We got back to Graham’s series on 2 Timothy this morning. Great stuff!

2 Timothy 4:9- [ 40:17 ] Play in Popup | Download

2 Timothy 4:9-13

Intro and Background
‘Come’ and ‘bring’… He wants people and he wants some things.

1) THINGS

“Bring…”
We must live as though each day is our last, yet plan for the future. We never know how short or how long our race turns out to be. He knew he was about to die but he wanted some of his things brought.

(a) Cloak (verse 13). Carpus had been entrusted with some precious things.
The mention of his cloak is rather sad. It sheds a light on the last days of Paul’s life. If people were visiting him why would he not borrow one from them? Perhaps they were no longer visiting him.

Evidently by this time no one came to visit him. He must have been forgotten or Onesiphorus, a believer coming to Rome and meeting with other believers would have known where to find him, he would not have had to search for him.

See 2 Timothy 1:15-17
You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes. May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me.

Paul is feeling the winter cold and wants his cloak. See verse 21 “Do your best to get here before winter.”

(b) Books (my scrolls, especially the parchments).
As long as we live we can learn. Though Paul was a person who had been entrusted with great revelations he submitted to learning from the writings of others. I try to draw from a wide stream, I read all sorts of things, good bad and indifferent. I also read novels so that by them I can live many lives and learn from the experiences of those lives.

Perhaps he was not only wanting to read, but to pass on to others this precious resource. Perhaps this collection contained some of his inspired letters. As he approaches his end he knows that the work will go on. If he did not believe that he would not have written this letter to Timothy.
2) PEOPLE
Intro
Paul wanted Timothy to come because Demas had gone. Tychicus had been sent by Paul  (verse 12) to Ephesus to fill in for Timothy. When Timothy comes Paul would like him to bring some things with him. But bringing things is not the reason he asks Timothy to come, he asks him because some have left to the business of the Master, his friends deserted him (verse 16) and Demas abandoned the work of God.

Demas has deserted Paul. The one that deserts us leaves a wound the other leavers have not. Such is grief, hurt, loss and betrayal.

Titus must have left Crete after straightening out the affairs of the churches there. See Titus 1:5. The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.

Dalmatia was part of the Roman province of Illyricum on the coast of the Adriatic. Paul had written to Titus asking him to meet Paul there in Nicopolis. He may have been intending to preach the Gospel in the adjoining province of Dalmatia when spring came. Paul was arrested so didn’t get there. Titus seems to have got on with the job alone.

See Titus 3:12. As soon as I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, because I have decided to winter there.

Paul had friends there but not many. Some Roman Christians visited him. But they did not support him in court at his first defence, see verse 16 At my first defence, no-one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them.

Perhaps some of them returned later. See verse 21 Do your best to get here before winter. Eubulus greets you, and so do Pudens, Linus, Claudia and all the brothers.

(a) Demas
Demas, once a “fellow labourer” of Paul, along with Mark and Luke (Col 4:14; Phm 24). Demas has not only gone, he has deserted because “he loved this world”.

What did he mean by this? Demas might have liked worldly ease too much, or safety, or the comforts of home. Perhaps he anticipated he might have to face danger with Paul.

See Matthew 13:20-22. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.

(b) Timothy
Timothy is asked to come to be a comfort to Paul, and also to be strengthened by Paul, for carrying on the Gospel work after Paul’s decease.

2 Timothy 4:21 Do your best to get here before winter. Eubulus greets you, and so do Pudens, Linus, Claudia and all the brothers.

2 Timothy 1:4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy.

(c) Mark (also known as John Mark)
By looking at Colossians 4:10 written two years before this, we can work out that he was with Paul then and about to go to Colosse, a city in the West of what we would now call Turkey, then called Asia Minor.

Timothy was in charge of the church in Ephesus on the West coast of Turkey, not far from Colosse. As Christians in fellowship and not living far apart Timothy is asked to bring John Mark.

Mark is now a man restored. “he is helpful to me for in my ministry”. Mark had forsaken Paul at a critical moment in his missionary tour with Barnabas.

Acts 13:5, When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John [Mark] was with them as their helper.
Acts 13:13 From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John [Mark] left them to return to Jerusalem.

After Paul refused to take Mark on the second journey, Barnabas separated from Paul, taking Mark with him on a mission to Cyprus.

See Acts 15:37-40
Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.

Eventually Mark proved himself to Paul. He was with Paul during Paul’s first Roman imprisonment.

See Collossians 4:10
My fellow-prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (You have received instructions about him; if he comes to you, welcome him.)

Philemon 23-25
Epaphras, my fellow-prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow-workers. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Timothy had replaced Mark in relation to Paul. He held the post Mark once held. Some think here Paul’s wording is careful to avoid Timothy feeling threatened by Mark or by being compared with him as though Timothy was the superior. This is the Mark of Mark’s Gospel, the one who has spent time with Peter, an eye-witness of the ministry and miracles of Jesus.

In this short section we have mention of both a deserter and a returner. God is always at work. Returning is always possible until the moment of death. Not only return but also reconciliation between these two. As reconciliation had already taken place that can not be the reason for the meeting again, however the quality of the reconciliation is seen in Paul’s desire to see Mark before he dies?

John 13:35
By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.