Christ Died For God

"I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name's sake." 1 Jn 2:12

This is a radical verse. Christ died for God. God has really been proclaiming this idea to me as of late through His Word and through Godly men and I believe the reason why is twofold. First, my flesh is ever at war with my new nature in Christ. I am always in a tooth and nail battle against my own pride and so I believe the Lord to be using this verse to remind me that Christ’s death on the cross was not primarily for me but for God. What I mean by that is that the Lord died for and bought me upon the cross “for His name’s sake”. He died to please Himself, to honor Himself, to magnify Himself, to Glorify Himself. The cross was not about me it was about Him. It was to spread His glory, show Him to be righteous and just, demonstrate His attributes so that He may be famous upon the Earth.

Second, he is using this verse to demonstrate to me what is so very wrong with the preaching that occurs at so many seeker churches. They are missing a God-centeredness. They are dangerously close if not completely enveloped in empty moralism. Week after week, a verse or two is used to show their people how to be “passionate world changers” or “better husbands” or sadly “how to have better sex lives”. Is it bad to want to influence the world or be a better husband? Of course not, but the problem is with the lack of God-centered motivation. We should want to change the world or be a better husband so that the world will look at these deeds and hopefully glorify the Father. Changing the world to make it a better place is not my end, however, worship is. This is why I could never do any type of mercy ministry with non-Christians. If there is no Gospel in it then you are honestly wasting your time. I do it “for His name’s sake”. Anyone who teaches the Word should be proclaiming every single time to those they lead that for anything they do to have any real worth or purpose it must be “for His name’s sake” just as God forgave us for that very same reason.