“The world says love yourself, grab all you can, follow your heart. Jesus says deny yourself, grab your cross and follow me,” wrote contemporary author Francis Chan.
This challenge Chan describes is not new nor unique to our 21st century culture. It’s as old as the succinct description during the Old Testament Judges “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
The allurement and enticement of the world is an ever present danger threatening our spiritual faith, fervor, and zeal.
In the New Testament, there’s a man named Demas. He’s mentioned by Paul in the same context as Luke and sends his greeting to the brethren (Col. 4:14). He’s also called and complimented as a “fellow laborer” in Paul’s ministry (Phile 1:24). But in Paul’s final letter in 2 Timothy 4:10, he offers this sad disclosure.
“For Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.”
What happened to this previously dedicated disciple who was once active in ministry, traveled with Paul, and shared in his spiritual labor? What changed? What caused Demas’ zeal to languish and finally dissipate?
My preaching colleague and fellow blogger, Roger Shouse, offers these probing possibilities in a 2022 blog post.
- Was the pressure too intense and the persecution too strong?
- Was his expectations not realistic?
- Did he expect great fanfare and gifts and slaps on the back, but instead saw the bars of prison, the angry words of accusations and the hostile threats to take his life?
- Did he miss the far country?
- Did he always keep one foot in the world?
- Was he never fully committed and convicted?
Sadly, Demas not only returned to the world, but left Paul when he needed him the most. The word used is a strong one. It means “abandoned” or as Hendriksen put it, “left him in the lurch.”
The tragedy of Demas is a serious warning to all Christians. Loving the world or worldliness is a constant and ever present threat to our zeal for spiritual matters. However, it may not manifest itself in quite the drastic way as it did Demas. At least in the beginning. One may still faithfully attend worship services, engage in ministry, and participate in fellowship but be compromised by worldliness.
Often it’s the challenge of trying to serve two masters, about which Jesus’ warned. “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matt. 6:24).
Worldliness is more than just a love of money or participation in carnal, sensual activities. It is an attitude. And a perspective that endangers and dampens our zeal. Author David Wells defined it this way.
“What is worldliness? {It is} that system of values, in any given age, which has at its center our fallen human perspective, which displaces God and his truth from the world, and which makes sin look normal and righteousness seem strange. It thus gives great plausibility to what is morally wrong and, for that reason, makes what is wrong seem normal.”
Worldliness steals our zeal by dividing our affections and captivating our hearts with a greater desire for riches, possessions, powers, and prestige.
Worldliness is actually a subtle form of idolatry. It replaces God, not necessarily with sinful things, but with things we value and love more. Careers. Comfort. Relationships. And pleasure.
Worldliness causes us to lose focus. To be blinded by Satan’s carnal attractions and empty promises. To value the material more than the spiritual. To enjoy temporary gratification instead of seeking eternal rewards.
The criticism of materialism expressed by the 19th century poet William Wordsworth is of even greater concern today.
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
To avoid the error of Demas and imperil our spiritual zeal, let’s be watchful, stay focused, keep our hearts centered on spiritual matters and seriously heed John’s warning in 1 John 2:15-17
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman
ThePreachersWord 
Thank you Ken for pointing out the name Demas to me.
It is important to think about “How” and “Why” the Demas deserted Paul. The Demas had drank the Milk of the Gospel and shared in the victory that the Risen Christ brings to the people…to the Demos (Greek word for People). So why did they desert Paul?
The very Greek word Demos added to the Greek word Nike…was given to The Teacher of Israel in John 3:1-21 likely by the Gospel Writer to reinforce the Fact that Moses, the Teacher of Israel brought Victory to the People who were held captive in Egypt where the people worshipped Ra the Sun God aka Apollo!
Yet in time, the Demas who once showed their love for Paul, lost their faith and their Zeal for Evangelism because they were not weaned off the milk of the Gospel that Paul gave them and encouraged to crave the solid food of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 3:2).
Somehow they lost sight of the idea that they should imitate Joseph of Ari Mathea who hungered and craved the body of Jesus (Mark 15:43 KJV) like a Lion, an Ari claiming his lamb, the very Lamb of God that Nicodemus had also wrapped in his sheets! In addition they lost sight of the fact that Joseph and Nicodemus had buried the Lamb in a tomb of Joseph’s making…that was keeping the Woman Jesus called the Magdalene…outside this tomb! How could this be? Were demons blocking her way, keeping the very Lamb protected and locked in— powerless and thus locked out?
Thinking like man and not like God, and as the Gospel spread into Thessalonica…
The people lost sight of Paul because they loved the world of darkness and pagan beliefs that taught the people to grieve for the dead (1 Thessalonians 4:13).
Thus the Demas, the Church once thought of as the Bride of Christ lost sight of The Teacher of Israel who brought the Victory to the Hebrew People and the rabble (the crowd) following them (Numbers 11:4; John 7:49) who spoke with Jesus under the cover of darkness!
The demas, especially the followers of the Woman Jesus called the Theotokos lost sight of how it was Nicodemus who arranged for the Jesus that the rabble (the people who did not know the law and were kept ignorant of the Law, the first five books of the Bible) had identified as the Christ (the Bride belonging to the Bridegroom John 3:28-29) in for questioning (John 7:50-53).
As the Trial begins, those standing by see Jesus bend down and write something on the ground, the soil. And as the trial concludes, no one is able to cast the FIRST Stone. Thus the Woman Jesus cleared of all charges…with the command …go and sin no more (John 8:11) appears to the people and declares: I am the Light of the World (John 8:12).
Thus many people in the early church saw the burning bush that Moses and his smiths following instructions from the Lord fashioned into an ever burning oil burning Lamp…for the Holy of Holies…as a pre-figuration or a prophetic and symbolic vision of the Mother of God’s sinless conception of Christ as her soul magnifies the Lord. Thus as she waits for her Lord to declare his love for her and become one flesh…her faith in him is tested.
As the story goes…his faith in her is also tested. Thus the people watching full of worldly thinking pass on the Christmas Tradition of the Madonna as a young 17 year old Gal travelling to Bethlehem on a bridled donkey led by Joseph.
People full of the milk of the Gospel, go every year to a makeshift Barn and see the Father of Jesus holding his lamp high over a manger to see a brand new baby boy cradled in the hay!
Sadly those whose ears and eyes are full of worldly thinking hear Spanish people shouting Hey Zeus and yet they fail to connect Barnaba by Jove, by Jupiter (Acts 14:12)…with Joseph the “Thundering” Father of Jesus as Christ the Ever-lasting Father who cradles the Light of the World in his hands and lifts her high–saying let there be Light!
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