A Call to Adorn the Gospel

The Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary defines adorn this way: “(1) to enhance the appearance of especially with beautiful objects.”

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to “adorn the gospel.” If the definition of adorn has to do with “enhancing” the appearance of something, can we in fact adorn the gospel? Can we enhance its appearance? Do we have anything of beauty or value that can make the gospel more attractive? I want to say no. I mean isn’t part of the “good news” of salvation through Jesus the fact that I, a broken sinner with nothing of value to offer God and no way to merit my own salvation, was reconciled to God because of Jesus’ sacrificial and atoning death alone? What could possibly make that message any more beautiful or attractive to someone who is without any hope at all? I know that Jesus commands us to make that message known (most of us are familiar enough with passages like Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8) but this idea of “adorning the gospel” has got to be just a good sounding catch phrase - something that sounds good from the pulpit, right?

Not exactly. In Titus 2:9-10 Paul was instructing Titus on how he should be teaching Christian slaves to live and wrote:

“Urge bondslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.”

Now before I go on sharing any more of my thoughts, allow me to share a short quote from someone much smarter than I to help put this verse in its proper context. Hayne P. Griffin Jr. in his commentary on Titus shares a good reminder about the context of this verse that we often forget.

“It is unfortunate that many teachers or preachers have applied Paul’s teaching on slavery in his epistles to the employer/employee relationship in modern economies. Such applications dilute the tremendous power of the gospel as seen within the dark and unjust institution of slavery. The focus of Paul’s teaching with regard to Christian slaves must not be missed. Against the bleak hopelessness of this system of bondage, the Christian slave’s devotion to the gospel and resulting godly attitudes and actions serve to make attractive in an unparalleled way the ultimate freedom that is only realized in Christ.”

Paul had a message for slaves (men and women without any power, with nothing of value, and without any freedom) – “Your transformed lives in Christ can put the life-changing power of the gospel on display. So live in such a manner that those around you will see the gospel in everything you do.” [That’s the Matt Morgan paraphrase.] But I don’t believe that that was just a message for slaves. It is true that because of their position in life their transformed lives may have stood out more but I believe Paul would urge us all to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. As I mentioned earlier, no believer brought anything to God to earn his/her salvation. They all came empty, broken, and without hope. But upon receiving Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, and upon receiving the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, every true believer now has a transformed life in Christ. Paul intended for us to put that transformed life on display around others so that we might adorn the gospel and commend its transforming message and power to those who have not received it.

A key aspect of adorning the gospel implies putting yourself in places where others can observe the transforming power. What good would it be to adorn the gospel in private? Often times women will adorn themselves with make-up and jewelry, right? But how many of them will do this just to stay in the house all of the time? Instead they adorn themselves with these things so that when they are out in public and others see them they will notice their beauty. Christian believers as individuals and churches need to take note of this! We have to engage a lost world (and for the most part they aren’t in our church buildings). Have we done a good job adorning the gospel if the only time we left the house this week was to go to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, and then again Wednesday night? Have we done a good job adorning the gospel if our only interaction with others this week was through our Facebook account? These are questions we need to ask ourselves. Is anyone (other than those who are already believers) seeing our transformed lives on display?

We also need to be asking ourselves this question as a church. There is another verse in 1 Peter that I think we often take out of context. While Peter was writing to some first generation believers in 1 Peter 2:9 he wrote,

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

We often apply this verse too individualistically. I firmly believe in the idea of the priesthood of all believers. The Bible is very clear that when an individual receives Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior that the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within that individual. We no longer need a priest to intercede on our behalf. The Bible tells us that Christ is now our high priest (Hebrews 3) and that we have direct access to the Father and to the Son. But it is also important that we do not overemphasize the individuality of this principle to the point that we lose sight of the importance of the church’s (both local and corporate) responsibility to be the representative of God and to adorn the gospel too. In 1 Peter 2:9 Peter is clearly talking to a group of believers. He uses plural words such as “race,” “nation,” and “people” instead of singular words to emphasize what this first generation group of believers was supposed to be. Our job as a church is to be a modern day representative of God that proclaims His excellencies. So then we must ask ourselves if we are adorning the gospel so that others can see the transformed lives of our congregation and are we together proclaiming His excellencies, or have we chosen to be content with simply ministering within our building for the last six months.

What really got me thinking about all of this was a passage of scripture I was recently working through in the Old Testament. In recently reading through the account of Moses on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 20 – 32 I found myself meditating on God’s instructions regarding the priestly garments. If it has been a while since you read through the account of Moses meeting with God on Mt. Sinai, I’ll remind you that God did more than give Moses the 10 commandments. The 10 commandments are what we remember most but God also gave other instructions to Moses during the many days that he was meeting with God on the mountain. Beginning in chapter 28 God goes into great detail about the garments which the priests are supposed to where. I believe a key verse in this chapter for our understanding of why God included this is when God says in verse 2, “You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.” God’s intention for the priests’ garments was that they were to be glorious and beautiful, and in order to achieve this the garments were to consist of:

· An ephod – made of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet linen (vs. 6) with two onyx stones (vs. 9) in gold settings (vs. 13) and with gold chains (vs. 14);

· A breastpiece – made of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet linen (vs. 15) with four rows of precious stones: ruby, topaz, emerald, turquoise, sapphire, diamond, jacinth, agate, amethyst, beryl, onyx, and jasper (vs. 17 – 20) all set in gold (vs. 20). The breastpiece would also have gold rings with gold chains attached (vs. 22 – 27);

· A robe made of blue (probably linen) (vs. 31) with decorative work on its hem of blue, purple and scarlet material and golden bells (vs. 33);

· A turban of fine linen (vs. 39) with a plate of pure gold (36 – 37);

· A linen tunic (vs. 39); and

· A linen breech (vs. 42).

It seems that God wanted His representatives on earth, the priests, to be adorned with the most beautiful and elaborate clothes as a testimony to God’s glory and beauty.

But an ironic thing is happening at the bottom of the mountain while God is meeting with Moses at the top of the mountain. While Moses is receiving the instructions from God about how His representatives, the priests, are to put God’s glory and beauty on display even in their articles of clothing, those very same priests are at the foot of the mountain crafting a golden calf as an idol for the people to worship. Instead of representing God and leading the people to see His wonder and majesty and to respond in worship to Him the priests were giving into the requests of the people and casting an idol for them to worship. What an amazing failure! The representatives of God charged with the responsibility of interceding for the people and putting God’s glory and beauty on display were not leading the people to God at all. Instead they were following the cues of the culture and giving the people something else to worship. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for these priests who seemed to have completely missed their call to lead the people to a majestic, powerful, and holy God who had already put his glory on display through the 10 plagues brought on the Eqyptians, the pillar of cloud/fire which was leading them through the wilderness, the parting of the Red Sea, the provision of the manna and the water from the rock, and then the thunder, lightening, and shaking of the earth that occurred when God descended upon Mt. Sinai. Instead they chose to provide a golden calf crafted by the hands of men as the object of their worship and affection.

There seems to be great power to draw men to God if and when believers in Christ will adorn the gospel. But it seems that we as believers and as churches we aren’t doing that. Most believers and churches seem to be falling into one of two categories. (1) Many believers and churches, rather than leading people to Christ through their transformed lives, are taking their cues from the culture in an attempt to be both cool and relevant. And although they may not be bowing the knee to a golden calf they certainly aren’t leading the way to Christ. Instead, they seem to be following a culture made up of sinful people and Romans chapter three is pretty clear that sinful people aren’t seeking after God. If a believer (or worse, a church) is following the culture they may not be bowing the knee to a golden idol yet, but I can guarantee you they aren’t getting closer to God. (2) Many believers and churches are adorning the gospel in the privacy of their own church buildings. They are genuinely loving and caring for one another and they are growing together in their biblical knowledge. The church is offering wonderful worship services and the congregation knows that they could show lost people the way if they would just come. But the problem is that no one who needs to see the power of transformed lives is seeing them because they are not in the church.

Ladies and gentlemen neither one of these two scenarios is going to build the kingdom of God and bring glory to Him. Believers in Christ have had their lives transformed by the power of the gospel and now Paul urges us to adorn the gospel of Christ. So we must ask ourselves if our lives are really truly adorning the gospel of Christ in such a way that others can see it?” If not, what changes do we as individuals and as churches need to make in order put the power of the gospel on display for a world that desperately needs to see it?

A Clear Image of the Savior in an Easily Misunderstood Picture

How many of you remember 3D pictures like this? Can you tell what the 3D images in each of these pictures are?

The first one is a shark. The second one is a dinosaur. The third one is a heart.

When these types of pictures first came out they were amazingly popular. They would sell them framed, as posters, and in picture books for your coffee table. I remember in high school standing in the middle of the mall at one of those kiosks selling these 3D picture images. I must have stood there for a half and hour getting frustrated because I couldn’t see any 3D image. All I could see was a great big mess. I’d stare, cross my eyes, get really close to the picture and then slowly back away – but I just couldn’t get past all the jumbled mess to see anything. While I’m standing there couples would walk up and look at a picture and almost immediately say “Oh wow! That’s amazing! Those flowers just jump off the drawing!” Or some ladies shopping together would come up and look at a picture and say to one another, “Do you see that rainbow? It is amazing how clear it is!”

I wanted to yell – “It is NOT! It’s not clear! It’s anything but clear! I’ve been staring at that mess for a half and hour now and there isn’t anything there! You all must be crazy!”

But I do remember the first time that one of the images became clear to me. It was an underwater scene. I remember how a portion of the picture seemed to have a third dimension to it. I wrestled for a while trying to get the whole image to come clear. I had to keep coming back to the same spot on the picture, trying to see the third dimension, and then slowly backing away until I could see it all. I remember seeing several fish in that image. And I remember standing there for what seemed like an incredibly long time admiring the amazing scene that I had been missing for the longest time because of the apparent busyness and mess of the picture upon first examination.

It’s fun now to look at these images and to see what is there, even when the image at first glance already appears to have some order to it and seems to be a clear representation of something (like the heart picture we looked at earlier).

A Misunderstood Picture – Jesus’ lordship and control in the final hours before His death on the cross.

There are several accounts of Jesus’ final hours before the crucifixion in the Bible. And in those accounts there is so much that takes place in just a few short chapters and verses. For me it’s often difficult to see clearly some of amazing attributes of Christ because the accounts go by so quickly and they are filled with so much emotional material. It is easy to just look at the picture and say Christ sure did endure a lot of hardship and suffering on our behalf. That’s true! Christ did endure a lot of hardship and suffering on our behalf – but if that is all we see we have missed an amazing picture of Christ’s lordship and control – even when things seemed to be completely out of control.

The verse that was great for helping me focus in on Christ’s lordship and control during the time around his crucifixion is John 19:11. Jesus is before Pilate and is being questioned. Beginning in verse 10 the text says, “So Pilate said to Him, ‘You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?’” Jesus is before the man who appears to be the one who has the power to determine His fate – whether He will live or die. Jesus has been arrested, accused before the priests, scourged, and now brought before the governor for final sentencing. At first glance it seems like Jesus may not actually be in control. But listen to Jesus’ response. “‘ Jesus answered, ‘You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above. . .’” In the final moments before His death sentence Jesus tells Pilate, “You may think you’re in control of this situation here, but the only reason you’re exercising any power is because I have permitted you to do so.” In the middle of this incredibly difficult narrative beginning with His arrest and ending in His crucifixion Jesus claims to still be the One exercising control.

Do you get that? That’s a great starting place to begin working back from – like the first place in the 3D picture where it’s easiest to see the third dimension taking form. Once we clearly see Jesus control here then we can work back and begin to see an amazingly clear picture of Christ’s power and control all throughout the final hours of His life prior to the crucifixion.

Back up to John 18:3-6. “Judas then, having received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, ‘Whom do you seek?’ They answered Him, ‘Jesus the Nazarene.’ He said to them, ‘I am He.’ And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them. So when He said to them, ‘I am He,’ they drew back and fell to the ground.” We don’t know how many men exactly came as a part of this crowd to arrest Jesus, but it was probably at least 600 men. And at Jesus’ declaration of who He was, all of them fell to the ground! There is no mistake here – Jesus had not lost His power or authority. At His arrest He was still the One who was in control.

In Mark 14:55-62 we see further evidence of Jesus’ power and control, even in these last hours. “Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, and they were not finding any. For many were giving false testimony against Him, but their testimony was not consistent. Some stood up and began to give false testimony against Him, saying, ‘We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’’ Not even in this respect was their testimony consistent. The high priest stood up and came forward and questioned Jesus, saying, ‘Do You not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?’ But He kept silent and did not answer. Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, ‘Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?’ And Jesus said, ‘I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of Heaven.’”

Having been arrested and placed on trial before the council of religious leaders, Jesus’ power and control is still not usurped. The religious leaders try to take control of the situation and dictate the outcome so that they are able to accuse Jesus without question. But even in their attempt to do so, those bringing false accusations are unable to put together a consistent claim against Him. Instead Jesus boldly proclaims not only His deity but also demonstrates His control by telling them just how this is all going to play out.

When Jesus is taken before Pilate to be questioned, He does nothing but affirm His rule and His kingdom. John 18:33-37 says, “Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?’ Pilate answered, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.’ Therefore Pilate said to Him, ‘So You are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’”

A few verses later we get to the passage we began with in 19:11 where Jesus clearly communicates His authority.

Even on the cross we see Jesus in control and fulfilling the very purposes of God. In Mark 15:34 we hear Jesus crying out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” – an undeniable reference to Psalm 22 and a declaration that even on the cross He was in control and fulfilling the words of Scripture. And again in John 19:30, when Jesus utters the words, “It is finished.” An amazing statement in the perfect Greek tense. The work was completed, but its affects are on going. It was Jesus declaring from the cross “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!” What I was sent to this world to do has been done! This cross – although it seemed to many to be a sign of His lack of power, authority, and control, was in all reality the last tool which He used to complete what He had been sent to do.

The ultimate picture of Jesus rule and power was just three short days away, when the sun arose on an empty tomb. We see clearly in the resurrection that Jesus was in control. But I fear that we too often look at these two events, the crucifixion and the resurrection in separate frames. We think the arrest, trial, and crucifixion is where Jesus lost control; then we believe that the resurrection is where Jesus regained it. When in reality – Jesus never lost control, rule or authority. Sometimes we just lose the image in all of the other busyness and mess that seems to be taking place. But once we see it clearly, we ought to gaze on it with amazement, because our Savior is an amazing sight to behold!