, and the healing can be a painful journey, but the scourge can be vanquished.
Demas has many followers today. They don’t care much for God, and it seems that goes both ways. The promise for today’s plagues lies with the church. God holds out the promise of his blessing and his mercy-- by the holy living of those who are willing to be called by Christ’s name.
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