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The First Letter to the |
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Selma Christians |
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1. From Paul, Silas and
Timothy; 2. We unceasingly thank God for you all and are continually bringing you up in our prayers. And in the presence of our Father-God we recall how you lived by your faith, put your love to work, and stuck by your hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. My brothers whom God loves, you may be sure of your prize. For our great story was not brought to you in sermons alone, but in powerful action, in a dedicated spirit, and in much forthrightness. Well, you know the kind of guys we were while working with you and for you, because you yourselves imitated us and the Lord. With the joy of a dedicated spirit, you accepted the word and paid a terrific price so that you became a challenge to all the believers in Mississippi and Alabama. For from you the word of the Lord has echoed not only in Mississippi and Alabama but all over the country. News of the way you live for God is so widespread that we don’t need to bring it up any more. Others are now telling about what kind of visit we had with you, and how you switched from your old sacred customs to God; in fact, how you literally enslaved yourselves to the true and living God and practiced the presence of his Risen Son, Jesus, whom he made to live again and who keeps on getting us out of the damnation that’s always pressing in on us.
1. Brothers, you yourselves know that our visit with you was no tea party. You also know that just before this we got beat up and cussed out in Smithville. Just the same, we were given the courage by our God to preach the word of God to you, knowing we would get into a lot of trouble. For our approach is not to beat around the bush nor to get in the mud ourselves nor to be sneaky; rather, since we have been examined by God to be fit to handle the gospel, we speak, not to be popular, but to be responsible to God, who constantly inspects our hearts. For never once did we soft-soap anybody, as you well know, nor pretend to have a lot of money— God knows—nor try to extract praise from people—from either you or anybody else. As Christian missionaries we had the right to freeload on you, but instead, all the while with you we were as thoughtful of you as a good baby-sitter taking care of her children. With such fussy concern over you, we were glad to share with you not only the gospel of God but even our very lives, because we had come to love you very, very much. Brothers, just review our sweat and our grubbing. Moonlighting so as not to freeload on any of you, we preached God’s good news among you. You can testify and so can God as to how dedicated and right and above reproach our lives were with you believers. You know, like a father talking to his own boy we counseled with each one of you, sharing our insights and showing you how to walk becomingly of the God who called us into his movement and magnificence. 13. And another reason why we keep thanking God continually is that, having listened to the word of God spoken by us, you accepted it not as man’s reasoning but, as it truly is, God’s reasoning, which even now is energizing you who are living by it. For brothers, you all became exactly like God’s Christian fellowships in Georgia, because you suffered the very same things at the hands of your kinfolks as the Georgia Christians did from their fellow whites who lynched the Lord Jesus and the honest preachers. They gave us hell too, and couldn’t have cared less about God. With utter contempt for human beings they ordered us not to tell the Negroes how to be helped. As always, they piled their sins sky-high, and damnation got on their tails before it was over. 17. So, brothers, having been separated from you for a while (physically, that is, not spiritually) we have been all the more anxious to see you in person. Once, and then again, we—or rather I, Paul—tried to get by to see you but Satan blocked the way. For who but you is our hope, our joy, our crown of authority before our Lord Jesus in his movement? Yes, indeed, you all are our pride and joy!
1. Well, when our separation from you reached the breaking point, we decided that I should stay on alone in Hattiesburg, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s partner in the gospel of Christ, to put some steel in your spirit and to pep up your faith so nobody would get cold feet from all these acts of violence. For you realize that this is all part of the game, because while we were with you we kept warning you that we would be given the works. And sure enough, that’s what happened, as you now know. That’s why, when I just couldn’t take it any more, I sent to find out what was happening to your faith, fearing that possibly the Confuser was confusing you and that our effort there might be lost. 6. But a little while ago Timothy got here from you and brought us the good news about your faith and love. He told us that you always have a high opinion of us, and that you’re as hungry to see us as we are to see you. I tell you, brothers, your faith surely meant a lot to us in our own difficulties and troubles. With you standing up for the Lord we can now start breathing again. Oh, how can we ever thank God enough for all the joy you’ve brought us in the presence of our God! And oh, how we’re praying around the clock to catch a glimpse of your face and to fill in the gaps of your faith! May our Father-God himself and our Lord Jesus home us in on you! May the Lord load you up and run you over with love for one another and for everybody else too, the same as we have for you. May you have the guts to stand without reservation and in utter abandonment before our Father-God in the Inauguration of our Lord Jesus, in company with all those who are devoted to him.
1. So finally, brothers, in order that you might grow even more, we beg you and plead with you in the Lord Jesus to keep on walking exactly as you learned from us how one who would please God must walk. For you are aware of the various instructions we gave you with the help of the Lord Jesus. God’s will—that which makes you different—is that you hold back from catting around, that each of you know how to control his own genitals with dedication and honor, not with lustful passion like those guys who don’t know God; and that one not go over and stimulate his brother in this matter. Just as we told you before and keep on mentioning it to you, the Lord is ruthless toward all such things. For God called us not for loose living but in disciplined dedication. And so then, the rebel is rebelling not against man but against the God who gives you his Holy Spirit. 9. Now you don’t need me to write you about brotherly love, because you yourselves are God-taught to love one another. And you are doing just this toward all the brothers even throughout Mississippi. But we are encouraging you to grow even more in this respect—also to consider it a virtue to keep your ears, not your mouth, open and to tend to your own business, and earn your living, just as we strictly ordered you, so that your conduct will appeal to those outside the fellowship and that you yourselves not go hungry. 13. Now we don’t want you to be in the dark, brothers, about those who have died, lest your grief be the same as those who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and was made to live, then just as surely will God bring to life, through Jesus, those who have died with him. Now this we say to you on the authority of the Lord: We who remain alive in the Lord’s movement shall in no way get a head start on those Christians who have died. For the Lord himself, at countdown, with a sound like a big angel and God Almighty blowing a siren, will blast off from heaven. And the dead Christians will come to life first, then we who are still living will be whooshed up in the clouds with them to meet the Lord in the sky. Then we shall live happily with the Lord ever after. So use these words to calm down one another.
1. Brothers, you don’t have any need for me to write to you about schedules and seasons. For you yourselves know for a fact that "Lord’s Day" comes like somebody breaking in at night. Just when people settle back and say, "It’s so peaceful and quiet," then all of a sudden calamity hits them like a woman having labor pains, and then it’s too late. But you all, my brothers, are not night creatures with the day about to surprise you as a thief. You all are light children; you are daytime people; we don’t belong to the night nor to darkness. Well, then, let’s not wallow around in bed like other people but let’s keep moving and stay on our toes. For sleepers sleep of a night, and drunkards get drunk of a night. But let us, since we are daytime people, get on the ball. Let’s put on the space suit of faith and love, and the headgear of hope and salvation. Because God has not intended damnation for us but an achievement of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we shall surely live with him. Therefore, stand by one another and each one build up the other, just as you are doing now. 12. We call on you,
brothers, to recognize those who are slaving for you and are your managers and
trainers in the Lord. Show them particular affection because of their work.
Cultivate peace among yourselves. We encourage you, brothers, to straighten out
the cantankerous, lend a hand to the spiritual runts, doctor the sickly, and get
along with everybody. See that no one pays back another evil for evil, but
always press for the good in one another and in everybody. Always be cheerful.
Never quit praying. Be thankful for everything, for this is God’s will for
you. 23. May the very God of peace totally possess you. May he make one bundle of your spirit, mind and body and keep you above reproach in the movement of our Lord Jesus Christ. You can trust him who called us to do this. 25. Brothers, keep us
in your prayers. Greet all the brothers with our heartfelt love. Paul, Silas and Timothy ©1968 by Clarence
Jordan. Used by permission of Koinonia
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