Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

Alfred North Whitehead, one of the philosophical giants of the 20th century, said, "The glorification of power has broken more hearts than it has healed."

He warns against the glorifying of even God's power.

For the abuse of power all through history makes this attribute produce fear rather than faith.

If the authority figures in one's life have been people who abused power, than power will be seen as negative.

For people who have lived with a tyrant father, or under a political tyrant, the concept of an all-powerful God is frightening.

Whitehead points out that power is not good or evil in itself.

It can be used for both, and so it is not worthy of worship in itself.

Satan too has great power, but he is not worthy of worship because of that power, for his power is devoted to evil, and the destruction of all that is good.

Back in ancient Greek history men knew that power was dangerous, and that it was not a good thing even in the hands of the gods.

Aesclyus wrote Prometheus Bound, and in it he tells of how Prometheus helped Zeus dethrone the Titans, and become the supreme God.

But soon Prometheus was disillusioned, for Zeus used his power to rule lawlessly.

He cared not for what was good for man, but only about sheer power.

He was nothing but a big bully abusing his power.

Prometheus loved man, and he saw sought to help men by giving him fire and general help in the use of his gifts and reason.

Zeus despised him for his love of man, and he chained him and tortured him.Prometheus would not bow to the power of Zeus.

He became the hero of all who fight and resist tyranny.

He said, "Worship, adore, court him who is now in power, But I, for Zeus less than naught do I care."

He predicted that the chief God was doomed to fall in spite of his power, for power corrupts and leads to weakness.

He said again,

"Then bravely there

Let him sit trusting in his heavenly thunders,

With hands that brandish his fire-breathing blot.

Naught shall avail these to prevent his falling

Ignoble with a fall intolerable."

Here is a pagan poet teaching us that power is not worthy of worship.

If the pagan mind can come to this conclusion, then we need to be extremely careful in how we promote the omnipotence of God.

It has often been so portrayed that it stimulates rebellion toward God rather than attraction.

That which makes God attractive and worthy of worship is not His power, but His goodness.

The Bible does not exalt power for power's sake, but, rather, exalts the moral qualities of God.

It is the goodness, holiness, righteousness, and love that control the power of God.

His power is always devoted to overcoming evil with good.

He has the power to judge and condemn, but that is always the last choice after He has exhausted every avenue to prevent it by His grace and mercy.

He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

In His grace He has made it possible for all to repent and be forgiven.

His first use of power is always positive.

It is used to prevent the negative use of power.

The primary task of the prophets was to warn Israel and the other nations round about, so they could respond in repentance and obedience and not have to endure the power of God's judgment.

The whole Gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

It is the story of God's power in providing a Savior, and God's power in overcoming Satan and death that there might be adequate provision for every sinner to become a child of God, and escape the judgment of God.

God's power is directed toward a positive purpose, and it is limited by love.

In other words, although God is all powerful, He cannot use that power for that which is inconsistent with His moral attributes.

He cannot be unloving and unholy, and in any way be inconsistent with those attributes that make Him honorable, admirable, and worthy of our worship.

The God of the Bible cannot be a Zeus, who arbitrarily uses power to achieve selfish ends regardless of who gets hurt, and how unjust and immoral it might be.

God cannot be a tyrant.

All of His power must enhance the goals of love, and this is what makes the God of the Bible the God who alone is worthy of our love and worship.

We only love God because He first loved us.

If we do not present to men a God whom they can love, they will not love Him.

That is why it is so important for us to understand the omnipotence of God.

Lack of understanding, and misunderstanding, does great harm to the cause of God in the minds of men.

It is possible to pay God such great compliments that you destroy His glory in the minds of men.

God is indeed almighty.

This is one of the familiar names for God in the book of Revelation.

John uses it 8 times.

It is used only one other time in the entire New Testament.

Paul uses it in II Cor.

6:18 as he quotes God saying, "I will be a father to you and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

The Greek word is pantokrater, which means all-powerful.

In the Old Testament the Hebrew word for almighty is used 48 times.

All together God is called Almighty 57 times.

These are sufficient to make it a part of the Apostle's Creed, which is quoted by millions of Christians all over the world as they repeat, "I believe in God the Father Almighty."

The problem comes when these millions of Christians assume that what they mean by this is that God can do anything.

If that is what they really mean, then they have rejected the God of the Bible, and they have substituted a god of their own creation, and in doing so they make millions of people reject the God of the Bible in the process, because they are saying that their god is the God of the Bible.

If God can do anything, then He is not worthy of our worship, for He can lie, deceive, break His promises, do evil, and give us no assurance that He will always be good.

A God who can do anything is a God to be feared and not loved, for He can by mere whim decide to prefer evil over good.

He can abuse His power just as Zeus did, and like Zeus, be rejected as unworthy of worship.

Thank God that the Bible does not reveal a God who can do anything.

All His power is power with a purpose, and that purpose is determined by His total nature, and not just His strength.

Power is not His primary characteristic.

God is holy, good, just, and righteous, and all of His power is directed according to these qualities.

His nature limits Him so that He cannot do what violates His nature.

He is truth, and so He cannot lie.

He is holy, and so He cannot do evil.

R. A. Torrey in his book What The Bible Teaches writes, "The exercise of God's omnipotence is limited by His own wise and holy and loving will.

God can do anything, but will do only what infinite wisdom, holiness, and love dictate."

Only limited power is good power, and only that kind of power can be honored and admired.

You would not admire me if I used my power to do all the things of which I am capable.

I have the power to throw a brick through the neighbors window.

I have the power to stand on the organ and stomp its keys until they break.

I have enormous power to be destructive, but I keep that power under control because it is a foolish use of power.

It is not wise, helpful, or loving, and so I choose not to do what I could do.

In sane people power is always under the control of their higher attributes of reason and common sense.

Nobody who is sane does all they have the power to do.

The power to do evil is not a strength, but a weakness and defect if you choose to use it that way.

When we become totally like Christ in our resurrected bodies, we too will be perfected, and it will be impossible for us to lie, or choose any other evil, for our nature will hate all evil.

What we need to see that there is a great paradox here, and that true omnipotence is not being able to do everything, but being able to do anything that is good, true, and beautiful, with the negative ability to be able not to do anything that is destructive of the good, the true, and the beautiful.

It is the very impossibility of God to do anything that destroys and hinders His perfect purpose that makes Him truly omnipotent.

A God who can do anything is not nearly as powerful as a God who can do only what achieves His purpose.

The God who can do anything can do that which destroys and hinders His purpose, and this makes Him weak, fallible, and a dangerous power.

The God who can do only what achieves His goal is a joy and pleasure to Himself, and such a safe and secure God for man that He is ever worthy of worship and praise.

This is the God of the Bible.

He is the God who cannot do what is immoral, illogical, absurd, stupid, or self-contradictory.

If power is the ability to achieve purpose, then being all powerful as God is the ability to achieve all His purposes with no defect that could taint the purpose, and achieve it in any way that is inconsistent with His nature.

Nothing is power that does not achieve His purpose, and so any evil in God, or inconsistency, or deviation from the goal which is unholy and unloving would not be power, but weakness.

God has no such weakness.

All His limitations are a part of His power.

What He can't do is a major aspect of His omnipotence.

Could He do anything that was not consistent with His purpose and nature, He would not be omnipotent.

This means that the list of things God cannot do are all valuable aspects of His power, for they define His purpose and make it clear.

It is because He cannot be or do anything contrary to His purpose and character that He will achieve all of His purpose.