Put on your dancing shoes!

I am 38. In my 38 years I have been a part of some incredible movements in the Kingdom of God (KOG). I have been a part of a few start ups, trying to do awesome things in Lubbock. I have learned a ton of lessons. I have failed epically, I have wanted to quit, I have wanted to die. Not tonight. Since January 2012, I have been running a ministry called Tech 24-7. It has been amazing and wonderful. I have seen God show up time and time again, proving his faithfulness. It has also been incredibly hard. I have seen betrayal, fear, division, and insecurities destroy this ministry. It has been painful, like what I can only imagine it must be like to watch your child be ravaged by disease and die. Tonight I sit here, and I am the only one here. The day has finally come when no students are here to join me in worship, prayer or encouragement. You know what....I'm ok! Scratch that, I am really, really good. Lance Wallnau said the other day on Facebook, "when you've done everything yo can to stand firm, now it's time to dance." That's the mood I am in...it's time to dance and worship my Jesus. 

25 Body Types....better than a personality test

As you know I have been on an adventure with essential oils for the last few years. In my journey to become Essentially Me, I attended a training on those oils and purchased a book called "Releasing Emotional Patterns with Essential Oils." In reading the book I found that the author has broken society down into 25 body types, which are all characterized by a dominant organ. There is a way to discern what your dominant organ is; and I discovered that I am an Intestinal Body type. Here's what the description of the intestine body types are:

The Intestinal dominant traits are Spiritual and Emotional. Expansion is absolutely essential. If Intestinals do not expand mentally or emotionally, they will expand physically. Restriction motivates them to change, forcing them out of an untenable situation into an unknown physical, mental world. It is here where they can genuinely expand, taking in new experiences and creating an environment which is truly peace on earth. 

Interesting! Then, the next page says that each body type has core emotional issues that they deal with. The Intestinal type often deal with Abandonment, Not Good Enough, Rejection, Despair and Criticism. 

Shut the front door! Hi, my name is Jill and I am the poster child for a Intestinal Body types. Crazy!

So then I skim the rest of her book and see that she wrote a book about how each Body Type has their own diet. So I bought it. I'll be damned. ( I was going to try to change that to danged or something, but it just doesn't sound right.)

Here's what the diet book says about Intestinal Body types. 

"Intestinal Body types are symbolized by a funnel. Intestinal types accept everything that comes in and then discern what to keep and what to release. Constant new experiences are vital to their growth and expression. Sensitive and extremely emotional, Intestinal body types are typical gentle, loving and compassionate. Relationships are of utmost importance to them, particularly family and close friends. With their extreme sensitivity, they are exceedingly concerned about feelings. When they are not sure how to deal with an uncomfortable situation, they internalize it. Being acutely aware of the stress that unresolved issues creates for them personally, as well as in their relationships, they have a strong need to clean the air."

It goes on to say amazing stuff about motivation for Intestinal types. One thing to note is that "Change is not easy, however, for because their sensitivity and feelings of insecurity in the world often cause an internal conflict. To feel safe, Intestinal types often gather all the information they can find on a new subject and analyze it in detail until they fully understand it." Basically over thinking things is the way Intestinal people balance out being over emotional. Sweet Jesus! I have never read a truer statement. 

"Intestinal people when at their worst can be arrogant know it alls, who shut out new sources of information. When emotions are close to the surface, they can be overly sentimental, easily crying or laughing or swinging to the opposite extreme of being abrasive." It's true, and I am sorry. "When they let people push their buttons, their soft spoken demeanor quickly changes to suspicion and contentiousness." Summarizing the rest, they are prone to worry, stress, fatigue which leads to depression and pessimism, or fantasy and denial because they don't know how to deal with their emotions. "Because of a fear of loss or rejection, Ontestinal types tend to get too attached to their families (or their put together families). 

At their best, "intestinal types have a good sense of humor and can be a lot of fun to be around. They can fill a room with their jou and vivaciousness." They are drawn to non-traditional experiences. 

The goal for me: "self sufficient and introspective, they take care of themselves, setting limits and establishing boundaries for what other people can expect of them...once intestinal types are able to express their creative energies effectively by keeping the channel to their intuitive side open and learning to observe their emotions and let them pass, they seem to be intuitively connected to the universe and are able to flow with life." 

After that amazing description of myself, the book then goes on to talk about foods to eat and ones to avoid. It's super interesting. 

I profiled my parents as well. I believe my mom is a Skin Type and I believe that my dad is a Pituitary Gland Type. That in and of itself it so revelatory. It explains a ton of tension between my mother and me, and why my dad and I get along so well. 

I cannot help but think of 1 Cor. 12:12-31, when I read this:

12 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up only one body. So it is with the body of Christ. 13 Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into Christ's body by one Spirit, and we have all received the same Spirit. 14 Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. 15 If the foot says, "I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand," that does not make it any less a part of the body. 16And if the ear says, "I am not part of the body because I am only an ear and not an eye," would that make it any less a part of the body? 17 Suppose the whole body were an eye -- then how would you hear? Or if your whole body were just one big ear, how could you smell anything? 18 But God made our bodies with many parts, and he has put each part just where he wants it. 19 What a strange thing a body would be if it had only one part! 20 Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. 21 The eye can never say to the hand, "I don't need you." The head can't say to the feet, "I don't need you." 22 In fact, some of the parts that seem weakest and least important are really the most necessary. 23 And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect from the eyes of others those parts that should not be seen,24 while other parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together in such a way that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. 25 This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other equally. 26 If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. 27 Now all of you together are Christ's body, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it. 28 Here is a list of some of the members that God has placed in the body of Christ: first are apostles, second are prophets, third are teachers, then those who do miracles, those who have the gift of healing, those who can help others, those who can get others to work together, those who speak in unknown languages. 29 Is everyone an apostle? Of course not. Is everyone a prophet? No. Are all teachers? Does everyone have the power to do miracles? 30 Does everyone have the gift of healing? Of course not. Does God give all of us the ability to speak in unknown languages? Can everyone interpret unknown languages? No! 31 And in any event, you should desire the most helpful gifts. First, however, let me tell you about something else that is better than any of them!

What Dr. Mein has done, is to use body analogies to describe psychological or personality traits. As the body of Christ, we have too see that we are not all the same. 

What do you think about all of this? 

If you would like to get these books, here are pictures of the covers. 

Exegesis of 2 Timothy 4:1-5

I have never done an official exegesis of scripture as an assignment. I took a class once but was so confused that I decided to drop it. Now, I'm taking a class on Paul's Epistles from ENMU, and have a paper due at the end of the semester. So without further adieu, here is my exegetical work. There are still a few things that I am working on, but I would love to know your thoughts about it.

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The Roman Empire stands as an icon for an enduring kingdom lasting roughly around 1500 years, depending which dates you use to give it definition. As with anything that lasts for 1500 years, the Roman Empire went through a myriad of transitions in religious, political and economic standing. With the birth, death and resurrection of Christ and the sending out of the Apostles, the whole world would eventually be flipped on its edge. In the midst of all of this slow upheaval, a famous Jew turned Christian was born. Saul of Tarsus was the quintessential Jew. As translated in the English Standard Version, Philippians 3:4-6, the now converted Paul writes, “If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.” His conversion was miraculous. Quite literally God knocked him off his ass, blinded him and called him to quit persecuting Christians and instead become one of the leading voices for Christianity of all time. Paul writes in Ephesians 3:1-3, “…you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you; that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.” (NASB) The revelation that Paul received was so incredibly dramatic and explosive, that the world has not been the same since. When Paul was converted in approximately 33-36 AD, Tiberius was Emperor of Rome. After approximately twenty years serving as an apostle, Rome gets a new Emperor by the name of Nero. Nero is infamous for his persecution of Christians. He is known for burning people alive and using them as human torches in his gardens. (Secrets of the Dead: The Great Fire of Rome, 2002) This is the time period where we find Paul in prison in Rome in 2 Timothy. Paul is facing imminent death after having been imprisoned in house arrest for years. (Ronconi, 2014) Paul is experiencing high emotions that are driving him to tie up any loose ends. He, like anyone facing death, does not want to be alone and is longing for companionship especially in the face of so many people who have abandoned him in his time of need. While he is having legitimate human concerns, he is also trying to do everything he can to prepare and encourage his protégé to continue the work of the ministry especially in the face of the current persecution of Christians.

Now that we understand the historical background for where we find Paul’s words to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:1-5, let’s look at the words Paul writes,

“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.” (NRSV)

There is no doubt that Paul advises Timothy about how to handle ministry situations in this passage. However, if we limit this pericope to a strictly teacher-student relationship we miss the humanity found within. In this pericope, we find Paul facing imminent death. In those intensely emotional moments people wax nostalgic; analyzing the significant moments in their own lives in order to give to those that remain bits of wisdom to guide them in future decisions. In Paul’s personal journey, he experienced the greatest of extremes of the depths of Jewish legalism of which by his own words he fulfilled to the highest degree in contrast with the heights of his instantaneous euphoric grace encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus.  Paul is emotionally summarizing that incredible expanse with such intense passion, that when he writes to Timothy he longs for the whole world to be able to experience that same grace encounter.  In 2 Timothy 4:1-5, if we limit this exegesis to what is written, we miss Paul's humanity. We cannot fully exegete this text without experiencing Paul as a real human being with a wide variety of emotions that are being expressed in words which are pregnant with meaning. There is more than meets the eye in 2 Timothy 4:1-5. I propose that in this pericope, we see Paul instruct Timothy on the importance of teaching grace in a world that is hostile to that very message, from the worldview of one who was intimately familiar with the traps of legalism and yet knows the life transforming power of a grace that is scandalous just as well.

Having studied this portion in a variety of translations, I find there are some unique differences in how certain parts are portrayed. In 2 Timothy 4:2, the NASB translates the verse as “reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” Other versions translate it as ‘correct, rebuke and encourage’ or ‘challenge, warn, and urge your people’ while another version says ‘reprove, rebuke, and exhort.’ A few translations take these three words and turn them into full sentences. The Living Bible translates it as, “Correct and rebuke your people when they need it, encourage them to do right, and all the time be feeding them patiently with God’s Word.” The Amplified Bible translates it as, “And convince them, rebuking and correcting, warning and urging and encouraging them, being unflagging and inexhaustible in patience and teaching.” In one of the more recent and poetic translations of 2 Timothy , The Mirror Bible translates it as, “value every individual in your audience highly; esteem people’s authentic identity passionately; teach tirelessly!” I find this incredibly intriguing. I don’t believe this translation is merely poetic license, but rather the translator is tapping into a deeper level of what Paul is trying to communicate. For instance,  Francois du Toit translates 2 Timothy 3:1 in the Mirror Bible as, “Know also that there will be days where the extremities of people’s fallen mindsets will be very obvious; where the gulf between heavenly grace-thinking and earthly legalism-thinking will be most pronounced.” If Paul is consumed, convinced and completely arrested with the mentality of grace, then Paul is saying more here than meets the eye. In a legalistic mindset that is preoccupied with right and wrong, when you read the words ‘reprove, rebuke, exhort’ it can quickly lead to a mentality where you feel the permission to be the local sheriff, arresting everyone for doing something wrong. I don’t believe that Paul is encouraging Timothy to be the local fault finder. That is incredibly unproductive. Paul knows that the Holy Spirit is the one who will do the convicting. Paul is all too familiar with the Holy Spirit’s power to transform lives; his own life is the result of that very work. So certainly Paul cannot be telling Timothy to be a busy body who is on the lookout for every single mistake that people make. On the contrary, I believe that Paul is speaking to him about two things. First, Paul is instructing Timothy generically about the church as a whole and specifically how to help guard them against false theologies like Gnosticism and Jewish legalists. Second, Paul urges Timothy to see people through the eyes of grace. It is in this second level that I believe the Mirror Bible’s translation of 2 Timothy 4:2 exposes Paul’s highest intention. Grace is what enables you to “value every individual in your audience highly; esteem people’s authentic identity passionately; teach tirelessly” because instead of being a fault finder you are seeing people as God sees them. You are consumed with the revelation that Jesus died for the person sitting in front of you, and how much love he has for each one. I think the more conservative translations miss this aspect and are more concerned with the legalistic adherence to sound doctrine than trusting in the work of grace through the Holy Spirit to accomplish the mysterious work that happens in each human heart.

Another passage that is interesting is in verse 2 Timothy 4:4, which is translated in the NRSV as, “and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.” However the Mirror Bible, translates it as, “In their pursuit they would exchange the truth for man-made fictions and fables as their source of reference!”  Since we’ve already seen a connection between this pericope and previous passages from Chapter 3, I believe we can look again to Chapter 3:8 to see Paul outline exactly what he believes those ‘man-made fictions and fables’ are specifically in verse 8 Paul writes,

 “These guys, with their deadly legalistic Jewish agendas, seem to be on par with the two Egyptian magicians, Jannes and Jambres, who tried their best tricks to compete with Moses! The supernatural is not proof of faith! These people oppose truth (of grace); their minds are fully engaged in selling their religious self-help programs, and they stubbornly refuse to acknowledge what God believes about them.”

So the question is when Paul talks in Chapter 4:3-4 about people not wanting to hear sound doctrine but preferring to listen to things that will tickle their ears, what is this other theology that people wanted to hear. I think there are multiple answers to that question. The Roman Empire was a beautiful mix of a variety of religions. There were Greeks who still believed in Greek mythology, there were Romans who still believed in Roman mythology, there were Jews who still believed in the Old Covenant, there were new Christian coverts from all three who had grown up in one way of thinking but were being convinced of something totally new. As Christianity unfolded as a new religion, tensions between Jews and Christians were high. Particularly because converts were not all Jewish, but many came from pagan religions. The Jerusalem Council was the first group of Apostles, who were employed to deal with issues such as eating kosher and circumcision. For both Jews and Jewish converts, all they had ever known was the law. The importance of the law to Jewish people cannot be spoken of lightly. This presents a great tension for Gentile Christians however. They see no reason to first become Jewish to then convert to Christianity. In Acts 10, Peter has a famous vision where a sheet drops before his eyes and he begins to see a variety of clean and unclean animals in movie like fashion, be discussed by the Lord. The purpose of this vision is the Lord is telling Peter, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.” The question of considerable debate is whether the Lord is using an analogy or is being literal in this passage. Many believe that it is literal and the Lord is telling Peter that all dietary restrictions are no longer valid. One commentator says, “When the Mosaic Law was instituted to Israel, certain meats were then forbidden for the Jews (Israel only -Leviticus 10:10, 11:4-7; Deuteronomy 14:7-8). This command was again changed when Jesus was crucified. The laws restriction came to its end as a requirement for believers and all meat was again allowed, as it is clean. In this new dispensation, after the cross, all meats are allowed for food, there is no prohibition of clean or unclean because we are no longer under the Law of Moses, that made these distinctions but are under a new covenant (Acts 11:8-9; Romans 14:14), but under the law of Christ.” (Are we allowed to eat meat?, 2009) Other people believe that it is only symbolic and that God is using an analogy to prepare Peter, an ardent Jew who would never have been found in the company of a Gentile, because to do so would be vile, to see Cornelius, thus leaving all the kosher laws still very much intact. “Thus, the subject matter of Acts 10 has nothing to do with clean and unclean meats. God simply used the vision of unclean animals to emphasize a point to Peter—that when God has spiritually cleansed a Gentile, he is not to be deemed common or unclean.” (Are God's Laws of Clean and Unclean Meats Upheld Under the New Covenant, 2009) Nevertheless, the point in 2 Timothy Chapter 4 is that there are tensions between the Gospel truth and other theologies or doctrines, which Paul deems as dangerous. Those doctrines could be the “deadly legalistic Jewish agendas” or “earthly legalism-thinking” they could be the more sensual permissions that those from a Greek or Roman background might have found appealing. I personally believe that Paul is being vague on purpose in order to cover anything that would oppose the knowledge of God. In 2 Corinthians 10:5, Paul urged the church in Corinth to “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive, to make it obedient to Christ.”  I believe that Paul is telling Timothy, that the church in Ephesus will need to be prepared to do the same thing.

Finally, there is a brief sentence in the Message version that expresses an emotion that is lost in other translations. In the translation The Message, Eugene Peterson translates the 2 Timothy 4:5 as, “keep the Message alive.” In all the other translations, this pericope ends with a seemingly bland exhortation for Timothy to keep doing his job. Certainly in light of all that Paul is facing, he is not wasting a single word of instruction, so this sentence cannot be as simple as it looks. I wonder if in the emotion of facing your own imminent death and seeing how treacherous Nero is towards Christians in this time frame, combined with Paul’s own reports of friends abandoning him in his time of need, if Paul is experiencing even the most minute of fears that the message of the Cross will not continue and will die with him. I wonder if thoughts are crossing his mind, as to whether his death will be in vain. I believe that hidden in the depths of Paul’s humanity is an incredibly complex set of beliefs and emotions that is saying much more to Timothy than “keep preaching.” I think Paul is saying, “I know that God has a plan, but I also know that he has used me to do something pretty significant. I have suffered a lot for it and am gladly and willingly will lay my life down because I believe that the Gospel message is worth it. However, this dying makes me realize that I will no longer have influence on how things happen, and that frightens me a bit. The seeming loss of control is a bit stressful and I realize that I am leaving all of this in your hands in a super difficult time. While I believe that you are fully convinced of the Gospel just as I am, which is why I call you my son, I hope and pray that you will continue the work of spreading the Gospel and not abandon it in the face of persecution like others have. If you were to abandon the work, what would that mean of my life’s work? Will all my suffering be for nothing? Will future generations not know the beauty of the Gospel? So by all means, Timothy, keep the Message alive.”

In summary, I believe that what we experience in 2 Timothy 4:1-5, is the emotional and very natural human expressions of a man who is facing death as he writes to his protégé. I believe we see Paul dance with even the minutest of fears and the lack of control, combined with heartache at what may come Timothy’s way in the future. I believe Paul encourages Timothy to ‘be rooted and grounded in love’ (Eph. 3:17) though using different language with Timothy than he did when writing the whole Church in Ephesus. This instruction enables Timothy to deal with heresy, controversy, and skewed thinking while responding to each person with the fullness of grace and love. I see throughout this small pericope 3 distinct places where Paul urges Timothy to view his circumstances through the eyes of grace. It is very similar to what Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth; (love) “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things… But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor. 13:7,13 ESV)

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