Adorning the Doctrine of God in All Things

Good morning. Some of you perhaps don't ever take time to look at the literature table. There's some new things on it I want to mention. Some new booklets. Living the Christian Life by Albert Martin. Christian's Grief II by Donald Howard. Reading the Bible by Jeffrey Thomas. And Six Days of Creation by Henry Morris. So these are new on the table. And take advantage of those and any other resources. Use those for ministry. And we just want you to have those for your own ministry to others. Titus chapter two is the text. Titus two. My message has one point and two applications. One point and two applications. I don't want to see any yawning going on now. I just called a dear brother yawning. Stay with me. If I yawn halfway through the sermon, you'll forgive me. All right, Titus two, verses one through 10. Directions to Titus for doctrine and conduct. But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. That the older men would be sober-minded, grave, serious-minded, temperate with self-control, and sound in faith, in love, and in patience. The older women likewise, that they, in their behavior, exemplify holiness, not slanderers or gossips. Not addicted to wine, teachers of good things. That they may teach the younger women to be sober-minded, to love their husbands, to love their children. To be discreet, pure, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, in order that the word of God be not blasphemed. Younger men, likewise, exhort to be sober-minded. In all things, showing yourself a pattern of good works. In doctrine, show uncorruptedness, that means purity, soundness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned. That he that is of the contrary may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say to you. Exhort servants to be obedient to their own masters. And to please them well in all things, not answering again, that is not arguing, nor pure warning, but showing all good fidelity. In order that they may, and here's the text, adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. I'm gonna speak on making the gospel beautiful by the way you live. Making the gospel beautiful to others through your life. Or to use Paul's words, adorning the doctrine of God our Savior in all things, everything. As I've meditated on Titus 2, I think it struck me that there is probably no more powerful chapter in the New Testament in terms of believers living out the beauty of the gospel with a holy life and an exemplary lifestyle. Adorning the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. Not just on the individual level, but also in terms of a biblical loving church family that truly exemplifies the gospel in every way. Because a church that adorns the gospel, adorns the doctrine of God our Savior, can be a powerful force in any community where God has that church. And you know, if two are better than one, and if a three-fold cord is not easily broken, then how much more true of 100, 200, 300 people living together in the holy bonds of the gospel who are living examples of Jesus Christ's love, His life, and His work, living that out in all things to all people at all times. Paul is calling Titus here in the saints under him to such an example. And he gives, just in this chapter, what I think is almost a boatload of qualities and characteristics for every Christian. And you know, Paul, almost in passing, does something unusual. He says in verse 10, and that really is the text, in order that the doctrine of God our Savior would be adorned in all things. Adorning the gospel. Now, think about this morning about a holiday meal. I don't know about your house, but I bet at Thanksgiving or Christmas, you don't have paper plates out. I bet the table is adorned pretty nicely. You know, it's even adorned differently on Thanksgiving, rather than Christmas Day. The adornment is usually beautiful. Adorned means to make something attractive. The word adorn is the word cosmeo, from which we get what word? Cosmetics. It means to put in order and arrange in order to make something attractive. We are to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. We have a responsibility of setting the table of the gospel to others with our life to make it attractive. We don't want paper plate Christianity. We're to adorn the gospel and the truth in every way. One translation puts it this way. To make the teaching about God our Savior attractive in every way. Your life, my life, is to do that with the gospel. When people look at you and know you're a believer, and they see how you live, react, act, your responses, your words, your attitudes, do they see an adorned Christian example? That's what we're on today. And you know, on the physical level, we work to make our homes to be in order and to be properly attractive. If ladies dress and present themselves properly in a legitimate, attractive way, if men take care of themselves and give effort to make themselves publicly presentable, then how much more is the gospel to be made presentable, attractive, and good-looking to the world through us? Paul and Peter use this same word, adorn, in 1 Timothy 2 and 1 Peter 3, where they say, let the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, not with broadered, fancy hair, or with gold or costly clothing, but rather, whose adorning, let it be that which is not outward, but let it be the hidden man of the heart, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is of great value. So the supreme question this morning in light of Titus 2 verse 10 is this. How do we adorn the gospel and make it more attractive to others around us in our life, in our sphere of influence, in our job, in our neighborhood, with the company, extended family, neighbors? How do we make the gospel more attractive to them? The answer is by our example, conduct, and how we live first, and then through the verbal sharing of the gospel. Your life and mine are to be an attractive and powerful sermon to others of the wonder and beauty of the gospel through our words and our behavior and attitudes. In light of Titus 2, holiness of life should be the driving ambition of every Christian. Truly living out the faith by genuinely, truly walking with God in all that that means. Godliness and holiness is the everyday business of every Christian. And that adorns the truth we profess. Now will you examine the chapter closely? Paul addresses six groups here, five of which are gonna be found in every church. He addresses older men in verse two, older women in verses three and four, younger women in verses four and five, and younger men in verses six through eight. Slaves in Paul's day and employees in our day, verses nine and 10. All are exhorted to have proper and godly conduct in behavior, example, and speech. So older men, here you go. Be sober-minded, Paul says. Live in a dignified way. Have self-control and soundness in the faith and be mature in love, patience, and steadfastness. Older ladies, here you go. Verses three and four. Reverent behavior, not slanderers or gossips, not given to or addicted to wine. Teachers to others of what is good. Young ladies, here you go. Verses four and five. To love your husbands and children. To have self-control. To be pure and to be faithful in your household, in the care of your home. To be kind and also submissive to your own husbands. Young men, here we go. Verses six through nine. Live with self-control. Young men need this. Self-control. Be an example in all things to everyone who knows you. Have integrity and dignity in all things. Have sound speech that no one can criticize you for. Employees, here you go. Be in subjection to your boss or supervisor. Endeavor to please them in all things. And do not be argumentative ever. Be completely reliable in all things. As someone said somewhere one time, endeavor to be the best employee your company has. And by the way, single folks, you're not off the hook. Because other than the married comments here and children comments, most everything said here is equally applicable to you as well as to married believers. So why does Paul tie all this together with adorning the doctrine of God? Because, here's why. Living this way is adorning the truth of God. Your life, live that way, makes the truth attractive to others. It's real. It's impactful. You don't live this way, you unadorn the truth. You make Christianity and the Gospel and the lives of others who know you to appear to be dirty paper plates. It makes the Gospel authentic when you live authentically. It makes Christianity attractive when they live in an attractive way. Now I want you to think of someone in your life, one person, maybe there's two, who has modeled for you godliness and Christlikeness since you have come to Christ. Think of that person. They have been a light to you. They've been a role model. Their life, their example, has impacted your view of the truth and how you live. Think of that person. Have them in your mind right now. What about their life impacted you the most? Think of the living perpetual influence spiritually it's had on you. You're benefiting from that person's life, be it 40 years ago or two years ago. Now, I want to exhort you today that you can be that person in others' lives. You can have such an impact on others like that person has on you. You can have such influence. Your godliness and your walk and your exemplary life can be like a fragrance to come over them and impact them long term. Now, we all have our spiritual models. I've had some special ones over the last 50 years. This next summer, I will have been a Christian 50 years. And I could name a bunch of them. Some of them died younger. And I've sometimes thought of those brothers. And I've had tears come to my eyes. And I prayed, Lord, they were so fruitful. They were coming into their own more and more. Why couldn't You have taken me rather than them? And I know the answer. But their life and their example has inspired me to live more for Christ, not only for His glory, but in memory of their influence on me. Lord, make us such examples. Brethren, more and more, you are to be that model to others that you can have an influence on. Live in such a way that you become that inspiration that others have been to you. To those seeing your lives, seeing the truth of God in all your ways, does your life adorn the truth of God in all your ways? Does your life inspire godliness in others? Give me some specifics. I want you to answer that in your own mind. Hudson Taylor, when they would interview new candidates to go on the mission field with them, he had one question often for them. Does God answer your prayers? Well, he wasn't looking for that. If they said yes, he said, give me two or three recent real answers to prayer. And for him, that settled a lot of things. If they had these Ebenezers of answered prayer in their life, they could point to, he knew if it was real, he knew they were walking with God, they had a real, authentic walk with God, and God was with them. And it answered a lot of things. That wasn't the only thing he asked them. But the question is this. Does your life, is it marked by authenticity that others see? Should and could your example be followed? Where will your example lead others? Can you say to anyone, follow me as I follow Christ? Do you exemplify in word and action pressing on to know the Lord always? Self-denial, consistency, intentional love for others, being all out for Christ. Examples are powerful to us, but they are also powerful through us. It makes the truth come alive when you are a living example of the truth you profess. You adorn the Gospel when you live it out with reality. Godliness and Christ-likeness makes the Gospel attractive through you in so many ways, both consciously when you know you're having an impact and unconsciously by how people see you respond and live. Luke says of the apostles, speaking about the Jews, they took notice that they had been with Jesus. Do people know that about your life? Behold how they love one another. Do others see that about you? Remember in darkened Egypt, the tents of the Israelites were filled with light. It was a darkness that could be felt, the Bible says, but in their tents it was light. In this dark world, are you shining as a light right into the darkness? As a believer, our entire life is a message seen and read by all who observe us. Now that's the one point. Brethren, adorn your life more and more with such Christ-likeness, such humility, so much of the fruits of the Spirit in your life and godly examples and godly consistent discipline. Adorn your life with such consistent living out the faith more and more that you are by that adorning and making the Gospel attractive. Where are you on this today? What things make us unadorn the truth in our lives? Well, usually, it's besetting sins. Inconsistency. People observe it. Pettiness. Jealousy. Envy. Judging others. Coveting others. Not walking in love. Carnal competitions somehow. Moral weaknesses. Arrogance. Self-centeredness. Hypocrisy. Anger. Bitterness. These things in us make our light dim. They can give the world a cause to criticize and blaspheme the name of God among the Gentiles. These things take away and diminish the attractiveness of the Gospel through us. An inconsistent example by us. Carnality displayed from us. All of it dishonors the Savior we represent. And it discredits our testimony. Your life is your first sermon. It's a living epistle, Paul says, known and read by everybody. And they're watching. You have extended family that aren't believers. They are watching with 20-20 clarity. Looking for inconsistency. Got to walk blameless. Got to be an example. Got to live in such a way that others are not going to be able to point to things and say, see, they're not that real after all. Beloved, we must do this. We must give full diligence to living the Christian life. And full diligence in church life. Don't be spiritually lazy. Put it off. Slothful, half-hearted, half-engaged. Be in pursuit. Full throttle in the things of God. In every way at all times in all things, we must keep our life and our conduct in order. Be an example of the glory and beauty of the Gospel. And to use some word pictures, keep the ax sharpened. Keep your running cleats clean and ready to run again. Keep the engine tuned. Keep the hedges of your life trimmed and sharp. Keep control working for the taming of your tongue. Keep clean the house and your clothes spiritually. Nobody likes a dirty house. Nobody likes to wear dirty clothes. Keep spiritually, keep things sharp and up to date. Spiritual maintenance is a must. And allow nothing. Be like a security guard at a gate. And it's His one duty to keep the others out that shouldn't be in. We must live that way to allow nothing that's off limits in our life. Stay alert and focus. And have as a goal, Lord, I want to be a spiritual example to all who know me of humility, of consistency, of excellence, that others could follow me because I'm all in and following Christ in every way. So, two applications. The first is diligence. The second one is prayerfulness. Genuine prayerfulness. Now, I thought of Moses' prayer this morning out of Psalm 90 v. 17. It says this, Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us and establish thou the work of our hands. It's a simple prayer, a powerful prayer. And it's a prayer that is certain to be heard and answered. He prays for two things. First, Moses prays for holiness of life. Lord, let the beauty and the favor and the presence of the Lord our God be upon us. If God's presence and His beauty is upon you, you will be living a holy life, a fragrant life. Pray for that. Lord, let Your holiness fill my life. Let the beauty of Christ be seen in me and through me. Praying for holiness. Lord, secondly, give me fruitfulness. Moses prays, Establish thou the work of our hands. Holiness, fruitfulness. If you live a holy life, you'll have fruitfulness through your life. Holiness in your life, fruitfulness through your life. What a prayer to pray. Establish thou the work of our hands. If we're to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in everything, the path to that is pressing in. To know the Lord more deeply, more consistently. To have freshness about being in the Bible. If we substitute the Bible with podcasts and other people's sermons on the internet, if you substitute any of that for this Word, you're making a massive mistake. That doesn't substitute. Be in this Word diligently. Let it dwell in you with all richness. And this takes self-discipline. This is the only path to holiness and fruitfulness through your life. Brethren, we must excel in all things. Don't play it safe. Don't relax in spiritual diligence. We cannot afford it. In light of eternity, in light of our present duties, in light of the Gospel, we must dress up the Gospel and adorn it and make it increasingly attracted to others through us. Let the Gospel be the primary adornment of your life in every way. Jerry Bridges said this, there is no higher compliment that can be paid to a Christian than to call him or her godly. Can others call you godly? Do others think about your life? They're a godly person. If Jesus was not half-hearted in dying for you, how can you ever be half-hearted in living for Him? There is no limit to how much God can use a believer and a church that adorns the Gospel in a consistent and beautiful way. What was true for Titus and the saints of old is just as true for us today. Brethren, dress up the Gospel for the beauty of Jesus to be seen in and through you. And like Paul says to the Philippians, that you may be blameless and harmless and pure in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you, what, shine as lights in the world, adorning the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. Let's pray to that end and walk with God to that end. Pray with me. Father, in a moment, we will sing a hymn. More like the master I would ever be. What Paul said here to Timothy about adorning the truth is clear and simple. It's harder to do it, it's harder to live it, and it's even harder to live it long-term. So take our lives, Lord. Let them be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Give us fullness. Give us grace. Give us desire. Give us passion. Give us the anointing of the Holy Spirit, Lord, more and more to adorn the Gospel with beauty because of our example and how we lived. Lord, we bless Your name today. In Christ's name, amen.