Adonai

Dear Friends in Christ Jesus,

            What’s in a name? Why did your parents pick your name? I had a classmate whose name was Elwin. He said, his name meant, “friend of elves.” He thought it was a strange name, because he had never met an elf or had an elf for a friend.   At times a person’s name can have a specific meaning, like our granddaughter named, Evjen. She will no doubt have to tell everyone how to say her name. But why that name? It was my mother’s maiden name and the family name is almost lost.   That name means, “Place where water runs backwards.” See, my mother’s family is from a place in Norway on the continental divide where the water runs the opposite direction, backwards. 

            Our God chose names for himself to reveal different aspects of what he was like and how he would relate to us. For example when his son would come into the world, he was given the name: Jesus, for he would save his people from their sins and the name Immanuel, meaning God with us. As we continue names God chose for himself in the Old Testament, we come to the name “Adonai.” How are we to understand this name? What impact does it have for our lives day by day? 

I.              Understanding the Name

As we turn to verse 1 of Psalm 8, we read: O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Please note that there are two words for Lord. In the Hebrew there are two different words in this verse. The first is YHWH, Yahweh, or Jehovah.   The second is Adonai.   To keep the two words straight and let the reader know that they are different, Yahweh will always be in all capital letters. In a few weeks, this name will also be a focus our worship. Today we turn to the other name, the Lord, Adonai. It is pronounced “ah-doe-NIE.” It is the plural of Adon. Just a side note, in the second commandment when it was said, “do not misuse the name of the Lord,” it was tradition not to say, Yahweh, but the reader or speaker would always substitute “Adonai” so they not ever misuse the name of the Lord. 

But what does the word mean? You will find it translated, “The Lord, My Great Lord, the application is: The Master and Majestic Lord, or God is our total authority.” How do we get that understanding?     When we look at how the singular is used, Adon, for example in the Old Testament reading for today, we see a servant/master relationship. Joseph had been sold into slavery by his brothers. When they met him in Egypt, they did not recognize him. He had tested them. Listen again to their answer: {16} "What can we say to my lord?" Judah replied. "What can we say? How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants' guilt. We are now my lord's slaves. This place and others in Scripture reveal this servant/lord relationship. What is unique, is that when it speaks about an individual being a master or lord, it is singular. When Adonai means our God, it is the plural. It has been called the majestic plural. But more, it is a plural which uses a singular verb.  

Had we been listening to Jesus teach, he would have challenged our understanding of this word. He would have asked us, what would we know about Messiah, whose son is he? We would have answered as Jews of the day, “The son of David.” Jesus would then quote (Psa 110:1 NIV) The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." If he is David’s Lord, how can he be his son? So Jesus unfolds, that he views himself as Adonai, the Lord, and the master. 

II.            What is my relationship to Adonai? 

How does the Lord view himself: (Deu 10:17 NIV) For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.   The Lord knows who he is. The problem is, do we his creature recognize him as our Lord and Master. Or do we say, “I am the master of my fate and the captain of my soul.”   (William Ernest Henley, “Invictus”)

            See each one of us needs to reflect if God and I are equals? Has God established me to live along side him with the right to argue with him and to disagree with him? God has had to deal with each of us in this matter. (Isa 45:9 NIV)  "Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, 'What are you making?' Does your work say, 'He has no hands'?  Do you struggle with things that have happened in your life and question if God really knows what he is doing? Do you find yourself envious of what God in his wisdom has chosen to give others and not to you?  (Rom 11:34-35 NIV) "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" How many times has God asked you for your advice on a situation? How many times have you told him what he should do?    {35} "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?" In others words, has God had to borrow money from you because he was short one week? He is Lord of lords and we are his servants. 

            When Cheri was out of work for 14 months, we found a song that brought comfort. It was a reminder that we are servants of the Lord of lords. (Signature Sound)

If this is what God wants
If this is what God says
Then who I am to doubt
Or try to figure out this circumstance?
If this is what God chose for me
In all His majesty
Then surely I can trust and lean
On what God says

Remember the Virgin Mary: (Luke 1:38 NIV) "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said."

            Sin wants to put myself in a new position, along side God or even above God. I wonder, “How can God and people serve me? How can I use God to make me happy?” Remember the devil’s temptation, “You shall be as gods.” Do you want to be free from your Lord and Master? Deny his right to control your life, consider yourself liberated to do what you please, you will find you have a new master. Sin has become the master in your lives. Where sin controlled us, makes the decisions and choices in life, we will find that we have not freedom, but we are slaves to sin. What a horrible task master! 

            There is another side to our lives as servants, that is the time of accountability of our service. Jesus told the story of three servants whom the master gave talents. (Matt. 25) One was given 5 gifts, another 2 gifts and another 1 gift. Jesus told them he had to go away but would come back.   On the day he came back the one with 5 gifts, had used them and increased it to 10, the one with 2 gifts had used them and now had 4 gifts. The last was scared, he was afraid he might loose that 1 gift and hid it. Jesus said to the one: 26 "His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed?  To the others he said, "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' …   Could you imagine Jesus telling a story, there were three people at Salem Lutheran Church who where given gifts from God? Not just three, rather each one of us has been given gifts for which we are responsible. These gifts, our time, talents, treasures, children, family…all aspects of our lives are accountable to the Lord. 

            See as servants of the Lord, we may look at our lives from our own perspective. We might be satisfied with how we have lived, what we are doing and how we used the gifts the Lord has given us.   The question we need to ask, how is our Lord and Master viewing the gifts he has given us? Do we somehow think we are not answerable to the master? What is the master, the Lord supposed to do with me? Here is where it is so important to understand that Jesus is the Lord. If we know the Lord only as the judge of the living and the dead, we would really be worried, for we know our own unfaithfulness. We would be like Joseph’s brothers…terrified of what would happen next. That is why we need not only the master, we need the Savior. Then our living is not out of fear, but we have known the love of the master, who died for the servant. When we realize that, and we have Jesus as Lord in our hearts, we find his love compels us not fear. Our service as servants is a privilege in the kingdom of the God of gods and Lord of lords. Through faith a life lived for Jesus will culminate with Jesus, Adonai, saying, well, done good and faithful servant. Amen.