Day 2394 – OUR STRANGE LIFE – How to Shock an Unbelieving Crowd – 1 PETER 4:1-6

Welcome to Day 2394 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom Day 2394 – How to Shock an Unbelieving Crowd 4:1-6 – Daily Wisdom Putnam Church Message – 06/02/2024 Our Strange Life – How to Shock an Unbelieving Crowd. 1 Peter 4:1-6 Last week, we explored the importance of being a faithful Christ Follower and the necessity of public baptism for Focusing Fully on Jesus Christ. Today, we focus on the attitude that we, as Christ's Followers, should have and on the possibility that our lives may shock the unbelieving crowd. Today’s passage is 1 Peter 4:1-6, on page 1890 of your Pew Bibles.  1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. 2 As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4 They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. 5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit. Throughout the New Testament, we read of the changed life that follows genuine conversion. When God freely and fully forgives the sins of our former life|when the righteousness of Christ is credited to our account |and the Spirit of God takes up residence in our hearts|then the old things pass away, and all things become new (2 Cor. 5:17). This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! The lifelong process of transformation begins. This radical series of changes alters our attitudes, inner motives, habits, and pursuits, as well as our choice of close friends. As far back as the first century, Peter wrote of all these things. Though almost two thousand years separate us from Peter’s original audience, there isn’t a Christian today who can't identify with the apostle’s words. Written for a particular time, they are nevertheless timeless. They speak with incredible relevance today, especially his comments regarding the reaction of those who don't know the Lord. In this section, Peter reminds us that because our citizenship is in heaven, the current world isn’t our true home in its current form until Jesus transforms it into a Global Eden upon his return. We're representatives, yes, Ambassadors of a different kingdom. And like foreign tourists visiting another country, we may be the only way people get a picture of what God's kingdom is like. As a result, unbelievers today will either be attracted or repelled by our heavenly home. -4:1-3- With the logical conjunction “therefore," Peter is saying in shorthand, “Now, in light of everything I have just written about Christ, I’m going to present you with some practical conclusions.” In the previous...