Getting to Know God – Adonai – The Lord
Drama
Buyer: "I want this pearl. How much is it?"
Seller: "Well," "it’s very expensive."
Buyer: "But, how much?".
Seller: "Well, a very large amount."
Buyer: "Do you think I could buy it?"
Seller: "Oh, of course, everyone can buy it."
Buyer: "But, didn’t you say it was very expensive?"
Seller: "Yes."
Buyer: "Well, how much is it?"
Seller: "Everything you have," says the seller.
Buyer: (Thinking for a while and then making up your mind) "All right, I’ll buy it," we say.
Seller: "Well, what do you have? Let’s write it down."
Buyer: "Well, I have ten thousand dollars in the bank."
Seller: "Good- -ten thousand dollars. What else?"
Buyer: "That’s all.. That’s all I have. Well … I have a few dollars here in my pocket."
Seller: "How much?"
Buyer: (Starting to rummage around in your pocket). "Well, let’s see--thirty, forty, sixty, eighty, a hundred, a hundred twenty dollars."
Seller: "That’s fine. What else do you have?"
Buyer: "Well, nothing. That’s all."
Seller: "Where do you live?"
Buyer: "In my house. Yes, I have a house."
Seller: "The house, too, then."
Buyer: "You mean I have to live in my camper?"
Seller: "You have a camper? That, too. What else?"
Buyer: "I’ll have to sleep in my car!"
Seller: "You have a car?"
Buyer: "Two of them."
Seller: "Both become mine, both cars. What else?"
Buyer: "Well, you already have my money, my house, my camper, my cars. What more do you want?"
Seller: "Are you alone in this world?"
Buyer: "No I have a wife and two children....."
Seller: "Oh, yes, your wife and children, too. What else?"
Buyer: "I have nothing left! I am left alone now."
Seller: Suddenly the seller exclaims, "Oh, I almost forgot! You yourself, too! Everything becomes mine--wife, children, house, money, cars--and you too." Then he goes on. "Now listen--I will allow you to use all these things for the time being. But don’t forget that they are mine, just as you are. And whenever I need any of them you must give them up, because now I am the owner."
Let’s pray, Lord – that is an awesome word which we don’t often grasp the full significance of. It rolls off our tongues so easy, but the meaning often alludes us. Help us this evening to understand this word in its entirely so that when we say it, we mean it.
Background and Meaning of the Word Adonai
Well, we’ve been studying over the past months some of the names of God and we’ve now come to one which is translated through your bible as “Lord” – the word Adonai. Now be careful here. You will find in many of your bibles (e.g. NIV, NRSV, RSV, NKJV) that the word Lord appears either as Capitals “LORD” or Small Letters “Lord”. Where it is “LORD”, that is the word YHWH or Jehovah. Where it is “Lord” – that is the word Adonai.
This word Adonai, occurs over 300 times in the Old Testament, and when it is used of God, it is almost always plural and possessive. So like the name Elohim which is also plural, this word supports the idea of the Trinity.
The singular form of this word is Adon and is often used to refer to men. It is found about 215 times in the Old Testament, and is usually translated as master, but sometimes is also translated as Lord, sir, or owner. The word Adon is used by slaves and servants when referring to their master or owner, by wives to their husbands, and men to Kings.
For example, in Psalm 110 …
1 The LORD (YHWH) says to my lord (Adon): “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”
2 The LORD (YHWH) will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies.
3 Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth.
4 The LORD (YHWH) has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
5 The Lord (Adonai) is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.
6 He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.
7 He will drink from a brook beside the way; therefore he will lift up his head.
In the New Testament, the equivalent of Adonai is Kurios is used hundreds of times of the Lord Jesus. God as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is Lord and master.
It is somewhat difficult for us to understand first hand what a Lord or Master is. We don’t live in a feudal society any more where there are lords of the manner, but because of these pictures we do understand a little of what it means.
Adonai is first used by Abram in Genesis 15:2. Abram had been declared master (Adon) of a large establishment. He was a very rich and powerful man and in Gen 14 we can read how Abram comes to the rescue of his nephew Lot and defeats four kings and their armies in the process. He commanded many servants and was master of those that lived with him. He offered protection and food in return to service. When God spoke to Abram in Chapter 15, after just being praised for his greatness Abram replies to God using the words “Lord God”. In the NIV it has Sovereign God. This is the combination of names – Adonai YHWH. In using this term master (Adonai) for God, Abram was acknowledging that, despite being a master over many things himself, Abram served a greater Master – YHWH was Adonai.
There is a story told of when Queen Victoria had just ascended to her throne. She went, as is the custom of Royalty, to hear "The Messiah". Being a new queen on the throne, she had been instructed in how she was to act by her advisors. She was told that she must not rise when the others stood at the singing of the Hallelujah Chorus. So when that magnificent chorus was being sung and the singers were shouting "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth," she sat with great difficulty. Finally when they came to that part of the chorus where with a shout they proclaim Him King of Kings suddenly the young queen rose and stood with bowed head, as if she would take her own crown from off her head and cast it at His feet. She like Abram recognised there was one far greater that was worthy of being called Adonai.
Significance for Us.
In the same way that Abram had to learn that God is Lord, so Queen Victoria had to learn and so do we. We have to come to a point where we recognise that God is the Lord of all we own, all we are and all we do. Don’t underestimate the importance of this fact. Jesus is described as being "Saviour" 35 times, and "Lord" over 7000 times. The simple fact is that we can’t know Jesus Christ as our saviour without him being Lord.
Turn with me to Matthew 7:21
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
This is a passage that many of you would be very familiar with. Here, Jesus is coming to the end of his sermon on the mountain and finishes off with some teaching on Lordship. Prior to this He has just said that it is difficult to enter into the Kingdom of God and that we should beware of false prophets who would mislead us. Now he turns his attention to False Followers … He begins this section with a rather startling remark. Not everyone who calls out “Lord, Lord – Adonai, Adonai” on the day of judgement will be saved.
The people in question have been walking a path that they have made for themselves. It undoubtably has had a little of Jesus mixed in with everything else they were doing in life, because they are calling him Lord. I can picture some of these people being people who had been a member of a church, maybe they were even pastors, deacons, Sunday school leaders or ushers. They had heard the sermons on how Jesus demanded first place in our lives, but that thought really did not fit into their “lifestyle”. Jesus really did not mean those things about denying self or taking up your cross daily and following Him. Jesus really did not expect them to let him reign as king in ALL areas of our lives. So here we have these people coming upto the judgment throne of Christ calling out His name. (HEY JESUS, HERE I AM)
But Jesus turns around and says “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” You see, Lip Service is never enough
Do you know what is really disturbing about this … The little word “many.” Jesus says, Many will come on this day. You see there are lots of good people in this church and others just like it who think they are saved, but they aren’t. There are even more people outside of this church that know enough about God to know that he likes good people and so they think that if they are good enough and help enough people, then they will be okay.
Listen to how Eugene Peterson Puts it in the message …
“Knowing the correct password – saying ‘Master, Master,’ for instance – isn’t going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience – doing what my Father wills. I can see it now – at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, ‘Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God sponsored projects had everyone talking.’ And do you know what I am going to say? ‘You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourself important. You don’t impress me one bit. You’re out of here.’
Jesus is saying – There is a difference between lip-service and real obedience. It is easy to confess God with our lips and deny him with our lives. It is easy to recite a creed, but difficult to live out the Christian life. It is easy to do things, but difficult to change the way we think and act. Jesus was saying here that words and empty deeds are not enough. The Key to acceptance before God was in doing the will of God. The Key words are the Will of God.
But weren’t these people doing? Weren’t they doing the hard yards for Christ? They definitely were busy – prophesying, casting out demons and doing all sorts of miraculous things. But they failed to recognise what the lordship of Christ really demanded so Christ went onto talk about two DIY men “Do it yourself” men – We’ll call them Bob 1 and Bob 2 – because they were builders.
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man (BOB 1) who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man (BOB2) who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
Before we try to work out the difference between BOB1 and BOB2, let’s see some of the similarities …
1) Both worked hard. There is no indication here that BOB1 worked any harder than BOB2 or that he in fact completed his building project any quicker. Both men had houses that they had toiled at and both had something sizeable to show from their labours.
2) Both had done some things right. Neither house fell down straight away - right. I mean, both these guys were licenced builders and their workmanship was good. From the outside appearance, both looked like great buildings. There is just no indication in the passage that the finish of BOB1’s house was any better than that of BOB2.
Are you understanding what I am saying tonight … The difference between a true disciple of Jesus Christ (someone who can rightly call Jesus Lord and Saviour) and someone just paying lip-service is not how hard they work, what results they get or how good a job they do. This is irrelevant. What is far more important is what is at the core – the foundation.
The only difference between BOB1’s house and BOB2’s house was in the foundations. One was built on rock (a firm and trustworthy foundation) and the other was built on Sand (a moving foundation).
What happens when the foundation to a building is lacking? The whole structure is threatened.
Think about the leaning tower of Pisa … Up until last year, the “Leaning Tower of Pisa” had been closed to the public - for almost a dozen years. During that time, engineers completed a 25 million dollar renovation project designed to try to stabilize the tower. They removed 110 tons of dirt, and reduced its famous lean by about 40cm. Why was this necessary? Because the tower has been tilting further and further away from vertical for hundreds of years, to the point that the top of the 55m tower was 5m further south than the bottom, and Italian authorities were concerned that if nothing was done, it would soon collapse. What was the problem? Bad design? Poor workmanship? An inferior grade of marble? No. The problem was what was underneath. The sandy soil on which the city of Pisa was built was just not stable enough to support a monument of this size. The tower had no firm foundation and so there were problems.
Similarly for BOB2, when a storm came, one foundation failed and one foundation stood firm –BOB2 ended up sleeping in a tent.
You see it is not what we do that is good or admirable that matters in the long run. It doesn’t matter what success we have. All that matters is that we have the right foundation. So what is the foundation that we need to build on ….
1) Foundation of salvation. If you are relying on the fact that Jesus Died so that you could be forgiven then we have the right foundation. This foundation allows you to build a relationship with God and expect with certainty that you will live with him forever.
If you are trying to earn you way into heaven by doing good things – yes even by working for Jesus Christ in the church, then you do not have any foundation at all. The bible says you are doomed, because even our righteous acts are like filthy rags in God’s eyes. Wake up and see the headlights of that train coming your way. Make sure you know where your hope of salvation lies and please don’t let it be in your good works, because that will not be enough.
2) Foundation of our lives. Jesus Christ is Adonai – Lord. As such, he demands much more than a small portion of what we are prepared to give. He demands all of us – our money, our possessions, our relationships, our career, our talents, our thoughts, our emotions and our dreams. He asks us to give them to him and to build our lives not for our own glory, but for his. It is like the drama earlier tonight. Jesus wants everything we have and then gives it all back for us to use in service for him. If you are living and working and relating with others in a way that serves God, you have a good foundation.
But if you are living, working, and relating to others with the purpose of getting something out of it for yourself (wealth, fame, friends, lifestyle, etc), then your foundation is very shaky. I urge you to wake up and stop building your life on sand. Start to build a life that counts – a life for God and his kingdom.
Be assured that one day a storm will come that will test the foundations that you have built your life and future hope on. If it not in this life, it will certainly be when you meet Jesus at his judgement throne. If your foundations are solid, you will be able to call out to Jesus as Adonai – Lord with confidence and assurance. But if your foundations are not solid, this will be the sign that you don’t know Jesus as Adonai and then unfortunately it will be too late. Take a bit of advice - Get to know Jesus as Adonai today.
