Overview
Be not entangled means we do not braid the affairs of this temporary life together with the cause of Christ to make one strand. Working through 2 Timothy 2, Rev. Rico Magnelli follows Paul’s charge to Timothy: be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and endure hardness as a good soldier, where good can be rendered beautiful, a moral beauty that comes from harmony. The verb entangleth is in the middle voice, so the entangling is something we do to ourselves. This is not a call to run and hide from work, the store or a ball game. It is a call to keep our heart, our loyalty and our allegiance with the cause of Christ, so that we can strengthen our brethren.
Transcript
God Has Summoned Us to the Cause of Christ
2nd Timothy chapter 2, please. We’ll consider be not entangled. God has called us and summoned us to the cause of Christ, therefore we endeavor to remain morally beautiful to that cause. We do not allow the affairs of this temporary life to entangle us, to interweave us with the temporal causes of this life. We’re aware of them, we deal with them, we do not weave them together with the cause of Christ to make one strand. We keep the things of this life separate if we want to be successful in ministering the grace of God in Christ Jesus, helping others to be strong.
Be Strong in the Grace That Is in Christ Jesus
And here in 2nd Timothy, the apostle Paul is encouraging his protege Timothy in verse 1 of 2nd Timothy, thou therefore my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The grace that is in Christ Jesus, the unmerited favor that God has bestowed upon us through the accomplished work of Christ Jesus. And whenever you see Christ first, which is the title, meaning the anointed, it emphasizes the glory. Jesus emphasizes the passion and the challenge that he faced while he was on earth. And here it’s Christ Jesus emphasizing the glory of the resurrected one that was once crucified.
And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, Paul writes to Timothy, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. Paul was interested that Timothy be strong in grace, not his own works, not his own opinions, but strong in grace so that he could transfer this over to faithful men who again could teach others also.
Endure Hardness as a Good Soldier: Why Good Means Morally Beautiful
To do this, he goes on to further say, verse 3, thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And the text is Christ Jesus. Again, Christ being first, then Jesus, emphasizing the glorified one that was once crucified. And he says, thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier. And this is important to understand because we’re not literally soldiers for Jesus Christ, but God is utilizing by way of the minister, the apostle Paul, this aspect of life of a soldier.
And Timothy is told to be a good soldier. The word good here is very interesting because it can be rendered beautiful. Now, it’s not talking about the physical outward appearance here. It’s talking about being morally beautiful. It’s beauty that comes from harmony. It’s the moral approach that is symmetrically right. It all fits. That’s the essence of this beauty. It comes from within.
Championing the Cause of Christ
And this word soldier is the Greek word stratiotes. And actually it’s a cause of Christ. That’s what you and I champion. We champion the cause of Christ. This is what we endorse. This is what we champion. When we’re strong in grace, we champion the cause of Christ Jesus. And it’s not that we’re literally soldiers, but we have challenges that we face, like any soldier would in time of war. But we remain morally beautiful. We stick to what we’ve been enlisted to do on behalf of Christ.
Entangleth Himself Means to Braid or Interweave
Then it says, no man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. The words entangleth himself means to braid or to interweave. It’s a verb in the present tense. So it’s right now in the moment. We are not weaving together the affairs of this life with the cause of Christ. We’re not braiding the affairs of this life with the cause of Christ. Because to braid means you take three or more strands of hair and you interweave it and make it into one. That’s not what we’re doing.
We live life absolutely. We deal with things honestly before all men. But we’re not interweaving them with the cause of Christ. We don’t entangle ourselves with the affairs of this life because it weakens our effort to be strong in grace.
And what’s interesting is that this entangling is done by the person themselves. In other words, we do it. It’s what’s called the middle voice in the Greek. It means the subject is acting upon itself. We entangle ourselves. We embrace ourselves in the moment with the affairs of this life.
What the Affairs of This Life Does Not Mean
The word affairs means any matter or business or transaction. It’s not talking about that we don’t go to work. That’s not what it’s talking about. It’s talking about the things that are of this life that are temporal. It’s talking about this temporal life as opposed to eternal life. The temporal physical existence.
We don’t braid together the cause of Christ with those things because the cause of Christ is why we have been commissioned. That doesn’t mean that we forsake everything physical in this life. It’s saying in our heart, in our loyalty, in our allegiance, we don’t entangle ourselves with the affairs of this life. With the affairs that are temporal in terms of this physical existence.
Pleasing Him Who Hath Chosen Us to Be Soldiers
Why is that? Well, the verse continues to say that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. The word please means pleasing to God because he’s the one that’s called us. He’s the one that’s chosen us to be a soldier. And again, we’re not literally soldiers. But let me be clear about that. It’s a metaphor for championing the cause of Christ.
And this word chosen to be a soldier is very interesting as well. It actually means to gather an army. It means to enlist soldiers. That’s what it means. God has called us to the cause of Christ. And we want to please him. And in order to do this, we cannot interweave the temporal at the expense of the cause of Christ to the end that the cause of Christ becomes diluted or we become distracted.
Again, let me reiterate. This does not mean that we don’t go to the store, go shopping, go to work, go watch the ball game, do all those different things. The things of this life that seem to engage people to such a point that they start forgetting the cause of Christ because we want to please him who got us involved. And who got us involved was God.
The Cause of Christ Was to Return Man Into Favor With God
Look at Luke chapter 22, please. But see, the cause of Christ was to return man into favor with God, to return man back in favor with God. That was the cause of Christ. He reconciled man back to God. He returned man back into a state of favor with God. And he did this by removing obstacles between us and God. By his life, his death, and God raising him from the dead.
Personally, when Jesus was on earth, he sought others to help him in this cause that he came to deliver man. When he saw Peter and Andrew, two brothers that were fishermen, in Matthew 4:19, he said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. He was recruiting them, if you will, to his cause. He said to Matthew, a tax collector, follow me. In Matthew 9:9, I’m just picking out a few. In Matthew 16:24, he tells his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. His cross wasn’t literal. Talking about the burden and responsibility of that spiritual walk.
Satan Hath Desired to Sift You as Wheat: Strengthen Thy Brethren
On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus said this to Peter in Luke 22, verse 31. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired or demanded you for himself to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee that thy faith, faith means to believe God, fail not. And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. That’s what he told them.
See, Satan represents the spiritual forces in this world behind what most people see and hear on the surface. Satan’s aim is to endeavor to interweave our hearts, our time, our resources, our loyalty with the world and entangle us with the affairs of this temporary life. This does not mean that we run and hide. Not at all. It just means that the cause of Christ is our priority.
When Satan does this, at the very least, he dilutes or distracts us from the cause of Christ. And the result is that our brethren in Christ suffer. They lack that strengthening that they need. That’s why we are wise and we do not entangle ourselves in the affairs of this life.
If Any Man Be in Christ, He Is a New Creature
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5. So let me reiterate, this does not mean that we run and hide. We don’t run and hide. Gotta take care of people. But as a morally beautiful soldier, if you will, one who champions the cause of Christ, we don’t allow ourselves to be entangled in the temporal. But our focus is the eternal.
And in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, it says in verse 16, [the reading of the verse itself is not on the recording; 2 Corinthians 5:16 reads: Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.] No, because Jesus Christ ascended into heaven. We don’t know Him. We don’t experience Him anymore. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. That’s why we walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.
Now Then, We Are Ambassadors for Christ
And as we are strong in that grace, this enables us to help others by teaching others what Christ accomplished by removing the obstacles that were hindering man to get to God. And it says, [the reading of the verse itself is not on the recording; 2 Corinthians 5:18 reads: And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.] That word reconciled means to return into favor with God. That’s what Christ did. He returned us into favor with God. Now we have grace with God. We have unmerited divine favor.
Now we have the word. We don’t have Jesus in person. We have the word that we can help bring people back to God and in God’s favor by explaining to them, by teaching them what Jesus Christ accomplished, by teaching them about Christ and how Christ removed the obstacles in man’s path.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. Teaching people what Christ accomplished is morally right.
Then we follow up showing them, modeling for them, if you will, being an example. Not a perfect example. No, none of us are perfect. But being an example of what it means to live a life free from entanglements, the temporal. Because the temporal is always going to bind us. The eternal is what sets us free in our hearts.
Keeping the Things of This Life Separate
So God has summoned us to the cause of Christ. Therefore, we endeavor to remain morally beautiful to that cause. We do not allow the affairs of this temporary life to entangle us, to interweave us with the temporal causes of this life. We’re certainly aware of them. We deal with them. Absolutely. But we don’t weave them together with the cause of Christ in the moment. We separate them out. Keeping these things of this life separate is what helps us be strong in grace and to be successful in ministering that grace that’s found only in Christ Jesus our Lord.
When Fear and Anxiety Signal an Entanglement
The temptation is always there to entangle ourselves with the affairs of this life. But when you start recognizing fear, apprehension, anxiety, take a look around because perhaps there’s an entanglement that’s trying to draw you into a course of this world because we are to be strong in grace that’s in Christ Jesus. And when we are strong, just like Jesus worked with Peter, then we can strengthen our brethren. And this is the cause of Christ that we have embraced.
Key Takeaways
- To be not entangled is to refuse to weave the affairs of this temporary life together with the cause of Christ to make one strand: the word entangleth means to braid, as three or more strands of hair are made into one.
- The good soldier of 2 Timothy 2:3 is a morally beautiful one; good here can be rendered beautiful, and it is a beauty that comes from harmony, a moral approach that is symmetrically right, and it comes from within.
- Entangleth is in the middle voice in the Greek, meaning the subject acts upon itself, so the entangling is something we do to ourselves rather than something done to us.
- This is not withdrawal from ordinary life: it does not mean we stop going to the store, going to work or watching the ball game, but that our heart, our loyalty and our allegiance are not braided into the temporal.
- The word rendered chosen to be a soldier means to gather an army, to enlist soldiers, and the one who enlisted us is God, which is why pleasing him is the point.
- Entanglement costs other people: when we are diluted or distracted, our brethren in Christ lack the strengthening they need, which is what Jesus charged Peter with in Luke 22, strengthen thy brethren.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean to be not entangled with the affairs of this life?
It means we do not interweave the affairs of this temporary life with the cause of Christ to make one strand. The word entangleth means to braid, the way three or more strands of hair are woven into one. Rico Magnelli is emphatic that this does not mean we run and hide, stop going to the store, going to work or watching the ball game; it means our heart, our loyalty and our allegiance are not braided into the temporal.
Why does 2 Timothy 2:3 call Timothy a good soldier?
Because the word good here can be rendered beautiful, and it is not the physical outward appearance but moral beauty, a beauty that comes from harmony and a moral approach that is symmetrically right. Believers are not literally soldiers; the Greek word stratiotes is used because we face challenges as any soldier would in time of war, and the word chosen to be a soldier actually means to gather an army, to enlist soldiers.
Who else is affected when a believer becomes entangled?
Our brethren in Christ. Satan’s aim is to interweave our hearts, our time, our resources and our loyalty with the world, and when he does, at the very least he dilutes or distracts us from the cause of Christ. The result is that our brethren suffer and lack that strengthening that they need, which is exactly what Jesus told Peter in Luke 22: when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
Scripture References
2 Timothy 2:1; 2 Timothy 2:2; 2 Timothy 2:3; 2 Timothy 2:4; Matthew 4:19; Matthew 9:9; Matthew 16:24; Luke 22:31; Luke 22:32; 2 Corinthians 5:16; 2 Corinthians 5:17; 2 Corinthians 5:18; 2 Corinthians 5:20
This text was prepared from the teaching audio. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
