READING ACTS: THE ASCENSION-LITERAL OR SYMBOLIC?

May 15, 2012 | Author: Gospel Operation International

We are wrestling with the Ascension of Jesus, a much neglected doctrine of the Church.  Yet it inspired the Apostles, was the foundation of their preaching and teaching, and as a result the early church had a dramatic, but in many ways inexplicable impact on the world. When this doctrine is denied or mis applied there are definite consequences.

With the rise of science, there was a trend in modern Biblical criticism and interpretation to deny that the Ascension was an actual event. These commentators deny the supernatural and hold the Acts’ account cannot be read literally nor has any value as history. They insist it must only be read symbolically or poetically.

John Stott in his commentary, The Message of Acts, presents the argument and  conclusively refutes it.

  • Acts was written during a pre-scientific era. The writer of Acts and the original audience believed heaven to be “up there.”  So it was necessary for Jesus to lift off in order to get there.
  • Science does not allow for this. Our modern cosmology does not place heaven up beyond the skies but in a different dimension.
  • Luke is the only Gospel writer who has this story.  The Ascension is best understood as an aspect or a version of the Resurrection.
Stott then goes on to ably defend the literal reading of the Ascension and the historical nature of the event.
  • Once a reader accepts the possibility of the super-natural, the Resurrection/Ascension though unique events are possible. It is flawed thinking to say that since resurrection/ascension normally don’t happen that they could never happen.
  • The Ascension is assumed throughout the New Testament although Luke is the only author who describes it.  Peter’s sermon at Pentecost deals with the  Ascension. Paul taught it (Ephesian 1:18-23, Philippians 2:9-11,  3:20, Colossians 3:1) . The author of Hebrews relied on it. (Hebrews 1:3, 4:14, 8:1)
  • Luke stresses the eyewitnesses to the event. Five times in three verses Luke mentions the disciples saw it happen.
  • The Ascension has a clear purpose: to signal the end of Jesus’ stay on earth.

In our next post we will talk about the Meaning of the Ascension.

 

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AGRICULTURE & CHINA

May 14, 2012 | Author: Gospel Operation International

The China Daily had a recent report issued by the Chinese Academy of Science concerning agriculture in China.  Evidently they studied China’s agricultural sector and drew some remarkable conclusions.

  • The agricultural sector is a drag on the development of China’s modernization.
  • China’s modernization of its agricultural sector began in the 1880s, about 100 years later than in advanced countries.
  • According to the report, China’s current agricultural production rate was around one percent of that in the US, Japan and France.
  • By the end of 2008, its level of agricultural sophistication was 150 years behind the UK, 108 years behind the US and 36 years behind South Korea.
  • According to the report, China will need to create jobs for 280 million farmers, cutting the rural workforce population from 310 million to 31 millon over the next 40 years.Please pray for the Chinese farmers.  Pray for wisdom for policy makers, so that the agricultural sector can develop,  so they can feed China’s vast population.  Pray for those who will leave the farm in the future and move to the cities.

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Praying For Missionaries the Apostle Paul Way

May 10, 2012 | Author: Gospel Operation International

The Apostle Paul influence on Christianity is great. When I was in seminary the most difficult but the most instructive assignment I had to complete was in a New Testament Studies class.  It was the final assignment. Most of my final grade depended on it.  We were asked to consider Paul as pastor, missionary and theologian. We had to choose one role for Paul which we considered the most important and make the case for our decision. It had me pulling out my hair before I finished. But working on that paper made a huge difference in my life.

Paul has a lot to teach us. One very important thing Paul can teach us is how to pray.

There is a very informative article on Paul and prayer in the Dictionary of Paul and His Letters.  This post relies heavily on this article.

The article begins with this introductory paragraph.

Paul’s apostolate began in prayer and, according to tradition, ended in prayer as he was martyred. His whole ministry was grounded in, and developed from, prayer. For Paul, the Christian experience was essentially (and unceasingly) an act of prayer. Those redeemed and hence overwhelmed by the sovereign grace of the “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” intentionally and purposefully pour out their lives as a perpetual act of thanksgiving, ever conscious of dependence on an omnipresent and omnipotent God, as they are motivated and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Apart from prayer, life as a redeemed bondservant of Christ was both inconceivable and impossible.

Paul’s training as a Pharisee, taught him to pray in a systematic, disciplined, and structured way.

  • Paul learned to pray many types of prayers: praise, blessing, thanksgiving, confession, petition and intercession.
  • Paul learned a habitual prayer routine. Prayer was at set times: upon awaking, meals etc
  • Paul learned prayers for every significant event of life.

As we read through Paul’s story as found in Acts, we see prayer is involved in almost every stage. Analysis of Paul’s letter reveals Paul has the most extensive prayer vocabulary of any NT writer using 16 different words related to prayer a total of 105 times. The most frequent is  the Greek word euchristo cognates meaning “thanksgiving” or  ”thankful.”

In future posts we will examine what Paul can teach us by his words and example on how to pray better prayers and to become better prayer warriors.

 

 

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