(This is a continuation of our series on Second Timothy.)

“Make every effort to come to me soon…. When you come, bring the cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments” (Second Timothy 4:9,13)

It’s not that the Apostle Paul was so elderly and infirmed that caused him to anticipate his departure from this life, but rather knowing that the upcoming trial before Caesar was not going to turn out in his favor.  “The time of my departure is at hand,” he said in II Timothy 4:6.

Now, he has not given up and he was not shutting down his ministries.  He had not chosen to sit down and wait for death to catch up to him.

Something else entirely was going on here.

Paul was extremely active from his jail cell, ministering to everyone who came near and sending out letters and other messages as the Lord gave him opportunity. That’s why we have these epistles from his hand.  This one, Second Timothy, is the final one we have. (Note: We’re not necessarily saying it’s the last thing he wrote. No one knows this. But of the epistles we have, this is the latest.)

In the four chapters of Second Timothy, we find seven final concerns of Paul, things he “needs” as his departure draws closer….

1) He needs the company of a few good friends.

One of the recurring themes of this short letter is friendship. 

In 1:15-18, Paul says “all in Asia turned away from me,” even naming two men in particular whom he was counting on. In contrast, Onesiphorus “searched for me and found me” and “refreshed me.”

In chapter 4, Paul tells who has deserted him (“Demas” for overloving this world), who is with him at the moment (“only Luke”), which of his friends are on missions (Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia, Tychicus to Ephesus), which friend failed him (“Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm”), and he ends by sending Timothy greetings from a number of people there in Rome, indicating he’s not quite as alone as he feels he is.

William Manchester titled the second of his three-volume biography of Winston Churchill “Alone,” because it dealt with the period in the 1920s and 1930s when the great man was out of office and out of favor with the ruling elite and as a “voice in the wilderness” was sounding the alarm about Naziism.  However, Churchill was anything but alone. He had friends in  high places who visited him at Chartwell and fed him key information about the doings of their government and others. The dinner table was rarely without guests who dropped in for counsel from Winston or to share something with him. Doubtless, in contrast to the full and busy life he would lead after taking the reins of the government in 1940, he was “alone” during this period, but not literally.  In the same manner, Paul is said to have been alone–and says so himself–but he appears to have people coming and going in his life continually.

I think we know the answer to this puzzle. Some people are there but are not really “there.”  You can’t depend on them. They are not the type in whom you can confide or whose counsel you seek or whose prayers make a difference.  We need people who share our heartbeat, so to speak.  We remember our Lord praying in Gethsemane just hours before going to the cross, looking in vain for his three closest colleagues to pray with him (Mark 14:33-42).

For reasons known only to them, Paul wants Timothy there. “Make every effort to come to me soon.” “Pick up Mark and bring him with you.”

2) He needs the assurance that the Lord’s work is going forward.

There is the constant sense among everyone, I expect, that “apres moi, le deluge!” That is, after I’m gone, the whole thing goes to pieces. I’ve known preachers who, having gotten their doctorates years earlier, bemoaned the lowered standards seminaries were adopting.

It’s no compliment to a pastor if the church falls apart after his departure.  On the other hand, if the pastor who follows him has an incredible ministry, it figures that he was building on the man’s legacy.

The way Paul invests in the future of the Lord’s church is by laying down plain-spoken, solid instruction for future congregations and their leaders.  Years earlier, Paul had learned that he had no private correspondence, that anything he wrote to a friend was going to be copied and read aloud to congregations. Therefore, even when he seems to be giving personal messages, he does so with the larger eavesdropping body of disciples in mind.

And so we find him saying things like “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me” (1:13), “the things you have heard from me…entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2:2), and “the Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to all….” (2:24).  He was speaking to Timothy, but through him to us today.

3) He needs to unload a few warnings, harsh words which Timothy and the church at large need to hear.

–“Remind them of these things and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words….” (2:14)  Quarreling is destructive and must be avoided by God’s people.

–(Correct the wrongdoers gently) “…that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will” (2:26). The work of disunity is a favorite ploy of Satan.

–“But know this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful arrogant…. holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power. Avoid such men as these….” (3:1-9) It’s critical to know that Paul is talking about church people becoming this way in the future.  The world’s crowd has always been such! By faithful instruction, God’s servants can go forward well-prepared and not be thrown off balance by apostasy among the Lord’s people.

–“Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm…. Be on guard against him yourself” (4:14-15).

4) He needs to leave a ringing testimonial of his own faith.

Any of us want those coming behind to know we went out strong, that our faith was radiant and our hope secure.

“For I am not ashamed! I know whom I have believed!  I’m persuaded that He is able….” (1:12) Many a person has come down to their final days ashamed of the way they have spent (and misspent) their lives.  We could name a few of the more prominent ones.

Just yesterday as I write, our newspaper told of the death of the valet of a prominent celebrity about whom he had written a tell-all book some years back. The lengthy article mentioned endless occasions of drinking and debauchery which the valet had chronicled in his book. We wonder if such a well known “star” went into eternity ashamed of the way he had squandered his life, or was he so far gone by then that he had lost all sense of shame and all fear of meeting his Maker?

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day….” (4:7-8).  That testimony is about as good as it gets.

“The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen” (4:18).

I read of Paul’s faith in this chapter and think, “Even if none of this were true, even if in the unlikely event it turns out we have been misled and that after death comes an eternity of nothingness–we walk by faith and not by sight!–I would rather be on the same team as this apostle than any other.  He stands for truth and integrity, for righteousness and love. I would rather be associated with Paul than with his competition or his detractors.”

5) Paul needs his books.

Don’t we all!  Pastor Adrian Rogers stood in my study at the church one day in the late 1970s scanning the books weighing down the shelves.  He would pull one out and we would talk about it. At one point he said, “I never toss out a book. I love my books. I even keep ‘None Dare Call it Treason.” We laughed, because that worthless book was one of those slanderous attacks on the government written by someone who sees conspiracies in every direction.  This was the worst thing on his shelves, Dr. Rogers was saying, and he was keeping even it.  He did love his books, and of course, wrote quite a few himself.

I worry about ministers who don’t read, and those who don’t read widely.  When a pastor sent his proposed reading list for the new year recently to ask if I had any suggestions, noticing everything there was theological, I said, “Yes. Read a western. Read John Grisham’s latest novel, or the latest Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child.  Balance your reading with something light.”

God uses all kinds of material to teach His people.

6) Paul needs his coat. Wintertime approaches.

The dungeon was frigid. Since most inmates were facing death, prison authorities had no compelling reason to provide creature comforts.  If any comfort came, it would arrive from friends or family of the condemned.

We wonder about this. Did Paul have no friends at all who would bring him a cover?  Could he not borrow something from someone?  What were the circumstances under which he left his cloak at Troas with Carpus?

In my first post-seminary pastorate, our young family was struggling to make ends meet. Yet, we were excited to be serving God.  One wintry day that first season, I held a funeral wearing my thin suit. Rain had been falling and the temperature was at or below freezing. Conditions were miserable.  Afterwards, I returned home to change into something dry, then drove to the church.  A large box with my name on it lay on my desk. A lady in our congregation had driven straight from the funeral to a clothing store and purchased for her pastor a London Fog all-weather coat.  It was beautiful and warm, and I wore it for years. (I cannot type this without growing teary-eyed. That was over 45 years ago, and this gift from Ethel Keeling blesses me to this day, although the actual coat was taken from a coat rack in the hallway of the next church I served. I imagine whoever took it needed a good warm coat, too.)

7) Paul wants to finish strong. 

One of Paul’s constant concerns was that he would mess up and bring shame to the Lord and the gospel.

He said to Timothy in his earlier epistle, “This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith” (I Tim. 1:18-19).  Paul knew about shipwreck, didn’t he? (See Acts 27 and 2 Corinthians 11:25.)

In his final message to the elders of Ephesus Paul said, “I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).

And so he comes down to the end of his life with this wonderful testimony: “In the future 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” (2 Timothy 4:8).

As for his final days and the scary prospects ahead, he says, “The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly Kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”