Final Requests Series

BIG IDEA:

PAUL’S FINAL REQUESTS REFLECT HIS HEART FOR MINISTRY,

HIS STRUGGLE WITH LONELINESS, AND HIS ASSURANCE OF

HEAVENLY GLORY

I. (:9-12) REQUEST FOR COMPANIONSHIP AND ASSISTANCE

A. Paul Would Like to Have Timothy With Him

“Make every effort to come to me soon” – repeated in vs. 21 where “soon” is defined as “before winter”

Wiersbe: “All the ships would be in port during the winter since it would be too dangerous for sailing. If Timothy waited too long, he would miss his opportunity to travel to Paul; and then it would be too late.”

B. Paul is Lonely Due to the Lack of Companionship from Others

1. “Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica”

Stedman: “Perhaps Demas grew tired of the poverty, persecution, and hardship he had to endure as a companion of Paul, and, ‘in love with this present age,’ he had abandoned him. We can quite properly read into this much heartache on the part of Paul.”

2. “Crescens has gone to Galatia”

3. “Titus to Dalmatia”

Hiebert: “Paul is not censuring their absence (Crescens and Titus)… Certainly no blame is attached to their absence but is mentioned to explain Paul’s

loneliness.”

C. Paul is Encouraged by the Presence of Luke

“Only Luke is with me”

D. Paul Would Like to See Mark as Well

“Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service.”

Stedman: “He was the young man who had gone home to mother because he could not take the hardship on the first missionary journey, and had upset the apostle by so doing. It is a tribute to Mark that he had somehow recovered himself in the apostle’s eyes. Tradition tells us that he went down to Egypt and so ministered in the Christian.community there that he won a position of respect. Later, Paul had him come to Rome

with him, as we learn from one of the prison epistles. Now he is back in Ephesus, and Paul asks Timothy to bring Mark with him … It is a tribute to him that he recovered himself, and a tribute to Paul that he found the grace to forgive and forget the weakness of the past and give him another chance.”

E. Tychicus Has Been Dispatched to Minister Elsewhere

“But Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.”

Wiersbe: “a believer from the province of Asia (Acts 20:4) who willingly accompanied Paul and probably ministered as a personal servant to the apostle. He was with Paul during his first imprisonment (Col. 4:7-8; Eph. 6:21-22). Paul sent Tychicus to Crete to

relieve Titus (Titus 3:12). Now he was sending him to Ephesus to relieve Timothy. What a blessing it is to have people who can replace others!”

II. (:13) REQUEST FOR RESOURCES

A. Cloak – “When you come bring the cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus”

Stedman: “The cloak was what we today would call a poncho, a circular garment with a hole in the middel for the head, made of very warm material that Paul would doubtless need for the coming cold winter in Rome.”

B. Books – “and the books, especially the parchments”

Stedman: “’The books’ would seem to be a reference to papyrus books. They could well be the early Gospels of Mark and Matthew, which perhaps were circulating by

now. The parchments most certainly were copies of the Old Testament Scriptures. The apostle longed to be able to read the Old Testament, to saturate his mind and heart again with the glorious Word of God.”

III. (:14-18) REQUEST FOR JUST RECOMPENSE

A. (:14-15) Judgment Against Alexander the coppersmith

1. His Crime

a. “did me much harm”

b. “he vigorously opposed our teaching”

2. His Recompense

“the Lord will repay him according to his deeds”

3. His Ongoing Threat – “Be on guard against him yourself”

B. (:16) Pardon for Deserters

“At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me;.may it not be counted against them.”

C. (:17-18) Deliverance from the Lord

1. (:17) Past Deliverance

a. How?

1) “the Lord stood with me”

2) “and strengthened me”

Wiersbe: “When Paul had been discouraged in Corinth, the Lord came to him and encouraged him (Acts 18:9-11). After he had been arrested in Jerusalem, Paul again was visited by the Lord and encouraged (Acts

23:11). During that terrible storm, when Paul was on board ship, the Lord had again given him strength and courage (Acts 27:22ff).”

b. Why? Paul had a heart for ministry and for the salvation of the Gentiles; not thinking primarily of his own comfort

1) “in order that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished”

2) “and that all the Gentiles might hear”

c. Result? “and I was delivered out of the lion’s mouth”