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| PDF - [Up] We’re going to continue in the series of the Names of God and what is in a name. I’m going to review. A name gives identity:
- who you are
- what you are
- what you do
Some of the names of God tell us:
- Who He is
- what He is
- what He is doing
It’s the same way with our names. Our names tell us who we are and in many cases who our parents were. What we are, because your name, yourself, or you have been named, or you named your children, for some significant thing. With our children we did. Our first one was a daughter.
We named her Debra. She died at nine months because she was born about six or eight weeks premature and never really took hold. We named the second child Jonathan, which means gift of God. His middle name is Daniel, which means God has judged. We did not know it, but at the time Debra died, Delores was pregnant with Jonathan. So, we named him Jonathan Daniel and that tells us what he is.
There are many different names and titles of what you do. It can be a job description or a title. It tells us what can be done or what you’re doing.
What is the greatest name you can have? In the first Names of God sermon we went through my name and the different things that I do and have done. What is the greatest thing that I could do as a human being? To be a father! That’s not to exclude people who do not or cannot have children. God says that there is a special blessing for them in that particular case.
What is the greatest name that you can have? The long and short of it is—of the names of God—the greatest name of God that you can use is Father! We will see as we go through this series, the greatest name of God is going to be Father, because we’re partakers of His Spirit. That is greater than any other relationship that we can have with God.
Let me just review the names of God that we have covered so far:
Elohim:
That comes from ‘Eloah,’ which means God loves in relation to covenant. God always loves in spite of circumstances. That’s why you have the parable of the prodigal son who comes home to the father. The father loves him in spite of what he’s done:
- squandered his money
- ruined his life
- ended up slopping the hogs
He came to himself and said, ‘I’m going to rise and go home. I’ll even just be a servant to my father because they even have food aplenty and I’m starving to death.’
He came home and was absolutely astonished that his father gave him the robe, called the feast, and said the son who was dead is alive. That is an attribute of God. He always loves. That’s why it says, ‘God loves the world!’
People say, ‘How can God love the world with all this misery going on, on the earth. The reason is, another name:
YHVH/Yahweh:
‘Yahweh’ is translated in some places in the King James Bible as ‘Jehovah.’ It’s also pronounced:
- short e: Ya-whay
- long e: Ya-whee
- short a: Ya-wha
- long a: Yo-who-a
- Ya
- Yo
All of those are different things of ‘Yahweh.’ This means that He loves in quality of relationship! That’s very important because it means there are certain things for certain people for doing certain things.
We have in the quality of relationship: truth and righteousness, light and judgment. God has to judge! That’s why the wages of sin is death. That is a judgment. Righteousness, as we see in the Old Testament—especially Deut. 28 and Lev. 26—all the way through shows that if you keep His commandments, which is righteousness, then you have blessings. Sin and iniquity: you receive a curse. Love and hate: God loves; God also hates. Yahweh must judge and must reward because He has proclaimed that He will!
Adonai: (this is the one we’ll have today)
‘Adonai’ means Lord or Master. This is a tremendous meaning for us in relationship to God and in relationship to our functioning with Him. I will also point out that with understanding this relationship—and many people do understand this relationship—it can become a difficulty if this is arrogated by a person to himself over other people. That’s why Jesus said, ‘Don’t be called masters,’ because master or lord is a very heavy title.
El Shaddai:
‘El Shaddai’ means God Almighty or the Pourer Forth of blessing or Pourer Forth of power and cursing.
El Elyon:
‘El Elyon’ means the Most High. God is Most High over everything. Even the Gentile nations who know not God still understand the Most High.
Let’s review a little bit more the names of God so that you can understand what we’re covering:
- God: ‘Elohim’
- LORD: ‘Yahweh’
- LORD GOD: ‘Yahweh Elohim’
- Lord GOD: ‘Adonai Yahweh’
- Lord: ‘Adonai’
Therefore, you can see in the interpretation of the word, where some Churches always say, ‘Lord Eternal.’
That does not necessarily mean that ‘LORD’ is the same as ‘Lord.’ ‘Yahweh’ does mean eternal, but it also means judge. ‘Adonai’ means lord or master. That is not only a title, but it is also a relationship that you have with God.
The greatest name of God is Father! I wanted to bring this and review it for you just to refresh your memory on what we’ve covered so far.
Some people think that one name of God is better than another name of God. That may or may not be necessarily be true. However, why does God have so many names in the first place? Because no view of God can be fully expressed by:
- one name
- one relationship
- one title
- one function
The fullness of God has many, many meanings and each of these express and bring out to us clearly another aspect of God. We are going to understand what it means concerning lord and master and servant and slave!
I think that when we come to the understanding of the fullness of what God wants us to learn, that this becomes very, very important. Let’s review what God wants us to learn. Eph. 3 is one of my favorite sections, but I think the more we go back to it the more we are going to learn from it. It tells us absolutely tremendous amounts concerning God and what God wants us to have.
What God Wants Us to Learn:
Ephesians 3:14: “For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord... [Master] ...Jesus Christ, of Whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named” (vs 14-15). That’s why the name of the Father is so important! That’s why He is going to give us a new name when we are resurrected.
Verse 16: “That He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory [grace]...” {note 2-Pet. 3:15-18[transcribers correction], about how Paul wrote many things ‘hard and difficult to understand’ but that we are to, ‘grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.’}
In order to grow in knowledge you must first grow in grace. {note sermon series: Grace of God} Grace is the whole relationship that we have with God. Grace is that relationship that means God accepts us:
- with our weaknesses
- with our faults
- with everything that we have as ourselves
Then He puts into us His Spirit, and once He puts His Spirit into us, then we are looked upon by God the Father as He looks upon Jesus Christ. That is the gift in grace!
“...to be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith... [you have to keep at that] ...and that being rooted and grounded in love...” (vs 16-18).
Notice every one of these steps that we take, going along, because people like to have more and more knowledge. People want to have knowledge, but without obligation. The more knowledge you have, the more obligation that you have and the more grace that you need. It’s just like a circle. It all fits together.
“...you may be fully able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses human knowledge...” (vs 18-19). To know that love of Christ, to really, fully comprehend:
- what Christ has done
- what He is doing
- what He is going to do
passes any knowledge that you can have of human knowledge on this earth. Obviously, that’s not talking about passing the knowledge of God. This is surpassing any human knowledge that you may have.
There are some mighty smart people out there in the world who know so many fantastic things, it’s incredible! The knowledge of what we have surpasses that.
“...so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now, to Him Who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that is working in us, to Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all generations, even into the ages of eternity. Amen” (vs 19-21).
Adonai—Lord/Master:
We need to re-orient our thinking just a little bit from what we have in America. In America we try and treat everyone equally and everybody becomes the boss. That creates great difficulties everywhere:
- in home
- in school
- in politics
It can’t be!
We need to think in terms so we can understand that some of the things that were practices in the old time, maybe have been a little bit different from what we think or have been propagandized into thinking. That is the relationship of a master and his slave, or a husband and his wife!
from: The Names of God in Holy Scripture by Andrew Jukes:
pg 112—Of old, both slaves and wives occupy any position somewhat different to what is accorded to wives and servants in the present day. The title, Adon, or Lord, whether is meaning master or husband, expressed a personal relationship, which involved rights of lordship and possession. The slave, or wife, were not their own, both—voluntary or involuntary—belong to and were the property of the lord.
We’re going to see something that is very important in our relationship to God.
1-Corinthians 6:19: “WHAT! Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, which you have within you from God, and you are not your own?” We have this kind of relationship. Understand, this is not the only relationship we have with God. This is one of the relationships that we have with God; not the entire one; this is part of it.
Verse 20: “For you were bought with a price....” That says an awful lot when we understand about what Jesus did, the crucifixion and all of that.
“...Therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (vs 20). They belong to God. This tells us something very important and this gives us a greater understanding as to how people come to God and how they come to Christ.
Remember the basic Scripture in John 6:44, that, ‘None can come to Me except the Father draw him’? You are “…bought with a price….” That’s the same analogy as buying a slave! We think today that hired servants, or hired personnel, are probably better than slaves. In some ways they may not be.
To give you an example: It’s reflected in the Trade Bill that passed in the Congress. The owners—who own factories, who hire people—are giving the workers a 60-day notice of closing. In the old relationship, with a purchased slaved that you owned, you had a greater relationship with that slave for his entire lifetime than you did with a hired servant who came in to work in the field.
You can go back and study some of the things concerning slaves in the Old Testament and there were slaves, who when it came time for them to be released, could go to their master and say, ‘Master, I do not want to be released,’ because he loved his master and the master loved his slave. I am sure there were many relationships like that, that the slave that was bought had a personal, dedicated, unwavering service to his master. That’s what we’re to learn from it!
That’s not to say that we should now re-institute slavery. I want you to understand that. There was a relationship that was learned there that we have in this particular situation.
In the slave, the relationship was binding quite irrespective of his own will. As a rule, he or his parents, were either purchased for money, or were captives taken from an enemy. For in those days, there were but two ways of dealing with captives in war: Namely, either putting them to death or reducing them to slavery. In the case of the wife, though she, too, generally was given or sold by her father, there might be more of the element of free will. For the woman, as we see in Rebecca’s case, might be asked, “Will you go with this man?” But once a man’s wife, she was his for life, unless she was put away for some evil in her or for some unfaithfulness.
With their own will, however, or without it, slave or wife stood in a relationship of subjection to their own lord, where faithfulness received due honor and reward, where unfaithfulness was no less surely to be visited upon with just judgment.
We can learn from this. However, there is an obligation that comes. We can say surely, we don’t sell daughters for wives today, in America. They still do in some parts of the world and surely, there have been some contrived things between fathers and mothers for their own political or personal benefit in selling a daughter or making sure that the daughter marries a certain son.
When you take out all of the things that are negative from it, we go to 1-Peter 3 and we find a relationship stated here for us that was one that God would like to have. There are two things that we know in this relationship, and it concerns Sarah and Abraham.
- Is it ever recorded that Abraham did Sarah dirty? No!
- Is it ever recorded that because she was in subjection to him that he beat her up? No!
Take all of these modern psychology negatives out of your mind when we’re reading this. Just think how much better our homes would be and lives would be if, there was this kind of relationship with husband and wife in a proper way.
1-Peter 3:1: “Likewise, you wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, even if any are not obedient to the Word, through the behavior of the wives they may be gained without a word, having witnessed your chaste behavior carried out with reverence; whose adorning, let it not be the external adornment of braiding the hair, or wearing gold jewelry, or dressing in costly clothing; but let your adornment be the inward person of the heart, manifested in the incorruptible jewel of a meek and quiet spirit, which is of great value in God’s sight” (vs 1-4). This tells us the kind of attitude we need to have toward God.
Verse 5: “For in this way also the Holy women of the past who hoped in God...” There is the key. You cannot have a relationship like this unless both of you trust in God, because then, neither relationship is going to be taken advantage of!
The one who is the husband is not going to take advantage of the relationship with his wife and say, ‘I am your lord and your master!’ That’s not what it entitles you to. With this kind of mutual respect and love it says:
Verse 6: “Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord... [The Hebrew word for ‘lord’ is ‘Adonai’ or ‘Adon’, meaning: master.] ...and you are her children, if you are doing what is right, and are not frightened by any intimidation. Likewise, you husbands, dwell with your wives according to knowledge, as with a weaker vessel, giving them honor as women, and as joint heirs of the grace of life so that your prayers may not be cut off” (vs 6-7.)
This is the kind of relationship that God wants us to have in this, where it is mutually up building and mutually growing. That is what it should be with God and with Christ. It is also one where it is not contentious. It’s not like the world. The world wants to do it’s own will.
I’ll just mention this one Scripture, Judges 21:25: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did what was right in his own eyes.” There is another aspect of the master and the slave that is very important: Whose will does the slave do? The will of his master!
That’s why it becomes such a terrible thing in wrong human relationships, if there is a slave relationship, because the slave is taken advantage of, beaten, and bruised. However, in today’s society with the union it gets to the point where the hired servants beat and brutalize the employer. It works both ways. No human relationship is perfect. What we want to do is understand our relationship with God in this ‘slave/master’ relationship!
Here’s what we are talking about in relationship to this. I’m sure you all know how this will feel. That’s why childrearing is not all that it’s cracked up to be, nor does it necessarily work out the way that it has been prescribed to be. Each child is an individual, free moral agent and what applies to one does not apply to the other. If you have more than one child you know. What you did to one, you don’t do to the other to get the same results that you wanted. It’s entirely different.
Some children, the only way you can handle them is a lot of discipline and spankings. Others, all you have to do is kind of look cross-eyed at them and they get the point. I can’t say that boys are harder to raise than girls. Girls have their own way, which is a little different than boys.
Our boys have had to have a whole lot more discipline and spankings. I don’t think that our daughter has had more than three or four spankings in her entire lifetime. That doesn’t mean that she is necessarily better, and when our children do things that aren’t right we grieve.
Now, think of God Who has created humanity. Think of God Who called Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all of Israel. Those are the people of all the earth that He has chosen, and what do they do?
Isaiah 1:2: “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken, ‘I have reared and brought up children, but they have rebelled against Me.’” You just go back and read what the children of Israel did and the kings of Israel did, one after another: righteous/wicked, righteous/wicked. I can see how that is. Children go up to their parents and say, ‘What gives you the right to be right?’ Sure they do!
Verse 3: “‘The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib; but Israel does not know Me; My people do not understand.’Ah, sinful nation, a people burdened with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD; they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger; they have gone away backward. Why should you be stricken any more?” (vs 3-5). This shows us what we are talking about when there is the wrong relationship.
Psalm 12 is almost a prophesy and an indictment of today’s society. It is so true! You can see it almost everywhere you go. You can see it on television; you can read it in the newspapers.
Psalm 12:1: “Help, O LORD, for the Godly man ceases; for the faithful disappear from among the children of men. They speak falsehood each one with his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaks proud things, who have said, ‘With our tongue we shall prevail; our lips are our own; who is lord over us?’” (vs 1-4).
I submit, if you want to know how that works, just look at San Francisco. That whole city is the result of everyone going his own way and doing his or her own thing. No one is lord or boss over them and everything is collapsing around them It’s going to be a sad day, indeed!
Verse 5: “‘For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, I will now arise,’ says the LORD. ‘I will set him in safety from him who puffs at him.’” In other words, God is going to intervene and take care of us.
Psalm 14:1: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God!.…’” I saw a little excerpt of a program on television where this teacher was trying to teach about creation and God. There was this ‘smart aleck’ out in class. They know how to tear apart religion. They don’t have the answers. They wouldn’t dare put it on television. This smart aleck says, ‘I don’t believe in God. Who made God? Where’d He come from?’ Could you answer that question? He says, ‘I’m an atheist and proud of it. I don’t believe in miracles.’ The teacher went up and said, ‘You’re a miracle.’ That was the teacher’s best answer. How can you answer that question?
If men had not turned their backs on God, they would know where He came from! The evidence around points to a Creator, but in order to understand your Creator you have to do what He says. Then you can begin to understand. The rebellious will never understand.
“...They are corrupt; they have done abominable works, there is none who does good. The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside...” (vs 1-3).
Here is part of our relationship with God. This shows the lord and the servant relationship, Matthew 6:9: “Therefore, you are to pray after this manner: ‘Our Father Who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name... [the Father] ...Your kingdom come; Your will be done...’” (vs 9-10). That is the servant’s desire, to do the will of the Father in Heaven!
There is a movie that is an abominable movie about Jesus. Some of the fundamentalists are up in arms about it. They are going to show Jesus in His last temptation. Part of it is going to be that He was tempted by Mary Magdalene, to lust after her. Even one book says:
- Jesus never died but married Mary Magdalene
- they ran off to southern France after His supposed resurrection
- they had children
and that comes down into the line of the Hapsburgs today
We’re to have not that attitude, but this attitude: “Your will be done...” (vs 10) That’s what Jesus said before He was crucified. It’s going to help us understand a whole lot more about what Jesus did. In that sense, let’s see how we are to have our minds set.
Here is how we are to have this relationship with God. As a servant, we are to do the will of our Master! Proverbs 3:5: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart... [there is the trust and there is that faith] ...and lean not to your own understanding.” In other words, don’t do your will. Don’t be like the people in the world who are going to execute their will. Because they have free choice, ‘No one’s going to tell me what to do’ type of attitude.
There comes a time when you need to have that. When someone is encroaching upon your faith, you don’t let them leverage this meek attitude against you, to do you in. I’ve heard this used against me. I’ve heard people say, ‘You’re a Christian’—that’s how they start out—‘You shouldn’t be angry.’ I said, ‘Even God, Who is God, gets angry when there’s something that’s not right!’ That’s how they will leverage it against you.
Verse 6: “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” We’re not dealing in a master/slave relationship as human beings would think of it. We’re dealing in a Master/ servant, Father/son and children of God relationship, which is entirely different. Of that, we’re not seeking our own will. We’re seeking the will of the Father.
Verse 7: “Do not be wise in your own eyes...” That’s the first step that leads to self-will. You do something and it works pretty good. Then someone comes along and says, ‘You’re pretty smart,’ or whatever the case may be.
I was watching the news about this high school in San Francisco—Balboa High School—it’s been having a lot of problems. All of the ones who were problems got up and said, ‘We’re not problems.’ The teacher gets out there and says:
- You must trust in yourself!
- You must believe in yourself!
- You must have pride!
- We are the ones!
I thought, for human beings, that sounds great. That is exactly what has led to the problem that they have! They’re trusting in their own selves. They’re trusting in their own eyes. The message should have been:
- Trust in God!
- Trust in Christ!
- Trust in yourself only as you trust in God!
I had a discussion with my son. He says, ‘What’s the matter Dad? Don’t you trust me?’ That’s always the first step—isn’t it?
Haven’t we all violated the trust of our parents? Yes! Haven’t we all said, ‘What’s the matter? Don’t you trust me?’ I answered my son this way. I said, “I trust you, but I don’t trust your human nature. I don’t even trust my own human nature.’ That’s how you answer that. The way you do it is following Prov. 3.
Psa. 40 is a prophecy of what Christ was to do. We’ll look at a couple of things that Jesus said of Himself. Psalm 40:8: “I delight to do Your will, O My God...” That was His delight. What did Jesus say of Himself? ‘Of My own self, I can do nothing.’ Why? Because He came as a slave doing the will of His Father, that’s why!
“...and Your Law is within My heart. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation; lo, I have not kept back my lips, O LORD, You know. I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not hidden Your loving kindness and Your Truth from the great congregation” (vs 8-10).
Here’s a whole prophecy of Jesus Christ. I still want to go through the book of Psalms and pick out everything that has to do with Christ and His own personal life. Why was David a man after God’s own heart, even though he was told in another place that he was a bloody man and couldn’t build the Temple? Because he was able to receive all of the prophecies, all of the feeling and all of the innermost thoughts of what was prophesied to us of how Jesus would live, suffer and die! No one else who received that but David. A few of the prophets did somewhat, but not like David!
This is the prophesy that was recorded in Psa. 40; Heb. 10:9: “Then He said, ‘Lo, I come to do Your will, O God.’….” When you have a master and a slave, or a lord and a servant, there are obligations. There are unending obligations that must be taken care of.
Obligations of the Master:
Let’s see what God’s obligation is to us! Let’s think for a minute of the marriage ceremony. What does the husband, who in this case we will say ‘lord’ promise to do? Do you faithfully promise to provide, take care of, to nurture and to sustain your wife? Yes! There’s an obligation!
It’s the same way with God. Once He buys us, once we are purchased with the blood of Christ, God has an obligation to us. We have an obligation back to God! Here’s one of the main obligations, and yet, promises that we can claim.
Hebrews 13:5: “Do not allow the love of money to influence your behavior, but be satisfied with what you have; for He has said, ‘In no way will I ever leave you; no—I will never forsake you in any way.’” Of course, we know in the Greek it means I will not, I will not ever, never leave you or forsake you.
Think for a minute! How long would your marriage last if there was always the threat of divorce? Think what a terrible relationship it would be if you never knew whether that husband or wife would stay with you.
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As a matter of fact, in my own life before I ever went to Ambassador College, I lived through a situation where my mother divorced my father. This did one thing to me, mentally. That was I would never allow myself to go through that. Not knowing God, not knowing anything about the Bible or the Church, in my own mind I was thinking how I could keep all of my worldly possessions in some other name. Can you imagine if I ever married with that mental attitude what kind of marriage it would have been?
Once we are Christ’s, what does He say? He says, ‘I will lose none but the son of perdition.’ That is a promise! That is God’s obligation, plus the many other obligations. What does a master promise to provide his slave? Everything he needs! Not necessarily, everything he wants, but everything he needs.
Verse 6: “So then, let us boldly say, ‘The Lord is my Helper, and I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’”
Let’s see a promise given. There are several promises given in Luke 11. This one has to do with:
- being provided for
- doing the will of God
- understanding how to approach God in all circumstances
Luke 11:9: “And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives...” (vs 9-10). ‘For everyone who is asking is receiving; it’s a continuous, on-going thing.
“...and the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, it shall be opened” (v 10). Then the disciples immediately wanted to know, ‘Lord, what kind of guarantee do we have of this?’
Jesus says, v 11: “But which of you who is a father, if a son shall ask for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he shall ask for a fish, will give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he shall ask for an egg, will give him a scorpion?” (vs 11-12).
This next verse is a classic verse. This says it all about human nature and about our good intentions, etc. He told this to his disciples. In some ways, you might think that this is a little insulting. If I said it to you in the same way, someone might get mad at me. Since Jesus said it, that’s okay:
Verse 13: “‘Therefore, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father Who is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?’” Obviously, that is not just concerning those small few things. It’s not just concerning the Holy Spirit alone, but everything that is involved in that relationship of God.
2-Samuel 7 is a tremendous chapter. I’ll summarize a little bit of it for you. This is where David was sitting, dreaming, pondering and thanking God for all the things that God had done for him. David said: ‘Lord, I’m in this house of cedar and you dwell in a tent. I want to build a house for You. I want to build a temple for You.’
Nathan came and said, ‘God says you can build it but He is going to build a house for you, David.’ With the tremendous blessings that were given, here’s David’s response:
2-Samuel 7:18: “Then King David went in and sat before the LORD....” This shows that you don’t have to get on your knees every time you pray. What does it mean, ‘sat down before the Lord?’ There was a little tent that had the Ark in it, so he just sat down in front of that and started talking to God.
“...And he said, ‘Who am I, O Lord GOD?... [ ‘Lord’—Master, Adonai. In this case: Adonai Yahweh.] ...And what is my house, that You have brought me here? And this was yet a small thing in Your sight, O Lord GOD. But You have spoken also of Your servant’s house... [here’s that relationship: servant/master] ...for a great while to come. And is this the manner of men, O Lord GOD? And what can David say more to You? For You, O Lord GOD, know Your servant. For Your word’s sake, and according to Your own heart, You have done all these great things to make Your servant know’” (vs 18-21). Notice the attitude that David had. Notice what God gave him and the tremendous promise.
I’ll tell you one thing, if we all approach God with this kind of attitude and this kind of willingness to God, think how that pleases God. That’s a tremendous thing. Let’s reverse it a little bit. How astonishing it is when your children come to you and a right, nice, kind and good attitude and do something that you totally do not expect! What are you willing to do for them? Anything they ask, as long as it’s right!
Here David is overwhelmed! He said, v 22: “Therefore, You are great, O LORD God. For there is none like You, neither is there any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And what one nation in the earth is like Your people, like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to Himself, and to make Him a name, and to do for You great things and awesome things, for Your land, before Your people, whom You redeemed to You from Egypt, from the nations and their gods?” (vs 22-23).
That’s interesting. “…redeemed to You from Egypt, from the nations and their gods.” Can you imagine what would happen to this nation if truly a President got up and said words like these? Can you imagine? Just view the political scene with this in mind. It’s so much vanity, wish-wash and terrible stuff.
Let’s see the attitude of Daniel. We know that even after all the blessings that God gave Israel and God gave Judah:
- they turned their backs on God
- they went their own way
- they did their own thing
- they committed their idolatry
and all their abominable things which they committed they were carried off into captivity. Here, it’s getting down toward the end of their captivity. Daniel was taken captive. He’d been working with King Nebuchadnezzar. Babylon fell. Cyrus and Darius took over the kingdom and the city of Babylon.
Daniel 9:1: “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes...” This was right toward the end of Daniel’s life and right toward the end of the captivity. I don’t know whether it was 60 years into the 70-year captivity, or not. I don’t know exactly.
“...who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans. In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years, which came according to the Word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.” (vs 1-2). Daniel didn’t understand it until he finally read it in Jeremiah.
Verse 3: “And I set my face toward the LORD God [Adonai Yahweh], to seek by prayer... [a humble servant attitude, that’s what this pictures; tremendously humbled in this] ...and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the LORD my God and made my confession, and said, ‘O LORD, [Adonai] the great and awesome God, [Elohim] keeping the covenant and mercy to those who love Him, and to those who keep His commandments’” (vs 3-4). What a tremendous prayer!
Verse 5: “We have sinned and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, and have turned aside from Your commandments and from Your ordinances. Neither have we hearkened unto Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our rulers, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. O LORD righteousness belongs to, You, but to us confusion of face, as at this day to the men of Judah and to the people of Jerusalem, and to all Israel who are near and who are afar off, through all the countries where You have driven them because they dealt treacherously with You.’” (vs 5-7).
Then he says, v 9: “To the LORD our God belong mercies and forgivenesses even though we have rebelled against Him.”
Notice the last part of this plea, v 17: “And now, therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and cause Your face to shine upon Your sanctuary that is desolate for the LORD’S sake. O my God, incline Your ear and hear.... [even David said that when he was in trouble] ...Open Your eyes and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name. For we do not present our supplications before You on account of our righteousnesses, but because of Your great mercies. O LORD... [That is: Master, Adonai.] ...hear; O LORD [Adonai], forgive; O LORD, hearken and do. Do not delay, for Your own sake, O my God; for Your city and Your people are called by Your name” (vs 17-19).
After that great and eloquent prayer of humility, God gave him the prophecies of the coming of Jesus Christ. Fantastic answer!
Obligations of the Servant:
Let’s look at some of our obligations in relationship to God. In a way, the lord/master relationship is kind of like going to war. When you’re drafted or volunteer for the army, either one, then you do what you’re told. That’s just the way it is. You don’t have to go out and buy your tanks, planes, guns, or whatever; that’s all provided. You don’t have to go out and buy your shoes or your clothes; that’s all provided. In an analogy, that’s how God provides for us!
2-Timothy 2:1: “Therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, these things commit to faithful men, such as will be competent to teach others also. You, therefore, endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one who is serving as a soldier becomes involved in civilian pursuits, so that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier” (vs 1-4). There is that relationship to do the things that are pleasing in God’s sight.
Here, in Eph. 1 is the lord/servant relationship within the Church. This becomes very important. Here is the key to never forget: You are no man’s servant! You are no man’s slave! Because you are the servant and slave of God, it gives no man the right to use that against you for his own benefit! That’s where the Churches have gone wrong. They tell people to have a submissive attitude and then they turn around and use it for their own end, rather than turning them to God. Here’s the thing to always remember:
Ephesians 1:20: “Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,far above every principality and authority and power and lordship, and every name that is named—not only in this age, but also in the age to come; for He has subordinated all things under His feet...” (vs 20-22). Jesus is the Lord! That’s why Jesus said, ‘Why call you Me Lord, Lord and do not the things which I say.’
“...and has given Him to be Head over all things to the Church” (v 22). Christ is the Head! Ministers are also told to not be self-willed (Titus 1). Too many times, ministers take their own will and stamp the name of God on it. That is one of the biggest difficulties that comes along with this kind of attitude. It has to be toward God!
Here’s the attitude we are to have toward people. Here’s what the slaves—the bona fied, real live, purchased slaves—who were in the Church of God at Ephesus, were told by Paul.
Ephesians 6:5: “Servants... [‘doulous’—slave] ...obey your masters according to the flesh with reverence and trembling, in singleness of heart, as unto Christ; not merely with eye service, as do pleasers of men; but as servants [slaves] of Christ,doing the will of God from the heart” (vs 5-6). That’s how this relationship to God is to be—willingly!
Verse 7: “Do service with goodwill, as to the Lord, and not to men; knowing that whatever good each one has done, this shall he receive from the Lord, whether bond or free. And masters... [those who own slaves] ...do the same things toward them, forbearing threatening; knowing also that your own Master is in heaven, and there is no respect of persons with Him” (vs 7-9). It shows the obligation going both ways. That’s very important!
What Does God Expect of Us?:
Here’s what we are to do with this kind of attitude. It is the attitude and relationship that we are looking to. It should be used in a mutually beneficial and up-lifting way.
Romans 12:1: “I exhort you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, Holy and well pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service.... [God doesn’t expect things to be done that are unreasonable] ...Do not conform yourselves to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind in order that you may prove what is well pleasing and good, and the perfect will of God” (vs 1-2).
You see how this kind of relationship and this attitude fits into what we’re doing toward God and toward each other. That’s why we like to call ourselves the ‘no hassle’ church. We don’t want any hassles. We don’t want anybody beating up on anybody or leveraging against anybody. We just want to do what is here in Rom. 12: serve God, do what is right and love each other.
Colossians 4:12: “Epaphras, a servant of Christ who is from among you, salutes you. He is always striving for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.” That’s why we should have that relationship.
Let’s understand what Jesus did. In the Old Testament He was the Lord; He was the Master! Did He not say at the last Passover, with the foot-washing, ‘If I, your Lord and your Master, have washed your feet, you are duty-bound to wash one another’s feet?’ Then He said, ‘It is sufficient that the disciple be as the master.’ That shows that we are to grow unto that grace and understanding.
- What did God give up?
- The One Who was the Master, what did He do?
Philippians 2:5: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.” (vs 5-6). We know through all the rest of the Scriptures that before He came to the earth, He was, in fact, God!
Verse 7: “But emptied Himself, and was made in the likeness of men... [divested Himself of all of the names of God] ...and took the form of a servant”—‘doulous’; the same as a slave. He did not do His will, but the will of the Father. He sought not His own will, but what God wanted.
Verse 8: “And being found in the manner of man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Isn’t that something what God did? It wasn’t some little, small excursion down here to the earth because God was good. God humbled Himself! God took upon Himself the form of a servant!
Can you imagine that in your own mind? I don’t know who we could think of today to draw an analogy of that. I suppose I could imagine Lee Iacocca going down and cleaning the toilets down in the latrines. I could imagine his doing that. He’s the kind of guy that would do it. I could not imagine some one like Rockefeller coming down and:
- eating rice with the natives
- hunched over on his hunches
- wearing a loincloth
- eating with his hands
That I could not feature!
What God has done is greater than that. The One Who created the whole world, made everything that there is, came down and was a slave!
- Wasn’t He a slave to everyone?
- Didn’t He heal the sick?
- Didn’t He cleanse the lepers?
- Didn’t He preach the Gospel?
- Didn’t He do everything, as the Father has said?
Just before He was crucified, He said, ‘Father, I have finished the work that You gave Me to do.’ Fantastic!
Verse 9: “Therefore, God has also highly exalted Him and bestowed upon Him a name, which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of beings in heaven and on earth and under the earth, And every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord...” (vs 9-11).
- He is Master!
- He is Boss!
- He is Ruler!
- He is over all!
...to the glory of God the Father” (v 11).
One small admonition for us, v 12: “So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God Who works in you both to will and to do according to His good pleasure” (vs 12-13).
That is the meaning of the word of the name of God, Adonai! There are literally thousands of other Scriptures we could use, go through, and show different examples. Remember, that God is there and His obligation as Master is to take care of the ones that He has purchased!
- you don’t have to fear
- you don’t have to worry
- you don’t have to be concerned
- God knows that this life is going to have it’s ups and it’s downs.
- God knows that there are going to be times of trauma and crisis.
- God knows there will be times of joy and help.
Adonai, our Master—our Ruler—is there to help us in all circumstances!
All Scripture from The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, A Faithful Version by Fred R. Coulter.
Scriptural References:
- Ephesians 3:14-21
- 1-Corinthians 6:19-20
- 1-Peter 3:1-7
- Judges 21:25
- Isaiah 1:2-5
- Psalm 12:1-5
- Psalm 14:1-3
- Matthew 6:9-10
- Proverbs 3:5-7
- Psalm 40:8-10
- Hebrews 10:9
- Hebrews 13:5-6
- Luke 11:9-13
- 2-Samuel 7:18-23
- Daniel 9:1-7, 9, 17-19
- 2-Timothy 2:1-4
- Ephesians 1:20-22
- Ephesians 6:5-9
- Romans 12:1-2
- Colossians 4:12
- Philippians 2:5-13
Scriptures Referenced, not quoted:
- Deuteronomy 28
- Leviticus 26
- 2-Peter 3:15-18
- John 6:44
- Titus 1
Also Referenced:
Sermon Series: Grace of God
Books:
- The Names of God in Holy Scripture by: Andrew Jukes
FRC:nfs
Transcribed: 03-14-14
Proofed: bo—3-21-14
