Never Alone (Paul's last days)
II Timothy 4:1-18
INTRODUCTION:
Loneliness is one of the major mental-health issues in America today. A lot of folks dread the holiday season because, it highlights the losses they’ve had in life. All the celebrating … and the big family gatherings … just emphasize their feeling of being alone.
What can we do to help people who suffer from loneliness? What can we do in those times when WE feel all alone? Well… it may not help much to go to therapy. One popular counseling method is called “existential psychotherapy.” The theory behind this is that an individual can overcome their angst by confronting 4 truths about existence.
1. Death is inevitable
2. You are responsible for your choices
3. You are alone
4. Life is meaningless (Cooper, 2003)
Feeling better? There is some truth in #1 and 2 --- but 3 and 4 are the exact opposite of God’s truth. But a lot of people live life believing all four of those “givens.” Albert Einstein wrote, “It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.” Ernest Hemingway wrote, “I live in a vacuum as lonely as a radio tube when the batteries are dead.” Even the comedian Lilly Tomlin said, “We’re all in this alone.”
Scripture tells us that God has gone to great lengths so we will never have to be in this alone! We’re near the end of a series called The Story where we’ve studied the entire Bible. From Genesis through Revelation the Bible declares that we are NOT alone and that our lives are FULL of everlasting meaning. This is true even in times when we feel all alone.
Today we’re going to focus on the last days of the Apostle Paul’s life. These were months when Paul was cut off from almost all his companions.
1. Companionship
We can sense how painful this isolation was for Paul when we read the letter he wrote to Timothy, his son in the faith, from a dark prison cell. Do your best to come to me quickly. And then he expresses how alone he feels; Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. 2 Timothy 4:9, 11
This situation would be hard on anyone, but especially on Paul who was definitely a “people person.” Paul was an energetic, goal-oriented man who thrived on interaction. For example, when he wrote a letter to the Roman church, he greeted no less than 26 people by name --- even though at that time Paul had never even been to Rome.
(I don’t know about you, but I probably couldn’t’ name 26 people from a place I HAD visited!) Paul also mentions 8 people who were travelling with him. In this last letter Paul wrote (2 Timothy), he names 19 people he had dealings with.
Some people are extroverts by nature, and others are introverts, but EVERYONE has the need for relationships. That’s how God made human beings. We see this way back at the beginning of The Story when God looked at Adam and said, “It’s not good for man to be alone. I’ll make a companion for him.”
I just finished reading this book called What Are You Afraid Of?: Facing Down Your Fears with Faith by Dr. David Jeremiah
Dr. Jeremiah says, “Going without food or water will kill the body, but the lack of relationship will kill the mind and spirit.” (p.120)
An article in Psychology Today said that Isolation “has been shown to be a central agent in the etiology of depression, paranoia, schizophrenia, rape, suicide, mass murder, and a wide variety of disease states.” (p. 121)
That old song, “People, people who need people are the luckiest people in the world.” They’re not the luckiest people … they’re the ONLY people in the world! EVERYONE needs companionship.
The need for companionship is why technology like Face book or texting becomes so addictive for people. I’ve heard there’s a new phobia among young people. It’s called “no-mo-phone-a-phobia” (fear of not having a phone) Even my 10 year old granddaughter is begging for an i-phone! (Isn’t it crazy that just a hundred years ago most people had never talked on a phone and now, we panic if we forget our phone when we run a quick errand!)
This need for connection is why it’s so important for Christians to do more than sit in a service once a week. This is why we have Sunday school classes and Pueblo groups and service groups. We need connection with other Christians.
If you’ve been in a circumstance of forced isolation, you know how painful loneliness can be. This is why it’s so important for us to make the effort to seek out people who simply need companionship. People who are sick and confined … or in prison as Paul was … or simply new in the community or church --- these folks NEED others who will reach out to them --- because one of the most basic human needs is the need for Companionship.
Paul felt this need in an extreme way. Paul was likely in an infamous prison called Mamertine Prison. This is a description of what it was probably like for Paul. He would have been stripped of all his clothing except his tunic, then let down through a trap door in the floor by ropes under his armpits. After he was lowered into what was called the Tullianum Dungeon, the trap door would slam shut. Prisoners were left in pitch black darkness unless someone supplied an oil lamp. Food was lowered into the damp, hole in the ground. Prisoners had been known to be eaten by rats in that dreaded dungeon. (p. 127)
After Paul made 3 Missionary Journeys, he was arrested and spent about 5 years in under house-arrest in Rome. Paul was confined, but able to have visitors and some comforts of life. It’s during this time that many of his letters to the churches were written.
After this, Paul was briefly released and allowed to re-visit some of the churches. Then Paul was arrested again, thrown in Mamertine Prison, and within a year he was beheaded.
Most of us won’t face circumstance as harsh as Paul faced in that dark Roman dungeon, waiting for Nero to send the death order. But many of us will know the feeling of being isolated … we know what it’s like to feel all alone. People who feel that way need companionship and they need plain, old-fashioned COMFORT.
2. Comfort
Paul asked Timothy, When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas. He also said, Do your best to get here before winter. 2 Timothy 4:13, 21
In times of isolation, it’s often the small things that make the biggest difference. Small comforts are physical tokens that represent the love of true friends … and the love of God. The prayer quilts that our Joy Morgan makes for folks make a difference. The food people take to families; the cards and gifts --- the visits and phone calls --- these can make the difference between someone feeling abandoned and feeling loved.
Paul was surffering physical pain, but he was also suffering the pain of betrayal. People he’d invested in turned their back on him right when he needed them most. Listen to what he said, Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. 2 Timothy 4:10
Some of the darkest times in life come when we’ve lost someone we counted on.
People going through a Divorce often find that they not only lost a spouse, they lost half of their friends because people choose sides or just feel uncomfortable around them.
Military families know about isolation. When one spouse is deployed, the other can suddenly find themselves in a new place where there is no one to give them any friendship or support.
Widows and widowers can feel a debilitating sense of being alone.
When people are going through dark days, little comforts make all the difference. Paul asked Timothy, When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments. 2 Timothy 4:13 Those scrolls would have been portions of the Old Testament and some of the gospels and letters that would later comprise the New Testament. Paul asked for these scrolls because Paul needed more than COMPANIONSHIP and COMFORT --- he needed COURAGE.
3. Courage
Paul wanted to spend the remaining days of his life building up his FAITH --- because FAITH is the opposite of FEAR. And nothing builds our FAITH like the Word of God.
We get a glimpse into the courage of this spiritual giant during the most lonely and dark time of his life. For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 2 Timothy 6
This image of being poured out shows how Paul felt as he sat on Death Row. The Greek word for departure is “analysis.” He said, my “analysis” is near. The word means to “untie or “separate” In Paul’s time the word would be used to refer to untying a ship from its mooring.
Paul had strong ties with the people he loved, but he felt the knot loosening. Of course, Paul wasn’t separating himself from the people he loved – that was Rome’s doing. But soon Paul would be set loose and sail over the horizon to his eternal destination.
Paul took courage from the promises of God found in Scripture. He looked past the darkness to the light of Heaven. Paul’s reality was the OPPOSITE of the existential therapy model we talked about earlier.
When imminent death was certain – Paul knew that his life had eternal meaning. And most of all, Paul knew that because of Jesus, he was NEVER alone. Listen to his confidence as he faced loneliness, isolation, darkness and death.
At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth.
The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen. 2 Timothy 4:16-18
That doesn’t sound like a man who’s been beaten down, does it? It sounds like a cry of victory.
CONCLUSION:
The bottom line is that Jesus Christ gives us Companionship, Comfort, and Courage even in our darkest days. Listen to these promises:
In John 14:18, Jesus said, I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
Matthew 28:20 I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
And in Hebrews 13:6-6 He has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
The suffering Paul faced at the end of his life is extreme, but it’s not unusual. Throughout history millions of Christians have suffered and died for their faith.
I think about a man who is currently in an Iranian prison, facing almost exactly what Paul faced 2 thousand years ago.
Pastor Saeed Abedini is serving his second year of an 8-year sentence in an Iranian prison because of his Christian faith. He’s an American citizen who travelled to Iran (with the Iranian government’s consent) to meet with Christians there and establish a home for orphans.
One year ago, this 33-year-old pastor, husband and father of two was abruptly arrested and incarcerated in Evin Prison, one of the worst prisons in the world. He has endured mental and physical torment – including beatings at the hands of his captors that resulted in internal bleeding and other serious injuries.
Just last week, his family members who live in Iran were told he had been transferred from Evin in Tehran to Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj, and they would no longer be allowed to visit him. This is a prison where prisoners who the Islamic Republic of Iran deems as inconvenient are sent to disappear. They are often murdered and never heard from again.
Pastor Saeed went from sharing a prison cell with political prisoners to being surrounded by 22,000 of the most violent criminals in Iran … with no protection --- other than what God may provide for him.
I hope you will join with thousands of others who are praying for Saeed, because he represents thousands of others who are suffering and dying all over the world because they follow Jesus.
I don’t know if God will answer our prayers that Saeed will be released and reunited with his family.
But I do know one thing. I know that Saeed is not alone in that Iranian prison. Just as Paul was not alone in the Roman dungeon. And you and I will NEVER be alone, no matter what happens in our lives.
God has not left us alone. He has done everything possible to ensure we can live in connection to Him and to each other.
Are you confident that Christ will always be with you … and you will always be with Christ? Place your faith in Him today.
