Now the king sits on the throne, he has received all things and all that remains is the spread of his dominion. Even though he sits on the throne, not everyone is happy about it. Some don’t even know, others know but don’t like it. So he must spread his influence.

1. Graciously

Matthew 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

He does not spread his influence by sending an army out with swords, he sends his people out with a message and with his spirit. Our task is to tell people they can serve a better king. Death and sin have been defeated. Hope lives, and you can have it. You can be a servant of grace instead of a slave to the tyrant of your own desires.

The slowness of the process makes us wonder if he is really doing anything. He knew it would. That is why he chose parables to show us how it would work. He chose the mustard seed, and the leaven. Both work slowly, mysteriously, but ultimately unstoppably.

We get impatient, we want to see cruel men killed, receiving justice by the end of the movie. Jesus would rather take men like John Newton, a slave trader who bought and sold men and women, using them as he wished, and convert him. Then he would use that man to teach the world – Amazing Grace how sweet the sound, and ultimately use him to abolish the slave trade in English nations.

2. Joyfully

His kingdom brings the effects of his reign with it. Wherever his gospel has gone, injustice has been confronted and ultimately defeated. Righteousness, joy and health are the marks of his reign.

Bobby Griffith spoke to the first Black student at the University of Southern Mississippi last week. She surprised him with her joyful and gracious spirit. She did not have a hint of bitterness, anger or cynicism. Why? Because the love of Christ rules her heart, and she knows his reign will have no end.

3. Unstoppably – like the rising tide

The Gospel comes in like high tide, not all at once but in stages. Yes, it does fall back, but never quite as far as it once was. With every resurgence it goes further, spreads broader, and brings greater effects.

Sometimes all we see is the fall back, and we get confused. But even then God is at work. For centuries Asia lay under a blanket of false religion and dark confusion. Missionaries began coming in and preaching the gospel, finally the church made in-roads. Until Communism came in and the missionary movement stopped. The tide fell back. But God knew something we didn’t. He knew those European missionaries didn’t really understand how you could believe the gospel, and stay Asian in culture. Once those missionaries left, the Asians began dealing with it on their own. They made the gospel theirs. Now they are becoming Christians by the thousands, and nothing can stop them.

Don’t be confused by the fall back. In the eighties, Christians threw themselves full force at stopping Pornography, but made no headway. When the internet arrived, Pornography was unleashed. It was the only industry that turned a profit on the web, and thus they were the primary industry behind the growth of the web. Analysts will tell you, without the Porn industry’s money the WWW would not exist today. And now God uses the web to publish the gospel to all lands. The gospel is surging forward.

Don’t be confused by the fall back. Last night some young girl got pregnant and she doesn’t even know it yet. She will think her life has fallen apart, and she will consider an abortion. She will walk dazed into a Pregnancy resource center, and a lady will show her kindness. That lady will explain grace to her, and the young girl who had been contemplating murder will instead receive life.

Don’t be confused by the fall back, and don’t miss the victory. 250 years ago, theologians debated the merits of dueling, 175 years ago Christians still owned and sold slaves, 50 years ago African Americans were not welcome in Christian Churches. Today you have Christian college students organizing movements to alleviate the oppression in the Sudan – 25 years ago I didn’t know what the Sudan was.

Make no mistake about it, every day we move closer and closer to seeing the full effects of His righteous reign. And don’t confuse the tools for the cause. We see medical advances and think science is God. Every scientific advance comes for a reason. If you have a million mothers praying for the health of their Baby, then infant mortality will improve dramatically. 100 Million people praying for a cure to cancer will bring and end to cancer.

A few months ago I heard a man on the radio talking about advances in technology and medicine pointing to a day in the not too distant future when the average lifespan will go well beyond a hundred. I said of course it will, we were told that in Isaiah 65: 20 No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old.