"I wrote to you, children, because you have known the Father. I wrote to you, fathers, because you have known the [One Who is] from the beginning. I wrote to you, young men, because you are strong and the Word of God is remaining in you and you have conquered the evil one."
-Reason #4: Children need a dad. It has been called the Dad Effect. From the very beginning, children with involved dads tend to be more emotionally secure (for the sake of conversation we’re just going to assume that dad is involved in primarily good and healthy ways - understanding of course that there are no perfect dads). These children are more confident, more sociable, more successful. Cuz Dad has their back. What better way then to grow as a person than to have a restored relationship with the Dad of dads, THE heavenly Father! To be able to relate to Him as Abba Father, call Him “Daddy” (if you like). The ultimate Dad Effect! John here reminds us his readers that we who have believed have come to know HIM. We know the Father. He is OUR Father. He is no longer some strange far-off deity, the God out there somewhere. He is here, the God IN HERE, in my heart, always present, never absent. God WITH us! No paternal absenteeism here. He is always with me, will never ever leave me. He comes to every game, every recital. Cheers me on - He’s my biggest fan! and He is able. He’s got this. No matter what life throws at me, He can handle it. So this whole forgiveness thing - no sweat. Like all little children who really do better when dad is around, Daddy is here, and NOTHING is too difficult for Him (Jeremiah 32.27). Letting go of wounds and missteps, boldly owning my own warts and boo boos, boldly coming out of hiding in the dark and into in the light - the confidence and security and freedom to be(come) who I have always been (re)created to be - is fueled by this awareness of God, my heavenly Father, incredibly present and deeply involved in my life, always, now and forever. I know the Father, and He is MY Father!
-Reason #5: Similar, almost identical to reason #2. The only difference is verb tense. John is not now writing - he wrote. He is saying, this is why I wrote to you, even tho as I write it is present for me, when you read this my writing (and reason for doing so) is past. Reasons 4-6 all use the (aorist) past tense instead of the present tense used in reasons 1-3. But John is not refering to some other letter which he authored previously. He is using what in writing is called the epistolary past. It is like coming home and finding a note saying, ‘went to the store’. The one who wrote that had not yet actually gone to the store when they wrote the note. The writer is putting themselves into the present tense of their future reader, but the sense is roughly similar. If the note instead said, ‘going to the store’, the meaning changes little. It is simply the author wishing to take their reader into consideration for some reason. John actually uses both tenses in this section - and we are not really sure why. But if nothing else, if John is simply restating what he said previously, he is doing so for emphasis. He wants to emphasize WHO these folks know. You know almighty God, the omnipotent Maker of heaven and earth and all that is in them. For all and everyone you know, take courage and rest assured that you know HIM.
-Reason #6: Back to the young men, those doers of daring deeds and mighty exploits. John says, ‘you are strong’. He adds that the Word of God is remaining in them, and that they have overcome the evil one (which is also a repeat - of reason #3). Yes, you are strong, young men, believers, you’ve got what it takes to get through this, to rise above this - and the secret to your power is not the samsonian length of your hair nor the size of your muscles but rather the size of your God. It is His mighty power unleashed in and through you as you take your stand on and in His Word. Is this not how Christ Himself found the power to resist and overcome all the temptation of the tempter in the wilderness? How He defeated the devil in the desert? It was the living and active Word of God. "It is written", He said. Over and over again. He took up the Sword of the Spirit (cf Ephesians 6.17, Hebrews 4.12), this Word which lights our path and nourishes our souls, which revives and sustains and guides us and makes us wiser than our teachers and our enemies. You want victory? You want success? You want power? You want fruit (and who doesn’t?) - it begins right here. Ground zero of the Christian faith. All that we are and all we believe, whatever we may become - it is all founded on this Word of God, these God-breathed living and active Scriptures which comprise our Bible. And here it is not enough to simply "know" the Word. The Word must be remaining in us. Abiding in us. Not taking an unceremonious back seat in our minds, mostly relegated to the bench, an after-thought, a little dab’ll do ya, leftovers regurgitated by the preacher once a week. Take pains, be absorbed in this Word (1Timothy 4.15). Meditate in it day and night, (Psalm 1.2, Joshua 1.8). Day and night. Every day. And every night. Impress it on your heart and soul and write it on the door of your house and the gates of your city. Hang it on your forehead and wrap it all up indoor gray matter. All up in there. Don’t let it depart from your mouth, tell it to your kids (Deuteronomy 11.18-20). Be super careful to do according to all that is written in it, do not turn from it to the right or to the left. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. You want to be ready for anything, for every good work? You want to grow in your faith, grow strong in your faith, like the young men to whom John is writing here? Let an abundance of God’s Word take up residence in your life. (2Timothy 3.16-17, Colossians 3.16, Romans 10.17). It all begins here. It’s not about some diploma hanging on my wall, some class I took in middle school, some sermon I heard last week or last Easter. It all begins again today, with fresh feasting on the Words of almighty God, milk and meat and bread for my soul, sustenance and power and wisdom for overcoming all the schemes of the enemy and all the brokenness the world will bring my way today. It all begins right here. The very words and Word of God. Abiding in me today. Let it be so.
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