LUKE AND DEMAS

Col. 4:14

Morning Meditation 11/30/2013

Verse 14 says, “Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you.”

I will talk about two bible characters in today’s meditation. I must confess, when I started through the Book of Colossian, I kind of dreaded the end. I know, it is all verbally inspired and essential. I do not question that at all. I’m talking about ME. I’m like the preacher who was preaching on Ezra’s message from Nehemiah chapter eight and reading his text from that chapter. When he came to the difficult names is verse seven he read, “Jeshua, and Bani . . .” And he glanced at those difficult names and continued with only a comma, “and a bunch of other Jews,” and skipped right past those poor fellows!!! Well, I’m thankful I didn’t skip the named men of this epistle because the study of them in this context has been a blessing to me. First, let’s look at,

LUKE, A MAN WITH A GIFT

Herbert Lockyer says, “Less is known of Luke than any other New Testament writer. This we do know, he was a Gentile and probably the brother of Titus . . . Luke was a man of learning and knowledge, an exact observer and faithful recorder. His medical training taught him to be exact. He is in the first rank as a reliable historian, scholarly, skillful and sympathetic (Luke 1:1-3; Acts 1:1-3). His gospel is the most literary of the four. With his Greek mind he had a sense of form, a beautiful style studied and elaborate.” —Herbert Lockyer, All The Men of The Bible, page220.

I believe Luke ministered WITH Paul and TO Paul. He could not have written such a Gospel as The Gospel According To St. Luke and not be able to communicate the truth to people. I believe he was a great help to Paul in the spread of the gospel. I believe he also served as Paul’s personal physician. It is not easy to think of Paul as needing and using a personal physician. Here is a man who had all the apostolic gifts (2 Cor. 11:5) which included the power to heal, raise the dead, etc. However, we find him praying for the removal of what he called a “thorn in the flesh” in 2 Corinthians 12 and the Lord did not remove it but rather gave him grace to bear it. It is not the lack of faith to use a physician to help with a malady that God has not removed by a miracle. It is believed that Paul had an eye problem that gave him much trouble. Some believe that this was the “thorn.” Others believe that this was an additional problem in the flesh that Paul had to tolerate. I would only be adding to the OPINIONS if I pursued this further.

Paul calls him “the beloved physician.” The word “beloved” translates “agapetos” and means, “beloved, esteemed, dear, favorite, worthy of love.” This word is a word of endearment. This word is found sixty-one times in the New Testament and is used at least 28 times by Paul. He uses it to apply to particular individuals 12 times. Why did Paul use such a word to describe Luke? Luke joined the missionary party in Acts 16 where he records Paul’s Macedonian vision and joins the missionary band.

The Physicians that I have been associated with become physicians because of a compassion they have towards the sufferings of people. They want to help to heal and relieve the pain of human suffering. I had a physician in Bossier City, who for years would not take a penny of my money, as he ministered to my physical needs. He was also a deacon in a Baptist Church in the area. I will always appreciate his compassionate service to me freely bestowed. I believe that Luke did this kind of a service toward him and others.

Paul did not perform the miracle of healing on everyone he met who was sick. Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:20, “Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.” Did Paul lack faith to heal this brother? Please read what I am about to say carefully. It is not always God’s will to heal. If anything proves it, it would be this passage because we are dealing in this situation with one who had faith, the gift to heal, and a compassion that would not leave a person sick if he could do anything about it. You cannot read Paul without being touched with the pathos and passion he had for the plight of humanity. I believe when he called Luke “the beloved physician” he was remembering the many occasions where he had witnessed the loving care Luke had of those he had helped in their sicknesses.

When divine healing is not the will of God, it is not wrong to use a doctor. It is not unbelief to go to a doctor and take medication. Paul said to Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:23 “Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.” Paul is not endorsing beverage alcohol. He recommended “a little wine” for medicinal purposes. Now don’t get upset with me over what I am about to say. I have felt like “using a little wine” for medicinal purposes. I do not have a pain free day. You say, “preacher, what is wrong.” Over 83 years is what is wrong. If you can find a doctor that can take that out, please contact me in a hurry. Now there are other medications that you can take today instead of “wine for the stomach’s sake” and that is what I do. I am a total abstainer. But we as Christians recognize that the Bible does not forbid alcohol for medicinal purposes. Much of what you take in the form of liquid medicine has alcohol in it.

Jesus said in Luke 5:31, “And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.” Jesus did not say that going to a doctor was wrong or was a sign of the weakness of faith. Luke was a “beloved physician.” I believe Paul could have said, “Luke is an outstanding soul-winner and missionary, and he is a prolific writer, and an outstanding expositor of Scripture.” I think he could have said all of that and been right. But he was INSPIRED TO SAY, “Luke, the beloved physician.” When I get sick, I take my illness to God through Jesus and I have been healed directly. I won’t go into it here. But if I didn’t believe God would answer prayer, I would not go through the form of prayer and make people think I did. I do not think prayer is just a psychological exercise. Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

I have also had the Lord lead me to go to a doctor and God used the skill and wisdom of the doctor to heal me. I give God the glory and am thankful for the doctor. I pray for my doctors daily. When you’re my age you have doctors (plural), at least most of us do. They need my prayer and I need their skill. It works good together. Next let’s look at,

DEMAS, THE MAN WHO QUIT

Demas still has honorable mention in our text. But Paul does not go beyond honorable mention. I want to quote Guy King here. He says in his book Crossing The Border, a devotional commentary: “This is the last man in Paul’s group photograph taken in Rome. He is, to mix the metaphor, the fly in the ointment. You will notice that he is the only one about whom the apostle has not one word to say. I wonder if there is any reason for that? In the private letter to Philemon he is called ‘my fellow-laborer’, —but here, nothing at all. Do you think that he was already beginning to show signs of cooling off, which ended in that tragic sentence about him that Paul wrote in his very last letter—‘Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.’ (2 Tim. 4:10).”

I heard a preacher say years ago that a Christian is like a Model T Ford car. It always starts missing before it takes completely out. Well, for those of you who are not old enough to know anything about a T Model, it just means there are always symptoms that become evident in the life of a Christian before he quits church and goes back to the world. Listen, most people who quit church over some very small thing usually were looking for an excuse and this seems to them to be a good one. They were gone before they left! Just in case someone reads this, and is using your computer for Church, and you are using some phony excuse like, “the preacher hurt my feelings,” let me give you a verse of Scripture: Ephesians 3:21 says, “Unto him be glory in the church (talking about the local Church) by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” (The parentheses mine to help in understanding). Now that’s Bible. Shut your silly mouth, get the chip off your shoulder, and go back to Church!!! And let me add, deal with the real issue, confess it and get forgiveness, and get back in fellowship with the Lord. That may cause a computer crash, but it is the truth and some people need to hear it. I don’t say it in any thing but love. I love the people who will read these meditations. I pray for you daily. You say, “preacher, you don’t know me and that is impossible.” God does and the Holy Spirit intercedes for me and makes up for my lack of knowledge (Rom. 8:26-27).

I believe Demas was a saved man and was used of God. But he, like the Children of Israel when they left Egypt, Egypt did not leave them. Many wanted to go back. Numbers 11:5 says, “We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick.” Look this passage up and read the context. These people were tired of what God had to offer, and began to complain. They were not willing to go through the wilderness to get to Canaan. The Christian life sounds great and easy to many who accept the gospel, but when the going gets rough between Egypt (this world) and Canaan (the life of victory in Christ), they cop out and go back to the world. The last thing we know about Demas is that HE QUIT. Paul says, “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica . . .” Did he ever come back? Did he ever get it right with the Lord? I do not know. I do know that the last thing the Holy Spirit has to say about him in the written Word of God is that he quit. When you depart this life, if you go by reason of physical death, do you want on your tombstone, “He was a Christian but he/she quit.” I certainly do not.

I heard a story a good while ago about a man who survived the Jamestown flood many years ago. The man went around everywhere giving his testimony of how God had delivered him. He was being blessed by the attention this was getting him as he told his story. Well, he died and went to heaven. When he got there he told the person in charge that he wanted him to give his testimony up there about how God had delivered him from death during the Jamestown flood. The person in charge kept putting him off. But he just kept pestering him about it. And finally he said, “Ok. You can give your testimony of how God delivered you from the Jamestown flood. But just remember this. Noah is in the audience!” If you quit serving the Lord over something that is so silly that it would be embarrassing to mention it, just remember at the Judgment seat of Christ before which all Christians will stand, the One on the seat will have the scars of the cross on Him. Thank God He didn’t quit until He finished the job. Hebrews 1:3 says of Christ, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White