In Christ Alone (1 John 5:1-6)
In 1996, I was a senior in college and home for spring break when the University of Kentucky Wildcats made the Final Four and then made it to the Championship Game. On Monday evening, my parents, brothers, and I gathered around our TV to watch Kentucky take on Syracuse. The game was close, but Mark Pope, the team captain, hit some important free throws near the end of regulation, and Kentucky won its sixth NCAA championship. I was over the moon; it was the first championship Kentucky won that I could remember.
I headed back to Alabama Tuesday morning, but I wanted some UK national championship gear. I stopped at the mall in Bowling Green, Kentucky (just north of Nashville), and went to the J.C. Penny’s just as they were opening. There was already a big line, and I had to wait while some clerks unboxed championship t-shirts. I bought a t-shirt, a UK jersey, and a copy of that morning’s Lexington Herald-Leader.
When I arrived on campus a few hours later, some close friends were standing outside the dorm. I started honking my horn and waving around my Herald-Leader which simply said in bold print: “Back on Top.” You better believe I wore that shirt to class the next day, and I wore my jersey around campus every chance I got.
I know that you Aggies and Cougars and Longhorns have never had the basketball elation we Kentucky fans have. However, how many of you Astro fans were over the moon when they won the World Series? Maybe you’ve been on cloud nine walking out of a basketball or football game. Maybe you starred on a high school team that won a championship. Maybe you worked on a political campaign, and you were quite pleased with the results. Maybe you earned an award at work and were elated.
But do you want real victory? Sports victories are fleeting—Kentucky has 8 national championships, but they haven’t fared well the past few years. Political victories are fleeting—a candidate is elected overwhelmingly this time just to be kicked out of office at the next election. Work victories are fleeting—someone younger and better comes along and you’re soon forgotten.
Would you like to have real victory in this world? Victory over your health—arthritis or neuropathy or cancer or high blood pressure or fatigue? Victory over politics—politics today has become vile and cruel where disagreements end friendships? Victory over war—we see the suffering of those in Ukraine and Israel frequently; we never know when this nation will be in another war? Victory over death—do you want to know that death is not the end but the beginning of rest in Jesus?
You can have that victory in Christ alone. In fact, John said: “Our faith in Christ alone overcomes the world.”
Scripture (1 John 5:1-6)
verse 1:
Families were seen as a unit in antiquity. You couldn’t love one member and hate another; you loved the whole family. Because Christians are God’s children, you cannot hate a fellow believer and love the Father.
verses 2-3:
We know we love God’s children when we love God and keep God’s commandments. What does keeping God’s commandments have to do with loving our fellow Christians? Simply put: When one follows God’s commandments, he treats his fellow believers lovingly.
- Romans 13:9.
- Galatians 5:14.
When I don’t steal from you, I’m obeying God and I’m loving you. When I don’t lie to you, I’m obeying God and loving you. When I comfort you in your hurt, I’m obeying God and I’m loving you. When I confront you with sin in your life, I’m obeying God and I’m loving you.
God’s “commandments are not burdensome.” The Greek term for “burdensome” means a heavy or oppressive burden. The Old Testament was exactly that: Peter called that law “a yoke . . . that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear” (Acts 15:10). But Jesus’s law is not so: We don’t have oppressive rules and regulations.
verse 4:
The one who has been born of God by believing that Jesus is the Christ overcomes the world. The victory which overcomes the world is our faith.
Notice carefully what John did here: He has been writing about brothers and sisters loving each other and thus loving and obeying God. He then said that what overcomes the world is “our faith.” It’s a common faith which we share as a family.
The ancients spoke of victory in military conflicts or athletic competitions or courtroom trials; whenever they spoke of victory, the victor faced some competition or test. The Christians to whom John wrote faced tests: Heretics proclaimed Jesus didn’t really come in the flesh, and these Christians might face persecution and even martyrdom. The way to ultimate victory over heresy, torture, and death was to cling firmly to the truth that Jesus is the Christ.
verse 5:
The one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God overcomes the world.
verse 6:
Jesus came “by water and blood.” John seems to have been dealing with two specific heresies here. One claimed Jesus was a mere mortal until the Christ descended on him at his baptism; the Christ then departed before Jesus died. The other heresy claimed that Jesus only appeared to be human; he was like an apparition and did not have flesh and blood. Jesus, however, came “by water and blood.” He certainly is the Christ, the God-man, who walked this earth. By believing that truth you find victory over this world.
Application
“Our faith in Christ alone overcomes the world.” How can you have that faith and gain the ultimate victory? If you want victory over the world, you must:
Accept
To overcome the world you must Accept—believe—that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God: “Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 Jn 5:5).
You absolutely must Accept Jesus as the Son of God. “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (Jn 6:29). “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:9). “This is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ” (1 Jn 3:23).
Since all of you believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, why even mention this necessity? Because your whole life is shaped by what you believe, and I want you to have a firm faith—with no doubt—that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God. That firm faith comes through Scripture: John 20:30-31. You cannot spend too much time in the Book! Read the Gospels, see Jesus’s humanity, see Jesus’s deity, and see your heart declare with no doubt, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Admire
To overcome the world you must Admire your fellow believers: “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments” (1 Jn 5:2).
You absolutely must Admire your fellow believers with real love. “Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another” (1 Thess 4:9). “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pet 4:8). “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us” (1 Jn 3:23).
Yes, this church is a place of love; you love one another so deeply. Continue to love each other that way! Choose someone in this church to whom you can demonstrate love this week: Send a card or a text, make a phone call, drop by and see how you can serve. Let that brother or sister know that you love him or her. Be there for him or her. “Keep loving one another earnestly.”
Conclusion
With your faith demonstrated through love you overcome the world. Do you need to overcome the world this morning?
This sermon was originally preached by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr., at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.