Demas Has Forsaken Me
The man by
the name of Demas is only mentioned in the Bible three times, all three times
by the apostle Paul. Demas was for a
time a fellow traveler and fellow worker with Paul. He is mentioned in the closing of the book of
Colossians, a book written around AD 60, as one who with Paul and others
sent their greetings to the church at Clossae
(Col.
4:14).
Again in
the book of Philemon in verse 23 and 24 he along with Epaphras,
Mark, Aristarchus, and Luke send greetings to
Philemon and Paul says these men are his fellow workers or in the old King
James language his “fellowlabourers”. The book of Philemon is said to have been written
around AD 60.
However, by
the time Paul wrote his last letter, the book of 2nd Timothy, dated
anywhere from AD 64 to AD 68, Paul says sadly that “Demas has forsaken me”
(NKJV) or in the wording of the NAS “has deserted me” (2 Tim.
One gets
the idea that Demas had been with Paul for a number of years and had only
recently departed. Why else mention his
departure if it was one of long standing, old news, that had occurred years
before?
We have
then a man who had traveled and worked with Paul, sacrificed and struggled
along with him, endured the hardship a number of years, and saw with but little
doubt miracles Paul performed and yet this Christian man fell away. If under those circumstances a man can fall
away then we all can. If a man can walk
with an apostle and fall away then any man can, every man can, and so the
threat is real. And, threat it is for to
fall away is to be eternally lost if we do not repent.
Can you and
I learn anything from the life of Demas worth our while? I believe we can.
Paul says
Demas loved the present world. John
says, “Do not love the world, nor the things in the
world. If any one loves the world, the
love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John
John tells
us, “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes
and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world”
(1 John 2:16, NAS). What Demas wanted
out of the world we are not told. Was it
money, an easier life, respect? We are
not told. In a way it makes no
difference.
There is no
doubt the world has much to offer as long as we live in the flesh. Who really desires to make their life a
living self sacrifice everyday of the year? (Rom 12:1) Who desires to always put self second? Who is it that does not desire respect from
his fellow
man
in this world?
Christians
are not well thought of by most of the world.
We are ridiculed and made fun of and our company is not sought. As the kids would say no one wants to hang
out with us. Who really desires that? Who is it that does not desire to achieve
great things in this world and be praised by his fellow man and looked up to? The world offers us the opportunity for
worldly wealth and possessions, honor and prestige, and sexual freedom. Christianity, in this life, offers daily self
sacrifice.
Paul says,
1 Cor. 4:9-13, in speaking of the apostles (in the
broad sense of the term),
“we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and
to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake,
but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are
distinguished, but we are without honor.
To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly
clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; And we toil, working with our own
hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; When we are slandered, we try to conciliate;
we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until
now.” (NAS)
I am not
sure Demas was an apostle, in the broad sense of the term, but he was with Paul
here and there and surely saw and/or experienced for himself some of these very
things. Maybe Demas just got tired.
The world
offers worldly honor to those who play by its rules and succeed. Instead of being reviled there is praise. Those successful in world do not go hungry. They are not clothed in rags; they are not
persecuted; they are not slandered.
I tend to
think, but cannot prove and do not bind it upon you, that Demas just got
tired. I do not believe he wanted to go
off to commit adultery, cheat, lie, and steal.
I don’t think he left because he wanted a first century equivalent of a
3 car garage and a multi million dollar home.
I don’t think he quit and left Paul and God because he wanted to be rich
and famous. I think he left because he
wanted out of the line of fire, wanted an easier life, wanted to live in peace
with the world, wanted to live much like others of his countrymen. Certainly, I can be wrong.
We must
remember that non Christians are often honest and hard working people respected
in the community even if they are unwilling to give God the time of the
day. A worldly person is not necessarily
indulging in every sin under the sun.
Most are quite respectable in their own communities. Nevertheless, their love is for the world,
not God.
What do we
learn from Demas?
(1) We learn it is easy to quit and lose
everything. Demas sacrificed years of
his life for nothing. All of those years
wasted, all of the sacrifice now for nothing and why? He quit.
I think
most Christians have times in their life when they would like to give up, to
quit. Things are not going good for us,
things are bad in the church, no remedies seem at
hand.
Demas
sacrificed it all when he gave up. We
can do the same. In fact, that is the
easy thing to do. Staying with it is
what is hard. Quit and you have wasted
the past and forfeited the future but for a time you feel free, free for you
have abandoned all responsibility. We
need to think long and hard before we quit.
Quitters not only do not win they lose everything. We should learn that. Quitters in the spiritual realm do not come
in second or third. They lose
everything.
John says,
(2 John 8), “Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked
for, but that we may receive a full reward.”
We think it very ill advised and foolish when one drops out of school
after having put in years of work and losing and wasting all that time, money,
and effort for nothing. How much greater
the loss, how much more dire the consequences, when we give up living the
Christian life.
(2) We learn from Demas that the faith of the
best of men can fail. We never grow so
strong but what we can lose our faith.
Some think if we had miracles today people would believe and would
automatically become Christians strong in a steadfast faith. I am satisfied Demas saw miracles. I am sure Paul spoke about seeing Jesus after
his resurrection from the dead. Yet,
finally in the end it made no difference with Demas. It made no difference with the children of
If their
faith failed ours can too. Sin doeth so
easily beset us (Heb. 12:1).
(3) We learn also that the world has an enormous
pull on us and will as long as we live in a body of flesh. We learn it is not easy to walk with an
apostle, a thing we all ought to be doing.
It is a tough, tough road and often a long one and we should not kid
ourselves or others. We should prepare
for it. Unless, as the Bible says, we
put on the whole armor of God, how can we hope to survive?
Paul said
in 2 Tim.
Are we
stronger than they were? Are we stronger
than Peter who denied the Lord three times?
We are, at our best, but weak and feeble men and women prone to the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
What can we
do to keep our faith from failing us?
There is a vast multitude of Christians who have lost their faith and
many who have just given up and left God and the church. How do we survive when we so often want to do
as Demas did? How
do we resist the temptation of the call of the world?
The answer
is build our faith.
How does one do that? There is a
two part answer to that. First, we must
recognize our need, understand who and what we are. We must see our need and our weakness. A wise man is one who observes, learns, and
takes heed. In the last part of the book
of Job God is questioning Job beginning in the chapter 38. Much
of that runs along the line of Job can you do this, can you do that. God can.
He is showing Job man’s weakness and need for trust in God.
As an
example, God asks Job (38:31), “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, Or loose the belt of Orion?
Can you bring out Mazzaroth (literally
‘Constellations’ – NKJV footnote) in its season? Or can you guide the Great Bear with its
cubs?”
In the New
Testament Jesus says “you cannot make one hair white or black” (Matt.
We are
unable to add a cubit to our stature, unable to add a single day to our
life. “For what is
your life? It is even a vapor
that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” (James 4:14)
A mother or dad, a son or daughter, a husband or wife passes away and
there is not one thing you can do about it.
Scientists
talk about distances in outer space in terms of billions of light years. A look into the clear night sky on a cold
winter night when there is no haze and one cannot help but be overwhelmed if he
only takes the time to consider what he is seeing. If we would stop just long enough in our life
to consider seriously where all this is leading us we would see our need for
Jesus and could develop our faith.
Faith
begins with man being honest with himself about his own inability to have
control and his need for help, help from a power greater than himself. When we see
and admit our impotence this leads to the will to believe. I strengthen my faith by an awareness of and
an understanding of my need.
Secondly,
to grow faith we must immerse ourselves in the word of God. “So faith comes from
hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Rom.
Paul, in
writing to Timothy (2 Tim.
We must
believe what Jesus told us. We must
believe there is a reward awaiting us.
“He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Heb. 11:6) It has often been said that Peter walked on
the water as long as he looked at Jesus rather than the water and that is
true. We can figuratively walk to heaven
if we continue to look to Jesus rather than at the trials and troubles and temptations
we are here faced with. Do you
believe? You have to believe. Way, way down deep within your heart you have
to believe.
We can
believe if we will. John says, 1 John
5:4, “this is the victory that has overcome the world-our faith.” Paul says faith is a shield (Eph.
We often
believe well enough in Jesus except when it comes to his love for us as an
isolated individual. We feel He will
save everyone else but not us for we just keep on sinning despite our will not
to. If it is not this sin then it is
that. Isn’t that about true of how we
often feel? Do we not at times just feel
like giving up?
But, why
did Jesus die? Did he die so men could
be saved by perfect law keeping? Did he
die so that only those who are really deserving could be saved, deserving
because so good and perfect in their law keeping? John says, “If we say that we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8) David Lipscomb once said that he doubted that
any man ever lived a single day without sin.
Are all men doomed despite the death of Jesus?
Peter tells
us that God is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to
repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) When Peter
asked the Lord (Matt. 18:21) how many times he should forgive a brother and
says, probably thinking he was being generous, 7 times the Lord answers, “I do
not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” The Lord tells us thus that there is no set
limit on the number of times we should be willing to forgive. He is indirectly also telling us that is also
the way it is with the Father?
Isaiah says
(Isa. 55:7, NKJV), “Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will
have mercy on him; And to our God, For he will abundantly pardon.”
In Luke
17:3–4 Jesus says (NAS) “Be on your guard!
If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times day,
and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent, forgive him.’” This tells me that if in my life it just seems
as though it is one sin after another yet, if I will truly repent, the Lord
will forgive me and will forgive you likewise.
We should never give up, never reach the point
where we become so frustrated with our own life that we walk off in despair and
hopelessness. No case is hopeless.
“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but
that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17) One suspects the greatest danger in life is
not that of recognizing sin and unworthiness in one’s life but rather that of
not recognizing it. Remember the two men
who went up to pray (Luke
It is a
positive in your life if you feel deep down in your heart that you are unworthy
as did the tax-gatherer. The only real
threat when our unworthiness pricks our heart is that we may despair and give
up. Do not do that. The Bible teaches us in passage after passage
that it is the humble man that God will exalt, the truly deep down in the heart
humble man, not the man who merely pretends humility.
Jesus is
our only hope in this world. He has
said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Heb. 13:5) In the Phillipian
letter (
“”Let us
therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we
may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb. 4:16, NKJV)
Let us
“imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Heb.