Adorning the Doctrine of God

            How the church is viewed through the eyes of someone outside of the church is very important. When someone looks at the church, it should be something attractive, something that he wants to become a part of. When someone looks at a group of people, whether it’s religious or otherwise, if they are always fighting, always bickering and pulling against each other, that’s not a group that I’m going to want to be a part of. I am going to stay as far away from that group as I possibly can, because I don’t need any more fuss, any more aggravation, or any more conflict in my life. Most people have all of that that they need already. Not only are we commanded by the Bible to “love one another,” not only should we be getting along for our own sakes, but also for those who are not yet Christians.

The church should be an accurate representation of the doctrine of Christ in action. The word of God is like a mirror to us. Only, instead of showing us what is on the outside, it shows us what’s on the inside. When we look into God’s word, it will reveal flaws in us, and we all have them. The idea is, when we read our Bibles and we find that there is something about us, or something in our lives that is out of place, we are to fix it. When we get up in the morning and walk into the bathroom and our hair is going in every direction and we have pillow lines on the side of our face and all of that, if we know we are going to work, or school, or church, we don’t just walk away and forget about the mess we just beheld in the mirror, but we go and get some nice clothes on and come back. We fix our hair. We put contacts in. Women put on makeup and earrings and things. We want to see an appealing reflection in the mirror staring back at us. The same thing is true with the Bible. We fix, we adjust and we keep working at it until we are a good reflection of what we read in the Bible (Jas. 1:19f.). So, when people look at us, they should see the doctrine of Christ in living form. People who don’t know what the Bible says, should still know what it means to be a Christian by knowing what kind of people we are. And, true Christianity, in its purest form, is something beautiful that people will naturally be drawn to.

When the church is what God planned for it to be, and it will be if its doing what the Bible teaches, it will bring glory and honor to the name of Christ and to God. It will be a glorious church (cf. Eph. 5:27). It will elevate God and become a living proclamation of the power and the love and the mercy and grace of God. Man’s hearts and minds will be directed to Him. Man will see our good works and glorify Him (Mt. 5:16). It will be a source of joy and rejoicing in heaven. God will bless the efforts of that church and it will grow and prosper and mankind will be drawn to it. When the church is not what God planned for it to be, it is a source of shame and reproach. It is a blemish to His great name.

People need the church. Sometimes it almost sounds, to listen to us, that the church needs people, but I think it is actually the other way around. People are lost outside the body of Christ, which is the church (Col. 1:18, 24). Some say they want Christ but they don’t want the church. It doesn’t work that way. The two are inseparable. To have one is to have the other. To be without one is to be without the other. When a person is baptized He is added to the church (Acts 2:47). When is a person saved? When he is baptized (Mk. 16:16). So if you are saved, that means that you have been added to the body of Christ, to the church. Outside of the church, man is lost. If we are behaving ourselves in such a way that we are turning people away from the church, then we are turning them away from the family of God, and salvation.

In the book of Titus there is a group of people that are to be instructed to behave in such a way that they will adorn “the doctrine of God our Savior,” or that the gospel might be adorned in all things, that the gospel will be attractive. Titus 2:9-10 says,

Exhort servants to be in subjection to their own masters, and to be well-pleasing to them in all things; not gainsaying; not purloining, but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

Why? Ultimately, that their masters might be converted. I think the principle shown there is a good one for us to practice as well. It is good for us to behave in such a way that we might also adorn the doctrine of God, or gospel “in all things,” so that we might convert others.

            Well, what do we do when we adorn something? We make it attractive to others. The first thing I tend to think about is a bride on her wedding day. She is adorned for her wedding. Her hair is arranged in such a way that will enhance her beauty. Many will go and have a professional fix her hair for that day so that it will look its very best. Some will have a professional fix her make-up for that day, so that it will look the very best that it can and her face and completion will look flawless. A professional may do her nails. She may spend more money on that dress, which will be worn for only that one occasion, than she will spend on any other dress in her whole life. The adornment of a bride on her wedding day is without comparison. The church is the bride of Christ, and she should be adorned as such.

Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let us give the glory unto him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. (Rev. 19:7-8)

Slaves Where to be the Adorners

            Those that were to adorn the gospel were not powerful people in high places, they were not kings, people of wealth, people of high learning, people of high social status, they were slaves. They were often considered someone’s property and of little more value than livestock, sometimes less. These were those who were to adorn the gospel.

            That says something about the nature of the gospel. It doesn’t need people in high places to accomplish its purpose. In fact, it’s usually just the other way around and it finds its greatest strength in the meek, lowly, and troubled. Jesus said,

I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes: yea, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in thy sight. (Mt. 11:25-26)

            The fact that slaves were to adorn the gospel says something about our ability to be adorning the gospel. Sometimes we might use the expression, “if I can do it then you can do it.” If slaves could do it, then we can do it. We don’t have to be exceptionally educated, wealthy, or popular either. If we are just some average Joe, then we are just about right for adorning the gospel. That doesn’t mean that if we are wealthy or something that we can’t, but it means that even if we’re not we can and have every reason for it.

            When Jesus chose the twelve, he didn’t go to fancy schools or places of learning, he didn’t go to the wealthy, he didn’t go to the Pharisees, he went to normal, average, everyday people.

            Jesus said of himself, “the foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head” (Mt. 8:20). When Peter came to a crippled beggar at the temple, he said, “Silver and gold have I none “ (Acts 3:6).

            In the Old Testament, at the end of the period of the judges, the people wanted a king to rule over them to be like the nations around them. God said to Samuel, “give them what they want.” Not only did they get an earthly king to rule over them, but they got the kind of king that they were asking for, and the result was disastrous. Then God did the choosing of a king. He chose a simple shepherd boy, He chose a man after His own heart, and king David, while far from perfect, was the best earthly king that Israel ever had. But, he came from humble beginnings (1 Sam. 16).

And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely Jehovah's anointed is before him. But Jehovah said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him: for Jehovah seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but Jehovah looketh on the heart. (1 Sam. 16:6-7)

            Whoever we are socially, economically, or educationally, makes no difference when it comes to being able to adorn the gospel. Who are we on the inside? When we are right on the inside, then we are the perfect candidate for being right on the outside and doing those things that are pleasing to God.

The Doctrine of God is the Adorned

            What we are adorning is important for us to consider. We are not adorning some trivial thing that is not needed. It is one of the most needed and precious things known to man. It is what calls men out of darkness (2 Thes. 2:14) It is the power of God unto salvation (Ro. 1:16). It is the gospel of Christ. Without it, man is eternally lost. With it, man has an opportunity unlike any other—to become a child of God.

            What is meant by “the doctrine of God our savior”? Well, if we continue to read from the next verse in Titus after our text, and we read through the 14^th verse, I think we can get a pretty good idea of what the Holy Spirit had in mind there:

For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world; looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works.

That’s pretty much the gospel in summery fashion. As some have described it, “the greatest story ever told.” That God has redeemed mankind to Himself through the death of Christ there upon the cross. What a wonderful and precious story that is!

            It’s not something to just toss aside somewhere so that it sets and gathers dust. It should be loved, cherished, and greatly appreciated. It is more than worthy of adorning. Worthy is an understatement.

The Gospel is To Be Adorned in All Things

            The last words there in verse 10 are, “in all things.” We shouldn’t just adorn the gospel in some things, but in all things. Not in some areas in our lives, but in all areas. Not just around the house or at church, but from the time we get out of bed in the morning, until we get back into bed at night, regardless of what we are doing.

            Not in some areas of the truth, but in all areas. Certainly, we all have different abilities and talents, and there are going to be some things that some of us are better at than others, and visa versa. But when it comes to our obedience to the truth, we are all responsible for obeying all of it, and not just some. Whichever area of our faith we are weak on, that is the area we should be focusing on and working on to get better, not just forget about that part and only do those things we’ve got down pat.

            “In all things” means, even when it is hard. Water generally follows the path of least resistance. You never see a water-rise, for example, it’s always a waterfall. You never see water flowing up the side of a mountain, it always comes down the mountain. If something gets in its way, it goes around it. Water won’t go up and over or through a giant bolder, it will simply go in a different direction. As a result, water is many times, unpredictable and dangerous. Waves go this way and that way, whichever direction the wind takes them, and rivers and streams are nearly always crooked.

            When a person only obeys when it is easy, he is a lot like water. If something gets in his way, he just goes in a different direction. If a problem seems to difficult, he goes around it. He will never struggle up hill and he blows wherever the storms of life push him. And like a river, his course of life is often crooked and winding. If we are adorning the gospel in all things, we are not winding, not turning and twisting, not going always downhill, but we are staying the course no matter how difficult that may be at times.

            If we do most things well that we ought to be doing, but fail in one part, which is the most likely to get noticed? We could work night and day, laboring in the Lord, but if we don’t have our tongue under control, all of those other things aren’t even going to be noticed, but our lack of control of our mouths will be. It will be noticed, talked about, and held out as evidence of how bad and terrible and hypocritical you are. Is that necessarily true? No, but that is all they will see. Notice what Paul told Titus to do there in verses 7 and 8 of the same chapter of Titus that we are considering today:

In all things showing thyself an ensample of good works; in thy doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of us.

The Gospel is Adorned with Spiritual Adornments

            It is important if we are going to adorn the gospel, to use the right adornments. There are a number of things that are used to adorn the gospel that do not adorn it at all. Our buildings that we meat in today are probably as nice as they have ever been. Many are very nice to look at. They are roomy. They are air-conditioned in the summer and heated in the winter. But the gospel is not made any more attractive by the meetinghouse; it is a just a building, it is a convenience, but nothing more than that. The gospel is just as attractive, just as able to save man and lead him away from error, it is just as true in an open field or on the moon, for that matter, as it is in some building. A building does not adorn the gospel in any way. 

Some people want to bring in bands, swaying choirs, praise teams, and dramatic presentations into their worship services. While these things are entertaining, they don’t really have any spiritual value, not to mention that they are all forms of will-worship. The gospel does not need any of those things to do what it is intended to do. They don’t adorn they gospel, they get in the way of it and are distracting from it. 

            The gospel is spiritual, and so if it is to be adorned it must be with spiritual things and not physical. Things that complement it and bring it out and give it a way to shine.  The idea is not to cover it up or make it attractive by the decorations we put on it, it doesn’t need those things at all. The idea is to bring out the beauty that is already there. The beauty of the gospel is brought out by things that are appropriate to it. We adorn the gospel by being obedient to the gospel.

            If we want to adorn the gospel of Christ, then let’s put on it a ring of Conviction. The gospel’s beauty is seen in man’s conviction in what it teaches, what it promises, and what it gives. When mankind makes up his mind to live by the gospel in all things and in the face of any and all opposition, that is when others will begin to notice something special.

            Put on a robe of sincerity, obeying and serving God from the heart. Going through the motions of Christianity without out meaning what we are doing, or doing it grudgingly, is not something that is acceptable to God, and it isn’t all that attractive either.

            Put on it a necklace of benevolence, earrings of mercy, and shoes of evangelism. These are the kinds of things that make the gospel so wonderfully attractive. Things like fidelity to the truth, zeal, obedience, holiness, love faith, knowledge of the Scriptures, evangelism, humility, purity, and living peaceably with every person. These are things that people look at and notice as something different and special. It will be something that people will want to be a part of and can help them find what all people so desperately need.

            If I walk into a church somewhere and people are happy, friendly, getting along, they are sincere in what they are doing, I can find what I see being done in the pages of my Bible, they are helping the community and each other, they are reaching out to the lost, I am naturally going to want to be a part of that. The gospel is an beautiful thing, if we will just reflect the beauty that is there in ourselves by our actions. 

Conclusion

            One of these days the Lord is going to come for His bride. What will He find? We looked at Revelation 19:7-8 near the beginning of this lesson. In verse 7 it says, “his wife hath made herself ready.” In verse 8 it says, “ and it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen.”  What is the linen? It is the “righteous acts of the saints.” It is right-doing, or doing what is right according to the word of God. Sure, we are saved by the grace of God (Eph. 2:8) and by the great expression of that grace in the Son of God giving His life there upon the cross. It is God’s grace that saves us, but is “through faith”, and Biblical faith involves work. James said, “faith without works is dead.” The church has a part that it is most do in the adorning of the bride of Christ and the same thing is true in the adorning of the gospel. It is already a wonderfully attractive thing, but in order for it to appear that way to people outside of the church, we must be doing our part to adorn it. And why do we do it? So that we might by any Scriptural means, save lost souls from going to hell.