FOR THE SAKE OF THE NAME

I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name's sake.

(1 John 2: 12 NIV)

John has spent considerable time talking about how crucial love is between fellow believers. He had spent considerable time making it clear that any belittling of our siblings in faith slides toward a failure of love for them, which leads to the darkness of hate. The consequences of letting even slivers of hatred into our lives can be serious.

So suddenly, John stops and puts forward this reassurance. He gives it in a very loving voice, addressing the readers as “little children.” It is the warm voice of a gentle, beloved grandparent reaching out to scampering youngsters, drawing the lively, wiggling little bodies in to a sheltering hug.

“I am writing to you, little children....”

This is personal. This is loving. This is not generic, directed to just anyone who might be hearing. This reassurance is intended for the loved ones he has been speaking to, the loved ones who are listening to his words. He is speaking to all of us who have chosen to follow the Lord, for we are all of one family.

Many of us forget what it is to be loved in that warm, unconditional, sheltering way. For some, there was the misfortune of never having had that kind of love in their lives, due to abandonment, or abuse, or loss of family for whatever reason. For some, they have been struggling with survival on their own for so long, such blessings in the past have become frozen, static memories, gilded postcards locked away in storage, no longer conveying any sense of present love. Many of us get caught up in just getting through our lives, getting tangled in relationships where every exchange becomes registered in a Quid Pro Quo balance book.

John brings us back to this starting point.

We have a Father who loves us, unconditionally. We have fellow believers who love us as well. We have the assurance of that place. We can climb into the lap of that loving grandfather, and feel comfortable and safe in that haven.

But John doesn’t stop there.

“I am writing to you because your sins have been forgiven for His name’s sake.”

After spending so much time reminding us of the discomforts of being trapped outside community, of being cast into the outer darkness by our own dreadful negative attitudes and behaviors, John brings us the assurance that our sins have been forgiven.

Even though we can fall into the darkness of hating our brother, we need not stay there. Those errors have been forgiven.

He doesn’t say they will be forgiven.

He doesn’t say they can be forgiven.

He doesn’t say that there are conditions for us to receive forgiveness.

No.

He says, our sins have been forgiven. That task is done, completed. It is sitting there, waiting for us. All we need do is claim it, accept it.

John even tells us why it is there for us, ready and waiting.

We are forgiven “for His name’s sake.”

God Almighty, the Creator of the Universe, the Most Holy One, whose purity is so intense that we cannot approach it on our own because our own impurities, which are so deeply woven into our being, would be destroyed by that refining fire. We simply cannot come near to God on our own. We cannot remove our sins on our own, not well enough to get us into the presence of God.

And yet, we are allowed to climb into that loving, sheltering lap of divinity, for the sake of the name of Jesus. Because Christ has taken all the burden of sin upon Himself and has purged it by His suffering, we who have become His followers, who have taken up His name, we are given forgiveness and access to the full love of God.

For the sake of His name.

I know there are times when people feel this is too easy, and that the gift is abused. There are people who lay claim to the name of Jesus, and yet still continue to indulge their sins and hatreds. But John has already spoken to the matter of those who do not in reality let go of their inner darknesses. God is not fooled by our simply “claiming the name of Jesus.”

But there are also those who are serious about turning away from the sins and errors of their past, who yet feel that they have not earned that forgiveness. They feel that there should be some tasks they must do, so pains to suffer, in order to be given that free access to God’s love.

But none of us can earn it. We haven’t the capacity to earn it by right. There is nothing we can do that can wipe out a lifetime of small, petty evils done to those around us, as well as the bigger, more spectacular sins we all recognize. And when we face that and understand it, we realize what a tremendous gift God’s forgiveness is.

It was already earned for our sake, it was already paid for by Christ’s suffering, it was already accomplished by the One whom God the Father loves before all else: Jesus.

Little children, draw near. Climb into the lap of the Almighty God, for you will not be destroyed by His holiness. You have taken on the name of Jesus, and His blood gives you the protection. For the sake of the name of the Beloved of God, you are already forgiven. Know this. Believe this.