2 Tim 4:9-15
The Abandoned Apostle
At the end of most of Paul's epistles, he gives passing instructions,
greetings and sometimes warnings. As I said last week looking at Paul's
valediction, the words at the end are important. They are all too often passed
over. I've done that myself at times. But,, Paul says a lot of significant
things in these sections. It is where Paul's tendency to jump from one thing to
another is realized. It is Paul's own personality. Even in his apparently
undisciplined comments, he is writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
There must be something in these words that can teach us important things
about the gospel, the use of doctrine, contradiction, correction, and
instruction in righteousness--as well as the importance of preaching and its
effects for the good or otherwise. That is what makes these short phrases so
significant. They are as inspired as the more clearly doctrinal or practical.
Sometimes, it takes a little more work to discover the important things being
taught.
We do not know all of the people mentioned. Sometimes a person is
mentioned only once or a handful of times at the most in the scriptures.
However, most of those hardly mentioned were known to others in the early
church or stories about them and their identities and ministries have been
passed from one group to another until greater details are finally written
down. Some of the history of these people was written down in Eusebius'
Ecclesiastical History. He used a number of tools available to him. So, when
Apostolic Tradition is mentioned to tell what men ministered in the early
Church, it is based on solid evidence. Not all of the manuscripts are available
to all, but scholars have used the ancient documents carefully to give a
picture of the ongoing work of God by the Spirit as the Christian message
spread throughout the world and to tell us a lot of things that are
extra-biblical. Just because something is extra-biblical does not make it
doubtful. It has a different degree of authority. But, the historical
narratives can be found true and be unto our edification two thousand years
after the fact. All of our experiences are extra-biblical. Yet, many of them
match the expected experiences that we find in the Bible. Our lives are
extra-biblical touching the history, but not necessarily touching our Christian
experienced. We must be saved in the same way any Christian believers have
been. It must line up with the truth we find in the scriptures. But, our
experience of hearing the gospel and receiving the faith or being born again,
may be different in some respects, just like not all of our testimonies are
exactly the same. Some of us heard the Word for many years before God awakened
us; others just a few weeks or months.
So too, the experiences of the ancients found in the Bible are different
from each other is some respects, yet the message is always the same. It is
that truth that is in the preaching that is God's ordinary means to save
sinners. Sanctification, or growth in grace, including how God directs us by
his Word and by his providence in our lives differs greatly.
That is what makes these sections of Paul's letters so interesting. Let's
read the text, then go back to open it up a bit:
1. Dilligence and
Three Departures
2Tim 4:9 Be diligent to come to me quickly; 10 for
Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for
Thessalonica--Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia.
2. One Remains,
Another is needed, a Replacement
11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring
him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry. 12And Tychicus
I have sent to Ephesus.
3. Important Instructions
13 Bring the cloak that I left with Carpus
at Troas when you come--and the books, especially the parchments.
4. A Warning
14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much
harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works. 15 You
also must beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words.
The text:
9 Be diligent to come to me quickly; 10 for
Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for
Thessalonica--Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia.
11 Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring
him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry. 12And Tychicus
I have sent to Ephesus.
13 Bring the cloak that I left with Carpus
at Troas when you come--and the books, especially the parchments.
14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much
harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works. 15 You
also must beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words.
Let's look at the
text:
1. Dilligence and
Three Departures
Paul gives a gentle command to his beloved Timothy. Paul needs him as
Paul approaches the end of his ministry and the close of his life. Paul needs
his son in the faith. Not all of the reasons are made public. There may be many
unspoken needs that Paul may make known once Timothy arrives in Rome. Paul
writes in this personal letter to his son in the faith:
2Tim 4:9 Be diligent to come to me quickly;
Two words are
important to understand Paul's request. Those words are diligent and quickly.
The two go together to instruct Timothy of how important this trip from Ephesus
to Rome really is.
To be diligent is the
disposition Timothy is to have. He is to make this one of the most important
things in his service of Paul as service to God at the point this letter was
received. It has the force of telling Timothy to drop other things and make his
way quickly to get to Paul as he is imprisoned in Rome. Come to me quickly.
Don't linger. Finish what is important and make arrangements to travel. Paul
needs Timothy. Looking ahead, we see that Paul has been abandoned.
Three men have left
him. One of them left the faith. Paul uses strong language: 10 for Demas has forsaken me, having loved
this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica
We might be tempted to
read these words quickly, but given what Demas once represented, these words
must have touched Paul's heart as he wrote them. In Colossians 4:14 and in Phil
24, two sections that are likewise at the end of Epistles, Paul includes Demas
as one among others who sent greetings to the churches. He had been accepted as
a faithful brother having been in the Apostolic band traveling around to preach
the gospel and plant new churches. Demas forsook Paul.
Presumably, to forsake
Paul is to forsake the work of the gospel and to have left following the faith
for something else. This happens quite a few times in the Early Church even in
the ministry of the Apostles, including the Apostle Paul. One who was once
profitable, forsook the apostolic ministry. If people forsook Paul, who are we
to think it won't happen among us in our day? People still act like this.
And they forsake the
church and her ministry for the same basic reason--they love the world. There
is something in the system of the cosmos that becomes more appealing than
following Christ and being a part of the Bride of Christ. They love the world.
Some people who have
joined themselves to churches think that they can love Jesus and love the
world--a sort of shared allegiance. The Holy Spirit reveals otherwise:
1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in
the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in
him.
16 For all that is in the world--the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father
but is of the world.
17 And the world is passing away, and the
lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
This is strong
language. It rules out a love of the world to any degree. The love of the
cosmos is contrary to a love for God. To be a part of the world is to involve
yourself with the system that is allied with the devil and his agenda either
willingly or unwittingly. The devil dupes many into thinking they can be a
little worldly as long as they don't compromise themselves too much. The force
of the original in both of those sections is that the world is in opposition to
all that God has revealed and that Christ is doing building his own kingdom in
this age on the earth. You can't live for Christ and be a part of the world.
Eventually you will love the world and come to hate what you once stood for.
You will be like Demas, and Simon, and Judas, among others.
If you love the world
to any degree, John says the love of the Father is not in you, at all. The
world will attract you through your emotions and senses in ways that are not of
the Father. Allign yourself with the one true and living God. The world is
dying and all who are allied with it will be judged and thrown into the lake of
fire. Do the will of God as you have been renewed by him. You will abide
forever. You may die, but it will be the means whereby you are brought to
heaven to be with Christ forever. Doing God's will is the evidence that you
have been brought from the kingdom of this world into the kingdom of his own
dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
There are two more who
departed. We don't know the reasons why, but there is no reason to think ill of
these men.
Crescens for Galatia,
Crescens is an
interesting study. He is one of those men we find out about in the
extra-biblical literature. Oral traditions have him as one of the seventy Jesus
sent out in Luke 10. It is believed that he traveled around as an evangelist.
From Luke, we would believe he went out to a place where Jesus was going to go.
We don't know who his partner in ministry was at first. But, in some way he
became identified with the Apostle Paul. If he was one of the seventy all those
years ago, we can understand his continuing in the ministry in the same way for
the apostolic ministry as he did in the life of Jesus. Crescens left for
Galatia.
He is also an
interesting possible connection between the ministries of Jesus and Paul. There
is a doctoral dissertation by a man named Brunner in Spokane, WA, who
researched and wrote on all of the connections both great and small between
Jesus and Paul. He makes this connection in a convincing manner.
Then there is Titus
who engaged in ministry like TIMOTHY sent here and there by the Apostles,
especially Paul. It should not surprise us that Paul writes of this Evangelists
departure--he was ultimately sent one place or another by the Spirit of God.
Paul wrote:
Titus for Dalmatia.
Dalmation was the
ancient name for the land to the east of the Adriatic Sea. That is the sea on
the eastern side of Italy. Italy looks like a boot coming down out of Europe.
On the eastern side, there is a long and this sea. We call that area the
Balkans. That is where Titus went. If he went by sea, it was a fairly easy
trip. If he went by land, it was a longer journey north Europe proper, then
east and finally south. Dalmatia was just north of Macedonia--a place mentioned
more in the New Testament.
The epistle from Paul
to Titus is a lot like these letters to Timothy. Titus is mentioned in
connection with a few of the churches in the NT. He was a Greek who was
compelled to be circumcised in order to be accepted by the Jews in various
cities.
Even while Paul was in
a roman prison, the gospel was going forth through others like Crescens and
Titus.
2. One Remains,
Another is needed, a Replacement
11 Only Luke is with me.
This is the physician
that traveled around with Paul for years. He carefully researched the life of
Christ and so wrote the gospel that bears his name and he wrote the book of
Acts so a Greek friend of his might know about the spread and effects of the
Christian gospel. Luke was a faithful brother. He ministered to Paul in many
ways.
Then, we have one of
the most remarkable directions given to Timothy. It reminds us that redemption
and reconciliation is possible when one repents. We read:
Get Mark and bring him
with you, for he is useful to me for ministry.
This is John Mark over
whom Paul and Barnabas had a sharp disagreement in Acts 15. He is known by his
surname, Mark to distinguish him from a number of other men named John in the
early church. Starting in Acts 15:36 the split is recorded by Luke. Mark had
left the Apostolic Band in Pamphilia--which is close to Dalmatia--but now, at
the end of his life, Paul needed Mark. His words are, "for he is useful to
me for ministry."
Paul offers
reconciliation to Mark. Paul realizes that there is a place for Mark and his
abilities there at the end of his ministry. There are a number of things Paul
may have meant and the commentators go wild with conjecture. It isn't so
significant to know what Paul wanted Mark to do as it is that after having had
a falling out with a ministry partner of over 20 years, he knew Mark would be
profitable. And, he says this after just referring to those who had left him
alone, except for Luke. It is a wonderful reminder that God can bring about
reconciliations in a variety of ways.
And, to make sure
there would be a faithful ministry after Timothy would be diligent to leave the
Ephesian Church for Paul, in Rome, we have….
12And Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.
A lot of people miss
this wonderful connection as Paul continues to provide an apostolic deputy to
minister in this needy place. Such love towards the people, to the church and
to Christ himself. Paul did not leave the church to themselves, he continued to
provide for them.
It may be that
Tychicus had already been sent prior to this letter being written and sent. Or,
the letter may have been sent by the hand of Tychicus. It would explain to
Timothy why Tychicus was arriving in Ephesus. It may have taken three weeks to
two months for such a note to get from one place to another. They were almost
always sent by the hands of faithful brethren. Titus delivered many letters to
churches. It is no violence to see the extra-biblical plausibility of Tychicus
delivering a letter by his own hand as the replacement of Timothy in Ephesus.
In Colossians 4:7,
Paul wrote, "Tychicus, a faithful brother, faithful minister, and fellow
servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me.
We know Paul sent
Tychicus or Artemis to Titus that Titus would be "diligent to come to the
Apostle"--Titus 3:12. Such is the character of the man sent to the
difficult place of ministry in Ephesus. A noble replacement. A faithful man to
be in the place of another faithful man.
Then we have some….
3. Important Instructions
13 Bring the cloak that I left with Carpus
at Troas when you come--
This shows us Paul's
real humanity. He wanted the cloak, a piece of clothing to keep dry and warm.
He knows where he left it--and with whom he placed its trust. To Carpus at
Troas.
And what endears Paul
to most preachers….
and the books,
especially the parchments.
At the end of Paul's
ministry when the time of his departure is so close he can almost touch it, he
wants Timothy to be diligent to come quickly, but not so quickly that Timothy
would leave Paul's literature behind.
Paul wanted the
materials that he had often studied. He wanted the books. This may have been
the copies of the Old Testament he had in scrolls. The manuscripts may have
been other scriptures from the OT and maybe even early copies of some of the
gospels and perhaps his own writings either sent or that he was preparing to
send. Either way, at the end of his life, the literature he owned was important
for him. It is never too late to appreciate godly materials that instruct and
edify. Paul was not to old to study. The books and manuscripts where important
to him as he nears death. What a wonderful example Paul is to all, especially
to ministers with libraries large of small.
Then a needed word to
remind Timothy of a dangerous man. Paul gives….
4. A Warning
14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much
harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works. 15 You
also must beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words.
This is the man
excommunicated by the Apostle. It appears that Alexander was once a part of the
church. In 1 Tim 1:20, Paul writes: …of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom
I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. Verse 19 is about
some who had shipwrecked their souls. These two men are mentioned explicitly as
those who did this. For this metaphor to mean anything, Alexander had to have
been a part of the church that he forsook and left the faith--thus the picture
of shipwreck. Why? Because of blasphemy. He spoke against or in an insulting
manner about God: either the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit, or all of them
together.
This seems like a
small offense in our day when so many misuse the name of God and live in ways
that speak against what he promised to do in those he calls to be his own. Blasphemy
is not a small sin. It is a wicked sin. James 2:7 instructs believers to not
blaspheme that noble name by which you were called.
This is what many in
the crowd did to Jesus as they passed by him, Matt 27:39 tells us they did this
as they were wagging their heads. It is a picture of utter disdain. These are
some of those profane and idle babblings that Timothy was to avoid (2 Tim 2:16)
because they lead to more ungodliness. The willingness to speak against God or
insulting of him even to the point of using his name in vain to any degree,
shows what is truly in the heart. Even exclaiming, "OMG." Is using
God's name in vain in a blasphemous way--it is often said when something
surprises another. It shows a heart that does not understand God's right to do
what he wants to do on the earth. It shows an unwillingness to submit to the
sovereignty of God in all things. It leads to more ungodliness.
Be careful, your
children will pick up on what you say and repeat it. The most probable source
is the parents or others they are with a lot of the time. I have heard those
letters coming out of too many mouths that profess to praise Christ with the
same lips and tongue. It should not be. It is simply blasphemy, but insulting
to God nonetheless.
But, God is gracious
and can bring us face to face with the truth of our sins and our need to be
changed by the grace and power of God. That is what the Lord does when he saves
people. It is his work that transforms us that brings us assurance of our
salvation. That is, when we see that the change or transformation is a work of
God and not of our flesh. Praise God when you realize his work within you. Cry
out for more grace.
If you are like Alex or
Demas, cry out for a different kind of grace--the kind that saves from sin and
certain wrath to come and changes us to say No to ungodliness and worldly lusts
that we might live upright, soberly and godly in this present age.
Only God can change
sinners to be good. And, bless Him, he continues to save and sanctify. Ask Him
to soften your heart, to open the eyes of understanding and to give you the new
birth, that you would be truly his son or daughter. Learn to love the one who
first loved the likes of us. AMEN!!
