Photos by Ralph Freso / Slideshow / Livestream
With the Christmas season just wrapped up, Grand Canyon University President Brian Mueller explained the contrast between the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and the ultimate power He surrendered to serve others.
“Power is probably the most destructive thing on the face of the earth,” Mueller told students at the first Chapel of the spring semester on Monday in Global Credit Union Arena. “And when Jesus came to earth, He was representing the diabolical opposite effect. He said the world is about power, and ‘I'm going to show you how to think about power, because I'm going to completely give it up.’
“The most ironic faith in the history of the world is (that) the one who had all the power gave up all the power.”
Mueller marveled over the growth and presence of GCU since he became president 17 years ago, with ground enrollment swelling from less than 1,000 when he first arrived on campus to about 25,000 students at the beginning of the 2025-26 academic year.
“God put the university here in this neighborhood for a reason,” Mueller said. “I absolutely believe that because God wanted us to take seriously the opposite of power, which is to serve. When you are growing and you're gaining influence and you have power, the tendency is to get excited about that power and forget that the opposite of power is to serve.
“It’s to give up your power and serve. As we move forward this semester, as we move forward in the next number of years at GCU, that's going to be something that I'm going to try to work really hard on, making sure that we clearly understand the message of Christmas.”
Furthermore, Mueller had a direct message for students.
“You're all going to be, at some point, leaders,” Mueller said. “You're going to be leaders in school districts. You're going to be leaders in hospitals. You're going to be leaders in businesses. You might have your own business. You're going to be leaders in churches that you attend. And there's a lot of people who are talking about a revival in America, and I believe that revival is happening. Bibles are selling off the shelves like they've never been before. ... Church attendance is up, especially in your demographic. It's so exciting. It's so encouraging. I think we are standing in a place in the next 10 years where the church can have bigger impact than it's ever had in our country."
However, he said, "What's the temptation? What's the potential flaw in all of that? Our politics can never become our faith. We can never use our church growth and have it seep into our politics, because that's where it all goes wrong.”
The dangers of power came to light after Mueller and University Pastor Dr. Tim Griffin each watched “Nuremberg” over the holidays and observed the psychological and physical abuse administered by high-ranking Nazi officials.
“We talk a lot about the addictions that do a lot of harm to people in the world,” Mueller said. “Drug addictions, alcohol addictions, pornography addictions, gambling addictions. They are all things we spend a lot of time thinking about and talking about. We don't talk a lot about power, but power might be the addiction that causes more human suffering than any other addiction.”
Mueller references Revelation 12 in explaining how Christmas “is all about power.”
An image is displayed behind him showing a woman ready to give birth, with 12 stars around her head representing the 12 tribes of Israel. A red dragon serves as Satan with seven heads representing power and 10 horns representing authority. The dragon’s tail swiped one-third of the stars and awaits the birth of Jesus so he can devour Him immediately after birth.
Instead, Jesus is born, caught up to God and to His throne. He suffered, died, rose again and now sits on the right hand of God.
Colossians 1 is one of the most important parts of Scripture, Mueller said, because the apostle Paul tells the Colossians that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
“For in Him, all things were created, things in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authority, all things have been created through Him,” Mueller said.
Satan is aware of this and that the baby is the head of the church.
“The only man that ever came to earth died and rose again,” Mueller said. “That's why He is firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have supremacy.”
Satan tries to pry the mother and the angels from God, but God places an enmity between Satan and the offspring, declaring the baby will crush the dragon (Satan) while suffering only a heel bruise.
Later, Jesus builds a team of followers, healing many and attracting large crowds that create a power struggle with the Pharisees, who scoff at Jesus eating with sinners, prostitutes and tax collectors.
Jesus raises the stakes in Mark 3:1-6 by visiting a synagogue and meeting a man with a shriveled hand. Others viewed the man as an outcast because of his inability to support himself or others.
Accusers were curious to see if Jesus would heal the man on the Sabbath, which was against Old Testament law. But Jesus asked the Pharisees, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath, to do good or do evil, to save lives or kill?”
The Pharisees were silent, which distressed Jesus because of the power struggle between Satan and the world that penetrated the church.
Jesus healed the man’s hand, which prompted the Pharisees, who had religious power, to plot with the Herodians, who had political power, to kill Jesus and further control the population.
Mueller emphasized that Paul, in Philippians 2:5-8, urges followers to possess the attitude of Jesus, who “emptied Himself” by taking the form of a bond servant and “humbled Himself” by becoming obedient to the point of death on the cross.
“There's probably 800 references in the Bible to mercy, to grace, to kindness, depending upon which version you use, and the Pharisees missed it all,” Mueller said. “They were the leaders of the church, and they missed it all.”
Before concluding with prayer, Mueller marveled at the work of GCU CityServe, an outreach ministry that is distributing around $150,000 worth of household goods to 200 city churches for those in need throughout the state.
“We're getting brand new things in the hands of people who need them,” Mueller said. “God is blessing them in ways I would have never guessed. But we need volunteers.
“… We're doing things that, hopefully, will keep us focused on the opposite of power, and that is to serve.”
GCU senior writer Mark Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]
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Next Chapel speaker: University Pastor Dr. Tim Griffin, 11 a.m. Monday, Global Credit Union Arena
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