Only The Lonely
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Cheers.
Making your way in the world today
Takes everything you've got
Taking a break from all your worries
Sure would help a lot
Wouldn't you like to get away?
All those nights when you've got no lights
The check is in the mail
And your little angel
Hung the cat up by its tail
And your third fiance didn't show
Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name
And they're always glad you came
You want to be where you can see
Our troubles are all the same
You want to be where everybody knows your name
Roll out of bed, Mr. Coffee's dead
The morning's looking bright
And your shrink ran off to Europe
And didn't even write
And your husband wants to be a girl
Be glad there's one place in the world
Where everybody knows your name
And they're always glad you came
You want to go where people know
People are all the same
You want to go where everybody knows your name
Where everybody knows your name
And they're always glad you came
Where everybody knows your name
And they're always glad you came
Where everybody knows your name
And they're always glad you came
Where everybody knows your name
9 Do your best to come to me soon.
10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.
11 Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.
Friends...
What you have read in the text this morning is a “goodbye” portion of his letter. It is very intimate, very personal… it is a man who is facing deep trouble. Probably death. A man with so many anxieties and problems that most of us cannot identify. And yet, one who is determined… with others or without, to bring his entire circumstance, his entire life, into the orbit of the gospel itself.
He is living in this world, the world of Caesar, as an alredy cheerful citizen of the kingdom of God., the world to come.
Yet, he is lonely. Very lonely. And it comes out in this closing portion of his letter.
Paul has been deserted. Make no mistake.
Look again at that 10-11 verses.
10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.
Deserted.
Alone.
And why? Demas “loved this present world”
Loved is understood. But you’ve gotta get “present world” to fully understand this passage.
It means “age”, it means a distinct more than just a place in time- it means a particular stage of history according to its values, beliefs, and morals in opposition and distinction to God’s.
You see, loneliness… for Paul, particular to the case of Demas, is about Demas’ love for the world as opposed to Christ. That is not the main point of this mesage, but it is a worthy point. Loneliness because someone chose to love the world instead of loving God’s Kingdom… And you need only look back 2 verses to see why this is so- Paul says it is so.
8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
Apparently, Demas had lost the persistence and patience to wait on and to love the Lord’s appearing. So He loved the world.
An encouraging part of this story is Mark. There was a time earlier in this life when Mark was and then wasn’t a part of Paul’s ministry. There arose this battle between Barnabus and Paul over the issue. Barnabas wanted Mark to go on the missionary journeys with them… and Paul didn’t . Paul saw him as uncommitted, possibly weak, dead weight.
And they parted ways… as did Barnabas and Paul. But in this passage, Paul is telling Timothy to bring him along… that’s hopeful, that relationships can be healed.
But that too is not the point of the scripture.
Neither is the fact that Demas forsook Paul.
And Paul is abandoned, in jail, alone… lonely.
And he desparately wants others to come along side of him....so he sends for Timothy, his beloved disciple.
Timothy was friendly, loved, wanted. Look at these 2 verses for a sense of the love he had for Timothy:
20 For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.
4 As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy.
Look closely:
10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.
But again, his love for Timothy is not the point of this passage.
Neither is the fact that Demas forsook Paul.
The issue is being alone. DEserted.
Deserted. It means to be forsaken or abandoned.
A Big news story today is about this young lady who is missing…Gabbie Petito and Brian Laundrie. She’s missing and he’s home for weeks in her van thousands of miles away and days away from when she was last seen.
Deserted in this passage means to depart and not take along by neglect or forgetfulness, and sometimes intentionally.
Paul is lonely. He’s been left alone. And he feels it.
And He wants the familiar, the people he is comfortable with, the way things are supposed to be.
And He doesn’t have it. ...
And He’s lonely.
Loneliness.
This was not new. Look at 2 Tim 4.16 to get a feel for the fact that this has been an ongoing situation.
16 At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them!
At the beginning of the letter, Paul wrote this:
15 You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.
Loneliness.
Does it sound familiar? Because if it sounds familiar, it may help us in dealing with our own loneliness when it comes.
56 But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.
Jesus was lonely.
God was lonely.
What did Jesus do when He was lonely. ?
32 Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. 33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
He acknowledged that people will be people. Life will be life. Death will come. Trials wll arrive.
32 Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.
He recognized His Father’s Presence in His Loneliness… God was there when no one else could be.
33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
He acknowledged the difficulties of just living- but also that God had already overcome those difficulties.
Jesus:
Acknowledged People will fail you.
Acknowledged God is Present in every situation.
Acknowledged that God had already overcome the loneliness of life’s difficulties.
Bottom Line:
The Presence of Jesus in Life Insulates From The Isolation of Life
The Presence of Jesus in Life Insulates From The Isolation of Life
When Friends Walk Away From You Jesus Always Runs To Be With You
There’s only one place you can go where somebody truly knows your name. The Presence of Jesus.
Shadrach Meshach Abednigo… the fourth man.
The Prodigal’s Son’s Father RAN to Him.
Jesus said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.