Friends and Foes
2 Timothy 4:9-22
It's time for us now to come to the study of God's precious truth and I would like you to open your Bible, if you will, to 2 Timothy chapter 4. We come to our last lesson in this rich epistle, looking today at verses 9 through 22. And in this particular section at first glance, it appears as though it's a bit of odds and ends at the end of an epistle, at the end of a chapter, at the end of a letter, at the end of a life, really, because this is the last writing that Paul ever did under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And perhaps it is often ignored and overlooked because it seems to be rather mundane and of little consequence. And yet for the faithful student of God's Word, everything that is God's Word is rich and deep and profound and moving and compelling and I trust that you shall find these verses to be just that.
As Paul faces the last days of his life, as he closes out his last epistle, last chapter, writes his last paragraph, people are on his mind, people who made up his life, people who shared his ministry, people who were crucial and vital and critical and essential to everything that he did. And what we have in these verses from 9 through 22 is Paul's...to put it in modern terms...network of people. And we are reminded in this particular passage that none of us who would minister for Christ can do so alone. We are not islands. The better able we are to be dependent, the better able we are to delegate, the better able we are to understand how critical it is for us to work with and alongside people the more effective we'll be in the Lord's service.
The modern business world tells us that networking is vital to success. And they have very sophisticated networks involving suppliers, customers, government agencies, stockholders, employees and management. The human body is perhaps the most graphic visual and intimate demonstration of networking as we live and move in an incredible network of organs and muscle and tissue and blood and flesh that functions in such perfect harmony.
Paul had a network. He had a team. He had people who were his life, people on whom he depended, people to whom he delegated responsibility, people in whom he trusted, people who were faithful, people who were unfaithful, people who were friends, people who were enemies, people who were old friends in his life, people who were new friends, people who were consistent, people who were inconsistent, people who were always ready to volunteer, people who were never ready to volunteer. They were all a part of his life.
And as he faces the axe that will cut off his head and knows his life is about to end, those people are on his mind. Remember he's writing this epistle as well as 1 Timothy to pass the mantle of church leadership to Timothy. And part of his passing that mantle is to inform Timothy about what's going on with all the people on the team. He's like an old coach turning over his team to a young coach who wants the young coach to know where everybody plays so he can step in as the team leader with a minimum of trauma and difficulty.
Some of the people he mentions here he wants to come and be with him in his last days for comfort and to assist him in the ministry he continues to do. They are namely Timothy, Luke and Mark. Some of them whom he mentions he just wants to greet and share his love and his concern because they're his friends, Prisca, Aquila, the family of Onesiphorus. Some of them he sent to serve in strategic places to keep the work strong, Crescens, Titus, Tychicus, Erastus and Trophimus. Some of them he mentions as sending greeting along to Timothy, believers in the Roman church, Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, Claudia and others. And some of them he mentions because of the grief they brought him, Demas, Alexander and a whole group of anonymous deserters.
And so as he writes from prison what is his final words, he thinks of his people. He thinks of the network, the team that made up so much of his life. And we learn so much from this. We are almost here seeing living illustrations of the principle of the function of the body described in 1 Corinthians 12:13 through 37, how that the body works in perfect harmony, so does the body of Christ and here we see that working going on. It's less than perfect in the sense that the network is always, always the victim of unfaithful people. But it's as close as we're going to get to an illustration of how we are to do mutual ministry, depending and delegating and working together.
And I believe it was so important that the Holy Spirit put it here and not just incidentally but instructively. He wants us to get a look at the people in Paul's life. He wants us to get a look at what's on his mind as he faces death and what's on his mind is not programs but people because they are the vitality of ministry. People are the most precious treasure we have. They are the most valuable commodity there is. They are our greatest resource. And Paul had the happy privilege of knowing the fulfillment of 1 Samuel 10:26 where it says about Saul, "There went with him a band of men whose hearts God had touched."
Paul had a band of men whose hearts God had touched, too. They labored together. If there's been any one joy in my ministry, this has been my joy, to have had a band of men whose hearts God has touched, who are my own team of friends, co‑ laborers, each playing a vital part in life and ministry.
So Paul wants us to meet his team. He wants Timothy to know who they are and where they are and what they're doing as he takes over. Let's begin at the beginning in verse 9.
Now when I was in seminary they told us that basically if you want to be homiletical and you want to really stick within the confines of proper oratory, you have three points and a poem. I want you to know I have 13 points and no poem. This is a very difficult passage to outline. But we're going to see the friends of Paul and some foes anyway.
First of all, we meet the faithful son Timothy in verse 9, and though not mentioned, obviously, the statement is directed to him, "Make every effort to come to me soon." Timothy is the object of the letter as he was 1 Timothy. He is Paul's true son, Paul's reproduction, Paul said of him that he was his true child in the faith. He identifies him as his son in both the first and second of these epistles.
In writing to the Corinthians of his tremendous concern for them in all of their sin, he said to them in 1 Corinthians 4:17, "For this reason I have sent to you Timothy who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church." I'm sending you Timothy, he's a clone, he's a reproduction, he's a carbon copy, he'll remind you of my ways and of everything I teach.
In writing to the Philippians and unbearing his heart, chapter 2 verse 19 he said, "I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition for I have no one else of kindred spirit." He had the heart of Paul. He had the habits of Paul. He had the theology of Paul. He was Paul reproduced, the faithful son.
And as Paul sits in a cold dark dungeon, he longs to see his dear friend, his beloved son in the faith, Timothy. He says in chapter 1 of this epistle, verse 4, "Longing to see you even as I recall your tears so that I may be filled with joy, I want you just because I love you, I want you because I enjoy you. I remember your tears, I know you love me. I remember your compassion. I want you here." And surely there was some work to do as well. And surely there was so much more to say to Timothy who would take up the mantle of leadership in the church and Paul knew he was facing death, wanted so much Timothy to come.
Oh there were some Roman Christians in the city but that wasn't like Timothy. And Luke was there but Luke could never take the place of Timothy, nobody can take the place of anybody else in a person's heart. And he wants to see Timothy once before he dies, at least to pass on the mantle, the baton. He knows, according to verse 6, that the time of his departure is at hand, it is imminent. He will not live long and if Timothy doesn't come now they'll never see each other this side of heaven. So he urges his faithful son to come.
He says, "Hasten," the verb means to make every effort, to be quick, to be in a hurry, to be fast. He uses the word "soon," speedily, be in a hurry, be fast, get here quickly. There's an urgency in this because time is of the essence. Paul doesn't have much time before he'll die. Timothy doesn't have much time before winter, as we will note in verse 21. And when winter comes he can't make the journey because the seas are too rough. And there's so much to say and so much to share. Paul wants Timothy by his side.
Most...most great men in the ministry are linked to a mentor. They're linked to somebody either afar or near whose heart they desire to emulate. For Timothy it was Paul. For Paul his child in the faith was Timothy. And mutually they had pulled their lives together by God's wonderful grace and been a strength to each other. It is one of the richest things that we will ever know in ministry when God gives us the privilege of raising up Timothys, those who desire not only to hear what we say but to emulate our heart's desire. Timothy turned out, by the way, to be a faithful product of Timothy, a faithful son who himself, according to Hebrews 13:22 was in prison for his faithfulness. And you and I can thank God if He in His grace has given to us young men who are Timothys, who are reproductions hopefully better than we were, more devoted than we were, more godly than we were, but who catch the vision of our heart and who make the commitment to live to the glory of God and carry on the work which was so much a part of our lives. And so we meet the first person in his network that he mentions, Timothy, the faithful son.
Secondly, we meet the unfaithful deserter in verse 10. We go from the most faithful to the most unfaithful. Verse 10 says, "For Demas having loved this present world has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica." Why is it that the verse begins with the word "for"? That's an interesting statement, "For Demas," it's as if Paul is saying...Would you please come soon because Demas is gone. Could it be that Demas was of strategic use in ministry that his place needed to be taken by Timothy? The implication here is that Timothy was coming not only for the sake of the heart of Paul but for the sake of the work of Paul which heretofore was being done by Demas.
We don't know much about Demas. The first time he is mentioned is in Colossians 4:14 where he is mentioned as one of the esteemed and intimate companions of Paul. While Paul was writing the Colossian epistle from prison in Rome, Demas was there. Probably Paul wrote Philemon within the same few day period and he was there as well, Demas was, when Paul wrote Philemon and is thus mentioned in Philemon verse 24. So he was intimately acquainted with Paul, had been for some years, was there during that time of that first imprisonment in Rome. Must have had some kind of outward ministry of importance, he is called...by the way...in Philemon a fellow worker of Paul. He was a partner in suffering to some degree, must have been a partner in prayer, must have been a partner in some kind of ministry.
He was a man in whom Paul had invested much. He surely knew much. And when he deserted Paul, there was a void. And just the fact that it says, "For Demas having loved this present world has deserted me," indicates that Timothy was going to step in to something Demas had been doing which gives you an idea that Demas was a pretty strategic person and at least on the outside was carrying on a ministry.
The verb "has deserted me" needs our attention for a moment. It is a very strong verb. It starts with a root verb meaning to leave and then it compounds it by adding two prepositions at the beginning of the word which makes it doubly intense so that it has been translated in sort of an American slang "leaving me in the lurch." And it is the idea not just of leaving but deserting in the midst of a dire situation, leaving at a most inappropriate time. Perhaps the deprivation had gotten to Demas, perhaps the difficulty, the suffering, perhaps he could see the handwriting on the wall, Paul was going to lose his life and he wasn't about to lose his for that cause. He wasn't that committed. Maybe he was caught up with Paul because of the noble cause, because of his emotion, his feeling, but never really counted the cost. He may well be one of those seeds that fall on rocky soil and pops up for a little while but when tribulation comes, dies. He may be a little bit like the weedy ground where there is a sprouting initially and then the love of the world or the cares of the present age choke out the life before any fruit can come. It would seem to me that he probably was no true Christian at all because it says "having loved this present, ion, age, world, world system, all the aims, ideals, opinions, values, motives, morals, impulses of the present passing age," they were the things that he loved.
He's much like Judas. He fell in love with the world and apparently never genuinely had a love for Christ and the cause of Christ through Paul. On the outside he ministered, but Judas did, too. But on the inside there was not the commitment. And he, like Judas, deserted Paul. Jesus had a deserter, Paul had a deserter. In a sense, it's kind of comforting, isn't it? To know that there will be those who will labor alongside us until the time when they decide they've had enough and they are gone. Having loved the present age, it says he left and went to Thessalonica.
Why did he go there? We don't know. We can surmise that that probably was his home. He is listed in Philemon verse 24 with Aristarchus who according to Acts 20 verse 4 was a Thessalonian. So maybe they were kind of a duo from Thessalonica and he was going home. But the point here is not so much where he went as why he went and why he went was because he loved the world more than he loved the things of God. And 1 John says if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not...what?...is not in him.
I received a letter this last week from a man who used to work alongside me and who loved the present world and departed and wrote me to tell me in the letter of the disaster of his life, the devastation of his personal life, the destruction of his marriage as a result of that. You will have in your life a Demas or two or three or more. Somebody you pour your life into, somebody you think is on the team, somebody outwardly doing ministry, who brings you deep hurt and deep pain and sometimes deep confusion because all of a sudden it becomes apparent that they love the present world and they leave. Demas is a part of your network, too, and mine.
Thirdly, and the next person we come to is the faithful unknown...we'll call him the faithful unknown. Verse 10, "Crescens has gone to Galatia." Now we know absolutely nothing about Crescens. However, in spite of that I have a few things I