Daily Devotions by Ray Tuttle

That is probably the $10,000 question. Of what value is it to today’s person to read about someone who lived so long ago? Isn’t anything that happened in the 1^st century absolutely irrelevant in today’s fast paced world? The common thinking is that the church has become almost an obstacle given the way we live today. So each person reading these devotions has to come to grip with this central question.

The answer lies in the fact that people in today’s society have even less ability to cope with life than those say 50 years ago. I suppose that is because the world we live in continually depersonalizes us as individuals. It’s all about information and efficiency. While it is true that we have more information, you have to ask yourself the question, “So what?” There has never been a correlation between happiness and knowing more.

It is also true that we’ve become more efficient. We can beam out thoughts over the internet and have it half-way around the world in a matter of seconds, but does that make us happier? I’m reminded of a line in the movie, “Sabrina,” where Sabrina says, “More isn’t always better, sometimes it’s just more.” With the Earth’s population surpassing 6 billion people, each of us has much less significance than those who lived in the 19^th century.

So how is Jesus relevant? The truth is people haven’t become any more adept at coping with life than they ever were. One only has to look at the increases in suicides, divorce and crime to understand that this flood of knowledge doesn’t automatically give us a successful life. One has only to look at our failures at human relations, our ability to get along with others or even ourselves, to understand the need for the answers that Jesus gives us.

So what can we find when we approach Jesus Christ? I suppose the bottom line is that we find answers. We find the answer to our guilt when Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” We find peace of mind in the words of Jesus. We find a new way to live with other people in the examples that He set in his daily life.

Each day that you read this devotion, you are going to be challenged to apply what you read about Jesus into your daily life. After all, that is really where it counts isn’t it? If you just read it, what good does it do? It isn’t good readers that Jesus desires, it’s disciples. I just have the feeling that God is not going to be that impressed with what I know when I stand before Him on the last day. If that were true, God would be really impressed with the Scribes and the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, yet Jesus had a lot to say about people who talk the truth, but don’t live it. I would challenge you to read these each day with an open mind and an open Bible. Each day there will be scripture for you to read and then we will talk about what you are reading. It is my prayer that you will not only learn something about the life and times of Jesus Christ, but also that you will allow God to change you in the process.

Day 2 – Who is Jesus?

Talk about a great question, this one is a humdinger. Take a moment to put this devotion aside and look in your Bible to Colossians 1: 15-17. Notice what Paul has to say about the subject. Now if you know anything about the Book of Colossians, you know that the letter was written to combat a wave of Gnosticism that had threatened to overrun the church at Colosse. Gnosticism comes from the Greek work, “gnosis,” which means knowledge. In its most basic sense, Gnosticism is a worship of knowledge for its own sake. That’s probably an over simplification, but you get the idea.

Anyway, notice how Paul initially presents Jesus. The New Living Translation says that He is the visible image of the invisible God. The original Greek word used there means that Jesus is an exact replica of God. In other words if you saw Jesus’ reflection in a mirror you would be looking at God. It is exact in every detail. The opposite is also true. If you want to know anything about God, you merely take a look at Jesus.

Notice also what Paul has to say about the role that Jesus played in the creation of the universe. He was not only there, but an active participant. Notice how Paul describes Jesus as the creator not just of those physical things that one can see, but also the creator of all things in the political arena as well. Think of all of the ways our government touches our lives each and every day. All of that was created by Jesus Christ in the beginning. Paul goes on to say that not only did Jesus create everything at the beginning of time, but He has the continual job of sustaining His creation.

When you consider that the Gnostics were questioning the fact it was even possible that God could become a man, Paul’s writing goes right to the heart of their teaching. He doesn’t leave a lot of room for alternate theories. He draws a clear picture between truth and error. That is, of course, if you believe Paul. Well if Paul’s writing is true, then there should be other writers who agree with him, right? Turn in your Bible to the 1^st chapter of the book of John and read the first 5 verses and then read verse 14. Doesn’t John essentially say the same thing? Now we know that Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians at least 30 years before John wrote his gospel. That would tell you that the truth that Paul wrote about 30 years after Jesus died, was the same truth that was believed 30 years later.

So what about you? Jesus, when He was on this Earth, asked a very poignant question, “Who do you say that I am?” To my thinking, there is no more important question in life. If Jesus was standing right in front of you at this very moment and asking this question, what would you tell Him? Now before you answer that question, take a moment to think about it. Remember, He knows you even better than you know yourself. What if you put on your best theological face and answered that He is the Son of God? He might just pull out your date book, or worse your check book, and give you evidence to the contrary. So how would you really answer His question?

Day 3 – Historical Background Part 1

It is impossible to fully understand the life of Jesus Christ without understanding what was going on around Him. That is because Jesus’ life was a lot like yours and mine. It was lived within the context of other outside influences like culture, geography and most especially, the political climate of His day. This was especially true whenever He taught the crowds. He always used things that were familiar to His listeners. If you don’t understand what would have been familiar to His listeners, you won’t pick up the proper message. Oh, you may think you have it right, because we tend to interpret what we read in light of our own world. Yet, the Bible wasn’t written in 21^st century, nor was it written by the people of North America. The first century Jew looked at his world a lot differently than we do today.

Anyway, Israel went through a period of time when they were a part of the 4 great empires that were predicted by Daniel. Take some time out to open your Bible and read Daniel 2: 27-45. You can read the entire chapter, but if you don’t have time, these verses will give you the facts. After the death of Alexander the Great, which was the third Kingdom that you read about in Daniel, Israel was ruled alternatively by the Egyptian ruler and the Syrian ruler, depending on who was stronger at the time. Some were great and really promoted Israel, like Philadelphus of Egypt, and some sought to exterminate Israel, like Antiochus Epiphanes of Syria. Control of Israel went back and forth for over 150 years.

At the end of one terrible period of persecution under Syrian rule, there rose within Israel a political party called the Maccabees. It was Judas, the Maccabee, who led an uprising against the vastly superior Syrian Army that finally brought local rule to Israel. For some reason Judas sought an alliance with a then unknown force within the world called the Romans. I suppose there was some political strife within Israel, or perhaps Judas thought he needed to extra help to combat the still powerful Syrian army. Anyway, Rome began to have an influence over Israel. It was the next Maccabean king, John Hyrcanus II who brought Israeli rule into the southern reaches of Idumea.

It was out of Idumea that a man by the name of Antipater rose to great influence. Under John Hyrcanus I, Idumea became a separate province of Israel and ruled by its own governor. John Hyrcanus II appointed Antipater to be governor of Idumea. Antipater used the dispute between John and his brother Aristobulus II to side with the weaker John Hyrcanus II. To strengthen his cause and to get rid of Aristobulus in Jerusalem, Antipater persuaded the Roman General Pompei to attack and take the city of Jerusalem. Thus all of Israel became another province of Rome. The truth is that it was worldliness, ambition, corruption and a promotion of the Greek way of life that eventually brought about the downfall of the Maccabees.

Do you see what can happen when God is left out of the equation? It’s not a pretty sight. You strive to achieve power only to find someone else maneuvering you out of the picture. There is no one you can trust. Everyone is under suspicion. Is that any way to live?

Day 4 – Historical Background Part 2

When we last left our story, Rome had come into the picture at the invitation and maneuvering of Antipater, governor of Idumea. Well, for his help of Rome and his alliance with Julius Ceasar, Antipater was made a Roman citizen and the ruler of all Israel. Pompei placed John Hyrcanus II in the position of High Priest. Now Antipater had 2 sons. His son Phasaelus was named governor of Jerusalem and his son Herod was made governor of Galilee. It was at that point that all opposition within Israel was ruthlessly extinguished.

At the death of Antipater due to a serious amount of poison given to him by a rival, Herod and Phasaelus were made tetrarchs of Judea by the Roman ruler, Mark Antony. It wasn’t long after that Phasaelus was also murdered. It was Antipater’s son Herod the Great who took a great interest in certain visitors from the East coming in search of a baby born in Bethlehem

Now Herod backed Mark Antony, and for his loyalty, Herod was made tetrarch of all of Judea. The problem occurred when Mark Antony’s power began to wane as a result of his reckless indulgences, especially his affair with Cleopatra of Egypt. The relationship between Herod and Antony was already strained when Cleopatra continually used her sway over Antony to acquire rule over various cities previously run by Herod.

All of this strife in the Roman world came to head during the Roman civil war. There rose within Rome a powerful man by the name of Octavian, who challenged Mark Antony for the right to rule the Roman Empire. The culmination of It all came on September 2, 31 BC at the Battle of Actium. That’s where Octavian had maneuvered his forces to bottle up the fleet of Antony and Cleopatra. Antony’s forces, feeling like they were fighting more for an Egyptian Queen than Rome, were deserting in large numbers to Octavian. Historians are divided on whether an actual battle took place. Anyway, Cleopatra escaped Actium with a small squadron of soldiers and fled to Egypt. Antony followed her there shortly after. It was at that point that Octavian became the undisputed ruler of the Roman Empire. It was also around that time that he changed his name to Augustus Ceasar.

Herod, seeing he backed the wrong horse, used his charm and a lot of cash to win over Augustus Ceasar. I suppose the real reason Augustus left Herod in power was that Herod was important in 3 ways. First it was Herod who finally subdued the eastern Bedoin tribes and led them into the Roman Empire. Second, he enthusiastically furthered the cultural aims of Augustus Caesar by accelerating the Greek influence in Israel and built a fine temple to Augustus. Finally Herod controlled the Jewish population and kept the peace, something his sons and grandsons could never quite accomplish.

It is into that backdrop that Jesus Christ came into this world. If you think about it, the Roman Empire actually helped the spread of the gospel. It provided a single language, culture and stable government that allowed the gospel to spread rapidly. Funny how something so evil, so corrupt, can be used by God to further His purpose. How has He done that in your life?

Day 5 – They Were Sad You See

If you were living in first century Israel, your life would have been dominated by 3 groups of people, the Scribes, the Saducees and the Pharisees. Each of them would have influenced the way you looked at almost everything that you experienced. We all live in a country dedicated to the idea that the political arena must be completely separated from the spiritual arena. We can it the separation of church and state. That is not true about first century Israel. You cannot separate Judaism from its government. To the Jew, any law had to come from Moses. The Supreme Court of Israel, known as the Sanhedrin, merely interpreted the Mosaic Law in light of whatever situation came before it. Now the fact that the Sanhedrin was made up of these 3 groups of people made life in Israel interesting. We will spend the next 3 days looking at each of these groups in order to understand why Jesus reacted to each in the way He did, and to understand that these 3 ways of thinking still exist in today’s church. In fact, you may know someone who thinks exactly the way they did.

The first group we will talk about are the Saducees. The Saducees are the aristocratic party. According to the Jewish historian, Josephus, Saducees were wealthy people of rank and largely were a part of the Jewish priesthood. In other words, the High Priest of Israel was a Saducee. As such, the Saducees found themselves dealing a lot with the civil authorities, in this case Rome. Now the Roman government was heavily influenced by Greek culture, which is also called Hellenistic thinking. Now Hellenistic thinking had already begun influencing Judaism. There was a school of Hellenist Jews centered in Alexandria, Egypt. Such thinking caused its camp, including the Saducees, to rationalize their beliefs. They began to seek a deeper, spiritual and hidden meaning in the Torah. Lo and behold, that deeper meaning agreed perfectly with the Greek philosophers. That way they could tell their Roman masters, “we really don’t believe differently than you.” Now I will warn you, these people still exist today. If ever you hear someone telling that there is a deeper meaning in a particular passage, given to them by God, run away as fast as you can.

As a natural progression to their Hellenistic thinking, the Saducees didn’t believe in anything in the Bible that was supernatural. That means they didn’t believe in a resurrection. They didn’t believe in angels. Saducees pointed to the first 5 books, written by Moses, as the only source of truth. That means that they ignored the oral traditions that were passed down and they held that the rest of the Old Testament was just history, nothing more. Finally, they emphasized man’s free will and held that man was free to do whatever he wanted.

So does this describe anyone you know? There have always been those who hold on to a form of religion because it gives them wealth or power over people. What about you? If you were really honest with yourself, why do you attend church? If you go because of what you will get out of it, then you are not that far from being a Saducee. If you are not quite sure about all of this miracle stuff that’s found in the Bible, perhaps you really have the heart of the Saducee. Without miracles or a hope of eternal life, that is what really makes a Saducee sad, you see.

Day 6 – The Pious Few

One of the groups of people that get a lot of attention in the gospels is the Pharisees. One of the most famous speeches that Jesus gave to the Pharisees can be found in Matthew 23:1-36. Take a moment to read this passage. After reading this passage, it sounds really brutal. While Jesus doesn’t mince words in his criticism of Pharisaic thinking, his criticism is quite mild when compared to what other rabbis were writing at the time.

So why does this group of people seem to be singled out for such abuse? The Pharisees first appeared during the Maccabean era, specifically during the reign of John Hyrcanus I. As the Maccabean kings drifted away from their spiritual purity towards the maintenance and expansion of their own political power, the Pharisees stood out in open opposition. They rejected all things that were outside of Pharisaism. Anything that was outside of Judaism was absolutely rejected by them.

Actually, the Pharisees numbered about 6000 at the time of Jesus. They were laymen, and not part of the priesthood. The object of this fraternity was twofold, The first was the strictest obedience to the traditional law, the oral traditions and all aspects of Levitical purity. The second object of the fraternity was the payment of the tithe, and all religious dues. As you can see from Matthew 23, the main criticism of the Pharisee was a lack of inward reality to match their outward zeal.

As far as their religious beliefs, they held that all souls are perishable, believing in a system of rewards for those who devoted themselves to virtue and purity, and punishment for those who were devoted to vice. They believed in angels, and all of the supernatural, which often put them at odds with the Sadducees. Finally, they believed in pre-destination, that everything depends upon fate and God.

Due to their appearance of piety, they held great sway among the masses. All acts of public worship, prayers and sacrifices were done with their influence clearly felt. Their popularity meant that they could gain an immediate audience with the High Priest at any time. It is also written in Jesus’ day the Sadducees adhered to the demands of the Pharisees because, otherwise, the multitude would not have tolerated them. If you read the gospels, you fill find that the Pharisee always takes center-stage in any dialogue with Jesus.

Now if we are truthful, we all have a bit of the Pharisee in our heart. I imagine everyone likes to be admired for their Christian faith. The problem lies when we try to approach God with an attitude that we are so good, God should be grateful to even know us. We also run into trouble when we think that Christianity is about what we do, not what we are. Yes, Pharisaism runs deep within today’s church. How deep does it run in your heart?

Day 7 – Scribes, They’re Not Just For Writing Anymore

I suppose like most people, my picture of a scribe used to be some guy hunched over a table writing with a feathered quill that has to be dipped occasionally in ink. I know that is not a real modern view, but we are talking about the first century here. Anyway, early in the Old Testament, a scribe was exactly that, he was used to record events. He would be like the town clerk. He would be the one to write down the events in Elijah’s life so that we could read about it today. He would also make copies of the Torah, the Jewish Old Testament. Over time the more he wrote, the more expert in the Jewish Law he became. We see that by the time of the Jewish return from captivity, Ezra was considered a scribe (see Ezra 7: 6). By the time of Jesus, the position of scribe was used to describe a teacher of the law.

As we enter the time of Jesus’ life, scribes can be seen linked with Pharisees as in Matthew 23: 2, or Sadducees as seen in Luke 19: 47. It was the Scribe who was first to be given the title, “My Master,” which was later shortened to Rabbi. They became an independent class of scholars who held great sway over the lives of everyone in Israel. The rabbi’s utterances were considered total authority over all matters.

So what did a scribe do for a living? First, he developed the law so that it would apply to a changing world. You only have to look at our own Supreme Court to understand what the Rabbi did. If there wasn’t a clear provision in the Law to cover a particular circumstance, the scribe would look to existing law, to precedents (called oral traditions) and other legal decisions and come up with a ruling that would work in a particular situation. Second, the Rabbi’s job was to teach the people. Since it was tradition that everyone have a working knowledge of God’s Law, the Rabbi would usually be seen surrounded by a group of pupils. Finally, it was the Rabbi’s job to pass sentence in the courts. Since he was the expert in the law, it was the Rabbi who meted out punishment when those laws were broken.

What did the scribe believe? Well, obedience to the Mosaic Law was an absolute condition of membership. The 5 books of Moses were considered by them to be dictated by God, Himself. Later that level of authority was given to the historical and prophetic books of the Torah. They became experts in the oral traditions as their responsibility was to pass them down through the generations.

Do you see scribes in today’s church? These would be the people whose sole desire is to study God’s Word. Not that studying God’s Word is necessarily bad, it’s just that if you study to the exclusion of all else, that can be bad. For example, the reason the scribes rejected Jesus was because they felt that the Messiah would be revealed through their study, not come from a manger in Bethlehem. Remember, it’s the relationship to God that matters, not how much you study.

Day 8 – The Accuracy of the Four Gospels

As I write this, the American church has just come through a time when everyone has had their faith tested. When “The DaVinci Code” was released as a motion picture, the whole church felt the need to defend itself against the onslaught that the book and movie cause. One of the most critical issues of faith that had to be looked at was the existence of “other gospels.” Now these gospels have existed for centuries, but no one paid them any mind until DaVinci Code tried to tell us they were the true stories of Jesus’ life. Yet the more I dug into the background and compared them to the four gospels in my Bible, the more I became impressed with the authenticity of the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. To my thinking, only these 4 books will stand up to historical scrutiny.

So why are the 27 books in my Bible and not other works that claim to be written about Jesus? I suppose it is because these books passed the test, known as the rules of canonicity. The test these books passed in order to be included in the Bible was 1.) They were known to be written by the Apostles, 2.) They were written with the power of God behind them, 3.) They agreed with the rest of the Bible as God cannot contradict Himself, and 4.) They were universally accepted by the people of God.

I think the most telling argument for these books being in the New Testament was that these were the writings that were used and considered sacred by the earliest church fathers. Look at the writings that still exist from a man by the name of Clement of Alexandria, who lived from 70 to 156 AD. You will find in those writings over 2400 quotes from all but 3 books of our present New Testament. Look at the writings of Polycarp (70 – 145 AD), Tertullian (160-220 AD), Hippolytus (170-235 AD), Justin Martyr (died 133 AD), Origen (185-253 AD) or Cyprian (died 258 AD) and you will find 32,000 citations from the same New Testament that you have in your living room. You won’t find a single mention of any other writings of that time in any of the early church writings. If people who lived less than a decade from when Jesus walked the Earth believed in these 27 books, that’s good enough for me.

So why is this important? Is it just some kind of academic exercise to stretch the mind? I suppose there are people reading this, who think that it is faith that is important, not all of this intellectual stuff. To them I say, “Amen.” Yet there are those who want concrete answers before they believe in this “faith” stuff. To those people I say, read today’s piece over again because it is truly important. If the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are what they claim to be, then the message that they contain is too important to miss out on. Over the next 4 days, we will be talking about each of these 4 men and the gospels that they wrote. Each of them wrote from a different perspective to a different audience. One of these men wasn’t even Jewish. I suppose the reason for having 4 accounts of the life of Jesus Christ is that the message of Jesus reaches across time, cultural differences and every other kind of difference. The life of Jesus Christ is for all of mankind. As Jesus said, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."