Claude R. Alexander - Becoming the Church: Gods People in Purpose and Power

I love the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. I realize that we live in an age where fewer are making that statement. However, I love the church.

I am painfully aware that those who dont love the church, who wish the church would disappear forever, feel that way in part due to an experience with some people who make up the church. To you, I offer my sincerest apologies. As those who are in the process of being made into the image of Christ, at times we miss the mark and fall tragically short, to Gods dishonor, to our disappointment, and to a watching worlds disdain. Yet God has not and does not give up on the church; neither do I. My hope is that in reading this, neither will you.

The church is Gods idea. It is what Christ is building upon himself. It is that into which God calls every person who accepts his Son by faith.

I contend that the reason why many whove been added to the church dont move to being the church that God intends, is that they never understood what God intends for the church to be. You cant be or become what you dont understand.

This is not new. Those who made up the original members of the church didnt even get it all the time. In fact, the Gospels, the book of Acts, and the New Testament Epistles are all Gods way of helping them and us understand what God intends for the church to be and to do. The three years that they were with Jesus, and the time after his ascension into heaven, were all about becoming Gods people in purpose and power.

As I write to you, I have been a part of the church for fifty of my fifty-seven years of life. I have learned that we who make up the church are both being and becoming. We both are the church and are still in the process of becoming the church. John, an apostle of Jesus, speaks to this: Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2 NKJV).

In the following pages, we will look at the disciples during the period immediately after Jesus resurrection, through the Gospels as well as the first six chapters of the book of Acts. We will hear from some of them in their own voices and from their own perspectives in terms of their continual discovery and development into Gods people in purpose and power.

Like the original members of the church, I am continuing to be led into becoming what God has in mind; a person of purpose and power. My hope is that I can better be who and what God has in mind. I invite you to do the same.

That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! Peace be with you, he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again he said, Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you. Then he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyones sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.

One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, We have seen the Lord!

But he replied, I wont believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.

Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. Peace be with you, he said. Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Dont be faithless any longer. Believe!

My Lord and my God! Thomas exclaimed.

Then Jesus told him, You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me. (John 20:19-29 NLT)

Those who know my story would probably label me a contrarian. I am one whose life with Christ demonstrates doing the opposite of what most would do. For instance, many so-called believers would never miss Resurrection Sunday. In fact, if they dont go to church on any other Sunday, they go to church on Resurrection Sunday, yet the following Sunday they are nowhere to be seen or found. Churches boast record attendance on Resurrection Sunday.

If you know my story, you know that I am the exact opposite. I was nowhere near the church on the first Resurrection Sunday. While I was one of the initial members of Jesus ministry and I was consistent in my followership and service for the first three years of the ministrys existence, on the first Resurrection Sunday I was not among the followers of Jesus. I was not found to be present in the fellowship of believers. On the most significant day of our existence as a body of Jesus-followers, I was not present.

In part, my absence was due to having experienced the most painful thing in my life just days earlier. On Thursday night, Jesus had been betrayed by one of our own, named Judas, falsely accused by dishonest witnesses, and mis-tried by the Sanhedrin Council. Early that Friday, he was examined by Pilate who found no wrong in him. But out of concern for the crowd and his political livelihood, Pilate sentenced Jesus to be crucified anyway. After Jesus had been brutally beaten, they crucified him. With each blow of the hammer to the nails in Jesus hands and feet, my joy, hope, and faith were beaten to a pulp. It was the darkest period of my life, as I witnessed my hope painfully and publicly executed.

With Jesus being dead, I saw no reason to stay. Jesus was the reason I was in the group in the first place. I responded to Jesus call to follow him. I was connected to the group due to their having received the same call. I didnt know the other eleven before Jesus. Jesus called us together. Our life together was due to our common acceptance of and life with Jesus. I wasnt there for them. I was there for Jesus.