Adorning or Dishonoring

ADORNING OR DISHONORING

Titus 2:1-10

Today we are going to consider a very practical and instructive passage of Scripture. In it, we see Paul addressing Titus who was a Pastor on the island of Crete concerning several groups of people in this passage of scripture. Paul said first of all “speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:”

That is one of the great jobs of any good church. We need to do those things, speak those things, encourage those things, which become sound doctrine.

One of the very important things we can do is as

Titus 2:10b (AV)

...that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

That should be our goal, that should be our purpose. This morning, I’m going to preach on the subject: ADORNING OR DISHONORING - Let’s Pray.

Now we go to this passage and we see some people Timothy is to deal with, he addresses everyone.

We see in verse 2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

Then we see in verse 3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

They are also to teach as it says in verse 4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

Then concerning verse 6 Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. 7 In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, 8 Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.

Finally we come to the servants. Paul has covered everyone in general. You are either and older man or a younger man, you are either and older woman or a younger woman. That is it. But now Paul tells Timothy how to instruct the servant. The servant or slave was probably one of the lowest worst jobs you could have. It was someone who was owned by another. He was a person that had very few rights if any, who was someone else’s property.

Paul lowers his message to the bottom shelf here. He encourages Titus to teach them several things.

Titus 2:9 AV

Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again;

Titus 2:10 AV

Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

Not Purloining:

Not taking advantage of his master in some way or another. Either by stealing money, things, or time. This includes loafing around. A Christian ought not do that even though he might be a slave. But not only the servants, but I believe that this applies to all of the people mentioned above.

God does not just want the preachers, teachers and missionaries to be above reproach, but he wants every Christian to be above reproach.

By the way, every Christian should be like Paul and like many of those in the Bible who confessed that they are Servants

Romans 1:1 AV

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,

Jude 1 AV

Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

I. Defining Adorn

Adorn is translated from the Greek word kosmew kosmeo, which means:

- to decorate, garnish, trim, adorn. Literally it means to put decorations on something.

Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines it as: To deck or decorate; to make beautiful; to add to beauty by dress; to deck with external ornaments.

To set off to advantage; to add ornaments to; to embellish by any thing external or adventitious;

To make pleasing, or more pleasing; as, great abilities adorned by virtue or affability.

To display the beauty or excellence

II. The doctrine of God is to be Adorned

The doctrine of God is the teachings of God which stem from His Word.

You and I, as believers are to adorn everything this book teaches.

We are to make it look good.

When referring to the doctrine of God we are specifically and most importantly talking about the Gospel. The good news of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The truth that through His shed blood and death on the cross we can be redeemed by Him through Repentance and Faith in Him.

Here is an important thought: What it is doctrine or doctrines that need adornment?

Let me say it like this - all of it and none of it.

Meaning we ought to adorn, make look better all of the doctrine of God and all the teachings of this book, but none of it needs adornment. It is already perfect; already trustworthy; already what God wanted it to be.

But what I think we need to understand is that we will either Adorn it or Dishonor it with our lives.

With our lives, we should make the gospel Beautiful. When we adorn something, we make it look great.

- In the morning we adorn ourselves in front of the mirror

- We adorn the Christmas tree at Christmas time

- We adorn our house by putting flowers out front, by keeping the lawn mowed and raked.

- We adorn the doctrine of God by keeping our life clean and straight as well.

When we adorn the gospel, we adorn ourselves as well before God and other Christians

1 Peter 3:5 AV

For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:

II. In All Things

In our walk with God people ought to be able to see, outwardly, that I am a Christian and not ashamed of it while being a positive, kind, godly, compassionate, holy, and kindhearted Christian.

In our prayer life

In our praise for him

In our daily devotions

In our outward appearance

Our dress

Places we go

People we hang out with

How we walk and speak

Our demeanor

In our daily life

At work

At school

Certainly in our homes

In the market place

And as a representative of our church

Can we just say our entire lifestyle.

III. Rather than adorn the doctrine of God many are dishonoring it

1 Timothy 1:9–10 AV

Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

I looked up the antonym of adorn, and here is what the modern antonyms of adorn are according to atonym.com: It is pretty amazing:

Undress, dress down, underdress, uglify, disarrange, dishonor, worsen - and another site added this: disfigure, blemish, defaces, to scar.

We need to realize that as we continue on as a Christian that we are adorning the doctrine of God or we are dishonoring the doctrine of God.

Ephesians 5:10 AV

Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

Rather than being a blessing, we are sometimes a hindrance to the cause of Christ.

I do not want to be a hindrance to the cause of Christ

I was working at a small manufacturing company, where I was working on an assembly line on 2nd shift. I would witness as my time would allow and as the situation warranted on the job. I was on the line when I witnessed to one fella who got irate with me. He started getting loud and boisterous. He said I’d never go to that church, it is a cult and I had a neighbor to that went to your church and Bible college. He said that he would beat his kids and would treat them horribly. He worked nights, and when he’d come home he would force his family outside all day so as not to make noise and wake him up. He finally had to leave abruptly one day because the Child welfare was after him. I never believed the story. But, the first church I worked at after college had this man as a bus director. Their oldest son had run away from home. Their second son was ready to. Their third one was very rebellious on the inside and was waiting for his time to take flight.

The things we do can be a great hindrance rather than and adornment to the gospel of Christ.

Sometimes it can be much smaller things. I was in a School one time in the Marines. I was doing my best to live for God and keep a good testimony. I was young and a boot. One day we were out playing football, and I had my way that day on the field because I was about 225 at the time, though I didn’t look like it, and could carry my weight very well. My Sergeant was very impressed with me. I told him, that’s why they call me MAGIC SAGE. He told me, Sage, I was just starting to believe that you really were different with this Christian stuff, but you just blew it for me. Was he right in inference of my pride, I do not believe so, but was a right, no, we must do all we can, in every situation to adorn the gospel of Christ.

Do you know when people are really filled with the Spirit of God and are used of God to be witnesses and to build other peoples lives, it is when they are adorning the doctrine of God.

I remember I was working for Coca Cola Bottling company for about 2 or 3 months when I first got to college. I hated it, I was working with the dregs of society. Of course half of them were from my college, but nonetheless, I didn’t enjoy it.

Well this one fellow came up to me one night and says, “Sage, there something about you, why are you always smiling, how can you work here and always be smiling.” I thought I was miserable, but in some small way I was able to adorn the doctrine of God and therefore be a witness to this man.

When we adorn the doctrine of God, people notice it, people want what we have. They are interested in finding out about Christ, because of our lives.

Are you adorning the doctrine of God or are you Dishonoring the doctrine of God.

I’ve wasted enough time in my life dishonoring God to varying degrees, I want to commit my life to adorning Him and HIs goodness and His faithfulness in my life.

ADORNING OR DISHONORING

Titus 2:1-10