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As Paul nears the end of his second epistle to Timothy he mentions several people who had served with him in ministry at one time or another. Some proved faithful and some did not in the years that Paul traveled on his missionary journeys. I plan on looking at these four men in the next four days of devotions so that we can determine the qualities of a good, faithful servant, and the one who is not.
- Demas – who had forsaken Paul
- Luke – who was with Paul
- Mark – who was to come to Paul
- Tychicus – who was sent by Paul
Demas
He served as a fellow laborer with Paul joining with Paul and others in sending greetings (Colossians 4:14) (Philemon 1:24). And yet we read that at the end of Paul’s life he forsook Paul (2 Timothy 4:10). Not that he merely left Paul but that he left him in the lurch – he abandoned Paul. Why? Because – he loved this present world . The extent of his departure to the world is not clear, some believe Demas simply did not want to die while others say he became an apostate
What we do know is – loving the world is certainly contrary to loving the Father (1 John 2:15-17). A very simple command is given to us here, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world this involves….
- The lust of the flesh
- This refers to unbridled desires of the flesh – (Galatians 5:19-21)
- The lust of the eyes
- This refers to the unlawful longing for things which we can see
- It can be summed up in one word – covetousness
- How serious is this? – Consider – (Ephesians 5:5-7) (Colossians 3:5-7)
- The pride of life
- This would include pride based upon such things as – Age – Experience – Past accomplishments – Money – Position – Power – etc.
- The folly of trusting in such things is seen in – (1 Corinthians 1:26-31)
Loving the world makes it impossible to love the Father. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. What does that mean? It means the love for the Father is not in him because there is no room for both (Matthew 6:24)(James 4:1-4). Our sinful pride may rebel against this thought, but we simply are not able to love the world and God at the same time equally. Will we follow in the steps of Demas? Tomorrow we will look at Luke.