"Adonai" is the pleural form of Master or Lord. When we use the term "Adonai" we invariably indicate a relational position to the Master. He is Lord and we are slaves. If our culture has taught us to use the attribute of "Lord" for the Most High Being, that same culture should have taught us to surrender ourselves and to be His humble servant in every aspect of our existence.
Unfortunately, “Lord” is often the noun we use in prayer when we beg for things we want to go our way. This is diametrically opposed to the correct use of the term. When we use the word, “Lord” it should be to seek His will, His path, or His permission in all things as admonished in James 4:15:
“Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.’”
INALIENABLE RIGHTS
Culturally, we have been taught that we rights and no one should infringe on our rights. We believe a famous document that declares we all have the right to the “pursuit of happiness”, “freedom of speech”, and many other “inalienable and God given” rights. These phrases do not reflect the exact truth.
GOD GIVEN RIGHT
God has given us only one right. This right is alluded to throughout the Biblical text, but is best expressed in Joshua 24:15:
“If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
We have only one God given right and that is to
choose to serve God or “mammon” – earthly pursuits of happiness (Mattew 6:24;
Luke 16:13). If we choose God, then all other decisions are subservient to His
will. If we choose “mammon”, wealth, popularity, status, career, then we have
chosen to follow the Prince of Darkness.
Many will call on the Lord Matthew 7:21-23, but it
is useless to do so, if you have not become a servant of the Most High Master:
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter
the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will
enter. 22 Many
will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and
in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
23 And then I will declare to
them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, “
RELATIONSHIP
of Master/Slave
We learn many things from this verse, but let’s
concentrate on two important points. (1) Just calling Adonai, “Lord” does not
insure you are in favor with Him. (2) Even if we give Him glory for great
things that we accomplish for Him, does not secure our place in His Kingdom.
How could people call on God, know His name, and
practice many great and mighty works in His name, giving Him the glory….and
still be told, “Depart from me, I NEER KNEW YOU”?
God did not call these folks liars as if they had
never called Him “Lord” or never given Him the glory for mighty works in His
name. He did not say, “You were once mine, but you fell away”. Instead the sad truth is, He had never known
them as His personal slaves, servants, children, members of His flock, church, or
body. He had never been INTRODUCED to them.
Our questions should lead to ask, “How do I become
known by God?” How are we introduced to Him so that on the last day when we
call Him “Lord”, He will acknowledge us as “good and faithful servants”
(Matthew 25:21, 23)?
We gain our introduction to God through Christ
according to Romans 5:1-2, 8- 9:
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by
faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of
God.”
“But
God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His
blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
10 For if while we were enemies
we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been
reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only this, but we also exult in God through
our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”
We become children of God through
the death of Christ, through His blood. How do we access this door, this
introduction, this reconciliation? Romans 6:3-14 tells us how we become slave
to Christ and known by God.
Or
do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have
been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with
Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead
through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5
For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His
death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6
knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order
that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be
slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall
also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from
the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For
the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He
lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to
sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that
you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of
your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present
yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments
of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you,
for you are not under law but under grace.”
What attributes should we encourage
in our children? What characteristics? Demanding their rights or serving Adonai?
JESUS EXAMPLE
Jesus emptied Himself and took on
the form of a servant to the point of death to become our example of how
serving God looks like, taste like, and feels like on this earth. (Philippians
2:5-11) In fact, His entire ministry was just that “ministry” – a servant’s
livestyle.
OUR PROMISE
If God opens a door of opportunity
for us to serve Him, then He also offers His power and might in our inner man
to carry out any task for His purpose (Ephesians 3:16). When we call Him, “Lord”,
we acknowledge our faith in the Almighty and All Powerful Master of the
Universe. Therefore, all the glory should be reflected towards God when we
accomplish anything in this world. For it is through God that we live and move
and have our very being (Acts 17:28).
ASSIGNMENT
Consider thinking about
answering this question...just takes a few moments of meditation.
--If Adonai means Master and using
it puts us into a bond servant or slave relationship with God, then we might
need to meditate on that relationship.
As an educator, I am extremely
sensitive as to how we nurture children in this society. It should also be a
concern in the church on how we help our children become mature servants, slaves
of Christ.
Can we open our communication as
Paul did, "Paul, a bond servant, slave of Jesus Christ." Many young
people today are headed towards futures of being spoiled, selfish, depressed,
aimless, mean-spirited, and materialistic. They have gained their identities
from their pursuits, talents, and participation in clubs, sports, clicks, and
clubs. How would it be possible to help them mature as a humble servant of the true Almighty God?
An alternative
assignment for discussion Wednesday evening
As members of the Lord's (Adonai) Body, the church we
should be a company of believers with one purpose – to practice presence by
opening our hearts to the will of God step by step and moment by moment. As one
of the Christian disciplines, practicing presence helps us to see the big
picture in the scheme of God Almighty’s Plan.
PRACTICING PRESENCE
(1)
Practice being more conscious of God every minutes of the day. Be able
to say as Cornelius, “We are now here in the presence of God”.
(2)
Practice confident expectation. Be able to say with the prophet and
psalmist, “My Lord will hear.”
(3)
Practice praising His every day work in our lives. Be able to declare as
Isaiah, “Lo, this is our God…this is the Lord.” (this is NOT luck or good
fortune)
(4)
Practice humbling ourselves to walk in His will. Be able to say as James
commanded, “Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do
this or that’”
SHARE with the group what you
discovered this week as you "practice presence".
