The End - 2 Timothy 4

It’s kind of bitter sweet that I’m studying the end of Paul’s last letter before his death on the last day that I’m doing study on my job here. Kind of a fitting end, and I know that there are more Pauline letters after this, and I wish I would have gone in chronological order and coordinated with the Acts of the Apostles, but next time I guess, in 10 years. 4:1-2 - There’s a phrase Paul uses in his final charge to Timothy “before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the death,” which is similar phrasing to the very last verse in the Book of Mormon when Moroni bids farewell to his readers and hopes to “me you before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead.” I like when phrases or ideas get found in various places in the scriptures because it ties them together and I don’t know why, I just like it. Paul charges Timothy to “preach the word; be instant in season, out of season.” I’m not exactly sure what this in and out of season thing means but an article about this verse from bibleref.com says, “The phrase ‘in season’ refers to those times when one is, by common sense, ‘supposed’ to be preaching the word. These are friendly circumstances, or safe times. Second, Timothy was to be ready when preaching was not convenient. This is the meaning of the phrase ‘out of season.’ These are times when proclaiming the truth is awkward, difficult, or resisted.” Timothy was called and ordained to missionary work, so this advice would be easier to understand for his circumstances, but what about us? How do we “preach the word” in both easy and difficult times? I would think that it means we should always keep our covenants and our Christ-like behavior even when it’s going to make a scene or when we really don’t want to. This is a problem for me a lot of times because I want to be aggressive toward someone or do something awful like that and I have to ask myself “what would Jesus do?” The rest of the verse is Timothy’s charge to “reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” The article on this chapter from gospeldoctrine.com quotes Neal A. Maxwell as teaching, “To exhort isn’t simply to scold, though it sometimes may include that; but it involves tender beseeching, entreating, and comforting. The long-suffering prescribed includes not only patience but also forbearance with another while he or she is in the untidy process of trying to set things right.” It’s interesting because, again, in my patriarchal blessing there’s a part about this, it says, “you shall have a forthrightness of tongue. You shall speak in a manner which is straightforward. There shall even be those times when there shall be those who shall recoil at the bluntness of your speech. Nonetheless, I bless you that they shall appreciate, in the long run, that which you have spoken unto them. For they shall appreciate, in the long run, that which you have spoken unto them. For they shall take heed to one who has spoken as a servant of the Lord. Thus, in spite of that direct approach which is yours, you shall have that capacity to show forth, as the scriptures says, ‘an increase in love’ unto those whom you have, at times, rebuked.” There’s a few points here that are important to be made. I’ve heard of other people who have had this same concept in their blessings and they’ve taken that to mean that they can just say whatever they want all the time and hurt people’s feelings without regard. It’s interesting too because I have zero issues with being “honest” and getting into it with someone, but while thinking about what this paragraph means for me, I’ve come to the conclusion that the people I would be “rebuking,” and the same with Timothy, would be those who might have precarious standing in their testimony and I know for a fact that someone being awful to them, regardless of the truthfulness of the statement, would drive them away from the gospel so much faster. So the balance becomes, how do you say what needs to be said in a way that brings people closer to Jesus instead of pushing them away? This is a skill that must be pursued with empathy, compassion, and the sole desire to do the will of God. The second important point kind of speaks to how to deal with the first one and that is to “show an increase in love” to those who might be vulnerable to bad feelings toward you. If we think about the Savior’s mortal ministry, there were many people who hated him, but that hate stemmed from them wanting to retain wealth and power. None of that hatred came from him acting in an antagonistic way toward them. Whenever he spoke harshly to the Pharisees, they approached him, he was just teaching people the truth and they wanted to come at him, so he gave it to them, not aggressively but firmly. Here’s the thing about Paul’s charge to Timothy to “rebuke,” he, and we, would have to learn how to do this in God’s way. A charge like Timothy’s or mine in my blessing is not given to us because we are so special that everyone needs to listen to what we have to say, but has to be done only according to the Spirit. Because honestly, if the message to another person is so important that we need to give it even if it might make them feel bad, then it must be given by the Spirit through us, that’s the only way it can be done so that the words are heeded and their testimony is strengthened. The whole of this verse is summed up with the comment from bibleref.com saying, “Timothy’s preaching of the word should include teaching, a term referring to instruction. He is to include both emotion and intellect, training believers to follow God’s truth.” 4:3-9 - The whole purpose of preaching in a way that might be harsh but purposeful, is because Paul says about Timothy’s time specifically, but is accurate now as well, “the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.” It’s important to preach the gospel in such a way so that those who are ready to be stable in their beliefs can be touched by the Spirit, and that’s not going to come if we are we are offending or diluting the gospel. If we change what is taught or the example that we set, then we will feed into the beliefs of those who want to follow “after their own lusts,” and become known to those who are “having itching ears.” Just like we discussed yesterday, religion can be used as a strong tool for corruption, wealth, and power and will attract those who wish to abuse in in a way that gets them those things. That’s why Timothy must “make full proof of they ministry.” This is cross-referenced with “fulfill your ministry,” but the question is “prove or fulfill” according to who? The answer is God. This means that no matter who accepts or rejects the gospel, we can stand before God at the end of our ministry and say, as Paul did, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” He did not engage in physical contention, but spiritual, he was called and answered faithfully, and didn’t stray from what he believed, even though the consequences were horrific. I mean if we think about it, if Paul had abandoned the gospel when it started getting tough, he might have lived with more physical peace and maybe a few years longer, but when we look back at Paul’s life 2,000 years ago, we are so far removed from the time that he could have lived further and what his reward was spiritually. I actually had a dream the other night where I decided that I didn’t want to live the gospel anymore and I was going to find a boyfriend, and it made me think the next day about the pros and cons of my decision to be a worthy temple recommend holder. If we look at Paul’s life, the amount of time he spent on earth is a pale comparison to the amount of time he spent in the eternity afterward. It’s really an interesting concept to consider, if pain was quantifiable and we compressed it into a number, the amount of pain, physically and emotionally, that we experience in this life, I wonder how it would compare to the eternities, and which way the scales would balance. Paul was confident that the way he lived his life has ensured “a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day.” And Paul’s life was pretty extreme in the amount of his suffering and sacrifice for the sake of the gospel, but the reward of a crown of righteousness is not just for people who suffer like Paul did for the gospel, it is for “all them also that love his appearing.” It’s not the quantity of the sacrifice that ensures the reward but the quality. 4:10-12 - Paul now ends the letter with more information that is pertinent for their time, saying, “Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica.” I had no idea who this is, but the name “Demas” is cross-referenced with a verse from Colossians and a verse from Philemon, both of which name Demas as Paul’s companion in the ministry. The article quotes Alexander B. Morrison as noting, “One of the saddest statements in all of Paul’s writings is found in this second letter to his beloved Timothy. ‘For Demas hath forsaken me,’ wrote Paul from Rome, ‘having loved this present world.’” It’s most likely that Demas did not leave Paul but the gospel, but by abandoning the gospel Demas’s departure would have triggered mourning by Paul for not only the loss of Demas’ friendship but his rejection of the gospel. Most of my friends have left the church at this point, in fact there’s only one friend that I have who is still active and whenever another friend leaves, I’m sad. We are usually still friends afterward, but I’m sad that they are suffering. The decision to leave the church is never an easy one and even when they do decide to leave, usually it is accompanied with negative emotions such as anger, hurt, etc. and I don’t want that for any one, especially someone that I care about. It also is sad for me because the gospel of Jesus Christ has brought me so much happiness and peace and I wish that they could have found that same thing. I understand that the conversion process is usually an eternal endeavor, but I just want people to be happy. Many other men had gone to other places, and Paul had “only Luke.” Visiting Paul in prison this second time was probably difficult and dangerous, so Luke probably wouldn’t have been able to see him as much as he would have liked. Paul tells Timothy to “take Mark” when he comes to visit him, and the article notes that Paul’s relationship with Mark had been troubled at some point, but Mark had redeemed himself in Paul’s eyes because he was at this point “profitable to me for the ministry.” Just goes to show how we shouldn’t count others out just because we were disappointed, and we should count ourselves out because we didn’t live up to someone else’s standards. We are all on our own path. 4:13-18 - Timothy is coming to visit and Paul asks for him to bring “the cloak that I left at Troas… and the books, but especially the parchments.” The article quotes Marion D. Hanks as saying, “(Paul) was cold and alone, he wanted his coat and his friends, he missed his beloved books, but he especially wanted the parchments! He had something he had to say, and since the time was at hand when he was ‘ready to be offered… the time of departure,’ he had to put it in writing for his people and for us.” This was a tough explanation for me to read because even though Paul is tough for me to read and understand, I’ve been studying him for over 2 years and I’ve become kind of fond of him and for him to be old, cold, and lonely is a little sad. There was another man that both Timothy and Paul knew, “Alexander the coppersmith” who some how pertains to this conversation and possible had to do with Paul’s first trial, who “did me much evil.” This guy apparently was very contentious to Paul and his preaching, but even with all that Paul wants, “the Lord reward him according to his world.” I don’t know how this guy fits in or if he does at all, but Paul goes right into his first trial when, “no man stood with me, but all men forsook me.” Even though Paul had already been imprisoned many times, and even in Rome, even though he had probably been arraigned in that same courtroom before, this time was different. Previously, he knew that his mortal ministry wasn’t over, previously he had been surrounded by many friends and companions, previously he was younger and surely in better health. I think about Paul standing in that court room during his first appearance as a defendant, old, knowing this was his last rodeo, with an emperor who was openly hostile to Christians, and alone. It’s like the end scene in Braveheart, when Mel Gibson is being tortured to death and all the other people fade away, all the gawkers, all the accusers, all the executioners, His body is there, but his mind is focused solely on his wife who died earlier, as she walks through the crowd to come take him to the spirit world. It’s a beautiful scene, and that’s what I imagine it was like for Paul, standing there, unjustly accused, as “the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me.” I imagine Paul losing focus on everyone else as he basked in the Spirit, feeling assured that he was doing the right thing. There’s a painting of “Christ standing before Pilate,” that has really touched a lot of people, but it never really did anything for me. It’s in our chapel and I’ve thought many times why it was there. But if we take that painting and substitute Paul for Jesus and have Jesus standing with Paul in a way that only he can see Him, that would be powerful for me, and that’s exactly what I imagine the scene looked like that Paul is describing here. Paul insists that he was “delivered out of the mouth of the lion,” which I had no idea what he was talking about, but the article on this verse from bibleref.com saying, “Given the dangerous, anti-Christian politics of the time, no human stood with Paul at his first hearing. However, Paul was entirely confident that he was not alone. His words closely reflect Daniel’s response from the lion’s den: ‘My god sent his angel and hit the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.’ At this first hearing, Paul might have avoided immediate execution- perhaps even death by lions in the Coliseum. Given his earlier comments, he does not expect to be so lucky in the future. The idea of rescue from the mouth of a lion is also used figuratively in scripture, as in Psalm 22:21 and 1 Peter 5:8. According to tradition, Paul was eventually beheaded.” I love this background information because, again, it ties in ancient scripture with Paul’s writings and demonstrates God’s watchful hand over us, even when the circumstances are bad. I ask myself why Jesus would make it so that he was killed by beheading instead of lions, if that was in fact a part of his plan. I would imagine being ripped apart by lions would be terribly painful whereas beheading would be a better way to go out, in my opinion. Maybe it was a tender mercy so that Paul didn’t have to suffer extensively when the time came. It was probably a combination of things, but even though he languished in prison in pain, Paul still felt that he was being blessed by God and didn’t complain. This really gives me reason to pause and think about my own circumstances and attitudes, not because I want to be more like Paul but because I want to be more like Jesus and I see Paul as an example of how to apply that in different parts of my life. Paul’s confident that God’s blessings on him will continue and that God “will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom.” He doesn’t expect earthly rescue, but heavenly salvation. Paul asks for his regards to be given to Onesiphorus, Prisca and Aquila, and asks Timothy to “come before winter,” and ends the letter blessing Timothy with “the Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen.” I don’t know whether Timothy made it to see Paul in prison that winter as we have no record. But surely Paul was martyred for his faith and received into the arms of Jesus.