This Ecotonic Moment at LAC
Acts 1:1-8

A few years ago I learned a new word from Dr. Timothy George of Beeson Seminary: ecotone. It is a word derived from the worlds of biol­ogy and ecology. An ecotone is a place where two or more ecosystems come together, the point of transition between two ecosystems that blend into one another where they meet. A good example of an eco­tone is an estuary, where the river flows into the ocean, where the tide meets the current. Or when you are flying out West across Nebraska and Kansas, you fly across a thousand miles of flat prairie land until, almost suddenly, the plains are interrupted by the rise of the Rockies. That is an ecotone, where the plains meet the mountains. An ecotonic space is unstable, shifting and fragile. But it is also highly fertile, characterized by diversity, fluidity and change; a place of enormous risk and danger, but also of growth and development, a space where new life is spawned and new beginnings are made.

Dr. George applied this term to major cultural shifts in society arguing that God raised up individuals and churches to speak for him and stand for Him in such turbulent and changing times.

We are being told that we also live in such a place and time. Countless sociologists tell us we are the end of Modernity and the beginning of Postmodernity. Whether this is true or not, one thing is certain: This is a different world now from the one I was born into. It is quite clear that we are called by God to live according to the changeless values of His Word in an ever-changing world. And we are also called upon to give a faithful and clear delivery of the enduring Gospel to this ever-changing world.

In my years here at Lake Avenue Church, I’ve come to think that we as a church are being called upon to come to grips these days with that reality. I’ve begun to think that we are in an “ecotonic moment” in this church because in addition to the larger societal shifts:

• We live in an area of incredible cultural, ethnic, a socio-economic diversity – and as such are a model area of other places in the world to observe.
• We’ve been come through a time in which so many sought reconciliation with people from whom we sometimes feel broken – peace with other brothers and sisters
• So we are seeking to discover how such a diverse family worships together, connects with one another and serves Christ in our community and world.

What should a church do in such times? What things from the past must we carry into the future? What things can and should be left behind? What dare not change? What simply must change?

I’m convinced that the Bible, “our final authority for faith and life,” can provide guidance for us these days as we navigate through this ecotone. And, I believe one book of the Bible that might speak directly to us all during such days is the Book of Acts.

Cultural Shifts at the Beginning of Acts

Why do I say this? Because if ever there was an ecotonic moment for God’s people in history, it was the time period reported on by Luke in Acts. The unifying burden of this book is to describe what God did to transform His people from being made up almost exclusively of Jews to the place of embracing Samaritans and Gentiles. The focus of God’s work would move from being almost solely in Judea to impacting the entire world. And, let me tell you in an understatement: This was not easy!! What did this change involve? I think I have time only to give a summary. There would have to be:

• Theological Clarifications – Jesus’ coming had changed everything. He was God but not the Father. He would send another person when He left who also was God but was not Jesus or the Father. So, God is both three and one?
• Worship Struggles – No more sacrifices needed. Now, not just the words of what we call Old Testament are to be read and studied but those of Jesus? And, what songs should we sing?
• Geographic Re-focus – Everything had happened before in Israel – especially Jerusalem. Now, what will we do when God seems to be doing even greater things in Antioch and Ephesus and Corinth?
• Ethnic Differences – People used to know whom they were required to love, i.e., other Jews; other Pharisees; people like themselves. But what do we do when those we used to hate have the same Holy Spirit within them? Are they in the same family? Do we have to eat with them?
• Leadership Changes – What do we do with outsiders – like Paul? Even more, when those who have gifts of leadership don’t look like our earlier leaders looked?

I could go on and on. These early Christians in Acts would have to come to grips with persecution – and that persecution would drive them from their homes. Some would have to leave comfort zones for the mission Jesus had proclaimed.

Do you see why I say that the Book of Acts was written for an ecotonic moment? And, there is so much wisdom to be found in the book of Acts. It all begins with the first 8 verses that we will glance at this morning. I see four foundational lessons being given for any church facing changing times:

I. Identify and Hold onto the Essentials (1:1-3)

In these opening verses Luke sums up a series of “farewell visits and speeches” by Jesus. As we all know, when a person has only a few days to live, he usually doesn’t waste his breath on trivial things. These introductory verses in Acts flow directly out of Luke’s volume 1 (the Gospel of Luke) and highlight the essentials of Jesus’ teaching about the church’s foundations in summary form. What is emphasized? What are the essential matters that dare not be forgotten in the Church?

Luke’s Summary Includes:

• The acts of Jesus
• The teaching of Jesus
• The suffering and death of Jesus (and its meaning)
• The resurrection of Jesus

We’re told that “through 40 days” (signifying visits from time to time over that period), Jesus “showed Himself to them,” and ”was seen by them.” This repetition combines with other places in Luke’s account reporting that Jesus talked with them, ate with them, and drank with them. What is being underscored is the unshakable conviction that Jesus was alive – that He had experienced a bodily resurrection from the dead just as He had promised He would.

• The promise of the Holy Spirit

And it’s all summarized with the statement in verse 3b, i.e., that He taught them about the kingdom of God. Acts begins with this and then ends with it in 28:23, 31. It has to do with all that God is bringing about through the saving work of Jesus. God’s rule is going to be established.

What we find summarized here are the essentials of what will guide us through this interim time while we wait for God to complete His work in this world and establish His work fully, i.e., until we all get to heaven.The implication is that there are certain things that must be grasped, embraced, and delivered in the midst of changing times. There is a message that will not change and will be relevant to all people in all times. I tell you that it is the teaching, meditating on, application of, and passing on of this body of essential truth that must be at the heart of LAC during these days of transition. Let worship styles change or stay the same. Let ways of dress change. Let programs morph. But, whenever we gather we must open this Word, hear it, and respond to it. It will guide us through the challenging days that we have at present and we surely will have in the future.

II. Rely on the Presence, Guidance, and Work of the Holy Spirit (1:4-5)

Jesus had often told them about the Holy Spirit and His coming. In fact, Jesus in John 14-16 had made the rather shocking statement that, ultimately, it was good for them to have Jesus leave. Jesus had to leave so that someone else may come – someone more necessary to their lives and God’s work than Jesus would be after His death and resurrection. I think I should add that those who knew their Old Testaments well knew that the Holy Spirit in days long past would come upon significant prophets, priests, or kings to bring about certain divine tasks.

But, it was clear that in this ecotonic moment, the presence and work of the Holy Spirit would be different. He would come upon all who trusted in Jesus – not just upon the leadership. He would stay in the lives of those He indwelt. And throughout the Book of Acts, the Holy Spirit came in tangible ways to make known who was in this new family: first on Jews, then a Samaritan group, then a Gentile group, and then even on a group of folks who earlier had been followers of John the Baptist. One of the most difficult realities for people to accept in the early church is that all who believed in Jesus were made a part of God’s family and given access into the presence of God. Almost every New Testament letter has to address this matter because people just found it to be so hard to believe “that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone. The new has come.”

Also, we see here that the Holy Spirit is of essential importance in doing the work of God. It’s as if Jesus says, “I have little time to be with you. I know you want to run out and talk about these miraculous things. But, you must wait. You don’t have the strength, wisdom, or courage to do eternal work in your own power. You must wait for the Holy Spirit to come.” Then, with the Word of God in your hands and mind and the Spirit of God in your heart, you can go and take up your role in God’s eternal mission.”

Ecotonic moments are times to seek God together – to realize that the Spirit of God resides within this place – and to count on His presence and His guidance. These times may be times of uncertainty humanly speaking. But, they are times that are fully within the knowledge, the capability and sovereignty of the God who has given His Spirit to us.

III. Invest All You Are in God’s Mission (1:6-8)

The Acts 1:6 Question:

The pressure of changing times often leads us to ask dumb questions. This question in verse 6 may not fall fully into the category of “dumb” – but the disciples should have known better. Jesus had told them again and again that the end would not come until all people groups had heard the good news of salvation through His death and resurrection. Quite definitely, this hadn’t happened by Acts 1. I’m quite sure that the disciples had not yet fully been able to abandon a misconstrued dream they had throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry, i.e., that Jesus had come to set up a kingdom on earth in which current ruling governments would be overthrown and they who were close disciples would assume positions of authority. But what is the real mission of God? It’s the vision of Revelation 7. God’s mission is to bring about a redeemed people made up of every tribe and language and nation who would bring glory to His name. According to Colossians 1:28, each one in the family will be “complete in Christ”. Earlier, this had seemed far too big a task. But seeing that Jesus had risen from the dead enabled them to know that He had power to bring this mission about.

Jesus’ Two-pronged Answer:

I want you to notice the wise two-pronged response of Jesus to this question: 1) that the time of God’s completing His work is fully in God’s hands, and 2) the immediate task God is giving all who follow Jesus is to be witnesses to the person of Jesus; to the salvation Jesus can bring to the lives of those who place their faith in Him. Of course, this response has a lot to say to us today. One point is that there is no place for human speculation about when and how God will complete His work. This clear succinct word from Jesus should burn in the minds of anyone who still tries to calculate the time of Jesus’ return.

But, Jesus’ answer is more than a mere corrective to those fascinated with trying to figure out last things. It’s also a wonderful directive for all Jesus-followers about how to invest our time, our gifts, and our resources. Jesus says, “I don’t want to focus on what God will do in Jerusalem but in the world. And you will have the privilege of being a part of it! You will be the witnesses.”

These opening verses in Acts give us an outline of what will happen in the rest of the book as we see the Gospel going forth first to Jerusalem, then beyond to Judea, and finally the first steps in taking the Gospel in the entire world. When the Book of Acts ends, the work is not yet done but the promise of what God is doing still resounds in our ears. Now, of course, we who are alive and who have heard the Gospel (and been rescued by it) are to take up the mission with the same focus and fervor as the early disciples.

Ever-Growing Concentric Circles

The main strategy God will use to take his good news to the world and to remake lives until each one in the family of God is “complete in Christ” is to bring people into local communities in geographical areas – people who will worship together, be in community together, and then serve God alongside one another where God has placed us. It started in Jerusalem in Acts 1-2, but it was not to end there. It took persecution to get people out of their comfortable home but God’s work is going to be done. So, escaping persecution, believers went to Antioch and a church family was planted. The Holy Spirit led them to send people out to their own Judea and beyond to plant churches and to continue the task – until the whole world would be reached. It reached us here 115 years ago and this family was planted. People have grown spiritually here. We are here to affect our community for God’s kingdom and then to send others out – across our I-210 corridor and throughout the world.

This is the task I want us to commit to afresh at this ecotonic moment: the growth of each one in our family, the impacting of our community for the cause of Christ, and the sending our people out to further build these ever growing concentric circles of church families doing the same thing where they are planted that we do here. Sharing the same faith – filled with the same Holy Spirit – and committed to the same mission that we are committed to right here at 393 N. Lake Avenue. It will take commitment and focus and sacrificial giving and the sending of some of our very best people. But, we will know the power and life of Christ when we are focused on his mission.

IV. Love People (both those in and not-yet-in God’s family (1:9-….)

This point permeates the whole of the Book of Acts. Those who belong to Christ must begin to see people differently from the way the world usually sees people. Beginning with chapter 2, the message of Jesus is to reach all people. When people respond to that message, they are all, all, given the Holy Spirit and brought into the one family of God. Gentiles are to be seen as potential members of God’s family. The poor are to be remembered. All believers are to be seen as fellow recipients of God’s salvation, God’s Spirit, God’s eternal blessing. All unbelievers are to be viewed as people for whom Christ died – and thus as potential members of God’s family and potential recipients of God’s Spirit. Our faith in Christ changes everything about us – but one of the most fundamental changes is that we begin to love people as God has loved us. We are compelled by the love of Christ. And we go into the world to show the love and compassion of Christ.

Let me just remind you, if we do not grow to love people from every ethnicity, every socio-economic group, every age group, both genders, every musical taste, -- then we will hate heaven. Because that is just the kind of eternal family that Christ died to being about.

This Ecotonic Moment at LAC

I simply want you to apply these same truths given so long ago in Acts 1 to our church in these days of transition.

We have a clear Word from God for changing times. We must make sure this Word is read and studied each time we meet. We must know and be unified by the central teachings that come forth from this Word from our Father. Whatever changes we wrestle with as we seek to bring the Gospel to our changing world, we will find guidance through challenging times.

And, let us count on the presence of the Holy Spirit. We need never be pessimistic about anything in our church because God has given Himself to us and He will finish His work in us. That applies to you as an individual, for you and I are promised that God will not finish with us until He has brought us to complete maturity in Christ – until we are conformed to the image of Christ. And this applies to the church as a whole because this is His church.
And we must direct our energies toward bringing this Good News about Jesus to Pasadena, to the I-210 corridor, and to the world. I want us to be e a Revelation 7 church directing all we are and have until all people groups have heard the Gospel of Jesus and until each one is presented as fully mature in Christ.

And let us make a pledge this morning to love those entire God brings across our paths. It must begin here – in this congregation. And it will then flow into this world – a world that so desperately needs to see evidence of the love of God for the world – and they need to see it lived out through His people (i.e., us).

This mission is big enough to consume all our dreams and give direction to all our ambitions. If we do, we will find joy in the life and ministry of our church. Many will find Christ in this place. And God will be pleased.

That is how to live in ecotonic times.

Greg Waybright • Copyright 2011, Lake Avenue Church