WHY USE CATECHISMS? Colossians 1:21-23


OUTLINE

Q. Why use Catechisms?

1. Because “[Jesus] has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard” (Colossians 1:21b-23a).

2. The way to be stable and steadfast is to be properly catechized (instructed).

Q. Why is it crucial that we are properly Catechized?

1. If we do not continue in the faith, we reveal that we are not reconciled to God by the blood of Jesus (Colossians 1:21-23).

2. We are commanded to grow up into the likeness of Jesus, no longer children tossed around by every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:11-14).

3. There are many who are catechizing you according to damnable heresies (2 Peter 2:3, 1 John 2:6; 4:1).

4. There are difficult doctrines “which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16).

5. Leaders must be raised who can “give instruction in sound doctrine and also confute those who contradict it” (Titus. 1:8).

6. “Such that are not settled in the faith can never suffer for it” (Mark 4:16-17).

7. The more instruction you drink, the more intoxicating joy you will have in Jesus—to know Him more is to love Him more (Psalm 16).

8. The better instructed you are the better you will be able to instruct others—the more useful you will be in helping others be glad in Jesus (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Ekklesia Muskogee is a reformed baptist church that gathers for worship in Muskogee, Oklahoma. We confess the 1689 second London baptist confession of faith. We affirm the five solas of the Reformation as well as the doctrines of grace (otherwise known as the five points of Calvinism), and each of our pastors would not be ashamed to be called a Calvinist. We are a church led by elders, of which there is a plurality (also called pastors and overseers in the Scriptures). Our mission is to make disciples, love cities, and plant churches.