Elvis Presley broke into the music scene in the mid to late 1950’s.  Now I know that there are some of you in the congregation that remember that.  Some of you probably even watched him on television or remember the first time that you heard “Heartbreak Hotel” or “Hound Dog” on the radio. Some of you might even have seen him live. From the late 50’s into the 60’s all the way to his death in 1977, he was known as the king.  Elvis Presley the king of rock and roll.  Having not been alive in that era, I’m not sure that I can understand what it was like.  I mean I get the cheering crowds of fans wherever I go, but I don’t know what it would be like living during that time.  Elvis was like a modern day king.  The popular ruler of music, television, and movies.  The king of a new era in America.  He reigned over a time of cultural upheaval in this country, a time of uncertainty.  In a world that was constantly changing and being reformed by politics, technology, and war, Elvis, the king, was a constant.  Love him or hate him, he was popular.  And judging by the people who are even today adoring fans he touched many lives and gave some measure of meaning to those lives.  As long as they could love and adore him, scream at his concerts or television appearance, and cry at his death, their lives had added meaning.  They were a part of something larger than themselves.  This is what it meant for Elvis to be king not just of rock and roll, but perhaps the world.

          We are gathered here in this place because of another King, the one True King, Jesus Christ the King. Ruler, leader, beneficent giver of all the world.  King of everything that is, has been, and will be.  “All things have been created through him and for him” our reading tell us.  He is truly the king over which there is no other higher king.  I find it hard describe Jesus’ as king both because of the context we live in and often we do not think about Jesus as king.  We live in an American context.  The representative democracy we have was created particularly to protect against this king business.  We are ruled by divided power.  The president does not have all the power.  Neither does congress or the supreme court. And even those levels have divided power.  No one person has all the power, so it is difficult for us to comprehend that vast amount of power that a king would have: all the power of the president, congress, supreme court and all the other elected leaders rolled into one.  That would get us closer to the notion of a king.  But not Jesus Christ the King.  For all the power that a regular king might have pales in comparison to the power of Jesus Christ.  Additionally, we have the difficulty of all of Jesus’ other titles: Son of God, messiah, rabbi, teacher, friend, Alpha/ Omega, prophet, priest just to name a few.  With all of that we have difficulty figuring out how this kingliness of Jesus fits in.  In this sermon today, I want us to figure that out together.

          As Paul writes from prison to the church in Colossae, a church he did not fond nor has ever visited, Paul is working to try to convince them of the kingly rule of Jesus Christ.  I have said before that when Jesus Christ came the Jews, they were not looking for a messiah like the one they got.  They were looking for a king like the Old Testament David.  A strong leader to take control, to lead, to fight, to free, to give order and new meaning to life.  Instead, they got Jesus Christ, the crucified Lord.  The people in Colossae were searching for something too.  They were looking for meaning.  Colossae was in the midst of cultural upheaval like the one the United States faced during the 60’s and 70’s when Elvis was king but to a much larger degree.  Alexander the Great had destroyed the city-states in the west and then went on to destroy the empires in the east.  That was three hundred years before Christ.  The effect of that cultural and political and spiritual upheaval was still being felt three hundred years later.  Everybody had lived under the Greek rule and the Romans, but nobody really belonged to those empires.  This time period bred a flourishing culture of philosophy and spirituality, the likes of which the world would not see again until this modern age.  Everybody seemingly was trying to figure out what to believe and whom to belong to.  Colossae was a once great city on the decline.  Ravaged by earthquakes many of the residents had moved to the somewhat safer city of Ephesus.  They were looking for structure and meaning in their lives.  The threat to Colossae that Paul finds was the search for this structure and meaning in philosophy, prophets, and secret groups.  In his letter, as we read here, Paul argues for the centrality and kingship of Jesus Christ.  He basic argument is, “why would you follow them when everything goes in and through Jesus?”  He is the head, the firstborn, the image of the invisible God, he is before all things, everything was created for him.  He is it.  So why chase after these other people?  Believe in Jesus Christ.

          And this is the place where Paul really drives home this Christ the King stuff for us.  It is not just that Jesus is the first, the head, all of that, it is that Jesus is all of those things for us.  For us!  Paul starts this passage telling us the difference this should make for us.  Our strength in this world comes from his glorious power.  We can endure anything and everything because of this strength and power.  Paul goes on to say that the Father has “rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” And that “through him [Jesus] God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things.”  This is why this matters to us.  Jesus Christ the King of all things is able to reconcile all things to God.  This is why Paul is so concerned about Colossae.  They are trying to find meaning and redemption through other means.  And there aren’t. As the one king, Jesus is the way,  the sufficient way, the only needed way.  In Jesus Christ life, death, resurrection, in Jesus Christ’s love for us, we are reconciled to God.  All we have to do is believe.  And we are strengthened in the belief also because Jesus is King.

          There is an important corollary to all of this: we are not the king.  If all of those other things in life are not the most important, are not the king, and Jesus Christ is the king, we are not the king.  What an incredible burden is lifted off of our shoulders.  We are not the ultimate controller of our lives.  We cannot save ourselves.  We do not have to search out there for an alternate God or prophet or knowledge that will make our lives better.  We have it, we have it here in Jesus Christ.

          The difficulty, the struggle, we have is that we still try to find the next best king.  We search after money, power, and success.  We desire an idol to worship. We look constantly for the next Elvis, the next Michael Jackson, the next Nirvana, the next Brittany Spears, or the next Kelly Clarkson to worship and fawn after.  And we shouldn’t because we have Christ.

          It was at this point in writing this sermon that I came up against a brick wall.  I felt like the message was up here or here, but not here in the heart.  And this where the message came home from me.  I don’t know if I have ever talked about my friend Brandon before with you all.  He is one of the reasons I am here actually.  Early in high school he was my “Christian friend”.  The one that went to church every Sunday, to youth every Wednesday and on every mission trip he got the chance to go on.  He was the good church kid.  While in high school, he started using drugs and questioned his faith.  He searched after meaning elsewhere.  Four years ago, he was killed over thirty dollars.  He is a lot like others searching, lost, trying to find and make meaning when it has already come into the world.  In the upcoming Advent season we celebrate Christ coming into this world.  Baby Jesus inevitably leads to Christ crucified to Jesus Christ the King of all.  Jesus Christ coming into the world so we can follow.