1 Thessalonians 5
5
1-3I don’t think, friends, that I need to deal with the question of when all this is going to happen. You know as well as I that the day of the Master’s coming can’t be posted on our calendars. He won’t call ahead and make an appointment any more than a burglar would. About the time everybody’s walking around complacently, congratulating each other—“We’ve sure got it made! Now we can take it easy!”—suddenly everything will fall apart. It’s going to come as suddenly and inescapably as birth pangs to a pregnant woman.
4-8But friends, you’re not in the dark, so how could you be taken off guard by any of this? You’re sons of Light, daughters of Day. We live under wide open skies and know where we stand. So let’s not sleepwalk through life like those others. Let’s keep our eyes open and be smart. People sleep at night and get drunk at night. But not us! Since we’re creatures of Day, let’s act like it. Walk out into the daylight sober, dressed up in faith, love, and the hope of salvation.
9-11God didn’t set us up for an angry rejection but for salvation by our Master, Jesus Christ. He died for us, a death that triggered life. Whether we’re awake with the living or asleep with the dead, we’re alive with him! So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you’ll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. I know you’re already doing this; just keep on doing it.
The Way He Wants You to Live
12-13a And now, friends, we ask you to honor those leaders who work so hard for you, who have been given the responsibility of urging and guiding you along in your obedience. Overwhelm them with appreciation and love!
13b-15 Get along among yourselves, each of you doing your part. Our counsel is that you warn the freeloaders to get a move on. Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs. And be careful that when you get on each other’s nerves you don’t snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out.
16-18Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.
19-22Don’t suppress the Spirit, and don’t stifle those who have a word from the Master. On the other hand, don’t be gullible. Check out everything, and keep only what’s good. Throw out anything tainted with evil.
23-24May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he’ll do it!
25-27Friends, keep up your prayers for us. Greet all the followers of Jesus there with a holy embrace. And make sure this letter gets read to all the brothers and sisters. Don’t leave anyone out.
28The amazing grace of Jesus Christ be with you!
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
1 Thessalonians 5
5
Keep Watch for the Day of the Lord
1Now concerning the times and seasons, brothers and sisters, you have no need for anything to be written to you.
2For you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night.
3When they are saying, “Shalom and safety,” sudden destruction comes upon them like a woman having birth pains in the womb—there is no way they will escape.
4But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the dark, so that the Day might overtake you like a thief.
5For you all are sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night or of darkness—
6so then, let us not sleep as the others do, but let us remain on the alert and sober-minded.
7For those who sleep, sleep at night; and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.
8But since we are of the day, let us be sober-minded—putting on the breastplate of faithfulness and love, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.
9For God did not destine us for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.
10He died for us so that, whether we may be awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.
11Therefore encourage one another and build each other up—just as you in fact are doing.
Instructions for Community Life
12Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to recognize those who work hard among you and are over you in the Lord and correct you,
13and to esteem them beyond all measure in love because of their work. Keep shalom among yourselves.
14We urge you, brothers and sisters, correct the unruly, comfort the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
15See that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.
16Rejoice always,
17pray constantly,
18in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Messiah Yeshua.
19Do not quench the Spirit,
20do not despise prophetic messages,
21but test all things, hold fast to what is good,
22keep away from every kind of evil.
23Now may the God of shalom Himself make you completely holy; and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept complete, blameless at the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.
24Faithful is the One who calls you—and He will make it happen!
Closing Greetings
25Brothers and sisters, pray for us.
26Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss.
27I charge you under oath, by the Lord, that this letter be read to all the brothers and sisters.
28The grace of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with you.
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Copyright © 2014 - Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society