Adorn the Doctrine

By Michael Pemberton

 “Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our saviour in all things.”  –Titus 2:9,10

 I was eight years old when I first joined the scouts.  My reasons for joining had nothing to do with the usual reasons.  Teamwork, bravado, discipline, and survival skills weren’t really all that attractive to me.  I was a loner, hated hype, disliked discipline, and had no aspirations for rugged living.  Nope, none of those reasons were mine.  In fact, I only had one reason: Jim McCarthy. 

 I first met Jim when I went to his Eagle Scout ceremony.  I don’t remember why we were invited; I think it had something to do with my dad being a reporter for the local paper.  Now, Jim wasn’t some big, hairy woodsman type of guy.  In fact, he was probably just a little over 120 lbs and had sort of shaggy hair.  But Jim was so cool!  He was very funny, could tie a hundred knots, and thought that every boy in America should join scouting and have as much fun as he did.  That’s why I joined.  I saw something in Jim that made me think that scouting was more than just discipline and teamwork. 

 I never made Eagle Scout, but that didn’t matter.  I learned to tie a hundred knots, and had a lot of fun along the way.  I couldn’t help it that some discipline, teamwork, bravado, and survival skills rubbed off on me.

 In today’s text, our Heavenly Father exhorts us to adorn the doctrine.  What a thought!  We believe that Jesus loves us so much that, when we couldn’t pay for our own sins, he died in our place and took our judgment so that we could be saved.  We believe that anyone anywhere can be saved by simple faith in Jesus, entirely without works.  How could you ever adorn that?  It would be like gilding a lily! 

 But, think about this for a moment: people may not see it that way.  I cannot imagine how the scouts will ever increase their membership with a sales pitch based on “Learn Teamwork, Discipline, and Survival Skills!”  Even the military hasn’t had much success with that line.  If they had, they wouldn’t need signing bonuses.  But when many people look at Christianity, they see: “Experience Guilt, Repent, Obey, Attend Meetings, and Give Money!”  Not exactly the stuff of Madison Ave.  Don’t get me wrong, without conviction we would never repent.  Without repentance, we could never be saved.  Attending meetings is how we grow as Christians.  Giving money is how we express love for God and invest in eternity.  We cannot compromise on any of those things, but they aren’t attractive in themselves.

 We don’t need a new advertising campaign.  We don’t need new doctrine.  No!  What we need is new personal adornment.  We need for people to look at us and see what I saw in Jim: A reason to give it a try, despite my impressions.  Simple things like joy, peace, hope, love, and patience are attractive to a world filled with strife, loss, war, and hurry.  The old saying goes, “You need to be winsome, if you want to win some.”  True words.

 It strikes me that many of us are un-adorning to the gospel.  Can you see today that your behavior really does effect the transmission of the gospel?   How are you doing?   You know, the most beautiful sight to the thirsty soul is the sight of Jesus.  Can you think of a more beautiful person?  Let’s get off our “I gotta be me” kick and get into the “I gotta show them Jesus” mode.  What a difference it would make!