This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Considering the Church” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, May 1, 1994.
About this sermon
Biblical writers’ last words mark a transition, and 2 Timothy holds Paul’s, summing up a ministry the church is about to lose. Paul consciously follows the pattern of Christ’s death without claiming equality with it. The church loses much in losing Paul, and Scripture weighs that loss honestly.
Sermon transcript
Rather than 2 Corinthians this morning, as you find in the bulletin, we are in 2 Timothy. This morning, 2 Timothy chapter 4, and we are reading the first 18 verses. Let’s give our attention to the reading of God’s word. 2 Timothy 4, verse 1. I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they keep to themselves teachers having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearance.
Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me, for Danus hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica, Cretans to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry. Antiochus have I sent to Ephesus. the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.
Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil, the Lord reward him according to his works, of whom be thou rare also, for he hath greatly withstood our words. At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear, and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory forever and ever.
Krishnamurti. Our God, stir up our interest in your word, thereby confirming in us our interest in you. As we have a zeal for your word, may it be known that we have a zeal for you. Father, encourage your children. And may those who are young, as well as those who are older, benefit as best they might from your word and its proclamation, here and also throughout the extent of Christ’s church. We glory in him, the one who is the word incarnate. Amen.
Paul’s second letter to Timothy is generally regarded to be his last letter. Now, it may not appear that way, since as you look at the ordering of things in the New You notice that there are two remaining letters still, the letters of Titus and Philemon. But we keep in mind the fact that the books of the New Testament are not chronologically ordered. They do not appear in the order in which they were written. may be good and proper reasons why, in the providence of God, Titus and Philemon appear after 2 Timothy, but taking up that matter is a concern that would interest us at another time. 2 Timothy, then, is generally recognized as the last of Paul’s letters. Although not positioned last in the canon, it is in fact the last one that he pens.
Now, something of a confirmation of this appears for us in what we read this morning, if you will note that sixth verse of the fourth chapter, where Paul says, I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure is at hand.” So it is that before his departure, before the end comes for him in his earthly sojourn, that end being administered by the Roman authorities, we believe at the hands of the Emperor Nero in the mid-AD 60s, Paul then writes this letter to Timothy, one whom he has described elsewhere as his beloved son in the faith.
Timothy is presently at work in the church at Ephesus, a church that has a prominent place in the development of the Church throughout Asia Minor and even beyond into Europe. So Paul here is writing to this one who is especially dear to him, and he is writing to him facing the end, and also addressing the situation which Timothy faces a situation in which Timothy is not doing all that well. The words of this epistle then are meant as encouragement to Timothy.
They are meant also as a means for redirection for this young pastor. They are meant as a gentle and kind, compassionate rebuke, even. Adding weight to all of these dimensions in this letter is the fact that Paul now seems to be penning something of his last will and testament. This gives what he has to say added weight and an increased degree of urgency. Now, it’s not as if these words written here are any more inspired than the words that we find in Paul’s other letters.
At the same time, let it sink in to you, these are his last canonical words, these are the last recorded, inspired words from this monumental figure in New Testament history. This means, then, that they are not merely the last things that Paul has to say to Timothy, per se, but they serve as something of a summing up of his entire life and ministry. If you want to get to the heart of Paul’s narrative, if you want to see into the soul read 2 Timothy with all the concentration that your mind and soul can muster. There is here, then, not then merely a concluding word to Timothy, but a summing up of this man’s life and ministry.
We can say, then, that these words are of inestimable value in assessing and interpreting what Paul has done with himself throughout the course of his service to Christ, and we can say that these words are of inestimable value in assessing and interpreting what he has said previously.
What is last spoken is best spoken. What is last written is best written. But adding weight, further weight, to Paul’s communication to Timothy in this fashion is the deliberate character, the deliberate character of the way in which Paul has framed this communication, and particularly the last chapter of this epistle. For you see, The way in which Paul approaches this, his last will and testament, fits so perfectly the pattern that we observe elsewhere in Scripture.
You know, you and I may utter some poignantly phrased, even quotable parting words as we leave this world. It’s even conceivable that something that we say might find its way into one of those books of quotations. We may even write something down, as many have, leaving behind a powerful statement with respect to our life, with respect to those things that we hold dear as we depart from this world. We take note of words from dignitaries, important individuals, as they depart from this world.
But as memorable as these words may be, they cannot rival those words spoken or written by the strategic figures whom God has raised up within the history of salvation. Our last words, or the last words of some dignitary, may be interesting and even inspiring, given by God’s servants within the context of the history of salvation are essential and inspired by him. Important because of the place they have within the flow of salvation history. Unique because of the role they play within God’s plan. Think of Jacob, one who gave, in fact, some famous last words. Or think of Moses. Think also, especially, of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
For each of these, the Scripture records a closing, as it were, soliloquy. in Genesis chapter 49. Jacob forecasts the destinies of his twelve sons. Remember how the book of Genesis closes? But now take stock of the intention within God’s plan, within the history of salvation, with respect to this speech, this parting speech, which Jacob honors. You see, it’s not just the close of the book of Genesis that is in view, it is the close of one era and the beginning of another in the history of the development of God’s plan. Jacob’s speech, then, not only forecasts the destiny of his twelve boys, but it also forecasts and declares even a monumental change and shift in the life and in the history of the people of God. Jacob’s last words signal the passing of the age of the patriarchs and the commencement of the times of Israel as a nation. Not simply then twelve born, but twelve tribes and a nation even.
Think of Moses. Moses takes an entire book of the Bible to deliver his last will and testament. It is the book of Deuteronomy. Again, in view, we have forecasts, we have admonition, we have them in detail. But of greatest importance, you see, is the fact that that last will and testament signals the end of one age and the beginning of another. Deuteronomy is not, then, a book that simply signals the close of the Pentateuch. It is a book that signals the close of an era. Closing are the times of tent dwelling. and wilderness wanderings and wayfaring, beginning our times of blessedness in an inheritance promised by the Lord to the fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Then, of course, we have those all-important last words of Jesus Christ himself. these words marking the greatest transition in the history of redemption and in the history of the people of God. In mind, particularly here, are the latter chapters in John’s Gospel. You remember the extended comments Jesus makes at the close of that Gospel. I have in mind particularly chapters 13 through 17. In these chapters, there is the especially fine focusing of the significance of that grandest transition of all.
Jesus speaking then for the faithful, whom he loves and loves to the end. He, with his words, trained the eye of the faithful so that they might look above so that they might look beyond the provincial dynasties that have even characterized the kingdom and the people of Israel, so that they might look beyond even a territorial inheritance in this world to the regions that are transcendent, where there is a throne enshrined in heavenly glory. that they might look to an inheritance in the eternal regions of life. Jesus says that he is going away, and that he is going even into this place which he has described. But the purpose of Jesus’ departure is not so that he might enjoy something by himself, but that all who in faith are united to him might in fact come to enjoy the very region into which he has gone. We believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” We have then, with Jesus’ last will and testimony, these words. that signal for the people of God the great transition.
As one era closes and another opens up, this present age, as it were, extends itself, and the age to come makes its appearance. But although our Savior has brought about this great and final transition for the people of God, this determinative transition for the people of God in the history of salvation, there remains yet another important subordinate shift that is brought into view in the remainder of what we are given in the New Testament and its testimony. This is not to upstage what Jesus Christ has done. It is not to suggest that there is anything imperfect in what Christ has accomplished, that the transition that is effected in him is anything less than determinative and final and full. Yet at the same time, there arises for the people of God, in the plan of God, that situation that demands yet one more shift, transition, subordinate, though it be. And in this transition, as you move, as it were, from one age to another, the figure who stands centrally to it is the one whose words we’ve read this morning, the Apostle Paul, thus underscoring his importance in the history of salvation.
You dare not minimize the importance of this man. Who else writes as many epistles? Thirteen, they are told. And you would judge that the ministry of Paul is the crown, is it not, of the book of the Acts? From the ninth chapter on, we are concerned with this individual whom God has called in such a dramatic way, and set for the ministry so that the Gentiles might hear the gospel and be gathered in.
We are dealing here with a monumental figure in the history of salvation. So when we come to this minor shift of which we have been speaking, it is not strange then that we find at the center of it the figure of the Apostle Paul. Just how significant is he? When we see him in this expansive light and in this circumstance and situation, as we look at him now, as he is preparing to depart from this life, it is as if we are witnessing in his departure departure of more than just a solitary individual, or even a very important figure in the New Testament.
Paul, you see, according to God’s design, becomes representative, and his departure becomes representative. It is as if we are able to see all of the apostles in Paul, in this particular man, so that there is that sense in which, with Paul’s passing, you are witnessing the passing of the times of the apostles.
And you are moving from the apostolic to the post-apostolic era. It may not register on you with the weight that it registered upon the Church of the first century. As the Church comes into form and shape through the events of the day of Pentecost, There had not been a time heretofore when there was not, in the midst of the Church, a living, breathing, teaching, preaching apostle. And now the apostles are dying.
It is very easy for us, then, to underestimate the extreme distress that the Christians of the first century felt as they were face-to-face with the departure of the apostles. The distress that Timothy must have felt himself as he was face-to-face with such a radical loss. These Christians were not immune to fear and to inner doubt. How about yourselves? All of us here have lost someone quite dear. We might even say that with the departure of this loved one, this one so dear, there has been a loss of direction for us. Even a loss of a sense of security. maybe even a loss with regard to a sense of authority.
If you can then sense, through your own experience, something of what these Christians were feeling, given just how important these apostles were, to the first century Christians. The apostles, you see, represented a living link with the resurrected Lord. To be an apostle, you had to have seen the risen Christ. That’s what qualifies Paul. In part, he sees the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. The Church looks to the Apostles because they are the link, living testimony to the risen Christ. And now the Apostles are being taken away from them. They are dying.
So the questions now come rapid fire. How can we continue? How can we go on? What will we do without them? How will we function? Who will answer our questions? We’re so confused anyway. How are we going to make it through? Are we left just to muddle through? What about the promise? We were hoping that Christ would return. And that any time prior to his return, we would always have these apostles, these living testifiers, with respect to him in our midst.
For the Church then, for the Christians of the first century, for Timothy now, as he faces the loss of this father in the faith, this great apostle, the loss of the apostolic band would not be unlike the loss of Christ to the original disciples. You recall the scenes in the Gospels, the disciples themselves utterly bewildered, completely saddened, without comprehension, faced with the Departure of Jesus, and now they’re struggling. They can’t understand how this is going to happen in the first place, but once they’re faced with the reality of it, they’re just completely overcome. So utterly overcome are they, and so thoroughly disappointed that they are actually ashamed of Christ, and they deserve Him.
But as the apostles now depart, as if by design and plan, as if it were deliberate, as Paul makes ready for his departure, interestingly, the same sort of tragedy looms. It becomes then a matter not just that Paul is going, but the manner in which he is going. And in order to lay before us then the subordinate character of the departure of the Apostle, the Apostle, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, will describe his departure in language that parallels the departure of Christ. Did you pick it up as you were moving through that fourth chapter? It’s as if he’s patterning his own departure after the departure that Christ had taken himself.
He’s on trial, we’re told that. We’re told that when he was on trial, everybody deserted him. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? His departure is surrounded by shame, the shame of those who have become embarrassed by Paul and his change. They’ve run away, they’ve deserted him. His situation is overlaid by suffering. He is undergoing, as it were, a crucifixion.
And even because of this offense that is found in Paul, namely he is in change, Timothy is having trouble in his allegiance to Paul, and that has created the crisis for Timothy at Ephesus. If you want confirmation of that, I ask you to look at chapter 1, verse 8, where Paul speaks specifically about the offense that his imprisonment has become to Timothy, his own faithful dear son in the faith. Timothy is even stumbling. The tone of the letter, though, that Paul writes is comparable to the tone that we find in Jesus himself as he appeals to his disciples before his departure.
Oh, there’s the rebuke, there’s the reminder. It is firm to be sure, but it is gentle, it’s loving, it’s compassionate. His words, Paul’s words like his Savior’s, are comforting. And why not? Are they not born by the very Comforter, communicated by the very Comforter whom Christ promised to his disciples in his departure? Will Timothy be afraid? Who am I going to ask? Where am I going to get advice? How am I going to stand? What am I going to do? Well, might Paul say. It is necessary that I depart.” And what confidence is instilled by the Apostle with regard to that departure itself.
He speaks of his imminent death, but he also preaches the resurrection, does he not? Note verse 8 of that fourth chapter, he here calls upon Timothy to remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead according to my gospel. Why in the world would he have to remind Timothy of the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Well, why indeed? Why must you be reminded of it? On the basis of that resurrection, Paul proclaims the certainty of his own resurrection. Verses 10 through 12, and the resurrection of all who are united to Christ. What does it matter in the final analysis how much we suffer in this world for the sake of Christ?
Is there not laid up for us all a crown of righteousness? which God will give us when he delivers us from every wicked deed in this world and brings us safely into his heavenly kingdom, you should memorize 2 Timothy 4.18. And you should feel it in your souls.
It is because of this, you see, that Paul also stands tall as a man, regardless of his apostolic status. It is because of this that Paul is not ashamed. He is so absolutely certain that though there is suffering, though comes, though there is privation, though others deserve them, the resurrection is assured and the crown of righteousness shall be given to him. All of that then becomes the basis upon which you base your own confident walk and obedience, whether there are living apostles around or not. And it is because of this that you also are not ashamed.
For as Paul says at the opening of this letter, For we know him whom we have believed, and are persuaded that he is able to keep that which we have committed unto him against that day. But having said all of that, and taken stock now of the departure of the Apostle and what that means, Please understand this also.
Just as Jesus departed, he is still here by his Spirit. Now, I am not going to suggest to you that Paul is here by his Spirit. You know how theologically foolish that would be. But I am going to say to you that the Word of the Apostle is still here, and this is a living Word.
Timothy received this word, and you have received it. Timothy is to live by it, and all of us are to live by it too. Until Jesus appears. Until each of us receives our crown of righteousness. Won’t you then persevere? And as you persevere, don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid.
Lord, it is your plan that your son would come and that he would then depart. And Father, it was your plan that the apostles would stand upon the earth for time and then they also would depart. We would ask you, Lord, that as we, the Church, are faced with these departures, that our confidence would even increase, knowing that the provision of our Savior and of our God is full and complete. And may it be, O God, that we are able to say with that early Church, in complete and absolute confidence, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.