Reflections with Andy - 1 John 5: 1-1-5 – It’s All About Jesus
What is it that defines our faith? Not any secondary doctrinal differences. Only Jesus
In this Friday reflection on 1 John 5:1–5, John’s simple declaration — everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God — becomes the starting point for a pastoral word about primary and secondary issues of faith. Doctrinal and denominational differences are real and important; the preacher is a convinced Wesleyan and isn’t pretending otherwise. But historically, the boundaries of orthodox Christianity have always been defined by two things: Jesus Christ and the Trinity. Everything else — baptism, communion, church governance, specific denominational doctrine — falls inside the sandbox, where there is plenty of room for disagreement among genuine brothers and sisters in Christ. Drawing on C.S. Lewis’s concept of “mere Christianity” and the Old Testament story of the shibboleth, the reflection lands here: faith in Jesus Christ is the password, the marker, the foundation. On Christ the solid rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand. It’s all about Jesus — and it’s dangerously easy to let it become about anything else.
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Good morning! Great to be with you on this Friday. Hope you’ve got a good weekend ahead. We don’t have anything too big going on — mostly working around the house. But Sunday afternoon at 2:00 we’re having a Family Fun Day here at Saint Matthew’s — inflatables, games, food trucks, the whole thing. We’d love to have you join us. And of course, I hope you find yourself in worship Sunday morning as we come together to praise our risen Lord.
Today we’re in First John chapter 5, verses 1 through 5:
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this: that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. That’s the marker. That’s the line. And I want to sit with that for a minute, because I think it’s something the church — particularly in the age of social media — really needs to hear.
One of the temptations we face constantly is taking secondary issues of faith and making them primary. What do I mean by that? I’m a United Methodist, a Wesleyan, and I subscribe to Wesleyan doctrine. My Baptist brothers and sisters and I have real disagreements — over baptism, over infant baptism, over who can baptize, over the nature of communion. My Catholic friends and I have disagreements over various things. Honestly, I have disagreements with fellow Wesleyans, even fellow United Methodists. And that’s fine. That’s actually how denominations come about — people who love Jesus and read the same Scripture and still land in different places on specific doctrinal questions.
But here’s what I want to be clear about: as important as those denominational and doctrinal differences are — and I do think they’re important, I wouldn’t be a United Methodist if I didn’t believe our doctrine is pretty great — they are not the foundation of Christianity. They are secondary issues. Important secondary issues, but secondary nonetheless.
C.S. Lewis wrote a book called Mere Christianity, and I love the concept behind it — what are the actual boundaries of orthodoxy? What is it that defines someone as a Christian? Historically, the church has always said it comes down to two things: Jesus Christ and the Trinity. The life, death, resurrection, ascension, and return of Jesus. His full humanity and full divinity. Who he is and what he did. The cross. The empty tomb. And the Trinitarian nature of God. Those have always been the walls of the sandbox, so to speak. Inside those boundaries, there is a lot of room to play. A lot of room for disagreement, for different traditions, for different expressions of the faith. But if you can’t confess who Jesus Christ is — if you can’t affirm the Trinity — then you’ve moved outside the historic boundaries of orthodox Christianity.
And that brings me to one of my favorite obscure Old Testament stories — the shibboleth. The Israelites were at war, and they needed a way to identify enemy spies among them. Their solution? They made people say the word shibboleth. The enemy soldiers, no matter how hard they tried, couldn’t pronounce it right. Their tongues just wouldn’t cooperate. So the word itself became the password — you were in or you were out based on whether you could say it.
Jesus Christ is our shibboleth. Faith in Jesus Christ — believing that he is the Son of God, that he lived and died and rose again, that he is Lord — that is the marker. That is the password. That is what defines orthodox Christianity and what defines who our brothers and sisters are.
And so when John asks, who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? — that’s it. That’s the answer. Not adherence to a particular denomination. Not agreement on every point of doctrine. Faith in Jesus. That’s what it’s about.
Wesley put it simply: if your heart has been warmed, give me your hand. If you’ve accepted Jesus, if you know him as Lord, if you’ve placed your life under his authority and you’re walking with him and growing in him — then you’re my brother or sister in Christ. Doesn’t matter what church you belong to.
It’s so easy for us to make it about something other than Jesus. And I’m not saying the other things don’t matter — they do. But on Christ the solid rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand. It’s all about Jesus, friends. It really is.
So today, let that be the defining mark of your life and your faith — not a secondary issue, however important it may be, but Jesus himself. Put your faith in him. Love him with everything you’ve got. And know that that is what truly matters.
Have a great weekend! We’ll pick back up Monday. See you then!