Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
August 12, 2001 P.M.
Adorning The Doctrine
Reading - Titus 2.1-10
This morning we talked about not being ashamed of the gospel.
Tonight I want to challenge us to Adorn The Doctrine... To Adorn The Gospel.
In our text... Titus has been left on the Island of Crete with instructions:
-To set the church in order,
-To strengthen the brethren
-And to appoint Elders in each city.
Here in chapter 2... Paul is giving us instructions on how different members are to behave: Note the end of verse 5... Paul is saying... Titus, I want you to teach...
-The older men,
-Older women,
-And young women
To behave this way so that... WHAT?
-The word of God... THE DOCTRINE... The Gospel... Will not be maligned.
-Our KJ says Blasphemed.
-So that the word of God will not be spoken of in bad terms...And made light of.
Now let your eyes fall to verse 8
The young men should behave so that... WHAT?
-So that nothing bad can be said about Christianity... The church... The household of God.
-The KJ says... So that nothing evil can be said of you as children of God.
Now to the end of verse 10.
Slaves ought to obey their masters, try to please them, not talk back, steal from them, but be trustworthy... So that WHAT?... You may adorn the doctrine.
The NIV says... So that in every way we will make the teaching about our Savior attractive.
OK... Let's see what we can learn about adorning the doctrine... adorning the Gospel.
First... Let’ examine the word doctrine for a moment.
In the KJ the word doctrine appears in the book of Titus FOUR times. Three of these are found in our text... Verse 1... Verse 7... and verse 10.
In the NIV... The Greek word is rendered doctrine in verse one and teaching in verse 7 and 10.
Doctrine is that which has been taught.
The Greek word for doctrine appears 30 times in the Greek New Testament, and our KJ translators render it doctrine 29 times.
And once... That which has been taught... In Titus 1.9
So doctrine is that which was taught in scripture... In this book... by the Holy spirit.
Note something else interesting with me here about the word doctrine. The Bible impresses upon us the SINGULAR NATURE of this word. Do you see it doctrine... singular... not plural.
In the NIV it is teaching... singular... not teachings...not plural.
Doctrine in the singular... Is the entire system of teaching that comes from the word of God.
Doctrine is the whole body of truth taught from Scripture.
It is like THE FAITH once delivered that appears in Jude that we talked about this morning.
The word doctrines... Plural does appear in the New Testament... But always refers to the teachings of men, for instance... Listen to these verses...
-Matthew 15.9... In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
-Colossians 2.22 speaks of the Commandments and doctrines of men.
-1 Timothy 4.1 speaks of seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.
-Hebrews 13.9, Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines.
You see... Here is what we have learned... God really has but ONE doctrine... Satan has many.
Christian doctrine is singular... Always.
Listen to this from 2 John 1.9-10... Whosoever transgresses, and abides not in the doctrine of Christ, has not God. He that abides in the doctrine of Christ, he has both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed.
The doctrine of God is singular and it is CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED.
Any other doctrine is to be rejected... RIGHT?
Question!!!... Is doctrine important??... Is doctrine to be preached and practiced today?
We must preach and practice ONLY what has been taught... That which was once delivered.
Now let’s examine the Greek word for ADORN... KOS-MAY'-O.
We get our word cosmos from this word. It literally means... An orderly arrangement. Our world... This universe is cosmos...
-There is order,
-There is system,
-A systematic... and orderly arrangement, everywhere we look... COSMOS!!
So, when Paul says... ADORN the doctrine of Christ, he is saying...
-Set the teaching of Christ in order in your life.
-Make the doctrine... The teaching of Christ your system of living.
Are we adorning the doctrine of Jesus?... Did we today?
Let’s see if we did by noticing some other scriptures where this word is used.
Matthew 25... The parable is about the wise and foolish virgins. The virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The word trimmed is KOS-MAY' O. They awoke and set their lamps in order... Made them useful and attractive for the bridegroom.
Are we adorning the doctrine?... Did we today?
In Matthew 12... A man evicted an evil spirit from his house, when the spirit returns he finds the house... empty, swept clean and garnished in the KJ... Set in order in the NIV. The Greek word translated garnish is KOS-MAY' O.
Are we garnishing... Setting in order the doctrine of Jesus?... Did we today?
In Revelation 21.2... I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. The words beautifully dressed is KOS-MAY'-O.
Are we adorning, beautifully dressing the gospel of Christ?... Are we making Christ look good to the world around us?... After all, we are His bride.
One more... Revelation 21.19... Here John sees... The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The word decorated is KOS-MAY'-O.
Are we decorating the doctrine of God?... Did we today?
Our word cosmetic comes from the Greek KOS-MAY'-O... You ladies...
-Set yourself in order...
-Decorated...
-Garnished...
-Trimmed...
-And made yourself useful and beautiful...Before you came tonight... and I'm glad your did... You look great!
God help us individually and corporately as a church to adorn the doctrine to make the doctrine of Jesus look great by the way we live... RIGHT?
Now lets look at the WHY?
WHY does Paul say for us to ADORN, KOS-MAY'-O, the teaching of Jesus?
First... Because it is a method of teaching others.
Adorning the doctrine is evangelistic. All of us can do it... and... You don't have to stand in the pulpit to preach. We proclaim Jesus by the way we live.
You see church... It is easy to preach like I do. It’s easy to stand here two or three times a week and proclaim the word of God. The difficult part is setting the doctrine in order in our daily walk. It is a lot easier to preach the Word... Than it is to live it daily.
You must know tonight that there is more teaching going on by you the audience each week than a year’s worth of sermons from our pulpit. Any preacher worth his salt will tell you that.
When Luke wrote his second volume to Theoplous... He begins by saying... I wrote about all that Jesus both began to (NOTICE THE ORDER NOW) to do and to teach.
Budda... Confucius... Mohammed had some great things to say, but they didn't live up to their teaching, their doctrine... Jesus Did!
-Peter says... He has left us an example that we should follow in His steps.
-Paul says... Follow me as I follow Christ.
Jesus showed us how to live... He walked every step before us. Jesus is the living doctrine of God. In John 1.18 Jesus says... No man has seen the Father, but the Son has declared Him, made Him known. The Greek is Exegete... Demonstrate,
We can know what God is like by looking at Jesus.
Question!!... Can others around us,
-Our children,
-Our spouse,
-Our neighbors,
-Our working companions,
-Our golfing and fishing buddies,
Know what God is like by watching us?... I pray that they can.
Are we adorning the doctrine of Christ... Or are we maligning it? Are we making Jesus... Christianity... the church... the Word... attractive or unattractive?
Indeed... Indeed... We are to be the second incarnation.
Others should be able to see the Jesus in us. When we adorn the doctrine... Then we become evangelistic by LIFE-STYLE.
Secondly... We are to adorn the doctrine, because an example is easier to follow than instruction.
Ever try to put together something you purchased from Wal-Mart?... It's tough... It is tough. But you can stand there and watch one of those stock boys, in the back room, put it together and it is then so easy.... O YES... I SEE!
-We need an example...
-The world needs an example...
-A demonstration...
-An illustration...
-A picture on how to live.
For instance if you asked... What the color red was like...
-And I said, red was red... Would you know?
-If I said, red was the 7th color of the spectrum... Would you know?
-If I said, red is when light vibrates at 450.000 times per second... Would you know?
But, if I swipe red paint on this white wall... You would know what red is... RIGHT?
We need an example!!
Remember when John the Baptist was in prison, and sent his disciples to Jesus saying, Are you the one or do we look for another?... What did Jesus say?... You go back and tell John that:
-The blind see...
-The lame walk...
-Lepers are healed...
-The deaf hear...
-The dead are raised...
-And the gospel is preached to the poor.
John had his answer... And church, he never asked again... He knew by example.
Isn't it a shame that when people ask... What is the Church of Christ?... That we give them the standard barrage...
-Established in Acts 2...
-We have the right name over the door...
-Take communion every week...
-Sing without an instrument...
-Autonomous in organization...
I pray for the day we are bold enough to just say... Come see!!
Come see what the church of Christ is in Bella Vista!!
That is exactly what Jesus said in John 1.39 when Andrew ask Him where He lived... Come see!!
-COME SEE New Testament Christianity preached and practiced by our people.
-COME SEE how we love and care for one another.
-COME SEE Jesus being taught and followed.
-COME SEE how people are helped and burdens are shared.
-COME SEE the Jesus in us.
-COME SEE the doctrine of God practiced
Church... An example is better than instruction... So Paul says... Adorn the doctrine.
I don't know about you... But I've been in churches where I was embarrassed to invite people for what they were going to see, hear and the way they were going to be treated.
Praise God for you in the Bella Vista Church... and your adorning the doctrine.
Then finally... To adorn something is to become that something.
Listen to 1 Peter 5.5... All of you, clothe yourselves with humility towards one another, because... God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Do you see it? To cloth ourselves with humility is to become humble.
-In Ephesians 6.10-17, Paul speaks of putting on the armor of God.
When we put on the helmet of salvation it means we are saved. When we put on the breastplate of righteousness... We become righteous.
This point ought to give us new insight to Galatians 3.27... For as many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ... Have been clothed with Christ.
You see in God's sight... At New Testament baptism:
-We become like Jesus...
-We become sons of God...
-We become joint heirs to the promise...
Because we have been covered... clothed by His blood shed on the cross.
So... When God looks at us... He doesn't see our sins or our puny attempts at righteousness... He sees the holiness and the righteousness of His Son... Because we have been clothed with Him.
Well... We must close... But here is the sermon in a sentence,
To adorn the Doctrine of the cross is to become like Jesus.
ARE WE WILLING???
One more point,
Our text says... Adorn the doctrine in ALL things.... ALL THINGS!!
What is it in my life and yours that is not...
-Setting in order...
-Decorating...
-Beautifying...
-Garnishing,...
-Making Jesus look good?
Remove it tonight!... So we can say YES... I AM ADORNING THE DOCTRINE OF THE CROSS.
The invitation is for us to adorn the doctrine by becoming a child of God by faith, repentance and New Testament baptism. Or by rededicating our lives to adorning the doctrine of the cross.
However the lesson has touched you, respond to God's prompting as we stand and sing this invitation song... Will you come!!
