A Different Cloth
No one serving as a soldier tangles with the affairs of this life, so that he might please the one enlisting him. 2 Timothy 2:4
Tangles – You’re in the army now! If you’re committed to following the Messiah, you made a voluntary decision to join His ranks. That decision has some very big implications. One of those is entanglement. Paul uses a great word to get his picture across to us. It is empleko. You can think of our word “implicate,” but the root meaning is about weaving in connections. Paul says that if you are in the army of the Most High, you are not woven into the affairs of the world. You are a man or woman of a different cloth.
The synonyms of this Greek word help us fill in the picture. They are words for ensnare, put into bondage, seduce, deceive or trap. Isn’t that exactly what it feels like when the world gets its teeth into you? You’re going along, just enjoying the blessings of living in God’s world, and suddenly something goes bump in the night. You make a choice and then you see that you’ve been seduced. You shout, “Entrapment!”, but it’s too late. You’ve been deceived. Something is trying to put you back into bondage. That something is the world’s systems under the authority of the enemy of our God. He runs this planet (temporarily) and he is doing all he can to coax you back into his fiefdom. He just wants you to put on his clothes, the ones cut from the cloth that gets tighter and tighter with every step you take.
Paul has some friendly advice. Don’t get entangled. Don’t get implicated. Remember who you serve and keep your focus on Him. Of course, Paul is not telling you to retreat to your closet or run away from life. There’s a difference between entangled and engaged. We are supposed to be in the world. That’s the plan. But we don’t live according to the world. We are not part of its warp and woof. Thinking that you can put on a suit made with the world’s finest material and still serve the living God is a big mistake. After all, our Champion’s life was notable for His lack of possessions and His humility. What’s good for the Captain is good for me too.
This particular Greek word in this verse is a special tense, not found in English. This is about self-entanglement. It’s not about those circumstances in life that come upon you, unanticipated and unwarranted. It’s about deliberate choices to get connected to the world’s ways. There is no trickery here, except for the deception that the ways of the world will lead to happiness. This kind of entanglement doesn’t sneak up on you and grab you from behind. You see it coming, but you don’t turn aside. You let it happen to you. Looking back, you wonder why? Actually, there is no rational explanation. Sin is insane. It’s a deliberate choice to destroy yourself over time. No one in his right mind would make such a choice, but then, sinners aren’t in their right minds, are they? And each time you are confronted with the possibility of self-entanglement, you must remember this. You can choose to go insane, or you can look to the God of order. You can implicate yourself, or you can dress in a different cloth.
Topical Index: cloth, implicate, entangle, insane, empleko, sin, character, 2 Timothy 2:4
Interesting wording on chosing to sin being “insane”. Why would we chose to do things that really are harmful to us. I think that speaks to the addictive nature of sin and why everyone who sins is a slave to sin for “you are slaves to the one whom you obey”! 🙁
“But thanks be to GOD that though you were slaves of sin, you became slaves to righteousnes. … But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to GOD, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of GOD is eternal life in Messiah Yahushua our Lord!” Rom 6:17, 22-23 o/o/o/
Speaking of addiction and insanity and sin, NA and AA have a thought on the right tract, they say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results, so it is with sin, we fall for the same dilusion of sin over and over expecting different results but the word tells us that sin leads to death, seperation from God, but we are freed from the bondage of sin and death and are no longer controled by it thanks be to Christ who has set us free so let us no longer walk in sin but walk in the light. This is true sanity to believe the Truth and walk in the Way and enjoy truly Life. Remember we are the light of the world and the salt that seasons those around us and not to season our selves.
Bless you All with heavenly blessings in Christ,
Jeffrey Curtis
Hard to add anything to this outstanding word except thank you Skip for your faithfulness to this mnistry and to sharing the Word rightly divided!
Health and fitness are high on the list of priorities for many people in the world today. Holiness and sanctification however are words which for some unknown reason are both feared and shunned. Yeshua said, “seek ye first the kingdom of G-d and His righteousness and all these things shall be added” and also “I am come that ye might have life and have it more abundantly”. G-d wants to bless us. He is a Giver and a Lover, and is the Source of all good things. But again for some strange reason-we have neglected His Word and His instructions. (the meaning of Torah). Happiness is a by-product of holiness. Peace is a by-product of righteousness. Wisdom is a by-product of obedience. When will we learn to listen to Him? His words are true, His words give us life, His words give us hope, His words give us comfort. Shema, O Israel- Listen!-Obey! – Yeshua is the Way, He is the Truth, He is the Life! He has asked us (all) to “come out from among them and be ye separate”. We (all) need to be a people separated from the ways of this empty world-which BTW promises much but delivers little; people with a different mindset, and with a different value system. If we are entangled, He has promised- “if the Son shall make you free- you shall be free indeed! Hallelujah for the freedom we have in Christ!