CCA’s Vision: Catechesis — Sermon by the Very Rev. Dr. Craig Stephans

Let us pray.

Father, we pray that your grace would

abound to us. That your Holy Spirit

would inspire my words and apply them to

all of our hearts with power and

conviction that we might know your will

and that we might grow in knowledge of

you and in love. We ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.

>> Amen.

>> Please be seated.

I was thinking as we approached a sermon

on catechesus, how yesterday morning,

how much happened here at the church and

at the Whitfield Center. We had morning

prayer here at 8:00

and then prayer at the Whitfield Center

that we call intercessory and revival

prayer from 8:30 to about 10:00. And

while those were happening, Katherine

Jones Ministries, Katherine and Michael

and others were providing a hot meal for

any of the homeless and needy who came

by. And as soon as those were done, the

flower guild had a flower workshop right

here among different ages of ladies. It

was all ladies. It doesn't have to be.

And you can see the fruit of their labor

all around us this morning. And after uh

the prayer group got finished at

Whitfield Center, a group called Alpha

Bears, which is a mentoring program by

the men in the Alpha Fi Alpha, one of

our ministry partners at the Whitfield

Center, they mentor young boys uh just

in life and in character. That happened

on Saturday morning. And then even

before noon, I saw Tina was here with a

young voice student teaching him how to

sing. And all of this happened before

noon right here and at the Whitfield

Center. And all of that is catechizus.

All of that, the study and reading of

scripture, the prayers, the fellowship,

the mentoring and interaction among the

body of Christ for service and for

giving, all of that is kateesus. And it

continued this morning with our 8:00

worship and then the multitude of Bible

studies and teachings that we had this

morning. We had adult Sunday school

teaching about the fruit of the Holy

Spirit and Father Brian and Peter were

leading practicing the way the Whitfield

Center while uh you that included adults

and youth while middle school and

younger children and even gospel play

for the little ones and confirmation

class downstairs and now we gather

together to worship and to hear from

God. All of this is what katechesis is.

The phrase kateesus is uh literally

means to echo the teaching or to like

repeat back what is learned. But it's a

disciplehip and ministry demon of

demonstration of the Christian life and

teaching for the purpose of bringing

about the full conversion and ongoing

sanctification of the people of God and

those inquiring and seeking about

becoming a person of God. And it's done

by Christians who are continuing in

their own catechesus, their own

instruction in the faith, their own

formation, and also their own practice

of ministry as a Christian. It's both

learning about the Christian faith and

living the Christian life together and

correctly done. It's a holistic and

comprehensive approach to the Christian

life, to disciplehip.

It it's everything that Jesus meant when

he said, "Come follow me."

And you can see in the inside back cover

of your order of worship the vision of

Christ Church Anglican that that is

Christurch Anglican seeks to be a

gospel- centered congregation in the

Anglican tradition where worship is

central kateesus is pervasive life

together is nurtured and mission

extended from Thomas Square to the city

of Savannah the dasis and the world

wherever God may call us And that

phrase, I love how God inspired this

among the founders of Christ Church

Anglican when they left the Episcopal

Church. Kateesus is pervasive.

And that's what is happening on Sunday

mornings. It happened on Saturday

morning and so many other days of the

week. Kateesus is pervasive among our

congregation and people and we hope

among the body of Christ. It touches on

and infiltrates every area of our life

together. And that's catechizus. That's

following Jesus and the disciplehip that

he calls us to. It's not

compartmentalized. It's not just one

area of our life. It is everything.

This is indicated in the readings today.

The first one being um from the fourth

chapter of Proverbs being thought to

have been written taught by Solomon, the

king of Israel who had all the wisdom,

knowledge and understanding that God

gave to him. And you can see in verse 20

of chapter 4, it begins with an address

to my son. He writes, "My son, be

attentive to my words. Incline your ear

to my sayings. Let them not escape from

your sight. Keep them within your heart,

for they are life to those who find them

and healing to all their flesh. Keep

your heart with all vigilance, for from

it flow the springs of life. Put away

from you crooked speech, and put devious

talk far from you. Let your eyes look

directly forward, and your gaze be

straight before you. Ponder the path of

your feet. Then all your ways will be

sure. Do not swerve to the right or

left. Turn your foot away from evil.

At the core of this is a message

about a life about a teaching that is

taught and it's also taught by those who

hear and those who are the recipients of

this which is katakesis.

It can't only be taught. It can't only

be instructed. It must be lived and

caught by those who are the recipients.

in this case between a father and a son.

And there's a generational movement

within katakesus from the elder to the

younger as there is in this writing. But

in the Christian faith, there's also a

movement from the spiritual father or

grandfather, from those mature in Christ

and in the faith to the spiritual child,

the spiritual son or daughter, those who

are newer and more immature in the

faith. And that is regardless of age or

biological relationship. It it's a

movement of mentoring, of teaching from

the mature to the lesser mature.

And there are, as you all know, very ne

nefarious and malevolent schemes that

come about from the spiritual forces of

evil, from the world, and that resonate

with our own flesh to instill division

among generations within families and

within our community. We know the enemy

tries to create rebellion and resentment

among younger people while uh instilling

mistrust and standoffishness even a

criticism or condemnation by the older

generations of youngers all to create a

divide and that is definitely a scheme

the enemy tries to bring into churches

as well. But kateesus

is an element within the church that

overcomes that. And there's no tricks to

overcoming that scheme of the enemy to

create division. It is just a matter of

pressing through in prayer and in

determination by the power of the Holy

Spirit to bind ourselves together with

people of all generations within the

body of Christ.

When it comes to katechesis,

the cliche you have to walk the walk and

talk the talk is definitely true and it

is proven true through the ages. We

cannot only talk the talk of disciplehip

of scripture of the Christian faith. We

have to walk the walk of it also

completely in our lives. And none of us

do it perfectly. We have all failed and

depend on God's mercy and him picking us

back up again. But we see the failure

and the consequence of failure in

Solomon's life. He had all of this

wisdom, knowledge, and understanding

from God. Great skill and talents in so

many areas to write such things as these

proverbs which are true. But then he

left the course of his own teaching and

he engaged in idolatry, worship of other

gods. Definitely indulged the flesh in

any way that we could imagine. And the

consequences were his son Rayabone when

he became king lost the kingdom because

he followed foolishness instead of

wisdom. And that is the pattern. If

katakesis is only verbal and not does

not represent a life lived in accord

with scripture and the Christian faith.

This is evident in the the first psalm

which is our psalm today. Psalm number

one.

The psalmist writes, "Blessed is the man

who has not walked in the counsel of the

ungodly, nor stood in the way of

sinners, and has not sat in the seat of

the scornful, but his delight is in the

law of the Lord, and on his law will he

meditate day and night, and he shall be

like a tree planted by the waterside

that will bring forth his fruit in due

season. His leaf also shall not wither,

and look, whatever he does, it shall

prosper. As for the ungodly, it is not

so with them. But they are like the

chaff which the wind scatters away from

the face of the earth. Therefore, the

ungodly shall not be able to stand in

the judgment, neither the sinners in the

congregation of the righteous. For the

Lord knows the way of the righteous, but

the way of the ungodly shall perish. In

both the Proverbs and the Psalm, there's

an emphasis not only on learning and

gaining knowledge of God's teaching, but

also in walking

that faith out. There's an emphasis on

how we walk, the path that we take,

where we stand and where we sit. Is it

among the godly? It is in the pres is it

in the presence of the Lord and his word

and those who are like-minded in that

direction? or do do we come to church on

Sunday and maybe hear and even gain

knowledge but then the rest of our lives

we are on a path of self-indulgence or

sinfulness or are we being corrupted by

other messages in the world

kateesus requires that our path is in

accord with the teaching of scripture

and the way of the Lord

and it you You can see that this

requires uh full frontal effort day and

night meditating on the word day and

night. Day and night in Deuteronomy

there's an exhortation to parents to

teach and talk about the word and the

ways of God on the way in the homes.

That's what catechesus is. It occurs

everywhere and it's lived

in in in my life life growing up. You

know, I was fortunate and blessed that

we went to church every Sunday, but we

really left it there as far as the

teaching and the life, the Christian

life uh that was lived. It was taught

and we worshiped on Sunday and

thankfully, you know, we received the

message of the gospel, but then we left

it there and we did our best to live the

Christian life, but without the ongoing

kateesus. I didn't receive that until I

got to college. And then there's two men

that I remember to this day who came

onto campus and engaged me in a

disciplehip relationship. One was named

Larry Sherbandi. He was with navigators

and he came to campus twice a week. One

for like a large group fellowship and

teaching, but another for a small group

disciplehip. I remember it was me and

two other uh students. And I can, this

is a while ago. I think I have my 30y

year reunion. No, it's my 35th reunion

coming up next year. That's how long

it's been. And that was freshman year.

And I can remember some of the exact

conversations we have. I can remember

the scriptures that were taught. That's

how powerful catechesus is. That's how

powerful it is when a mature Christian

makes the effort and takes the time to

catechize and to teach and disciple

others. Another man was named Harry

Brown. He was an AM African Methodist

Episcopal pastor and we were in

Charleston. He came from Bufort every

Monday evening from the time I was a

sophomore until the time I graduated.

And I think Missy came to some of those.

He would come every Monday, whether

there were two of us, 10 of us, 15 of

us, and he would share and teach the

gospel. And I can remember this was my

first introduction to a real passion

about the gospel and a charisma and and

an emphasis on living this word and this

scripture. And I can remember him. I can

see him in the classroom that many years

ago. And these were both men who not

only came and taught, but they lived the

life. I remember after I graduated

college, Missy and I got married and we

were living in Charleston and I was out

for a walk, a run around Colonial Lake

and this would have been at least a year

after graduation and I came across Larry

and his wife sitting on a bench and said

hi to him and it it wasn't two or three

sentences into this conversation with

him and I hadn't seen him since probably

my sophomore year.

He asked me, "Are you still having a

quiet time?"

And thanks be to God, by God's grace, I

said, "Yes, because of you." And that's

kateesus. That's the power of it for

both the teacher and the student. And

this is what contributes to fulfilling

God's plan for his people. That first

comes up in Exodus 19:5. This is when he

Exodus 19:5

has brought the people of Israel out of

Egypt and he is teaching them through

Moses about his statutes and his way.

And he says through Moses to tell the

people, "Now therefore, if you will

indeed obey my voice and keep my

covenant, you shall be my treasured

possession among all peoples. For all

the earth is mine, and you shall be to

me a kingdom of priests and a holy

nation." Now, this is a particular

message for his people that he has

called you that the genealogy that

started with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,

and now all these that he brought out of

Israel. But then you'll also notice it

is for the purpose of all the nations

and all the peoples in the earth. He has

called a people and he is forming and

shaping them to be his possession among

all the peoples in the earth to be a

kingdom of priests and a holy nation to

make him known to make his way known. So

it required for them to be a peculiar

and particular kind of people that

contrasted all the other nations of the

world so that when they were seen, when

they were heard, there would be a

differentiation so that the people would

know there was something about God and

his people that was different. This

continues into the New Testament where

it is through Christ that now his people

can fulfill this vision of God's kingdom

and his people in the world. Peter

writes this in his second letter, second

2 Peter 2:9

Peter 2:9. He's writing to Christians

now.

But you are a chosen race, a royal

priesthood, a holy nation, a people for

his own possession, that you may

proclaim the excellencies of him who

called you out of darkness into his

marvelous light. He He is now fulfilling

this work through Christ among those who

have been saved by grace through faith

and have become God's people in Christ.

That there's the particular message

again to these people, but it is also

for everyone. You are a chosen race, a

royal priesthood, a holy nation, a

people for his own possession, that you

may proclaim the excellencies of him who

called you out of darkness into his

marvelous light. We are gathered

together. We are shaped by God through

his word and through his holy spirit and

through our life together so that by

word and by deed we proclaim his

excellencies and we demonstrate a life

lived in the light that is in sharp

contrast to the darkness that is lived

by those outside of Christ that by our

light shining they would come in to that

same light in his kingdom.

This happens through katakesis.

And our prayer book, the book of common

prayer that we use has an exhortation

that the bishop gives to the confirms

before he confirms them. And in it are

the elements of kateesus. And so this is

what the bishop would say to those who

have gone through preparation to be

confirmed.

He will say, and we'll hear this in May

when he comes again. Dearly beloved, it

is essential that those who wish to be

confirmed are received in this church

publicly confess Jesus Christ as their

Lord and Savior, become his disciples,

know and affirm the nine creed in the

Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments,

and have received instruction in the

Holy Scriptures of the Old and New

Testaments and the Catechism of the

Church. God's grace is imparted in

baptism through which we are made God's

children by adoption and given the Holy

Spirit by the power of the spirit

manifested in gifts and fruit we are

enabled to be God's people for the sake

of the world you can see in that the

formation that occurs through kateesus

in the individual but then as that

individual becomes mature and equipped

with the fruit and gifts of the Holy

Spirit he or she is enabled ble to

demonstrate being God's daughter or son

for the sake of the world.

We can do that together and

individually.

But in order to do that, we must reject

sin. We must reject the devil's

teachings and the corruption of the

world

because otherwise our witness is

undermined.

This is what Jude is speaking to when he

writes to the early Christians. He's

writing to them how to be God's people

for the sake of the world. Because Jesus

died not only for those in this church,

but for those outside every church

today. He died for them. And he's

calling and shaping us to be a people

who know him and who love him and are

formed in his image for the sake of

those who don't yet know him. This is

what Jude writes in what was read today,

verses 17 and 25.

And he contrasts this message with how

the world is living and how those who

are following other evil spirits are

living. He says, "But you must remember,

beloved, the predictions of the apostles

of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to

you, in the last time there will be

scoffers following their own ungodly

passions. It is these who cause

divisions and worldly people devoid of

the spirit. But you, beloved, building

yourselves up in the most holy faith and

praying in the Holy Spirit, keep

yourselves in the love of God, waiting

for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ

that leads to eternal life. And have

mercy on those who doubt. Save others by

snatching them out of the fire. To

others, show mercy with fear, hating

even the garment stained by the flesh.

I I love the emphasis on mercy in this

exhortation to Christians. It reminds us

that we are never not dependent and

desperate for the mercies of God. No

matter how far we progress in our

sanctified lives, no matter how far we

uh mature as Christians, we won't be

perfect and we will stumble and make

mistakes and we will always depend on

the mercies of God and that keeps us

humble and also maintains us as a vessel

for those mercies to others.

But what he encourages us and what

catechesus includes is building

ourselves up in the most holy faith and

praying in the Holy Spirit, keeping

ourselves in the love of God, waiting

for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ

that leads to eternal life and teaching

others to do the same, young or old.

Each of us sadly have ungodly passions.

And it's easy to point out and reject

the ungodly passions of other people.

But the ungodly passions that tempt us

are so subtle.

We we can tend to easily justify them or

paint them as righteous or think that

they're not that bad. Or what is too

dangerous today and so seductive is to

take comfort that our ungodly passions

that we may indulge in now and then are

secret. They're inconspicuous. We're

just on our own indulging in these

passions and it doesn't hurt anyone. No

one even knows.

That's a danger of our culture in our

time with the all the media devices we

have.

There is no sin

that is safe. Jesus teaches us in the

gospel that is read today, anyone who

sins is a captive to sin. And we know

from Paul's writing that the wages of

sin is death, no matter if it's in

secret or public. And we see too many

sins today by Christians that they

engaged in in secret even as they

continued engaging in ministry. and then

those become public and it undermines

the whole witness of the church because

if we're saying one thing at all and

living a different thing then what's the

point in listening at all. So Jude is

exhorting the church to reject such

ungodly passions and to reject scoffers.

And we have to wonder what am I being

tempted to scoffing at or what am I

scoffing at?

Or

what divisions am I causing that are

ungodly because I've neglected God's

word? I've neglected the way of the

cross. I've neglected a prayerful

life and praying about the things that

come up. I've started pointing the

fingers at others instead of being

merciful and forgiving them.

So, we have to build ourselves up in the

holy faith, pray in the Holy Spirit,

keep ourselves in the love and mercy of

God,

and then we can reach out to save

others. And that is always the outcome

of Kateesus or one of them is the

expression of God's love and salvation

to others.

And Jude closes his letter by pointing

us to the ultimate goal of our

catechesus. It is to pre be prepared to

stand before the one who is judge. To

stand before the one who is king of

kings and lord of lords. And the

catechesus is preparing us for that by

helping us to live under his lordship

and under his sovereignty. Which is why

that call of disciplehip demands that we

deny ourselves, take up our cross and

follow him. That by the work of the Holy

Spirit in the body of Christ, we might

become like him. Listen to the way Jude

ends his letter in verse 24. Now to him

who is able to keep you from stumbling

and to present you blameless before the

presence of his glory with great joy to

the only God our savior through Jesus

Christ our Lord be glory majesty

dominion and authority before all time

now and forever. Amen. Our life

together, our individual lives

must aim toward Jesus and the glory of

God. And so we set ourselves before him

every day, even now as our king.

And we recognize that it is only by him

that we can keep from stumbling, that we

can keep from falling, that we can keep

from turning away. And so we hold on to

him and we bring others into his

presence, combining their hands with

Jesus's hands to walk and follow him.

So what is left for katak k c k c k c k

c k c k c k c k c k c k cateesus

what's left is for us to be participants

in the work of kateesus what is left for

us to participate with Jesus and the

holy spirit in our own lives having

those quiet times

with scripture with prayer with

self-denial and saying no to temptation

but then also doing it together with

others where we are catechized where we

catechize others in those same spiritual

disciplines and all of that leading

toward mission, leading toward outreach,

leading toward the sharing of the gospel

for the sake of the world, those for

whom Christ died just like us.

So, I encourage you, there's so many

offerings that our church has. If you

don't receive our weekly newsletter,

there's a QR code in the inside of your

order of worship. receive it and see

what ministries, what spiritual

disciplines, what areas of kateesus is

God calling you to engage in if you're

not already. And if there's not

something that fits into your schedule,

let Father Brian and I know and we'll

make it happen because this is what our

church is called to pervasive kateesis.

So, let's pray and ask God for help.

Lord, we ask you to for help in

catechesus that we each would be

catechized in the faith and that we

would each be those who catechize

others, Lord.

And Father, we pray that as you build us

up in the most holy faith and in the

Holy Spirit and in your love and mercy

that you will help us to be a witness to

be a kingdom of priests, not only

serving Christ but also serving the

world around us

that your purpose and desire for each

person, salvation and eternal life would

be fulfilled. Help us Lord we ask

through Jesus Christ. Amen.