Many years ago I had the privilege of meeting R. G. Lee and hearing him preach on this verse. As great as that was I have something even better. I have before me the very Word of God with the very verse from which his message came. Let us never forget that what the Word says is more important than what we say about it. And we are told to “adorn the doctrines”.
We are to “adorn“, beautify, “the doctrine of God“. That seems impossible. It requires more than eloquent speech and passionate pleas. The greatest orator on earth can make his best effort, do all he can to embellish the Word of God, and yet fail miserably. If that is all we do we make the message meaningless. It takes more than the proper pronunciation of words, impressive inflection of the voice, earnest emotion, interesting illustrations, Greek grammar, and quotes from famous men to adorn the doctrine of God. If our preaching is to be effective we must demonstrate what we declare— practice what we preach.
The proclamation of God’s Word is important, even essential, but unless we practice what we preach we will fail, and make the most glorious doctrines repulsive to others. Declaring doctrine must be accompanied with doing our duty. If others are to be attracted to it we must first apply it to our lives. If our character and conduct is contrary to the teachings of God our message becomes meaningless to others. It is when they see us loving unconditionally, forgiving completely, serving faithfully, etc. that they are willing to listen our message.
To beautify the doctrine of God we must believe what it says, do as it commands, trust what it promises, follow where it leads, and proclaim what it declares. If others are to think more highly of God’s Word they must see it honored in the lives of those who proclaim it. They must see something of God in us before they believe what we say. We are to examples ( John 13:15) by walking as He walked (1 John 2:6). This is what Paul had in mind when he wrote, “Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.”(1 Thess. 4:1).
