Well if you’re not there already, let’s turn in our Bibles to 2 Timothy 4:16–22. Let’s finish up this great book of the Bible. Let’s talk again today about “The Art of Finishing Well.”

Several years ago I read a book entitled Shadow of the Almighty. It’s a book about the famous missionary Jim Elliot, who died at age 28 in the jungles of Ecuador telling people about Jesus. Cannibalistic head-hunters killed him in Ecuador. And all he wanted was to bring them the gospel. 

 Jim Elliot is probably best known for his quote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” And a lot of people, I think, remember Elliot as kind of a mild-mannered missionary holy-man. But in actuality Elliot was a bit of a firecracker. In fact, his wife wrote that Jim had to learn how to quit yelling so much at his crowds when he preached, because he would get so amped up when he started preaching the Word. 

One of my favorite quotes from Elliot is the following, where Elliot rebukes his own generation of Christians in the twentieth century for not being dangerous. 

He writes: “We are so utterly ordinary, so commonplace, while we profess to know a Power the Twentieth Century does not reckon with. But we are ‘harmless,’ and therefore unharmed. We are spiritual pacifists, non-militants, conscientious objectors in this battle-to-the-death with principalities and powers in high places… We are ‘sideliners’—coaching and criticizing the real wrestlers while content to sit by and leave the enemies of God unchallenged. The world cannot hate us, because we are too much like its own. Oh that God would make us dangerous!”

 Last week, we talked about finishing life well. I want to return to that theme today and finish up the letter of 2 Timothy. Nobody could accuse the Apostle Paul of not being dangerous! Paul could say at the end of his life, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:7). I want to be able to say that at the end of my life! 

Last week we looked at some important commitments that will help you finish well including:

1. [Living your life] in sacrificial obedience to God (4:6–7)

2. [Keeping your eyes] on the endgame (4:8) [That’s staying focused on the crown of righteousness that God awards the faithful in the afterlife]

3. [Dealing] with relational disappointments (4:9–10) 

4. [Finding] tough-minded friends for tough times (4:11–12)  

5. [Overcoming] inconvenience, heartache, and personal betrayal (4:13–15)

Paul at the end of his life is giving Timothy some really practical instructions on how to structure his life so that he, like Paul, can finish life well. And the Holy Spirit has inspired these words for us so that we, like Paul, and like Timothy, can finish life well. And today, what I want to do is piggyback on what we talked about last week and give you “Three additional principles for finishing life well.” 

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Here’s the first one. Write this down.

Three additional principles for finishing well:

1. Be quick to forgive (4:16)

Paul writes in verse 16,  

16 At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! 

The first defense is what’s called a prima actio in Latin. This is something like a preliminary hearing or a grand jury hearing in our day. A defendant would attempt to defend himself in front of the court, and his friends would accompany him for support. Depending on the nature of Paul’s trial, perhaps his friends could have even testified on his behalf. 

But for whatever reason, at this crucial juncture of Paul’s life, no one stood by him. And by the way, I think Paul is talking about the people of the church in Rome, people other than Luke and his other trusted friends. No one gave him aid and support. No one testified on his behalf. They all deserted him. That must have been incredibly painful for Paul, who had done so much for the church in Rome and elsewhere.

Now you have to know that this was the time of the Emperor Nero. It’s possible that Paul had even been forced to defend himself in the presence of Emperor Nero himself or at least one of his appointed judges. And Nero was a merciless persecutor of Jews and Christians. Nero sentenced countless Christians to death in the Roman Coliseums, many of whom were torn to pieces by wild beasts. Nero, according to tradition, would cover Christians with pitch and light them on fire to illuminate his garden parties. He was a sick and twisted emperor. And the Christians in Paul’s day were rightfully fearful of their lives because of the havoc that Nero had wreaked upon the church. And because of that Paul was left friendless and forsaken at his own trial. 

But Paul says, “May it not be charged against them!” This statement in Greek is in the optative mood, which is often used by Paul to vocalize prayers before the Lord. Paul is praying a prayer of forgiveness on behalf of those who abandoned him. What Paul says here sounds an awful lot like Jesus, doesn’t it? “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). 

It sounds like Stephen when he was stoned to death. When right before his death he fell to his knees and said, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60). Paul was at that stoning. He heard those words from Stephen. In fact he was holding the garments of some of the men who were throwing rocks as Stephen, so that they could get better velocity behind their throws and kill Stephen quicker. God forbid that their cloaks were be put on the ground and get dirty when they were killing Stephen. So Paul was there to hold them. And Paul, the assassin, the persecutor of the church, later became a recipient of Christ’s mercy. And so he who had been forgiven much, had learned from Stephen and from others how to forgive. And he says, “God, please don’t hold their sins against them. They deserted me in cowardice. But may it not be charged against them!”

Now let me just make one clarifying statement about Paul’s prayer, and then I want to talk application for our lives. Some have questioned why Paul would say about Alexander in a previous verse, “Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds” (4:14), and then later say about those who abandoned him at his trial, “May it not be charged against them (4:16).” In other words, how could Paul be so seemingly vindictive about Alexander, and to a lesser extent Demas earlier in the passage, and then be so forgiving with these Christians who abandoned him during his trial? This is really crucial for us to understand.

Here’s the conclusion I’ve come to. The reality is that Paul is required by God to forgive everyone—Alexander, Demas, Hymenaeus and Philetus, Phygelus and Hermogenes—the whole lot of them. He has to forgive them, because as he said himself in Colossians 3:13, “as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” 

But in the context of this passage, there’s a difference in the way that Paul is communicating about these people to Timothy. In one instance, he is telling Timothy to watch out for Alexander, because he has done me great harm. That’s a fact. And then Paul write another fact, “The Lord will repay [Alexander] according to his deeds.” That’s not a wish or a prayer, that’s a fact. That’s not in the optative mood in Greek. It’s in the indicative mood. It’s a fact. And even though Paul has a moral obligation to forgive Alexander, he also has a moral obligation to warn Timothy to watch out for this guy who is opposing the message.

Now the context changes with Paul’s trial and the friends who deserted him. There is nothing vindictive in what the Roman church did to Paul. They weren’t looking to harm him; they were just afraid. And the truth of the matter is that the Lord will repay them too for their deeds of cowardice, but they don’t pose any immediate danger to Timothy. And so Paul relays what happened to Timothy when the church at Rome abandoned him in his hour of need, and then he prays graciously, “May it not be charged against them!” In other words, “I forgive them for their cowardice” because as one pastor put it, they were “weak-hearted but not false-hearted.” 

Now here’s what’s applicable for us. The reality is that you will have Alexandars and Demases in your life. And you will have people, even good people that you love, that will abandon you in your darkest hours of need. You’ll have good people and you’ll have bad people. You’ll have faithful friends and you’ll have unfaithful enemies. You’ll have people who intentionally hurt you. And then you’ll have people who unintentionally hurt you because they’re sinners like the rest of us and they make mistakes. All of them, at some point in your life, will let you down or hurt you deeply. And you know what you have to do. You, like Jesus, like Stephen, like the Apostle Paul, you’ve got to forgive them. 

And hear me on this. This is an important point. The closer they are to you, and the more trusted they are as a fellow follower of Jesus Christ, the more important it’s got to be for you to forgive them quickly. If you don’t live a life of forgiveness with your spouse and with your children and with your fellow church members, you will live a life of bitterness and misery. And you won’t finish well. For those of you who call VBVF home, if you don’t learn the discipline of forgiveness with the other people in this church, you’ll never experience the blessings of church-life that God has for you, here or elsewhere. And you will just jump from church to church leaving a wake of bitterness and unforgiveness behind you. 

You want to finish well, church? You want to finish life well? Learn how to forgive. Learn how to release people from an obligation to make things right with you. Learn how to say like the Apostle Paul, “May it not be charged against them!” 

Now that doesn’t mean that we live lives of naivety and gullibility. Paul says, “Watch out for that guy, Alexander, Timothy. He’s trouble.” “You keep your head on a swivel, Timothy. Don’t let him get the best of you. But at the same time, you forgive quickly and keep your list of grievances short.” 

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Now watch this. Watch how Paul turns a bad thing into a good thing. Paul says, “Everyone abandoned me at my trial, but you know what? God stood by me.” Isn’t that awesome? 

Look at verse 17.

17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, 

By the way, let me just make a quick applicational point here. Sometimes God will remove all the people that you hold dear to grow your strength and reliance upon him. Did you know that? If you rely on any friend or any person more than you rely on God, you can trust that God is going to pressure that relationship. And when you learn to trust God, and God alone, in those moments you’ll find him faithful.

Listen God will not allow any person in your life to be your Messiah other than Jesus Christ. We need each other, but we don’t need each other to be each other’s Messiah. We need each other so that we collectively learn as a church and as the people of God to lean on the one true Messiah, and that’s Jesus Christ. And believe it or not that actually makes our relationships one to another stronger. 

Paul says, everyone abandoned me, but God was my rock in that moment. He stood by me. He strengthened me. “How’d he strengthen you, Paul?” “Did he put a sword in your hand so you could hack those lousy pagans to pieces?” “Did he give you great oratorical powers so that you could defend yourself like Perry Mason?”

No. That’s not what Jesus strengthened him to do. Paul says, he strengthened me,   

so that through me the message [the κήρυγμα; the “preaching”; the “gospel”] might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. 

Write this down as a second point in your notes. Here’s another principle for finishing well:

2. Don’t ever stop telling people about Jesus (4:17–18)

Talk about living dangerously. This is Paul at his dangerous best. This is Paul living “his dangerous life now!” I don’t know about you, but when I die, I want to go out swinging. I want to go out like the Apostle Paul, bearing witness to my Savior, Jesus Christ.

And Paul says he “was rescued from the lion’s mouth.” At least for a while anyways. Paul could have been sentenced to that gruesome death, but he wasn’t! And who is Paul referring to as this “lion?” We don’t know. Christian commentators have speculated on that for years. Is it a reference to the judge who oversaw Paul’s trial? Is it a reference to Nero? Maybe it’s a reference to Satan who is prowling around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour? Maybe Paul is speaking literally about the lions in the Colosseum? We don’t know. Paul doesn’t specify. I’m actually inclined to see it as a reference to Nero, but that’s a minority view. Paul might just be speaking metaphorically about death. He was given a reprieve on death. 

And what’s remarkable about that is that Paul was granted this reprieve, even as he preached the gospel to people at his trial! Talk about guts! Talk about living dangerously! Jesus told his disciples in the book of Matthew, “You will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (10:18–20). Also the Lord told Ananias about Paul at his conversion in Damascus, “he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15). Paul lived out those prophecies right here in front of the most powerful Gentiles in the world. 

By the way, did you know that there’s one advantage that we have in this life over the afterlife? I know heaven’s going to be awesome and I can’t wait till we get there. But there’s one advantage that we have in this life right now over the heaven that’s to come. And it’s this. When we get to heaven, we’ll never have an opportunity to lead a person to Christ. 

Paul gets that. And so here’s Paul in front of a powerful Roman judge determining his fate. If the judge wanted to, he could send him directly to his death. And Paul, with his life hanging in the balance, stands up and says, “Hey Gentiles! Can I tell you about Jesus? Can I tell you about the most important thing in my life?” And God allowed his message to be fully proclaimed among the Gentiles, the message that Jesus came and died on the cross as a punishment for our sins, and by faith we can be forgiven. 

And Paul says, “I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.” In other words, “They could have executed me right there. But they didn’t. God gave me a reprieve so that I might write this letter and so that you might come and be with me Timothy before I’m put to death.”

I don’t know about you church, but I want my final words in this life to be “Jesus saves.” I want God to take me in mid-sentence as I’m sharing my testimony, or as I’m teaching my grandchildren about the gospel. Or as I’m preaching from a pulpit. 

I read several years ago that the last words of Elvis Presley before his death were, “I’m going to the bathroom to read.” Those are ignominious words for an ignominious life. Later that night he was found dead on the bathroom floor. He died at the age of 42 from drug abuse and a weak heart. What’s his legacy? Rock and roll? Sex-symbol? Is that a legacy worth leaving behind? 

I read also the last words of Karl Marx, the infamous father of communism were, “Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough!” And then he died. Sounds like a guy who really loved people, doesn’t it? Now compare that to the Apostle Paul, who when threatened with his life before a judge and jury said, “Hey, can I tell you about Jesus?”

says, “I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.” And then he says,

18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. 

Paul says, “What’s the worse that they can do to me? If they kill me; I win. If they let me stay alive, I’ll just keep telling people about Jesus. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Christ will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.”

And then Paul just breaks out into spontaneous praise. 

To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 

By the way, the “him” there, is a reference to Christ. To Christ be “the glory forever and ever.” The second person of the Trinity is just as glorious and just as powerful as the first person of the Trinity. Don’t let the Jehovah’s Witnesses confuse you about that when they come knocking on your door.

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And you might say, “Oh man that’s a great place to close out this book. That’s a great way to close up this letter. With one big sweeping doxology!” But what’s interesting is that Paul still has some more to write. He still has a few greetings and statements for Timothy. 

And he still mentions another nine people in the last four verses. He writes, 

19 Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. 

20 Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus. 

21 Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers. 

22 The Lord be with your spirit. 

And the point of all this again, I think, is that people mattered to Paul. And Paul’s final words in the Scriptures are words of warmth and love directed towards the people that he loved most. 

And there’s a sense here that, Paul, even as he’s preparing to die, even as he is nearing the end, he’s still ministering to people. And I would just say this as a final application for us, and a final principle for finishing well. Write this down as #3.

3. Let death be the only thing that stops you from investing in people (4:19–22)

Let me just make a few notes on these individuals as we close out this book.

19 Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. 

These two individuals, “Prisca and Aquila” (or “Priscilla and Aquila” as we know them from the book of Acts) were faithful co-laborers of Paul’s. Paul found them in Corinth, and then they came with him to Ephesus, and they became trusted, strategic leaders in the church alongside of Timothy. 

And it just goes to show that Timothy had good, godly Christian couples who helped him as lay leaders in the church. And they were very important to the work. Just like so many couples here in San Antonio. We’ve got Priscillas and Aquilas here too! If you are married, you be Pricilla and Aquila in this church! 

Paul also mentions the household of Onesiphorus. If you remember, Onesiphorus was the one who Paul mentions in 1:16. Why does Paul mention Onesiphorus’s household and not Onesiphorus? Well, probably because he’s dead. People didn’t live as long back then as they do today, especially if they are connected to the Apostle Paul. So Paul says to Timothy, “Greet the household of Onesiphorus for me in Ephesus, his wife and kids.” Because he refreshed Paul and was unashamed of Paul’s chains.

In verse 20, Paul also mentions Erastus who is at Corinth, and Trophimus who is at Miletus. These are probably friends of Timothy who maybe Timothy was worried about. Paul, knowing Timothy’s curiosity about his friends, and his pastoral heart, lets him know where they are. 

And notice if you would what Paul says about Trophimus in verse 20. 

20 Erastus remained at Corinth and I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus.

That’s a really important statement right there. Paul left Trophimus in Miletus because he was ill. The reason that statement is so important is because it shows us that Paul’s ability to heal people wasn’t on demand. In other words, as one commentary puts it, “The passing reference to Trophimus’ sickness indicates that miracles of healing were not produced at the demand of an apostle but were evidences of divine power carried out by the will of God.”

You might say, “Why didn’t you just heal him, Paul?” “Just heal him! Heal him like you did so many other people in the book of Acts!” Well it doesn’t work that way. And some people conclude that this passage is evidence that the sign gifts were starting to cease by this point in church history, at the end of Paul’s life. But I would conclude differently that the sign gifts were never used indiscriminately by the apostles. When the Holy Spirit wanted them to heal someone to authenticate the message, he would. Otherwise they didn’t. It wasn’t something that they could just conjure up whenever, like healing on demand. That was the case with Trophimus’s sickness in Miletus, as well as Epaphroditus’s sickness that we can read about in Philippians. Paul didn’t heal him at that time either (see Phil 2:19 –30).

I think that’s important for us to remember because healing isn’t something that we dictate to God. We can pray and ask God for healing, and we should. But we don’t do healing on demand here at VBVF. Ultimately we have to leave healing in the hands of the Holy Spirit. We don’t dictate terms to the Holy Spirit. We pray in faith; and we pray in submission to God’s will.

Paul says after that in verse 21, 

21 Do your best to come before winter. 

Now why does Paul want Timothy to come before winter? Well, he’s cold. He wants him to bring a coat. Also, he might die before then. So Paul says, “Make haste, Timothy.” But also, Paul is being fatherly here. He knows that travel during winter is very difficult. Paul got stranded in Malta one winter, if you remember because his ship travelled too late in the season (see Acts 27). And Paul’s afraid that if Timothy waits till after winter, he might be dead by the time he gets to Rome. So he tells Timothy to come soon.

And then Paul not only tells Timothy to greet people in Ephesus, he sends greetings from Rome. He says, 

Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers. 

“Do you guys know who Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, and Claudia are?” “Do you know who they are?” Well if you have no idea who they are, then you’re not alone. I have no idea who they are either. They aren’t mentioned anywhere else in Scripture… which means (probably) that Paul continued to make new friends throughout his life. And it seems as if he even made some new friends in Rome shortly before his death. Paul, late in life, maybe in his sixties, was still making new friends and ministering to new people. 

You might say, “What about Barnabas and Silas and some of Paul’s other friends? Why didn’t Paul mention them at the close of this letter?” Honestly they’re probably dead. Really it’s a miracle that Paul lasted as long as he did with the lifestyle he had. He was at death’s door numerous times before this final imprisonment. And yet God has allowed him to survive. But now the end is near.

And finally Paul writes.  

22 The Lord be with your spirit. 

The “your” there is singular. “The Lord be with your spirit, Timothy.” In other words, “May the Lord strengthen your inner being.”

And then the final words of this letter. These are (probably) the last words the Apostle Paul ever wrote. 

Grace be with you.

And by the way, that’s grace be with “you” in the plural. Grace be with y’all, remember? Grace be with you and all of the people in the church of Ephesus. The last word the Apostle Paul ever wrote was the word “y’all.” 

And how apropos is this—Paul referencing “grace” in the last words he ever wrote. 

Grace be with you.

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Church history tells us that Paul was marched down to what’s called the Ostian Way, a few miles south of Rome and the Colosseum. It was there that he was beheaded. And beheadings in ancient Rome, they weren’t like beheadings in France in the eighteenth century with the guillotine. It was a bloodier, messier affair.

And we don’t know what Paul was doing as he was being marched off to his own demise. Someday we can ask him. But if I were to bet, I would say that even as he was being marched off to his death and about to be beheaded, I bet he was telling people about Jesus. I bet he turned to his Roman guards and said, “Hey, Jesus died for Gentiles too. I’ve led lots of Gentiles to Christ. And you can have your sins forgiven if you put your faith in Christ.” I bet you Paul ministered to people all the way to the moment that his head was removed from his body. 

I heard a pastor say once, “I want death to be the only thing that interrupts my ministry.” That’s Paul right here in 2 Timothy. He’s ministering all the way to the end. 

I heard a pastor say once, “When I die, I want the first thing to be said at my funeral is this, ‘Beloved. It is a glad day in hell. The Devil is rejoicing today, because one of God’s faithful soldiers has been removed from the battlefield.’” I’d like something like that said at my funeral. And I hope it’s true. I want to fight the good fight of faith all the way to the end of my life.  

Let me ask you church, is hell going to rejoice when you are dead and buried? “Another soldier off the battlefield!” Are you fighting the good fight of faith? Are you exhausting yourself in the race of life, living life dangerously? Are you telling people about Jesus? Are you investing in people? Are you going to your grave as a faithful soldier of Christ Jesus? 

I would just say in closing, make sure that you don’t let the brevity of this life catch you by surprise. As long as you have time, as long as you have breath on this orb, invest that time in people. Keep telling people about Jesus. Keep loving and forgiving one another. And don’t let anything but death interrupt your ministry to others.