(Audio/Video/Text)
Title: 8 Observations of the Lost, Part Two
Intro:
Systematic way Paul constructs these 8 points: 4 observations, 1 cause, 3 results, all which SHOULD lead to empathy for the plight of the non believer.
(read/pray)
Recap from last week:
First Four Observations of the Lost:
1. Futility of mind
2. Darkened understanding
3. Alienated from the life of God
4. Ignorant
Observation Five: Their hearts are blind
(alternate translations?)
Greek: pōrōsis (po’-ro-sis)
Definition: the covering with a callus, obtrusiveness of mental discernment, dulled perception, the mind of one has been blunted, of stubbornness
Note that up until this point, Paul’s observations have been largely about the mind, the inability for the lost person to accurately discern truth, but here we see that Paul shifts his focus to the heart, the feelings, the motivations of the lost person. Furthermore, Paul explicitly says that the mental deficiencies that the lost has are “because of the blindness of their heart.”
All of this leads me leads me to this question:
Tough Question: If the heart is blind will the mind ever see things clearly?
So when we engage with the lost, we’d do well to remember that all opposition to the gospel is, at its core, a heart issue…and the heart is what we should seek to connect with first.
(One of the things that I’ve always admired about Dan Phillip and the transformation network’s ministry to the disenfranchised, the addicted, the habitual criminal, is that Dan’s remedy is not to get them to change their behavior, but to get them to ask the question, “Why do you think you do these things? What need are your trying to fill?”)
It is for this reason that Paul writes, elsewhere in 1 Cor. 12:31 “And now I will show you a more excellent way…”
Reflection Question:
If we recognize that the belief, behavior, and perspective of the lost is truly a HEART issue, how might that change how we think about and interact with the lost, especially when we disagree?
Q/A