WWUTT 717 In Love With This Present World?

Demas, Paul’s Imprisonment, and the Warning of Worldly Love

In the Bible we read about a man named Demas whom we don't know much about, but we do know that he abandoned Paul in his darkest hour and in love with the world ran to Thessalonica. May it be a warning to us to keep our eyes on Jesus when we understand the text.

You're listening to When We Understand the Text, committed to sound teaching of the Word of God. For questions and comments email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com. And don't forget our website www .txt .com.

Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you Becky. We continue our study of the book of 2nd Timothy and today we read what I believe to be one of the saddest verses in the Bible. And I'll explain that more here in just a moment. We're in chapter 4 starting in verse 9.

The Apostle Paul writing to Timothy, Do your best to come to me soon, for Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia, Luke alone is with me.

Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.

Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm, the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. At my first defense, no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me.

May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth.

The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. So yesterday we looked at just this first verse in these final instructions, verse 9, where Paul said to Timothy, do your best to come to me soon.

And not just because he wanted to see Timothy one last time before he was martyred. It's not like he was so close to his martyrdom, he's telling Timothy, hey, you better hurry up because I might die any day here.

But rather the winter was going to come upon them soon. And so if Timothy didn't get started soon, he was going to get stuck in Ephesus and not be able to make it to the apostle Paul. And then Paul shares some things with him that, in part, were not just to notify Timothy of his situation, but was also, I believe, to hurry him along a little bit, that he would step on it and not delay in getting to the apostle Paul.

So he made Timothy aware of his situation. He said in verse 10, for Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and he's gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.

There's not any reason for us to think ill of Crescens and of Titus, for Paul doesn't say anything negative about them, just that they have gone to those locations as they continue their work in ministry.

But he says in verse 11, Luke alone is with me. So Paul, as he's in a in a dungeon, he's in a worse situation than he was in the first time he was imprisoned in Rome. Here he's probably in a jail cell before when when he wrote his prison letters.

So Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, when he was in Rome in prison, the first time it was under house arrest. But in this particular situation, he's in a jail cell and only Luke is there keeping him company.

And so he's telling these things to Timothy to try to hurry Timothy along. Please come to me soon. There are things that I need and he makes a request of some of those things. But he wants Timothy to be able to hurry up less winter come upon him and he's not able to make it there at all and maybe miss that chance to see the Apostle Paul one last time.

But what he says about Demas is so incredibly sad in a couple of ways. First of all, in the way that Demas abandoned the Apostle Paul. So Paul was no doubt feeling some personal hurt. He was brokenhearted over the situation, but also to see what Demas gave up for worldly pleasures and riches.

So it's sad on Paul's part and it's sad to see Demas turn this way and make this decision as well. Demas in love with the present world has deserted me and he's gone to Thessalonica. Now we don't know much about Demas.

Demas is not spoken about in the scriptures in any way in which we know his story or he appears in a narrative somewhere like in the book of Acts. But he's mentioned three times. He's mentioned in Colossians, here in 2nd Timothy and also in Philemon.

Now the letters of Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon were all delivered at the same time. And so to the Colossians, Paul lists a bunch of names toward the end of the letter. It's in chapter 4 verse 7 to the end of the letter.

He lists a bunch of names to the Colossians and says Tychicus greets you, Onesimus, Aristarchus, Barnabas. He talks about a fellow named Justice, Epaphras and he mentions Luke and Demas. These are just some of the names that come up in this letter to the Colossians.

And one of the reasons why Paul lists so many names is because he's never met the Colossians before. The Colossians have never had an apostle come to them to teach them the gospel. And Paul wants the Colossians to feel included in this mission work that's being done.

So even though an apostle has never been to them, they are every bit as much a part of this work as any of Paul's missionary brethren who are with him. So when he's saying, hey, these guys say hello, the Colossians, that church in Colossae in particular probably saw these guys as like rock stars.

I mean, these are the names that we've heard are out there sharing the gospel and being persecuted and yet the church is growing. And Demas was one of those recognizable names. He doesn't have to say anything about Demas.

He just says in Colossians 4 .14, Luke, the beloved physician, greets you, as does Demas. And he drops that name as though the Colossians would just know who that is. Likewise, his name comes up again in Philemon.

It's in verse 24 toward the end of the letter, as Paul gives his final greetings to Philemon and says, Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you. And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.

And so we see the names of Demas and Luke appear there in the same pair again. In fact, every time Demas's name comes up, it's with Luke's. It's there in Colossians. It's there in Philemon. And we see it here also in 2nd Timothy chapter four, Demas in love with the present world has deserted me.

Luke alone is with me. This was somebody who was important and instrumental to Paul's missionary team. You think of Luke as being a close friend of the Apostle Paul's, and so was Demas. Demas is mentioned as a friend of Paul's.

And then once he got imprisoned in Rome that second time, and now his accommodations are not as great as they were the first time under house arrest. Yeah, I can't leave his home, but but that's not too terrible.

At least he's not in some dank dungeon. But here in this particular situation, he's on death row. Paul knows he's going to be executed, and Demas was not as comfortable with that particular situation as maybe he would have been the first time.

And so he abandoned Paul. Demas was mentioned with Paul the first time he was in prison. That's Colossians. That's Philemon. Both of those letters were written at a time when Paul had been placed under house arrest in Rome.

Demas is mentioned again while Paul is in prison, but this time awaiting his execution, and Demas can't deal with it now. I can't do this. Putting our lives on the line like this for the sake of the gospel?

Can't do it anymore. And the world looked more pleasing to Demas than the work for the kingdom of God. And he abandoned his friend in his darkest hour of need. And Demas deserted Paul. It's a very strong word that Paul uses there to explain the situation between him and Demas.

This wasn't like he described Crescens and Titus going to their places where they were likely doing ministry. Demas deserted Paul and went to Thessalonica because he was in love with this world. As James puts it, friendship with the world is enmity with God, so we are meant to understand not only was Demas turning his back on the apostle Paul, he was turning his back on the gospel.

It's sad to consider Paul's situation. In his dark hour of need, longing to have his friends around him and only Luke is there, Demas turned his back on him and went to Thessalonica, chased after the world instead of endured for the gospel.

So it's sad when you consider Paul's situation, it's also sad when you consider Demas, that he so easily abandoned the gospel because he thought the world looked better than the hope of the kingdom of God.

Thessalonica was a very wealthy city. In fact, it may have been the wealthiest city in Macedonia. It was founded in 315 BC by Cassander, who was a former general of Alexander the Great and also his brother-in-law.

And Cassander named the city that he founded after his wife, Thessaloniki, which became Thessalonica. And everything that we know about the history of this city, as far as like archaeological ruins and things like that, it's been absorbed by the modern city of Thessaloniki, which is what it is in modern Greece today.

But we still know that there are some ruins there, some of the, you know, do the whole ancient tour. And we know a lot about Thessalonica from what we glean from ancient writings. And we know it was a very wealthy place, that it had a very trafficked arcade, which would have had many shopping centers.

And there were these huge colonnades. And on the top of each colonnade was a different god or goddess that looked over the people who were who were shopping and trading and exchanging goods. It was a port city.

Port cities were always places of wealth as those ships would come in and go out. But it was also on a major Roman traffic route, a major Roman road. So in addition to being a port city, there was also a lot of trade that came by land.

And so these were some of the things that contributed to the wealth of this city. It was known for a place of purple dye. And that was about the most expensive fabric that you could purchase was that which which was purple.

That was a a color and a garment of royalty. There were many mule drivers, garland makers, as well as a gladiatorial school there in Thessalonica. Inscriptions indicate that a gymnasium was present near the market, as well as a small stadium.

And religiously, it was there was a lot of syncretism. There was not only the Greek and Roman gods that were worshipped there and temples to those false gods. There was also Egyptian worship. And there were even some gods that were made up that were kind of an amalgamation of Egyptian gods and Greek gods put them together.

And they made up these new gods that were worshipped by both Egyptians and Greeks. So it was a very religious center, and not to mention that there were Jews and synagogues in that place as well. And it was a city that was very hostile toward Christianity.

We know that because of Paul's experience when he was there, did not stay more than a few weeks before he was driven out by the Jews who threatened to kill him. And some of the Thessalonians were being killed for their faith as well, as we read about in the letters that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, the first and second Thessalonians.

So even they were being persecuted for their faith there in Thessalonica. And Demas is abandoning Paul in Rome and going back to Thessalonica. And his intention when he gets there is to make himself rich.

It's to get wealthy. It's to live a comfortable life and one that is going to be free from the threat of persecution for being a follower of Jesus Christ. He has no intention of doing ministry there, or he would have picked a different city since Thessalonica was so hostile toward Christianity.

Demas was going there because of comfort. He wanted the world and saw no value in the sufferings of Christ. And even though we don't know what Demas's final end was, I believe that we can conclude, my friends, Demas was a false convert.

He may have been in a very influential group of missionaries in the first century. The Apostle Paul, Luke, Timothy, and he may have even done good work with them during that period of time, but it wasn't genuine.

He was able to put on a good front. He lasted for a season, but he could not endure to the end. And Jesus shared with his disciples, it is he who endures to the end who will be saved. Demas showed that he and his faith was not genuine.

It was just a passing season in his life. In Matthew chapter 13, Jesus shares the parable of the sower. And he says, a sower went out to sow seed in his field. And as he sowed, some of the seeds fell along the path and the birds came and devoured them.

Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil and immediately they sprang up since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.

Other seeds fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some 60, some 30. He who has ears, let him hear. And the apostles didn't understand the point of the parable.

And so Jesus explained it to them. Hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.

This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself. He endures for a while.

And when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. Now we might think that that describes Demas right there. He could be the seed that falls on rocky ground for he received it with joy.

But when persecution arose, he couldn't bear it. And immediately he fell away. But that isn't necessarily Demas' story because he did endure persecution. He endured it for a time. The first little bit that Paul was persecuted and he was in prison while he was in Rome, Demas was still there with him.

But then the second time he couldn't bear it any longer and he ran away to Thessalonica, as Paul said, because he was in love with this world. So it's not the rocks that describes Demas, but rather the thorns.

We go on to verse 22, Matthew 13, 22, Jesus said, as for what was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it proves unfruitful.

As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold in another 60 and in another 30. And the Holy Spirit shows to us in this letter that Paul is writing to Timothy that Demas is like the seed that fell among the thorns.

But the apostle Paul is like the seed that has fallen in good soil. He is enduring to the end, suffering through persecution for the cause of Christ. Demas was in love with this world and he abandoned the gospel and ran away.

It's a very heartbreaking passage to consider. Heartbreaking as I said on the part of Paul and also heartbreaking for Demas. And I issue this to you, dear listener, as a warning that you would not find yourself tempted by the attractions of this world.

If we place our full hope in Jesus Christ and our desire for his kingdom, then those things that would otherwise attract us about the world won't be as attracting. We won't desire even the approval of this world because we have the approval of God.

And that is the greatest thing. God approves of you because of the righteousness you wear by faith in Jesus Christ, wearing the righteous robes that Christ has clothed you with. And you are received by your father in heaven.

So what difference does it make if the world approves of you? Not desiring the approval of the world, you will stand firm on the gospel of Jesus Christ and proclaim it even though people will ridicule you for it.

Because their approval doesn't matter. You desire to serve your king. You are not a citizen of this world anyway. You are a citizen of the kingdom of God. And again, as Christ said to his disciples, he who endures to the end will receive that kingdom in glory.

So let our full attention be on the Lord Christ. Let him be our desire for when we are satisfied in Christ, nothing else will satisfy us. In Colossians chapter 3, I go back to the letter that Paul wrote to Colossae because it was there that Paul mentioned Demas once.

In Colossians chapter 3 verses 1 through 4, Paul says this, if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Let's pray that together. Let's pray that scripture together that the Lord may work that in our hearts, a desire for Christ and his kingdom.

Our Lord God, I pray that as we have been raised with Christ, having repented of our sins and become followers of Jesus, worshipers of the most high God, help us to seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Help us to set our minds on things that are above, not tempted by the things that are on earth, not tempted by sin, the passions of our flesh, the riches of this world, the philosophy and the knowledge and the wisdom of this world, the attractions of this world, the approval of this world.

Let us not be after those things for we have died. We are dead to sin. We are dead to this world and our life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, stir in us a hope in that promise that we will also appear with him in glory.

For to you belongs glory forever and ever. Amen.

A Warning Against Friendship With the World

This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast, or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

And let your friends know about our ministry. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's Word when we understand the text.