Demas (Five Guys)
Tom Shrader traces the brief but sobering biblical portrait of Demas, who traveled and labored alongside the Apostle Paul before deserting him at his most vulnerable moment because he loved the present world. Drawing on 2 Timothy 4, 1 John 2, and the Parable of the Sower, Shrader identifies the threefold pattern of worldly temptation — lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life — as Satan's consistent strategy against believers. He closes with six practical lessons: the Christian life is a team sport, adversity and betrayal should not surprise us, past spiritual performance guarantees nothing, failure is not fatal, the best defense is an offensive focus on God, and an eternal perspective is essential to finishing well.
“Failure is not fatal. There is one thing that we have as biblical Christians and that is grace and forgiveness.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Standalone Teachings
Recorded: 2014 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 41 min
Themes: apostasy, worldliness, perseverance, temptation, betrayal, finishing well, loyalty, eternal perspective, struggling with worldliness, feeling spiritually distant, recovering from failure, young adult, new believer, navigating betrayal, friend walking away from faith, feeling discouraged
Scripture: Colossians 4, Philemon 1:24, 2 Timothy 4:6-11, 2 Timothy 2:3-6, 1 Timothy 6:6-7, 1 John 2:15-16, James 4:4, Matthew 13:7, Matthew 13:22, Acts 15, Philippians 3, Genesis 3, Isaiah 6, Romans 8-9, 1 Peter 4
Theological Themes: apostasy, perseverance of the saints, lust of the flesh, worldly temptation, soteriology, spiritual warfare, sanctification, the parable of the sower
Full Transcript
Introduction: A Lesser-Known Biblical Character
This is part three in the Five Guys series — exactly what the title says: five different speakers highlighting and commenting on the life of five biblical characters. When Tim first came to me and said he would love to have me do one of these, I said that anytime I can teach, I love it, so I appreciate that opportunity.
I was not sure what character to choose. Tim suggested I could condense my earlier series on Joseph or Daniel, but I wanted to start from scratch. I had two characters in mind, and they are not the obvious ones. Chuck Swindoll has a wonderful series of biographies out — David, Esther, Joseph, Moses, Elijah, Paul, Job, and Jesus — and I did not pick any of those.
The two characters who have long interested me are ones we do not know much about. The first, though not the one I chose, is Enoch. What do we know about Enoch? He walked with God. That is about all we know, and I thought that would be an interesting study.
The second is the man I did choose — someone who has intrigued me from the first time I read about him. There is not much information about him in Scripture, but I believe there is a strong takeaway. What I want to do today is look at this fellow, understand the setting and circumstances around him, and then draw six lessons — six things you can take away and apply to your life.
Who Is Demas?
We find this man mentioned three times in the New Testament. The first two references come from Colossians chapter four and Philemon chapter one, verse twenty-four. Both appear in the standard closing sections of Paul's letters, where Paul includes greetings from those around him. In Colossians chapter four, Demas is coupled with Luke, and in Philemon he is identified as Paul's fellow worker.
From these references, we can draw four points about Demas. First, he was Paul's fellow worker — some translations say co-laborer. It is a strong word. The word literally implies two people working closely together, partners sharing work, with even a suggestion of equality in the relationship. Paul travels with Demas, or Demas with Paul.
During Paul's first imprisonment, around 60 to 61 A.D., Demas is present with Paul. This was a house arrest situation where some could come and go and Paul could receive visitors, but Demas is one of those who stayed with him. He was the recipient of a heavy investment of Paul's time, energy, effort, and presumably money as well, reflecting a closeness of relationship over a significant period of time.
One author writes this insight: "Together they worked, enduring various troubles and persecution, and the objective was to extend the kingdom of God. This speaks highly for Demas at this point, for Paul was very selective and very careful with whom he labored for the Lord."
Paul's Discernment: The Story of John Mark
That selectivity is apparent from Paul's earlier rejection of John Mark for past unfaithfulness, which you can read about in Acts chapter fifteen. On the first missionary journey, Barnabas had brought Mark along — Mark was a relative of his, and Barnabas, the son of encouragement, brought him on that first expedition. Somewhere along the way, Mark decided he had had enough and departed.
In Acts chapter fifteen, as Paul and Barnabas prepare for their second missionary journey, Barnabas suggests they take Mark with them again. Paul says no — he has seen this movie before and does not believe Mark can handle it. Scripture records that a sharp disagreement arose between the two of them. Paul kept insisting he would not take Mark, and the result was that Barnabas and Mark headed off in one direction while Paul and Silas went in another.
For years there has been an ongoing discussion about who was right — Paul or Barnabas. In my early days I tended to side with Paul, but as I got a little older and mellowed, I came to see that both of them were looking at the same man from two different perspectives. Barnabas said, in effect, "This is a young man with a lot of potential. Paul, if you are continually pouring into young men, Mark is worthy of it. Yes, he has made mistakes, but do we want to run down your list of mistakes?" Paul's response was essentially, "Listen, this is tough work. We are in danger constantly, and we have a track record here. The last opportunity he had to step up, he went in exactly the opposite direction. So no."
With that backdrop, we can understand why Paul becomes very selective and careful about who he keeps around him. He knows he has a finite amount of resources — time, energy, effort, and money — and he is going to be as discerning as possible from the outset. Demas not only makes that cut, he travels with Paul for a long period of time.
The Setting and Paul's Final Letter
Paul identifies Timothy as his young protégé, calling him "my son" — not his biological son, but his son in the faith. Timothy is arguably Paul's favorite person on the planet, and a case can be built for that. Paul had used Timothy in Philippi, established him as a pastor in Ephesus, and now writes to him against a deeply intense backdrop. Paul writes, "I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come." In other words, Paul senses that he is about to die. This is, in fact, the last written communication we have from him.
Verse 7 contains a remarkable self-assessment: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith." People often say that at the end of life they want to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant." That is a wonderful desire. But how incredible it would be to reach the end of your life and arrive at that conclusion yourself — not because someone else said it, but because you know it to be true of your own life.
This was not something Paul simply woke up one morning and stumbled into. It was the result of planning and preparation. Paul writes in Philippians 3 that he forgets what lies behind and presses forward, doing this one thing — Christ, Christ crucified. That was all he was concerned about. No matter the topic — marriage, family, kids, business, recreation — everything was filtered through his relationship with Christ and how it played out in that area.
Paul then adds verse 8: "In the future there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day." We might stop there and say, "Good for you, Paul." But he immediately adds something by way of encouragement to you and me: "and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing." That can be your résumé. That can be a one-paragraph biographical sketch of your life.
Demas Appears — and Disappears
That is the backdrop. That is the intensity. Paul is in prison again — isolated and lonely. There are three references to Demas in the New Testament, and the first two are entirely positive, identifying him as Paul's fellow traveler and co-worker. Then comes 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 9: "Make every effort to come to me soon; for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me."
The first time you read that verse — knowing who Demas was, having studied him in the other books — the natural response is: how can this be? This was not a man who merely studied the Bible from a distance or sat in a crowd and heard Paul preach. He was in the trenches with Paul, up close and personal. He had already been through imprisonment with him. He had been there, presumably, fighting the good fight and running the course alongside Paul. And now, at the worst possible moment, in the most dangerous and difficult of circumstances, he is gone.
The word translated "deserted" — or in some translations "forsaken" — deserves close attention. One scholar notes that it is a strong verb built on a root word meaning "to leave," compounded by the addition of two prepositions at the beginning, making it doubly intense. In American slang, it has been translated as "to leave someone in the lurch." The idea is not merely leaving or deserting, but doing so at the most inappropriate time imaginable — abandoning someone in a dire situation, at the worst possible moment, with the worst possible timing. Demas deserts the very man who had been his fellow worker, his fellow traveler, his fellow prisoner, and his mentor.
How Translations Capture the Moment
In preparing this message, twenty-three different translations and paraphrases of this passage were consulted, and most render the verse in a similar way: "Having loved this world, he has deserted me." Two paraphrases add some texture. The Message reads: "Get here as fast as you can. Demas, chasing fads, went off to Thessalonica and left me." The New Living Translation puts it this way: "Timothy, please come as soon as you can. Demas has deserted me because he loves the things of this life." The image begins to take shape — chasing a fad, chasing after this world, loving the things of this life.
Returning to the New American Standard, the phrase is "having loved this present world." Notably, Paul does not specify what kind of love it was, or identify the particular thing that pulled Demas away. There may be a couple of reasons for that. One is simply not to embarrass him any further. But the other, and perhaps more important reason, is a teaching point: if Paul had named something specific, the immediate reaction would be, "Well, that's not me." By keeping it broad — a generic but powerful love of this present world — Paul leaves no easy exit. It is a love that can take many forms, and that is precisely what makes it so dangerous.
The World in Collision with God
When encountering this passage for the first time as a relatively new believer, while studying hard across a variety of areas, the connection to 1 John chapter 2 is immediate. Verses 15 and 16 read: "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." John is telling us that there is a collision course between the things of the world and the things of God. James reinforces this in James chapter 4, verse 4, warning us that friendship with the world is enmity toward God. Do not love the world.
The World System and Switched Price Tags
The word "world" can mean different things. It can mean the globe, but the command here is not saying don't love the planet, or don't love the universe, or the people. Rather, it is talking about the world system — don't love the world system, the way the world looks at things, the values.
Years ago, a man named Tony Campolo wrote a book called *Who Switched the Price Tags?* The title came from a personal experience Campolo had growing up. He and his buddy used to go to the local drugstore and find two items — say, a ballpoint pen that sold for $2 and a transistor radio that sold for $10. One would go and distract the clerk while the other would switch the price tags, so the thing that was really worth $10 they could buy for $2.
Campolo says in this book: "Then I grew up and went out into the world, and I looked around and discovered somebody switched the price tags on everything around us." The things that God says are valuable, the world says are not so valuable. The things the world says are really important, God says are not really. And there is that tension between the things of God and the things of this world.
So John says: if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Then he begins to define at least three elements of this: "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, it's from the world."
Three Elements of Worldly Desire
The word "lust" is often associated in a sexual context, but that is only a small part of it. It is the idea of an evil desire — a compulsion — that manifests itself in three ways.
The lust of the flesh is man's natural desire for rebellion, for gratification, for immediate gratification. The lust of the eyes is the avenue of temptation, the way in — something that looks so appealing, usually something I don't have that maybe somebody else has, and I want it even though it isn't mine. Then there is the boastful pride of life: arrogance over our circumstances, attempts to oppress others — the besetting sin.
Personally, from experience in his own life and in dealing with many other people, pride becomes the driving force in so much sinful behavior and so many bad life decisions. It is that desire to have others look at you and say, "Wow." It is the idea that you can take full responsibility and credit for the circumstances of your life.
As a free market capitalist, the danger for people with that mindset is becoming very individualistic and saying, "Just pull yourself up by your bootstraps" — when in fact there are millions of people who don't have any bootstraps to grab. Or consider the voices on the radio who say, "You can be whatever you want to be." That simply is not true. Most of us are average — and that is what the word average means. If most of us were not average, the word would mean nothing.
Consider the illustration of LeBron James. The only shot in a game against LeBron is if they turn off the air conditioning and he goes down. That is just not how life works. This is not an excuse to avoid hard work, but it is a warning not to think so highly of yourself that you believe you can be anything you want, or that whatever success you have is entirely your own doing. That is the boastful pride of life.
Satan's Standard Operating Procedure
How foundational is this to human experience? It goes all the way back to the beginning — Genesis chapter three — where the serpent has come and tempted Eve, casting doubt on the word of God.
Here is the narrative: "When the woman saw the tree was good for food" — that is the lust of the flesh. "And it was a delight to the eyes" — that is the lust of the eyes. "And the tree was desirable to make her wise" — that is the boastful pride of life. "She took the fruit and ate it."
This is Satan's standard operating procedure. That is his entire playbook — three plays: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and boastful pride of life. She took it and ate it, and then she gave it to her husband, and this man plunged us all into ruin.
People often say, "When I get to heaven, I want to ask God about some of this." But reading Isaiah chapter six, you don't see Isaiah preparing a list of questions for God. If there were a Q&A, though, there is one question for one person: to Adam — "What were you thinking?" We spend our entire lives trying to manage sin as a result, building laws and rules, protecting ourselves and hiding from one another.
What Jesus Said About Demas
One commentator asked: what would Jesus say to Demas, or about Demas? We looked at this in Matthew 13 — the parable of the seed and the sowers. The third seed, in Matthew 13:7, says: "Other seeds fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up quickly and choked them out." Jesus then interprets this Himself in verse 22: "The one on whom seed was sown among the thorns..."
The Temptation We Must Understand
The seed was sown among the thorns — this is the man who hears the word, and the worries of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. Here is what I do not want to do, and I did not do it anywhere in here: I am not trying to figure out whether Demas was really a believer who walked away, or whether Demas ever came back. There are some who suggest that he is, in fact, Demetrius, who is mentioned later by John in his epistles, which we find at the end of the scripture. I do not care about that. The minute we enter that debate, it provides an opportunity to start debating about Demas and forget to look at your own life.
I am not asking you to figure out if Demas was really a believer or if Demas ever came back. I am talking about you and me. If this can happen to the man who was co-worker, traveling companion, and fellow prisoner with Paul, that temptation must be so strong that we had better fully understand it. What is that temptation? It is the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of riches. I would take the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and simply call it life.
All of a sudden, life comes along, and our eye moves off the cross and onto the circumstances around us. Even in the good things, it is the deceitfulness of riches — the idea that stuff is going to make me happy. We could go further with that, but let me give you six lessons I drew from this passage.
Lesson One: The Christian Life Is a Team Sport
The Christian life is a team sport. We see Paul with Timothy, Paul with Demas, Paul with Luke, Paul with Barnabas. At the end of his life, in the last chapter of the last book he writes, in the last paragraph, Paul's mind is on people. This is the Paul-and-Timothy mentoring relationship — older men with younger men, not necessarily chronologically older, but spiritually older, and older women with younger women.
What experience has taught me is that the key to this relationship lies with the olders, the mentors. The protégés are all over the place. When I was involved in women's ministry here in an organizing fashion, here is what we found: it was really hard to find older women who were willing to spend time with younger women. I find the same thing with men all the time. The assumption is, "I'm an old person — they don't want to be with me." Not only do they want to be with you, they need to be with you.
Lesson Two: Do Not Be Surprised by Adversity or Betrayal
Do not be surprised by adversity or betrayal. Do not be taken back when something comes into your life as a fiery ordeal — those are exactly the words Peter uses in 1 Peter. Do not be surprised by the fiery ordeals that come around you. James says it this way: "Count it all joy when you encounter various trials." They are coming.
Do not be taken back by the betrayals either. Ray Steadman, in his commentary on this section, writes that he received a letter from a man who used to work alongside him, loved this present world, and departed. Steadman observes this: you will have in your life a Demas, or two, or three, or more. Someone you pour your life into, someone you think is on the team, someone outwardly doing ministry, who brings you deep hurt, deep pain, and sometimes deep confusion — because all of a sudden it becomes apparent that they love the world, and they leave. Demas is part of your network, and mine too.
Lesson Three: Past Performance Does Not Guarantee Future Results
Past performance does not guarantee future results. I love infomercials, those segments where they sell products on television. The pattern is always: before, after, a testimony, here is the product. I was watching one the other day, and there was a before picture — and I am the eternal before picture — a guy like me, and then the after picture, some fellow who is all ripped and looking studly. At the bottom of the screen, in very small print that many people do not bother to read, it says: results may vary. You hear the same idea in financial advertising all the time: past performance does not guarantee future results.
You may be flying along like Demas — traveling with the Apostle, knocking it out of the park, a spiritual Hall of Famer. That does not mean you are guaranteed to finish the course and keep the faith. This battle is over when you die, not until then. That is hard to accept, because there is a tendency to ease up, and the minute I ease up, the enemy will come in. The minute I back off, that temptation will come — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life.
Lesson Four: Failure Is Not Fatal
I want to give you the flip side of that: failure is not fatal. Some of you sitting here right now are flying high, and some of you are thinking, "I am Demas. I have blown it." We mentioned earlier a man named Mark, and so severe was the drift between Barnabas and Paul that Mark became the dividing issue between them. Paul said to remove him. Now look at 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 11. Paul is writing to Timothy and says, "Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark." It is the same man, "because he is useful for service."
You may have heard since you were a child that you are nothing and will never amount to anything. You may have tried many things, and with them comes inevitable failure. You may be told by everyone around you that you are a loser — and maybe you have been — but you do not have to stay there. Failure is not fatal. The one thing we have as biblical Christians is grace and forgiveness. God is not stunned by your failure and unwilling to have anything to do with you. We believe in the doctrines of grace here.
God's Foreknowledge and Faithful Persistence
God taught it in Romans 8 and 9 that He chose you before the foundations of the earth, and He knew everything about you. He is not sitting there today going, "If I'd have known that, I would have never picked you." Failure is not fatal. Those are rich words. Pick up Mark. Bring him with you, for he is good for service. People may let you down, but I don't think you give up on them.
The Offensive Strategy Against the World
The best defense is a good offense. Here comes the world with the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life. Rather than sit there and pick those off, let me give you an offensive strategy. It is found in this very same book, 2 Timothy, chapter 2, verses 3 through 6.
Paul says to Timothy, "Suffer hardship with me." That is a recurring theme in this book. You find it again in chapter 2, verse 9, and in chapter 3, verse 12, Paul writes to Timothy, "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." The adversity, the suffering, the hardship, the temptation — that is all normal. That is all a normal part of life.
But Paul gives this advice. 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 4 is one of those circle verses — one that you make a note on, one to go over again and again in your Bible study, your quiet time, or your personal reflection: "No soldier in active duty entangles themselves in the affairs of everyday life so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier."
The Soldier, the Athlete, and the Farmer
Paul uses three pictures for Timothy, and this, to me, is the offense. No soldier is involved and entangled in the affairs of everyday life. That is part of what the military does — they take away many of those daily choices. If you are down at Fort Huachuca this morning, you did not walk to the closet and say, "Well, what should I wear today?" If you go to breakfast and ask what something is, they tell you. Lunch is at 11:30. This is all we have.
Our lives can become so entangled. The illustration that comes to mind: every six weeks or so, I go to Eggington's, and when I go, one of the things I order is the plain and simple. Here is how it goes in real time. The server comes up, and it begins — how would you like your eggs? What are the choices? Poached, over easy, over hard, over medium, fried, scrambled. Do you want meat? What are the choices? Ham, sausage, bacon. Link or patty? Toast — what are the choices? White, wheat, rye, marble rye, sourdough, nine grain. And I say, "I ordered the plain and simple. Isn't that what I ordered?"
Life will just pull you into those entanglements, and all of a sudden you will not be able to please God. So, like the soldier, be focused and dedicated. Like the athlete, compete by the rules — and what Paul means there is by a strict regimen, not the rules of the game, but discipline and preparation.
Sandy and I celebrated our two-year anniversary last week, and we were in San Diego. Part of that was Sandy running the half marathon. My responsibility was to get her to the start line on time and make sure my Kindle was charged. She and 30,000 other people ran this race, and to do that she prepared, trained, and ran — and then she got to my favorite part of the preparation: the taper. I am the best taper in the world.
Like the athlete, you need training and self-control. Like the farmer, you need to be hardworking and diligent. The best offense is to be a dedicated, focused, self-controlled, diligent follower of Christ.
An Eternal Perspective and the Secret of Contentment
The last thing you need is an eternal perspective. Not looking at the things that are seen, but at the things that are unseen — because the things that are seen are temporal, and the things that are unseen are eternal. Still in 2 Timothy, just turn to the left to 1 Timothy and one of my go-to passages whenever I have a chance to teach it: 1 Timothy, chapter 6, verse 6. "Godliness is actually a means of great gain when it is accompanied by contentment. We brought nothing into the world. We can't take anything out of it. If we have food and covering, with those we should be content."
Contentment. Sandy and I were recently in Colorado at a coaches conference — high school and college coaches — and we were talking about how difficult contentment is when there are metrics, in this case wins and losses. Contentment is the missing ingredient in most lives.
So how do you find contentment? About a month ago I had an insight that I thought was really profound. To this point, I seem to be the only one who thinks it is profound, but I will share it with you. There are two men: one named Job, who lost everything, and one named Solomon, who gained everything. Both of them concluded the same thing — naked I came in, naked I am leaving. Paul tucks it right there in 1 Timothy 6:7. If you are going to be content, you need to grasp this: you came in with nothing and you are leaving with nothing. He is not saying this world is not important. He is simply saying it is not the most important thing, and it does not transition with you into eternity. It is not worth deserting for the love of the world.
Closing Prayer
Five guys — maybe I should have taken Joseph or Daniel, but I found it easier to relate to Demas myself, so I will offer that to you. Let us pray.
Father, thank you for that. Help us understand that this Christian life requires us to be with other people, and that we will suffer and there will be betrayals — we will be on both ends of that.
Help us not be carried away with past successes or be overwhelmed by failure. God, let us be diligent, dedicated, self-controlled, and Father, keep our eyes on You and on the cross. We ask it in Christ's name, amen.