In 1970, at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, several adoring fans unfurled a banner during an Elvis Presley concert. The banner read “Elvis, you’re the King!” Elvis saw the banner, stopped the concert and pointed at them saying, “No ma’am, there is only one King, and that is Jesus Christ.”
I must confess to you, however, that I am always troubled when we project worldly titles and claims onto God or Jesus. Such practice distorts our understanding of things earthly and divine. What’s next after this title, “Christ, the Chief of Police” or “Christ the Admiral”?
The question today is “King over what?” Paul’s letter to the Ephesians gives us a clue. The answer, of course, is King over the Church. But then we must ask, “What is the Church?” Please hold that question for a moment while we listen to Ephesians one more time. This time it is a more modern translation. (from Eugene Petersen’s The Message)
That’s why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the followers of Jesus, I couldn’t stop thanking God for you – every time I prayed I’d think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank, I ask – ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory – to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him – endless energy, boundless strength!
All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.
The Church is local. That is why I feel about you the same way that Paul does about his church at Ephesus. “When I heard of the solid trust you have in the Lord Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the followers, I couldn’t stop thanking God for you every time I prayed. You, Grace Episcopal Church in Muskogee Oklahoma ARE the Church. And I am very proud of you and thankful for you.
The Church is also global. It is the Baptists down the street, the house church with six people, the cowboy church, the Roman Catholic Church, Greek Orthodox in sunny Cyprus and the Lutherans in Scandinavia. It is also the collection of young people gathered in cities around the world to oppose injustice and oppression in our political and financial institutions, and it is the Africans who walked for miles to gather under a thatch roof for Sunday worship with 2,000 others.
Yes Elvis, you are quite correct. There is only one King.