What is Church | Jason Martin

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We hope this message will light up your day.

I have been going through deconstructing, so a lot of

times when we hear word deconstructing, it's usually somebody who

is a Christian who deconstructed their faith and then they

end up as an atheist or they end up as

not believing in what they were brought up to believe in. Okay, uh,

But for me, the deconstructing is like, hey, why am

I believing what I have believed in in the all

this world? You know? So previously I shared about the

Lord's prayer. I even went through worse by worse what

does it mean? Okay? And today's sermon? Right. It was

also a process of deconstructing for me because I felt

healthy frustration. Okay, I felt a healthy frustration for for

some time already, but I couldn't place a finger on

why I was face facing this frustration. And then I think,

just a couple of weeks ago, uh, sister Debbie passed

me this book after service. Okay, the fast me this

book after service. It is called Letters to the Church

Fry Francis Chan. So she said that, hey, since you're

like pastoring the church here, although I'm not a pastor

pastoring the church here. Uh, this is something that we

hope will bless you. Okay. So when I read the book,

it's like, well, it's this is truth in love. It's

a tough love book. And I actually it really spoke

to what the frustration that I was feeling. Okay, and

uh so I wanted to actually start today's summon with

the title, Okay, so could I get the first lab

what is church? What is church? Okay? So right now

I wanted to paint a scenario for you. Okay, imagine

your dream church. Your dream church. Okay, you have a

blank check. You can create your dream church. You can

hire whoever you need to hire, the best speakers, the

best musicians, the best worship leader, the best execids teachers.

Imagine your dream church, imagine the location. Okay, what are

some of the things that you will do for your

dream church? Everyone? I should have raised it somewhere some

in another way, because you know that this is like

a trap, right, This is like a trap in terms

of the question, because right to be honest, if we

are honest with ourselves, this is me included what would

I imagine my dream church to be. It's well, of course,

location is very good. You will have heartfelt messages every week.

You will have people who are very talented on the band.

You will have the best musicians. Your kids program is

out of this world, you know. And then when they

have you got a four year you have the best coffee,

not like what it down coffee or you know, you

can imagine it, okay, and it is true. It's true

because I am I have been going through this as well,

you know. And sometimes when when we looking at all this,

then me think that, actually, what is the church? What

is the purpose of the church?

You know?

And let me just give you a few points here, right,

So do you know that in America, right, the number

of churches closing is higher than the number of churches

that are opening. So in twenty eighteen, right, four thousand,

five hundred churches closed, but while only three thousand new

churches opened. So churches are on the decline. It has

been on the decline since the Book of Acts. Unfortunately,

it seemed to have peaked at the Book of Acts.

You know. Of course, there was a lot of all

the missionaries when about throughout all the world a lot

of the population of the world became Christians and stuff

like that, and that was it was. It was good.

It was on a good trajectory. But in recent years

you will see that suddenly churches are on the decline. Okay,

for every new church that opens, there is probably one

point something churches that close, And a lot of the

churches that are growing might be because of people joining

from the churches that have closed, you know, instead of

new people who believed in Jesus. So it might be

church transfers. But why is this the case or is

this supposed to be the case?

You know.

So it got me thinking, that's why I had this

this thing because here in Klang, I was like, hey,

so again for I'll be very honest with you, all right,

it is about a So are we doing well as

a church? How do we quantify doing well? Usually it's

by numbers, right, Usually by numbers. Usually it's by how

well our programs are run and stuff like that. But

then it caught me thinking, it's like, there has to

be more than this, because imagine it this way. You

are given a blank check again, and you are you

can hire everyone that you want to hire for your church,

even with the venue. Okay, and once it is launched,

do you think that church will grow? Are you sure?

I think it will. I think the number of people

that come into that church will increase. Okay, the number

of people that come into that building will increase because

you are catering for everything that will interest and attract people.

You know, you will have good music, you'll have good food,

you'll have good speakers and stuff that people will come.

People will come. But where is God in the picture?

Where is God in the picture? You know? You see

it right? It's by catering the church to the worshippers

instead of catering the church to God, we will create

human centered churches instead of God focused churches. We are

sometimes so fixated on like, ay, is this the best?

We we think right, that we have to entertain. We

are not called to entertain. We are called to preach

the gospel, a call to share the good news in love.

And if we are doing everything else accept that, then

is it called a church anymore? You know? So, if

you're visiting here for the first time, second time, don't

get scared. I'm just giving you. You will not be

held accountable to this message unless God convicts your heart.

But for those of all y'all who call exclaim your home.

Together with me, let's discover how to do church God's way,

you know, in terms of it. So there's another phrase here, right,

So if we win or if we grow the church

by entertainment, by entertaining them like for example I mentioned, right,

you grow a church, you invite, you have the best band,

have the best food, you have the best thing. Right,

people will come. It is based on what entertainment value

you provide to them. So how can you keep them?

If they came in because of entertainment value, how will

you keep them? It is also by entertainment value. It

is a vicious cycle where you have to continuously outdo

yourself year after year, putting up productions like nobody's business,

like putting up the band, putting up yeah, so many things.

And at the end of the day, you're doing that

because that's what got them in the first place, entertainment.

But if people came to church because of Jesus, they

will stay because of Jesus. They will not stay because

of what happens on stage. They will not stay because

of what happens what I say, Because what I say

can just fall to the ground. It's nothing at all

unless God is using me to speak what he wants

to say. Right, So this is what this is where

I'm at. Okay, So it is always good to go

back to the first Church. So how many of we

all have gone to Israel before? Okay, some might have

gone to Israel. Okay, have you visited the first church?

If you have gone to Israel, have you visited the

first church? It might not be on the itinery because

the first Church was not a building. But then when

I say welcome to church, we immediately think that this

is church. But the first Church was never a building.

That's why you can never visit the first Church. It

was not four walls. It was not a building. It

was not a location. It was the people, you know.

And this is where we will go. Take it with. Okay,

So let me take you to Matthew sixteen. So this

is the first time in the Bible the word church

is mentioned. This is the first time in the Bible

the word church is mentioned. Matthew sixteen, verse fifteen. He

said to them, but who do you say I am? Simon?

Peter answered and said, you are the the son of

the Living God. Jesus answered and said to him, blessed

are you Simon bar Jonah, For flesh and blood has

not revealed this to you, but my Father who is

in heaven. And I also say to you that you

are Peter on this rock, I will build my church,

and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

So if you know the law of first mentioned, like

the first time a word is mentioned in the Bible,

it is usually the original meaning the same way as worship.

You know, worship was first mentioned when Abraham went to

sacrifice his son, say, let us go up to worship,

you know. But sometimes we have changed the definition of

worship and we assume it's music that's played on the stage,

but it's not. So this is my deconstruction that I'm

going through every jargon or lingo that I've had in

church or going through in church. I'm testing it to

see he is it legit or not? Am I doing

the right thing? Or is it aligned to the word

of God. That's why bring your own Bible is very key.

Instead of just bringing, we should also read the Bible. Definitely,

bringing is step one, but bringing itself does not have enough,

does not have power. The Word of God needs to

be alive in us, then we will have power. Okay,

So the first time the word church was mentioned was here.

So looking at our understanding of church, how do we

interpret this because church is two hours on a Sunday

in a building. But then here Jesus is saying that

on this rock I will build my church, you know,

So what does that mean? How is it different?

You know?

So let me take us to the definition. So church

in Greek it is called ecclesia. And funnily enough, right

if you read this definition not primarily a religious word

at all. Church is not primarily a religious word at all.

It is just meant group or called out group. In

describing the late latter group of his followers and disciples,

Jesus deliberately chose a word without a distinctly religious meaning.

So essentially, church is a group of people who God

has called out? Are you part of a church? Has

God called you out? Have you accepted Jesus Christ as

your personal Lord and savior? If yes, then you are

part of the church. You know. And a lot of

times we think church is like we think we have construed,

we have sort of interpreted it like a religious word.

You know, but essentially it is more relational. Church is

actually a relational word instead of a religious word. Do

we have a relationship with Jesus, because now we are

calling Jesus your bridegroom, and the church is the bride,

and so you are called out. Okay, so this is

a acclesia, yes in Greek. Let me just go back here. Okay,

so this is the first mentioned. Now let us let

me bring us to the first church. Okay, so you

have the first time it's mentioned, and now I bring

you to the first time the church is referred to. Okay,

next line, Acts Chapter two, but with many other words.

He testified and exalted them, saying this is Peter be

saved from this perverse generation. You see who was the

first one that started preaching, Peter on this rock? Well,

I build my church. Can you see see how it's

tied Jesus prophecy in Matthew sixteen is fulfilled in Acts

two when Peter, after he was filled with the Holy Spirit,

started preaching. And when he started preaching, then those who

gladly received his word were baptized, and that day about

three thousand souls were added to them. What is the

key to building a mega church. Preaching of God's Word

is the preaching of God's Word and verse forty two.

And they continually, steadfastly, continued steadfastly in the apostles, doctrine

and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and

signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed

were together and had all things in common, and sold

their possessions and goods and divided them among all as

anyone had need. Okay, so this is the first church.

So if you want to visit the first church in Israel,

I'm not sure that any of them are still alive

right now. Okay, but this happened close to two thousand

years ago, and you can see it is as Jesus

prophesied on this rock, I will build my church. And

when Peter preached, three thousand was saved. So when three

thousand was saved, what did they do? What did they

do in the church? Do they sing four songs, collect offering,

have ex kids, have the sermon and go off. No,

they actually did this. They continued steadfastly in the apostles, doctrine,

and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers.

So this is what we will be benchmarked against when

Jesus comes back, he will benchmark us against this. Are

we doing what we are supposed to do? Are we

continuing steadfastly in the doctrine? Are we fellowshipping? Are we

breaking of bread? Are we praying? Because you know some churches, right,

it's people will get more upset if there is no

kids program. Then if there's no communion. See it's tough.

You know. This is what I am. Whatever I am

saying right is stuff that I'm going through. Okay, So

I'm not hitting out anybody, but this is this is

how has convicted my heart because this is what I

have been saying that, Hey, we need we need this,

we need that, we need to get more people in,

we need to have this kind of programs and stuff

like that. But if God has placed me here to

lead the church and I am leading it astray or

not according to the benchmark that he has set, then

God needs to convict my heart and he has a

So right now I'm sharing it with you so that

we share the load. Okay, So you can't say that

you don't know. You can't say that you don't know.

Ignorance is not blissed. Okay, right now, okay, because again,

is there any mention of the word leader. The only

mention here is the word they. They is every single person,

every single person, every single person who is part of

that church. Again, what is church part of the group

that is called out? They continue steadfastly in the apostles

doctrine their fellowship, They break a bread and they prayed,

and this is how the church grew to three thousand. Okay,

So this is why we need to test and see, Hey,

what are we doing? Okay? So for today's one, I

just wanted to touch on one word from this verse

and he guess what word from the highlighted verse they

want to touch on? Steadfast? Any other doctrine break breaking?

So far, I haven't heard it at all. Fellowship. I

want to touch on the word fellowship because this word

fellowship has been thrown around in church so common. What

is your understanding of the word fellowship? Huh marca? Okay,

someone that's all edifying, coming together stuff for that, right,

But you know that without the word fellowship, right, this

church could not grow. This is one of the key components.

And sometimes we mistake, Like they call fellowship as fellowship.

You know, you eat and then you grow fat, you know,

so it's like it just it's tied to food. But

fellowship is more than that. Fellowship is more than that.

This is another word which I had to deconstruct. I

had to deconstruct what is church and I had to

deconstruct what is fellowship because we trastroy it around loosely.

But what is fellowship? Okay, next light? So uh, there's

a reason why I put this picture, I explained later. Okay,

what is fellowship? Next light? So fellowship means koinonia coinonia

okay in Greek. And what it means is it goes

beyond a mere social interaction. A lot of times we

think fellowship is social interaction. Hey we just want to

hang out, let's fellowship. You know, if you are talking

to your colleagues outside there, Hey, let's hang out. You

talk to a Christian fellow, let's fellowship. It's actually the

same thing. You're doing the same thing. But because you're

they want to talk Christianize, then you say, let's fellowship. Okay,

But there is a difference. There is a difference. So

the word koinonia in Greek is very has a much

more dance meaning than the English equivalent. So English equivalent

that's why the word fellowship seems very suffaced, But in

Greek it has a much more dance meaning. It encompasses

spiritual communion, mutual support, a shared mission, a deep sense

of community rooted in the love of Christ. Does that

sound like the fellowship that you are doing now, But

this is what the fellowship of the First Church was.

They had a deep sense of community rooted in the

love of Christ, not rooted on preferences, not rooted on

hobbies that we do together, you know, and it was

mutual support and a shared mission. Do we have a

shared mission? Church? Do we have a shared mission? And

the church can reflect the unity and love that God

intends for his people, serving as a powerful testimony to

the world. Are we reflecting the unity and love that

God intends for his people? Because again not pointing any fingers, right,

sometimes I had to explain to my non Christian friends

why there are so many different types of churches. You know,

I'm not saying what's right or wrong. I'm just saying

that he to to the people who are not Christians,

it seems very weird. How come there's there's different uh

stuff and different denominations or different of course there there

is legitimate reasons. Okay, there is definitely legitimate reasons. But

the main thing is are we united and rooted in

the love of Christ. That should be our primary focus. Okay,

that should be our primary focus. So if we go

to the verse next one John one, so we are

lying if we say we have fellowship with God, but

go on living in spiritual darkness, because coinonia is not

just fellowship with men, but fellowship with God. Are you

going to the mama with God? Is that your level

of fellowship with God? Do we have a shared mission

with God as you have a shared mission with people?

Do we have Are we rooted in the love of

Jesus both to God and to people? So he says,

you're right, we are not practicing the truth, all right,

But if we are living in the light as God

is in the light, then we have fellowship with each

other and the blood of Jesus, his Son cleanses us

from all sin. So the first thing is if we

have if we are having fellowship with God, we have

to ensure we are not living in spiritual darkness. Only

then you can have choinonia with God. A lot of

times this part of the relationship, we are more focused

on our fellowship with men instead of our fellowship with God,

and that becomes a separate relationship. That becomes that's why

sometimes we deviate and go in terms of entertainment value

instead of focusing on the love of God. Hey, so

we have to get it right with God first. Once

we get it right with God, next, is there any

encouragement from belonging to Christ, any comfort from his love?

Any fellowship together in the spirit? Are your hearts tender

and compassionate? That make me truly happy? By agreeing wholeheartedly

with each other, loving one another, working together with one

mind and purpose. Don't be selfish, don't try to impress others,

be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. And

don't look out only for your own interests, but take

an interest in others too. This was the first church.

This was fellowship in the first church. How do we

measure against the first church when it comes to fellowship? Okay,

so this is where we need to head towards. So

looking at this right, so I go to the next line.

How do we express fellowship how do we express fellowship?

So we know that fellowship is going on near which

is a deeper level of relationship with both God and men. Okay,

we know that and it requires it's seated, it is

rooted in God's love. Okay, fine, Now what how do

we express it? Okay? How do we benchmark ourselves? So

there are I've just listed down five points here. I

think there's five points, and but it is not exhaustive.

I just listed on what these are the five points.

But if if you go through the Bible, there is

definitely more ways that we can do fellowship with everyone

in the church. Okay. So let's go next light. First

one is honor. Okay. So I'm trying to take a

page out of the old out of the first Book

of Acts. So let's read scripture. Let's bring back reading

scripture in the church. Okay. So can someone read Romans twelve,

verse ten? Yeah, nine and ten? This verse? Yeah, read

out a loud all right, So this is what the

first church did. They read scripture aloud. They read scripture around.

It is not about entertainment. It's not about videos or

music and stuff. The word of God is more than enough.

The word of God is more than in love. So

when you read here the first one, how do they

exercise fellowship? Is it be kindly affectionate to one another

with brother lee, love, in honor, giving preference to one another?

Are we honoring? Are we honoring? Okay, that's the first

part of it. Next verse, next life first Thessalonians five.

Someone can read that right, Encourage one another, build one

another up? You know? Is this fellowship when we go

to the mama, Do we do this? Do we honor?

Do we encourage? Because if you are, then great? If not,

then let's start doing it. You know, in terms rate,

there's another key thing here when you see the word

one another, that is fellowshipping. Because every verse that I

show you will have the word one another. Okay, Next

Light Hebrews ten, verse twenty four. Okay, someone, all right,

so stir up one another to love and do good works?

Are we doing that? Are we building people up? Or

are we tearing people down? In the church? Okay? Stir up? Okay?

Next one, admonish you wants to.

Read all right?

All right?

Thanks?

So you can see this word admonishing is sometimes when

you look at it right, it's like, oh, this one

the chids do very well, and every time school that

is not admonishing. We are not here to tear people down,

because when you look here the word admonishing one another?

In all wisdom, can you admonish or school someone? While

singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, you are basically you

are teaching in love, just as a parent is teaching

the child to grow up in the ways of the Lord.

That is admonishing. Are we doing that? That means we'd

call a spade a spade. If something's wrong and needs

to be changed, it has to be changed. But how

we communicate it needs to be in love. Hey, next one,

this is the last one learning all right? So in

all things love love needs to be the foundation of

every form of fellowship. Beloved, let us love one another,

for love is from God, and whoever loves has been

born of God and knows God. So you can see

here our definition of fellowship does it match to this?

Our understanding of the word fellowship goes beyond just maccan

next line, When I a draw towards are close, I'll

get the band up. So fellowship again, coininonia, honor? Are

we honoring people? Are we encouraging people. Are we stirring

up people to do good works? Are we admonishing? This

is teaching in love again, it's not only doing, but

are we receiving it as well? Are we willing to

be admonished? Okay? And above all are we showing love? Right?

So you can see that when we do this, it

is no surprise that the first church grew by three thousand.

Would you want to be in a community like this?

Would you want to be in a community like this?

Because this is what the church is called to look like.

If exclaim this is my encouragement to all of us,

let's mirror, let's step forward into and turn back to

why God wants us to do church, which is He

has called us out and he wants to have a

fellowship with us coin onia, which is seated in the

deep love for Jesus Man. So even I just invite

us to arise, pray that God will just convict your

hearts because it's not my words again that go forth,

But I pray that God will reveal himself to you,

because again, the church is they every single one of us,

every single one of us needs to do this. Every

single or one of us needs to grow. Every single

one of us needs to be loving God and loving

people and then all may know because without this, why

would someone want to step into church, Why would someone

want to know Jesus. There's no reason but for this.

I would want to be in a church that there's this.

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