I never lasted long in the children’s game “King of the Hill.” In fact, none of my friends did either.
We would roam the Lincoln National Forest which surrounded our maintain-top homes and find a small mound, a pile of snow or even a fallen tree. One of us would climb to the top. He was the King. The rest of us would try to push him down. The first one who knocked him off the top became the new King.
But it was almost impossible to stay on top. Gravity and the gang were just too strong. No King lasted more than a minute or two before someone dethroned him. The game should have been called “Kings of the Hill” because it was a constant succession of King after King after King.
It seems like Jesus suffers from the same challenge. There’s always someone wanting to topple him from the top.
And the top is where Jesus is, according to Scripture. He’s standing at the summit. The Bible’s main claim about Jesus is that Jesus is King.
- “King” is, in essence, Jesus’ “last name.” Christ, or “christos” in Greek, translates the Hebrew “messiah,” which ultimately refers to one who is anointed–as in the ancient practice of anointing kings. “Jesus the Christ” means “Jesus the anointed King.”
- In addition, Paul summarizes the work of Jesus as the work of a King: “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13). Jesus is the king of the kingdom. He’s come to expand heaven’s reign to earth.
- And the Bible ends with this description of Jesus: “They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings…” (Revelation 17:14 ESV)
King of the Hill. That’s our Jesus. In the famous words of Shadrach Meshach Lockridge, prominent African-American preacher, “He’s the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of this world. He’s the centerpiece of civilization. He is the loftiest idea in literature. He’s the highest personality in philosophy. That’s my King!”
But these days, it seems, someone’s always trying to pull Jesus off the peak. For spiritual reasons. For intellectual reasons. Or for personal reasons.
Some, like my former neighbor Mark, do it for spiritual reasons. He once said to me, “We believe Jesus is a prophet. We believe Jesus was one of the best humans to ever live. But we do not believe he is divine.” Kendra and I were enjoying an evening in his home. And as our young children played together, Mark and his wife wanted to talk about Jesus. They delighted in the wisdom Jesus delivered. They loved the example Jesus lived. But they could not believe Jesus was more than a prophet. Jesus was a human. Inspired, yes. Spirit filled, yes. But divine? No. Their devotion to another religion demanded they dethrone Jesus.
Others have intellectual reasons for removing the crown from the Christ. Bart Ehrman, distinguished professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, claims that if you study the biblical text and Christianity history carefully, you find that Jesus is, in fact, not THE King. Not even A King. He’s just a man. In his 2014 New York Times Best Seller How Jesus Became God Ehrman writes that “in early Christianity the views of Christ got ‘higher and higher’…as he became increasingly identified as divine. Jesus went from being a potential (human) messiah, to being…equal with God the Father and always existent with him.” Ehrman’s own views of Jesus, however, “moved in precisely the opposite direction. I started thinking of Jesus as God the Son, equal with the Father, a member of the Trinity; but over time, I began to see him in ‘lower and lower’ terms, until finally I came to think of him as a human being who was not different in nature from any other human being.” Christians’ views of Jesus grew higher and higher. They believed Jesus was unlike any other. He was a member of the Trinity. Ehrman’s views of Jesus grew lower and lower. Jesus was just like all others. He was a member of humanity. And if we are honest with Scripture and history, Ehrman believes, we will come to the same conclusion.
But the majority of those reading these words could never do this. No spiritual devotion or intellectual rigor would lead us to challenge Jesus’ prominent place on the hill of our lives. Nevertheless, we may be guilty of the worst kind of coup. We may be declaring Jesus as King of the Hill with our lips but denying Jesus as King of the Hill with our lives.
Craig Groeschel, in his book The Christian Atheist proposes that many of us believe in God but live as if we don’t. A similar argument can be made regarding King Jesus. We believe in his deity but live as if we don’t. Our creeds reflect his divinity. But our deeds neglect his divinity. Our relationships, priorities, spending habits, character, office behavior, passions, marriages, and goals don’t seem to be those we’d expect from people who believe Jesus was not merely good, but that he was and is God. Our minds and mouths say “Jesus is Lord” but our calendars and cash say something else. Our Sundays seek to push Jesus higher and higher. Our Mondays seem to drag him lower and lower. He’s King of the Hill. But there’s something within us that keeps trying to push him down.
How about you? Is Jesus still at the top?
(to be continued)
