By: Jon Rendall

Intro

Elvis is back on the big screen. Well, more accurately an interpretation of Elvis. Or should I say, impersonation? Acclaimed Director Baz Lurhmann, known for his reimaginings of stories like Romeo & Juliet and The Great Gatsby, and his over-the-top musical cinematics such as Moulin Rouge, has released his first movie in almost a decade. Elvis is meant to tell the story of the singer’s journey from poverty to celebrity royalty.

Elvis’ story is significant because he represents a turning point in American culture and history. His popularity coincides with the rise of the new mass media and pop culture as a powerful force reshaping morality, ethics, and philosophy. In essence, pop culture reshapes worldviews.

Speaking of reshaping views, the film oozes Lurhmann’s typical style. The director’s body of work has “been described as post-modern, hyperbolic, intensely choreographed, and outrageously glamorous.” In other words, expect a surreal reinterpretation of the Elvis story that blurs the lines of fact, fiction, fantasy and legend, and focuses heavily on style. However, it’s neither the historicity of Elvis’ story nor the visual aesthetic of this movie that I’m interested in. It’s the Theology.

God-Given

In a trailer for the film, a character tells Elvis, “the way you sing is God-given. So there can’t be nothing wrong with it.” The most convincing lies contain aspects of the truth. Yes, our gifts and talents are God-given. In fact, the very breath in our lungs is a gift from God. He created us, sustains us, and has uniquely designed us. However, the contagion of sin has infected every sphere of our being. Not just our hearts and minds, but even our bodies are slowly decaying. More importantly, just because God has given us a gift, that does not mean we have the right to use it any way we see fit.

We can rightly say that a singer's talent, abilities, training, and the air moving between his vocal cords, are all gifts from God. However, those gifts and abilities are not the singer’s to use in any way or for any end. Unfortunately, we often draw these illogical conclusions based on our fallen desires and proclivities. “God made me loud,” someone may say, “therefore it’s right for me to yell at my coworkers and loudly question their intelligence.” Obviously, this is a silly argument. The way we use what God has given us matters. The what and why of singing is as significant in the Kingdom as the art of singing itself. Ephesians 2:10 says “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” (NLT).

God gives us our gifts for a reason. We look to Him to understand how to use them. This leads us to the next lie.

GIVE TODAY!

Listen To Yourself

In the movie, Elvis says “There’s a lot of people saying a lotta things. But in the end, you gotta listen to yourself.” Once again, there is a bit of truth to this statement. As Christians, we should not just follow the crowds and popular opinions. Never look for direction from wandering stars and waves that toss back and forth (Eph. 4:14; Heb. 10:23; Jas. 1:6; Jude 1:13). However, we cannot simply look inwards and depend on ourselves to be the good and right arbiters of morality.

Our culture claims looking inward is the ultimate source of meaning and fulfillment. Pastor and author Tim Keller described it in another way. “The modern self is incoherent. If you go inside first and decide who you want to be and who you are by looking at your own inner feelings and desires, the fact of the matter is, they are incoherent. They contradict each other and they change; even Freud knew this. You can’t go in there and figure out who you are by looking. Christian writer Francis Spufford put it like this, you are ‘a being whose wants make no sense, don't harmonize: whose desires, deep down, are discordantly arranged, so that you truly want to possess and you truly want not to, at the very same time. You're equipped, you realize, for farce, or even tragedy, more than you are for happy endings.’ So you look inside, the modern self is incoherent.”

When we are driven by our inner self and our fallen desires we are moving towards sin and away from God. We must look to Jesus who was not driven by selfish desires, but by submission and obedience to the will of God. Paul writes in Philippians that Jesus “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Christ has called us to die to self, not live for it.

Conclusion

One last line from the movie that made me chuckle was Elvis saying “this ain’t no nostalgia show.” Obviously, it is a nostalgia show as Elvis’ recording career started almost 70 years ago! In fact, the teenagers who were there for his debut album are in their 80s now. The music is old, but the lies are much much older. They’ve existed since the dawn of humanity.

We are constantly told through Hollywood Narratives and Pop music that we are the masters of our own meaning, morality and destiny. That we can be our own gods. These lies only lead to brokenness, destruction, and death, just as they did so tragically for Elvis and so many others.

Truth, hope and life are found in Jesus, and Jesus' life and teachings are revealed in Scripture.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work” (NLT).

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