Reflections with Andy - 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11 – First Importance
Today, Paul tells us what is of first importance. What matters the most. It’s always, only Jesus. He is the primary thing. As important as other beliefs and doctrines are, they never replace Jesus
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul reminds the church of what is truly “of first importance”: Jesus Christ—his death for our sins, his burial, his resurrection, and his appearances to the witnesses. In today’s reflection, Andy explores what it means to keep the main thing the main thing in our faith. There are many theological questions and denominational differences that matter deeply to Christians, from baptism and Communion to predestination and spiritual gifts. But Paul reminds us that these things, important as they may be, are not all of equal importance. At the center of our faith is Jesus. Andy reflects on the importance of knowing what belongs at the center of our faith and being careful not to turn matters of secondary importance into the things that divide us.
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Good morning! It’s good to be with you on this Wednesday morning. I hope you’re doing well and enjoying your week.
Things are getting busy around here in Starkville. The college kids are going to be moving in soon, and we’re getting ready for all the ways we can serve the students who are coming into our community.
So if you’re around the Starkville area, I’d love for you to come worship with us. And if you’ve got a kid moving to Mississippi State, reach out to me. I’d love to connect with you and help your student find a community here at the church, at the Wesley Foundation on campus, or at one of the other churches in our area.
If there’s any way I can be of service, please let me know.
I was taking Popsicles to the Famous Maroon Band the other day, and I was talking with some of the parents afterward. Some of them were from Texas, and we started talking about what it’s like to be a band parent.
And I told them, “Look, if your kid needs something, let me know. I’m a band dad. Band dads have to look after the other band children.”
So we’re getting ready for a lot of new students around here, and I’m excited about what God is going to do in this community in the coming days.
Today we’re going to continue in 1 Corinthians, and we’re going to read 1 Corinthians 15:1–11.
This is a really, really important passage.
And you’ll see why.
Paul begins:
“Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you...”
And then he says something that I think is incredibly important:
“For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received...”
First importance.
I love that phrase.
Because Paul doesn’t just tell us what he believes. He tells us what is most important.
He tells us what belongs at the center.
And what does he say?
That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.
That he was buried.
That he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
That he appeared to Peter, then to the twelve, then to more than five hundred people, then to James, then to the apostles, and finally to Paul himself.
This is what Paul says is of first importance.
And I think that’s incredibly important for us as Christians to remember.
If you get out the United Methodist Hymnal, toward the back you’ll find a collection of creeds and statements of faith.
One of the ones we know best is the Apostles’ Creed.
You have the Nicene Creed.
And then you have other statements of faith and scriptural affirmations.
There’s a distinction between a creed and a statement of faith. A creed is a statement that has been affirmed by the broader Church, often through ecumenical councils. A statement of faith can be more specific to a particular denomination or tradition.
But one of my favorite things in the hymnal is when we get to those scriptural affirmations.
Because here Paul gives us something like that.
He says, “I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received.”
And then he tells us what that first importance is.
Jesus.
Jesus.
Jesus.
Jesus is the first importance.
Think about what Paul doesn’t mention here.
He doesn’t talk about tongues.
We’ve spent a lot of time talking about tongues over the last few days.
He doesn’t talk about spiritual gifts.
He doesn’t talk about worship styles.
He doesn’t talk about predestination.
He doesn’t talk about free will.
He doesn’t talk about baptism.
He doesn’t talk about Communion.
He doesn’t talk about all the things that Christians have spent centuries arguing about.
He says:
Jesus.
Jesus died for our sins.
Jesus was buried.
Jesus was raised from the dead.
Jesus appeared to his followers.
Jesus appeared to Paul.
That’s the first importance.
Now, that doesn’t mean that everything else is unimportant.
That’s an important distinction.
As a Wesleyan, as a United Methodist, there are things that matter deeply to me.
Baptism matters to me.
Communion matters to me.
The way we understand grace matters to me.
Our understanding of sanctification matters to me.
These are important things.
And other Christian traditions have things that are important to them.
If you’re Presbyterian, you’re probably going to have some strong opinions about predestination.
If you’re Baptist, you’re probably going to have strong opinions about baptism.
If you’re Pentecostal, you’re probably going to have strong opinions about speaking in tongues.
If you’re Episcopalian or Catholic, you’re probably going to have some very strong opinions about Communion.
And that’s okay.
These things matter.
But the question we have to ask is:
Are they of first importance?
Paul says no.
There is something that comes before all of those things.
Jesus.
Jesus is of first importance.
And I think that’s something we need to remember because we have a tendency as Christians to take things that are important—but secondary—and make them primary.
We take something that belongs in the second category and move it into the first category.
And when we do that, we can start dividing ourselves over things that Paul never said were of first importance.
We can become so focused on whether someone agrees with us about baptism or Communion or worship or spiritual gifts or some other theological question that we forget the thing that Paul says matters most.
Jesus.
There is room within Christianity for disagreement.
There is room for conversation.
There is room for theological exploration.
There is room for different traditions.
There is room for different understandings.
There is a lot of room inside the Christian faith.
But there are also boundaries.
When we talk about Christian orthodoxy—right belief—there are some things that have historically been understood as foundational.
The person of Jesus Christ.
The nature of God as Trinity.
Those are central boundaries of historic Christian belief.
But inside those boundaries?
Man, there’s a big sandbox.
There’s a lot of room to play.
There’s a lot of room to talk.
There’s a lot of room to disagree.
There’s a lot of room to learn.
There’s a lot of room to grow.
And I think that’s a beautiful thing.
But we’ve got to be careful.
Because social media and podcasts and the internet have given us an endless supply of things to argue about.
There are all kinds of cultural issues that people have decided are absolutely essential to being a Christian.
And some of those things may be important.
But they don’t necessarily rise to the level of first importance.
And that’s why it’s so important for us to know what actually is first importance.
Because if we don’t know what’s most important, we’ll eventually make something else most important.
And we’ll start fighting over things that were never meant to be the center of our faith.
Paul tells us what the center is.
Jesus Christ.
His death.
His burial.
His resurrection.
His appearing to his followers.
That’s the foundation.
And then Paul says something else that I love.
He talks about himself.
He says he’s the least of the apostles because he persecuted the Church of God.
But then he says:
“But by the grace of God I am what I am.”
I love that.
Paul knows that everything he has done has ultimately been because of God’s grace.
He says he worked hard, but it wasn’t really him.
It was the grace of God working through him.
And that’s where all of this comes together.
Because the foundation isn’t my ability.
It’s not your ability.
It’s not my theological understanding.
It’s not your denomination.
It’s not your preferred worship style.
It’s not even my particular understanding of Christianity.
The foundation is Jesus.
Jesus is the cornerstone.
Jesus is the foundation.
Jesus is what matters.
So let’s keep the main thing the main thing.
Let’s keep the first thing the first thing.
There will always be things that we disagree about.
There will always be theological questions that matter.
There will always be things that are important to us.
And that’s okay.
But let’s never let something of secondary importance become more important than Jesus.
Because Paul has already told us what is of first importance.
And it is Jesus Christ.
Jesus died.
Jesus was buried.
Jesus was raised.
Jesus is alive.
And Jesus is Lord.
That’s the main thing.
So let’s keep the main thing the main thing.
Thanks for being with me today.
I hope you have a great rest of your Wednesday.
Tomorrow we’ll pick up with the rest of 1 Corinthians 15, and Paul is going to spend some time talking about the resurrection—which, as you might imagine, gives us a lot more to talk about.
Thanks for being with me.
We’ll see you in the morning.