I read this verse the same night I read this as well, Matthew 10:24 THEY called the master of the house BEELZEBUB, how much more shall those of his household. For it is the father that speaks in you (Matthew 10:20).
curled by Bob, Debby Gass with Ruth Gass Halliday
Paul writes one of the saddest verses in scripture: ‘Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world. ‘The runner has stumbled. The light has gone out of the life of a believer. Why? 1) Did he resent his minority status as a Christian 2) It’s been said that there wasn’t just one, but two Martin Luther’s in church history. And both received the same revelation of justification by faith as the way to salvation. But the first wrote it down and hid it in a monastery wall because he feared the authorities. The second nailed it to the door of Wittenberg All Saints Church and started the REFORMATION. Christ promised that our message would be a powerful one not always a popular one. ‘Do not fear, little flock …’Luke 12:32. Wear your minority status as a badge of honor! 2) Was he cut down by the doctrinal sword? We have the message people need to hear, but don’t always want to listen to. Even us as Christians don’t want to hear it. ‘Therefore, many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, ‘This is a hard saying, who can understand it’?…. From that time many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more (John 6:60, 66 nkjv). You say, ‘But if we’re too strict with people we will lose them, ‘ if we’re legalistic, we will, but if we’re scriptural, we will build men and women of God, who shine like lights in a dark world. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32). Sometimes, before the truth sets people free, it puts them through the wringer! But we must preach it nonetheless!
‘Demas….loved this… world’
Again, we ask what happened to Demas? 1) Was he troubled by Paul’s diminishing prestige? When Paul came to town, church growth exploded – and so did riots. In one town the new converts brought out Pornographic books and artefacts of witchcraft and burned them in the town square. That didn’t win Paul any points with the publishers and manufacturers! He had the social status of a leper in a health colony. Who said the Christian life was supposed to be easy? Not Jesus: ‘If the world hates you, you know it hated me before it hated you’. If you are of the world the world will love its own. Yet because we are not of the world, but he chooses us out of this world, therefore the world hates you (John 15:18-19). Attack is a sign of respect; it means you haven’t been conquered. Indeed, the level of the attack that comes against you is an indicator of the level of God’s blessing that awaits you and beyond it. 2) Did he resent Paull’s growing ostracism by professing Christians? A man asked his friend, ‘How’s the world the world treating you? He replied, ‘the world treats me just fine, it’s the saints who give me a hard time! Sometimes, the church supported Paul financially, other times he had to make tents to support himself. So how did he respond? …I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved (2 Corinthians 12:15). The burning desire in Paul’s life was …. to be well pleasing to Christ. (2 Corinthians 5: 9). Is that your desire too