Chasing fads

Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. ³ For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. ⁴ They will reject the truth and chase after myths. ⁵ But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you.

Paul writes this to Timothy, his student, but he might as well be writing to all of us. I mean that ... all of us. There will come a time when people won't listen to sound and wholesome teaching. There will come a time when desires are more important than anything else. There will come a time when truth is rejected, and myths are the more valid endeavor. There will be, and has been, a time when suffering for the Lord is not only frowned upon but absolutely discouraged. And the whole notion of correcting, rebuking and encouraging with good teaching will be done away with.

In other words, the time in which we NOW live sure seems to be the time in which Paul was writing. The time is now, as they say.

Further down in the same chapter, however, is the line that speaks to me the most. Paul writes (in the NLT) "Demas has deserted me because he loves the things of this life and has gone to Thessalonica." In the Message translation we read, "Get here as fast as you can. Demas, chasing fads, went off to Thessalonica and left me here." In the NIV it reads, "Do your best to come to me quickly, ¹⁰ for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica."

We know almost nothing of Demas. In Paul's letter to the Colossians he wrote, "I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis. ¹⁴ Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings." In Paul's letter to Philemon, we read, "Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. ²⁴ And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers."

That's it. But there's a lot to be found here. Demas was a great friend with the Apostle Paul, with Mark (the writer of the gospel bearing his name) and spent time in prison with them. I've got to tell you, spending time discussing the Gospel, talking about Jesus, thinking out-loud about miracles and the day of Pentecost and things like that, to me would be greater than watching the Saints win another Super Bowl. These guys were THE guys in Christianity. It doesn't matter that Demas didn't get a book named after him. Demas was one of the top guys. Period. He loved the Lord. He loved his fellow Christians.

Then...apparently.. he didn't.

But there is this notion that Demas fell to fads and lost his spirituality. Now, what fads could have knocked him off his perch? What worldly ideas could have taken away his love of Christ? What could possibly have happened to him, this leader in Christianity? More importantly, if something like this could happen to him, what could happen to us?

Is it possible that Demas went to Thessalonica for other reasons than this awful place below the city? Maybe, but the fact that this underground system of brothels was mainly what that city was known for is a good reason it must figure prominently in our conclusions. We can say that it was a strong possibility this is what appealed to Demas.

Throughout Scripture we find examples of those who profess Christ, but later turn out not to be saved. Do you know anyone who loved God, but then left? I, uh, do. I loved God from an early age. Then I walked away. My transgression, my chasing after fads was loving television far too much, loving baseball far too much, loving the world far too much.

I walked from those fads into what? I didn't love reading scripture. I didn't love praying. I didn't love discipline. I was too young and too immature to fight through those things into a deeper sense of God.

 I would have absolutely loved to have been able to talk with Demas, to talk to him about what was troubling him, to talk to him about Paul. I believe Demas must have been a great disappointment to Paul, and I believe Paul had little trouble talking about his disappointments to others. Demas must have been greatly hurt by Paul's accusations, for one can't spend time with the Lord and simply walk away without it weighing heavily on one's heart.

I suspect if Paul had simply waited, Demas would have returned. If Paul had simply read these words: "The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question? The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different."

Sounds an awful like what I image to have been going on in Demas' life.

The writer of those words?

Paul.