Psalm 100:1–5 • Ezekiel 34:11–16, 20–24 • Ephesians 1:15–23 • Matthew 25:31–46

Our theme today is the King fills all in all. Our scripture readings echo this theme. Psalm 100 reminds us that following God includes joy: finding joy in God’s creation, in ourselves and others created in the image of God, and in receiving mercy and kindness from God. In Ezekiel 34, we read about a “rescue mission,” where God intervenes for those who are being hurt by others. The Gospel account in Matthew 25:31–46 expands on this idea of a rescue mission for those who are suffering at the hands of the strong and powerful. This passage encourages us to remember that God has rescued us through the life and death of Jesus. And in our sermon text, Ephesians 1:15–23, God shows us the big reality that changes the way we see everything: Jesus Christ has authority over everything.

Reminder: This introductory paragraph is intended to show how the four RCL selections for this week are connected and to assist the preacher prepare the sermon. It is not intended to be included in the sermon.

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The King Fills All in All

Ephesians 1:15–23 NRSVUE

Today we celebrate Reign of Christ Sunday, also called Christ the King Sunday. It’s the last Sunday of the liturgical year, which we also call the worship calendar. It’s like New Year’s Eve, where we look back on the previous year. How has Christ been at work among us? And we look forward to the future with assurance in Jesus Christ, our King.

Today we’ll talk about what it means that Jesus Christ is King. When we say Jesus reigns as King, we mean he rules over all creation, has authority over all things. But if that is true, an honest question immediately arises: Why does the world still seem so broken? If Christ reigns, why is there still suffering, violence, loneliness, and death?

That’s the tension of Reign of Christ Sunday. Tension isn’t bad. Sometimes we may reach a misguided conclusion in our attempt to relieve the tension.

There is a popular, motivational story that is told to encourage people when they feel overwhelmed by the size of a problem. Just like we may feel when we see the amount of suffering in the world. This widely told story is adapted from Loren Eiseley’s essay “The Star Thrower,” and it goes like this:

A child walks along a shore covered in thousands of stranded starfish washed up by the tide. One by one, the child picks them up and throws them back into the ocean so they will not die. An adult sees this and asks why the child bothers, saying they cannot all be saved; the task is impossible. The child bends down, tosses another starfish into the water and says, “It made a difference for that one!”

The starfish tale encourages people not to let the scale of a crisis stop them from doing good. But the starfish thrower story risks shrinking the gospel by establishing this logic: The world has enormous problems. But our small actions can make a difference. Now go do some good.

It says you cannot fix the whole world, but you can change the outcome for a single person or situation. That’s a good humanitarian message. But the gospel is infinitely bigger! The gospel message is not us saving the world one “starfish” at a time. In Christ, God has saved us! And God has called us to a holy life because of God’s own purpose and grace (1 Timothy 1:9).

So, do we help our neighbors and try to relieve suffering? Absolutely! But we do it as participation within God’s mission that Christ has already secured.

Paul does not ignore this tension in writing to the Ephesians. Instead, he invites us to see reality differently. The rest of this passage is Paul’s prayer that God would open the eyes of our hearts so we can recognize a deeper truth: Christ’s reign is already real, even when it is not yet fully visible.

Christ is the King who fills all in all. Today we’ll explore what that means and why it gives us hope.

¹⁵ I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason ¹⁶ I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers, ¹⁷ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, ¹⁸ so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may perceive what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, ¹⁹ and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. ²⁰ God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. ²² And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1:15–23 NRSVUE

Fills all in all

Let’s begin at the end; Paul ends this incredible proclamation of the gospel with “him who fills all in all.” What does “fills all in all” mean?

We may not immediately understand it. Its meaning is much richer and deeper than simply, “Jesus is everywhere.”

Paul has just built toward an extraordinary proclamation: God raised Jesus from death, seated him above every other rule and authority, placed everything under his feet, and gave him as head over everything “not only in this age but also in the age to come” (in other words, forever).

Then comes the astonishing phrase: Christ “fills all in all.”

To say Christ “fills all in all” means there is no corner of creation beyond his life-giving reign. His kingdom is not waiting for us to establish it. The Father has already raised and exalted the Son over every power. Jesus is already King. And by the Spirit, the risen Christ is present and at work in his creation, bringing everything toward the fullness God intends.

Already / Not Yet

Christ is King. But when we look at the world, it does not always look like a kingdom ruled by Christ. That is the tension we named earlier: if Jesus reigns, why do suffering, violence, loneliness, injustice, and death still seem so present?

Reign of Christ Sunday points us to the already / not yet shape of Christian hope. Christ’s reign is already real, but we do not yet see or experience its fullness. The problem is not that Jesus only reigns privately in Christian hearts now and will reign over creation later. Ephesians 1 says something much bigger: God has already raised Jesus from the dead, seated him above every power, placed all things under his feet, and made him head over all things.

So, Paul’s answer to the tension is not, “One day Christ will finally become King.” His prayer is that God would open the eyes of our hearts so we can see the reign that is already present and the future that is already secure in Jesus Christ.

The future is not when Jesus finally becomes King. The future is when the reign that is already his becomes fully visible throughout a renewed creation. We are still waiting for the day when every wound is healed, every injustice is put right, and death itself is no more. But we are not waiting for Jesus to begin his reign. Jesus Christ already reigns.

That is why Christians dare to hope even when the world does not look hopeful. Our hope does not depend on our ability to stay hopeful. God has already acted. Death has encountered the King and could not hold him. The King fills all in all.

And Paul does not leave this reign floating above us as an abstract doctrine. He tells us this exalted King has been given for the Church.

For the Church

Verse 22 says, “And [the Father] has put all things under [Christ’s] feet and has made him the head over all things for the Church.”

That little word for matters. Paul does not simply say that Christ is head over all things. He says Christ is head over all things for the Church. In other words, the universal reign of Christ is not distant from us. It is not an abstract doctrine floating above our lives. The risen Jesus reigns for the good of his people.

Hear that again: Jesus Christ reigns for us. Every power is beneath him. Every authority is under his feet. Nothing in our lives lies outside his loving rule. The King who fills all in all is not using his authority merely to display power. He reigns in love, for redemption, for healing, for the good of his Body.

And that moves us beyond individual encouragement. Christ does not reign only over isolated believers. He is forming a people. Paul says the Church is Christ’s Body, “the fullness of him who fills all in all.” The risen King gathers different cultures, personalities, generations, experiences, and gifts into one shared life. The Spirit does not erase those differences. The Spirit draws them into the life of Jesus Christ.

But we need to be careful here. When Paul calls the Church Christ’s fullness, he is not saying Jesus is incomplete without us. Christ is already raised, exalted, seated above every power, and given as head over all things. He lacks nothing. The Church is not the source of Christ’s fullness.

Rather, the Church is the place where Christ’s fullness overflows. The exalted Christ, who fills all things, fills the Church with his own life. The Church is his Body because it receives its life from him as its head. His love, mercy, reconciliation, generosity, and hope become visible in and through his people.

So, Christ already reigns. Christ fills all in all. And the Church participates in the life and work of the King who is already present and active in the world.

Starfish Throwers

So, let’s return to the starfish story from the beginning.

There is something beautiful in that story. It tells us not to become numb in the face of suffering. It reminds us that small acts of mercy matter. Feeding one hungry person matters. Visiting one lonely person matters. Forgiving one wound, welcoming one stranger, sitting beside one grieving neighbor — these things matter.

But the gospel gives us a deeper reason for doing them. We do not serve because Christ’s kingdom depends on us. We do not love our neighbors because we are trying to save the world one starfish at a time. We serve because the kingdom already belongs to Christ. The King fills all in all.

That means when we do good, we are not bringing Jesus into a place where he was absent. By the Spirit, we are joining the risen Jesus in the places where he is already present and at work. Our good works are not our attempt to make God’s mission succeed. They are our participation in the mission Jesus has already secured.

We are not carrying the burden of fixing the whole world. We are being drawn into the life and love of the King who is making all things new. When we feed the hungry, welcome the lonely, work for justice, forgive, reconcile, create beauty, care for creation, or sit with the suffering, we are bearing witness to the reign that is already real, even though it is not yet fully visible.

Jesus describes that mission in Luke 4: good news to the poor, freedom for captives, sight for the blind, release for the oppressed, and the year of the Lord’s favor. That is not a side project of the kingdom. That is what the reign of Christ looks like as it breaks into the world through his Spirit and his people.

So, the starfish story can encourage us, but it cannot carry our hope. Our hope is not that we can make enough of a difference to overcome the brokenness of the world. Our hope is that Jesus Christ is Lord, that death has already been defeated in him, and that the Spirit is opening our eyes and drawing us into his ongoing ministry.

We still see war, suffering, loneliness, injustice, and death. We cannot always see Christ’s reign clearly. That is why Paul prays that the eyes of our hearts would be opened. He wants us to see beneath what appears to be true to what God has declared eternally true: death does not reign. Fear does not reign. Violence does not reign. No earthly ruler or power has the final word. Jesus Christ reigns.

So yes, we throw the starfish. We do the good that is before us. But we do it without pretending the future rests in our hands. The future rests in the hands of the risen Jesus. And because Christ already reigns, our acts of mercy become signs of his kingdom, witnesses to his presence, and joyful participation in his mission.

The King fills all in all.

Reign of Christ Sunday

So, what is true because Christ is King?

It is true that we are not waiting for Jesus to become Lord. The Father has already raised the Son from the dead and seated him above every rule and authority, every power and dominion, every name that is named. Christ does not reign only in heaven while earth waits for him to take interest. He reigns over all creation, and there is no corner of this wounded world beyond his life-giving rule.

It is true that the brokenness we see is real, but it is not ultimate. Suffering is real. Violence is real. Loneliness, injustice, and death are real. The tears of creation are not imaginary. But they do not have the final word. Death has already encountered the risen King and could not hold him. The powers of this age still rage, but they do not reign. Christ reigns.

And it is true that our good works matter, not because the kingdom depends on us, but because the King invites us to participate in what he is already doing. So yes, we throw the starfish. We feed the hungry. We welcome the lonely. We forgive, reconcile, work for justice, care for creation, and sit with the suffering. But we do these things without pretending that the future rests in our hands. We do them because the future rests in the hands of Jesus Christ.

That is the answer to the tension we began with. If Christ reigns, why does the world still look so broken? Because his reign is already real, but not yet fully visible. Because we still wait for the day when every wound is healed, every injustice is put right, and death itself is no more. But we do not wait as people who are abandoned to the powers of this age. We wait as people whose King has already been raised, already exalted, already given as head over all things for the Church.

So, lift up your hearts. It is true that the Church belongs to this King. We are not a scattered group of people trying to keep hope alive by our own strength. We are Christ’s Body, filled by the One who fills all in all. The Father gives us wisdom. The Spirit opens the eyes of our hearts. The risen Son gives us hope — not wishful thinking, not denial, but hope anchored in what God has already done in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is King. And the King fills all in all.

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