Day 1

Galatians 2

¹¹ But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him publicly, speaking strongly against what he was doing, for it was very wrong. ¹² For when he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile Christians who do not bother with circumcision and the many other Jewish laws.^[a] But afterwards, when some Jewish friends of James came, he wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore because he was afraid of what these Jewish legalists, who insisted that circumcision was necessary for salvation, would say; ¹³ and then all the other Jewish Christians and even Barnabas became hypocrites too, following Peter’s example, though they certainly knew better

When the original Martin Luther discovered that justification is by faith in the medieval times, it brought a change in theology whose repercussions are being felt up to today. There had grown, in the Middle Ages, an assumption that you could buy your salvation. You must do something in order to gain your salvation. In other words, you can only know whether you are born again, or whether you are going to heaven on the basis of the things you have done. The assumption was, at the end heaven will weigh, if the good actions are more than bad actions then you go in.

That was the struggle of Martin Luther and others had to deal with. If you do your best and then you still fail to be holy enough then try gain, do your best, and fail yet again, you end up hopeless in life. You feel like there is no hope, for we can never ever please the Lord fully.

Martin Luther was an intellectual priest, very educated guy in addition to being a priest, and could see really there is no hope for mankind in that theology. But is that what the Bible said? He read the scriptures and the scripture that caught his attention was, the just shall live by faith in the book of Romans. That we are not just or righteous on the basis of what you have done, but we are just on the basis of accepting Christ’s offer. We are not only by asking the God the father to allow us to appropriate the holiness of his son who paid for our sins.

Faith in the son’s performance on the cross is what makes us be regarded as righteous by the father. So, Martin Luther felt the relief of his struggles to reach the impossible mark. For sure he could not live his life anymore like that. A big burden was lifted out of him. He now felt at peace, for he was now able to have time with God, he is able to thank God; he is able to rejoice in the Lord despite the challenges and failures he has faced in the day. He realizes God does not call him righteous because he has never sinned; he calls him righteous because he has repented his sins and accepted the righteousness of Jesus Christ on the cross. For sure the just shall live by faith.

 

Day 2

Galatians 2

¹⁴ When I saw what was happening and that they weren’t being honest about what they really believed and weren’t following the truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Though you are a Jew by birth, you have long since discarded the Jewish laws; so why, all of a sudden, are you trying to make these Gentiles obey them? ¹⁵ You and I are Jews by birth, not mere Gentile sinners, ¹⁶ and yet we Jewish Christians know very well that we cannot become right with God by obeying our Jewish laws but only by faith in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And so we, too, have trusted Jesus Christ, that we might be accepted by God because of faith—and not because we have obeyed the Jewish laws. For no one will ever be saved by obeying them.”

We shall live by faith on two counts. Number one, it means we acknowledge there is no holiness in us. The just shall live by faith means I am not living on the basis of my righteousness .He is admitting his sinfulness. You know there are people who go to pray Lord, remember what I have done for you! But they assume he will not remember their failures. Even when you are praying for people we keep saying, God, you must heal this person, for remember how he has served you as if there is anything you have done that could justify what God does for you. Even, the same guy who has done fantastic things has also sinned! You may not be aware of it, but between him and God he knows where he has failed.

Therefore, we do not go to God on the basis of our righteous performance, but we know one who never failed, he was tempted in every way yet without sin and that is Christ. That is the Lord Jesus Christ. But thank God the Bible says the just shall live by faith. It means you do not claim your own righteousness, its faith in God’s work. You rely on Christ righteousness.

When I was in form two, my Englishman teacher told me, wanting to make it easy for me to understand, that to be justified, means, to look at someone just as if they have never sinned. That does not mean they have not sinned. But now, if you are justified, God looks at you as if you have never sinned.

I normally prefer likening it to wearing sunglasses. You wear red sunglasses and the whole place looks red. If you are tired of colour red you just wear the green ones and the whole place turn green. Now, God the father is like he is wearing the sunglasses of the righteous blood of Jesus Christ, and he looks at you, he does not see your sinfulness, not because you have never sinned, but because of what Christ did on the cross. He sees you as righteous; you are justified, just as if you have never sinned. I think that is something that you need to be aware of so that you can enjoy you walk with God on a daily basis.

Day 3

Galatians 2

¹⁷ But what if we trust Christ to save us and then find that we are wrong and that we cannot be saved without being circumcised and obeying all the other Jewish laws? Wouldn’t we need to say that faith in Christ had ruined us? God forbid that anyone should dare to think such things about our Lord

Therefore, we tell people we are born again but they wonder how given that the other day you were annoyed with me!? What they do not know is, when you are a Christian, you can fall in sin, but you cannot walk in sin. Why? The spirit of God who now lives in you, will make you totally uncomfortable with sin, and you will be back to God in repentance. And because the blood was one death adequate for the rest of life, it means that blood that Christ shed on the cross would be adequate to forgive any and every sin.

I think that is what the Galatians seem to miss. Paul says he taught them about this free salvation, but they actually ended up missing the point.

Just look at Galatians chapter 2 verse 15 says,

“We who are Jews by birth and not `Gentile sinners’’ know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So, we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no-one will be justified.

Even Jews, you see, have no hope in their wonder Levitical ceremonies. No! Works do not bring God’s favour on anyone since we are never good enough. Jews should know that. I think that is something that is very, very important to have at the back of your mind.

verse 17 says,

“If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. For through the law, I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing.

 

Therefore, Paul wants the Galatians and us, you, and me, to actually fully understand that we do not have a choice, if you are not saved by faith in Christ, you cannot be saved at all. Heaven cannot be your home, and he says, on basis of your righteous works. The Jews who are misleading the Galatians should know better! This is because they knew this, for they had struggled without success. They had struggled just like Martin Luther said he struggled, trying to please God and he wasn’t able to please God.

All of us know who have tried to please God know it is not only difficult, it is impossible! Why? God is perfect in nature! He is righteousness itself. Now, if he is righteousness itself, it then means, even the slightest sin will make you not have fellowship with him. The only way you can have fellowship with a holy father is when you trust in Jesus who lived a righteous life.

I think that is something that is interesting. It should be obvious to anybody, yet many people would like to say, I am a Christian by what I do. I do not want to get born again. I do not want, issues of getting saved, No! I just read the Bible and obey it! Paul is saying, Galatians please understand, it is not difficult, it is impossible to please God without faith in his righteousness. For no one is righteous enough. We are not suggesting there is no righteousness, but they are not righteous enough to please God.

Day 4

Galatians 2

¹⁸ Rather, we are sinners if we start rebuilding the old systems, I have been destroying of trying to be saved by keeping Jewish laws,

Picture this, you are wearing a white suit, you are about to go to the podium to start speaking to a big international gathering, one of your lost brothers hears you are the speaker and comes. He is muddy, but you are the brother, and he wants to meet you. Now, can you see the challenge you will have? If you embrace him, his mud will just paint on your white suit, and you are just about to go to speak. Can you see the difficulty? It is not that you do not love him, but you cannot really embrace each other in that circumstance. What about if there could be found some kind of a spray? To spray you after you are muddy but to instantly clean? Then you can go ahead and embrace him! That is what trusting in the blood of Jesus does.

The blood of Jesus is such that it gives you what will make God be able to embrace you despite your sinfulness and his righteousness. So, put your faith in Christ Jesus so that you become just or righteous. For nothing you can do will be good enough. The grace of God is the one which we trust. God’s free gift is what we trust, not our ability in any way.

See verse 17 again,

“If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we Jews are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker.

You know, renouncing the law does not mean you do not fulfil it. I think that needs to be very clear. We are not saying that Christians are free to do any evil at all, no! In seeking to be justified in Christ, you are sinner saved by the grace of God. You do not go on in sin. That is why I said earlier, a Christian can fall in sin, but he cannot walk in sin. This is because Christ, by forgiving your past and making it easy for you to constantly go back in repentance, does not promote you to continue sinning. That needs to be understood.

Therefore, the fact that we are talking or saying, that we are fulfilling the law simply by trusting Christ, does not mean we continue in sin. But it is not possible that you can gain entry to heaven through it. It should not be misinterpreted to mean Christians can live immoral lives, sinful lives and because Christ died on the cross you will be okay.

In fact, the very fact that you can walk in sin is proof you have not met Christ. Because when you meet Christ, and he start living in your heart, he forgives your past and start living in your heart, he makes you totally uncomfortable with sin. Whenever you fall in sin, you will be totally uncomfortable, so you will not want to live in sin.

In fact, the way to know you are a Christian is that you hate sin. But if you look left and you look right, and nobody saw you, and you feel okay it means the holy spirit is not living in you and you are not a Christian. If you feel okay after saying or doing, or thinking evil, and you do not feel guilty at all in order to go back to repentance, it means you have never met the Lord. The proof that you have met the Lord is that he will make you uncomfortable with sin.

You know, if you want to know whether somebody is dead or alive what is the difference between dead person or alive person? The best thing you can do is pinch him! or prick him, even if he is asleep, the pain will wake him up. But if he is dead, it does not matter whether you put kitchen knife and throb him, he will not feel any pain. Dead bodies feel no pain. Therefore, if you are spiritually dead, you can sin and whatever bothers you is normally has anybody seen me sinning? Are there any consequences? If there are no consequences you just continue enjoying the sin. That is why some girls do not have sex before marriage, but is not that they are righteous, they just have a problem with getting pregnant, or getting HIV. But if you are saved, the reason why you will not be immoral is not because of that although that also counts, but that is not the reason, it is because the spirit of God in you will make you totally uncomfortable to be involved sexually with anybody you are not married to.

Day 5

Galatians 2

¹⁹ for it was through reading the Scripture that I came to realize that I could never find God’s favour by trying—and failing—to obey the laws. I came to realize that acceptance with God comes by believing in Christ. ^[b]

The Holy Spirit, he will make you totally uncomfortable when you sin. You will not be happy in the act. You will not be happy in the process. So, sin is not getting pregnant, sin is not getting HIV/AIDS, sin is being immoral! So how do you know you are a Christian? That thing that makes you uncomfortable with sin is the spirit of God in you. It means the Lord is living in you.

Therefore, Paul wants Galatians and us to know clearly, that as we seek to be justified in Christ, you must be somebody who although you may have been sinning but you now have stopped sinning. It does not mean Christ promotes sin by making it so easy to repent. “Oh! We are saved by faith in Christ, ahh!” No! It is not that easy it cost death for Christ. That way you know you are a Christian, when he puts in you conviction, sensitivity, and now you are sensitive to sin.

You do not rely on fulfilling the law, yes. In order to please God, you rely on what Christ has done. People who live by the law seem more righteous than those who live by grace. It sounds like oh! I do this, I do that and of course in comparing we are looking at the outside because we can’t see the inside. If the judge of righteousness was the Pastor or the Deacon or Apostle, they can all say how righteous you are, but you know the truth! You, the devil, and the Lord, know the truth! That even though people think that you are righteous, there are areas you have failed.

Therefore, you know you are saved by God’s grace, not because of your good performance. I think that misunderstanding of the grace of God and faith in Christ causes some people to say they are Christians, but they are living rotten lives. There is no way you can be a Christian and live in sin. The fact that you live in sin, let me repeat, is proof you have never met the Lord.

Here is what Paul is saying, he is saying, absolutely not! In verse 17, absolutely not! what is absolutely not? Christ cannot promote sin. You cannot be a Christian and promote sin.

Day 6

Galatians 2

¹⁸ Rather, we are sinners if we start rebuilding the old systems, I have been destroying of trying to be saved by keeping Jewish laws,

 

In fact, verse 18 is saying, if you claim to be a Christian, and you are destroying the righteousness for which you committed yourself, then basically you are not a Christian, you are just any law breaker. I think that is something that you need to be clear about.

Then Verse 19 says,

For through the law, I died to the law so that I might live for God.

What is he saying? Now that I discovered my acts of righteousness were never adequate, for some are good, but were never adequate to meet the standard, now that I know that what did I choose to do? To die relying on the law. I am dead to the law; means, I am no longer relying on the law, I now rely on Christ.

Relying on Christ means he gives me the power to say no to sin. So, I will live righteously although I am living but righteously not so that I get saved, but because I am saved. So, we need to die to the living for self. And then, accept you are going to be controlled by the spirit. So, you choose never to control your life again. That is what it means to be a Christian. I keep telling people that, the last choice a Christian make is the choice of Christ. What is to make a choice of Christ? Choosing to put your total trust on Christ and from then onwards you do not trust yourself. You do not even rely on self-confidence, for you only have God confidence.

What that means is that you never make another choice into the future. One of the marks of a Christian is that whenever he wants to decide, he consults God and he does what God wants even if to his relatives, to anybody else or himself it does not look like a wise decision. But if that is the direction God wants you to go, the instructions of God to a Christian, the reply is always yes Lord. He never argues with the Lord because you do not trust in yourself, you trust him, even where you think, “ai! is this really good?’. Once you know that is what he wants, you do it his own way. That includes every choice! Your last choice was to choose to be a Christian. Are you going to get married or not? It is not what you like, it is not how your body feels, what does God want? Am I going to marry Atieno or Wakesho? Again not my choice, Wakesho may be looking more beautiful, but if the Lord tells me Atieno, it does not matter whether she is ugly, I will marry Atieno. This is because it is not my choice; it is His choice that really matters.

What does it mean that through the law I died? I am no longer in control of my life. I think that is what he is saying in verse 20. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. What a fantastic way of summarizing this justification by faith! That if you want to be justified by faith, trusts in God totally, leaving every choice to him. Then you no longer live, you do not live for self, your life is no longer your own, you are crucified, you died, as Christ died you also died, you now want to live a new life, guided, and directed by God.

He talks of the life I now live in the body, because you can see I am still alive. I now live in the body. Paul is saying, I live by faith in the son of God. In other words, I now no longer do anything that I like or do not like, I seek to trust God and I do what God wants me to do. Why? Christ loves me and gave himself for me. The reason why I can commit myself to him is because I am committing to one who is not only powerful, not only sovereign of all events, but also, he loved me enough to die on the cross for me. That is why I am willing to surrender everything and obey him.

It sounds foolish unless you believe he loves you.As it is, I allow him to run my life because he died for me, he lived and died for me.

 

Day 7

Galatians 2

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ: and I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the real life I now have within this body is a result of my trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I am not one of those who treats Christ’s death as meaningless. For if we could be saved by keeping Jewish laws, then there was no need for Christ to die.

And then this one is quoted many times, still in verse 20,

for me to live is Christ, to die is gain.

I still remember in 1960s my sister coming home from high school and teaching me the song,

For me to live is Christ, to die is gain. To hold His hand and walk His narrow way. There is no peace, no joy, no thrill, Like walking in His will. For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.

 

I still remember that song from the 1960s.Paul is saying, to live is Christ, but to die is gain! In other words, if he is given a choice, whether to die or to live, he knows the gain there will be in dying because dying means going to God’s hands, becoming part of heaven, living with the Lord that loved him. But again, to live is also important because it means serving him. For me to live is Christ means, I am living for Christ, I am living to serve him, I am living to honour him, I am living not for self, but for him.

Therefore, I want to live so that I can serve him as long as he wants me here. But if am to die, that is fantastic. It means rest. That is a Christian, if you are justified by faith, if you have put your trust in God, then you know life and death is in the hands of Jesus. It means that if he chooses to allow you to die, it is all out of love, you are happy to die in him. And so, you no longer fear death.

For me to live is Christ, but to die is gain. That is only possible if you are justified by faith. What does that mean? You no longer trust anything or anybody else. Your life is totally under God’s control. Christ the one who loved you, and even died on the cross for you. He is the one who loves you enough to walk with you through life and unto death.

For me to live is Christ, to die is gain is what every Christian must contemplate on a daily basis. So, when you are looking at me, you are seeing Christ because he is living through me! It is me you are seeing, yes, you are seeing me, but the truth is, Christ is living out in me. That is what is supposed to be. I am supposed to be totally surrendered to him. That when you look at me, you are looking at Christ, is the way Christian life is supposed to be lived.

Therefore, when you slap me, you are slapping Christ! That is what Paul was told on Damascus Road, no wonder he is so clear on it. Jesus said, you are persecuting me! Paul said, who am I persecuting? He was not touching Jesus himself, but by persecuting the Christians, the voice told Paul, You are persecuting me! so, whenever anybody does anything wrong to me, they are not just doing wrong to me, they are doing to Christ who lives in me, and the consequences will not even be from me , because he says vengeance is mine says the Lord. God himself will handle you for mishandling me because I am no longer now the one alive, but Christ is living in me.

Finally verse 21 says,

I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing.

 

In other words, I do not play around things for I represent His grace. I should never feel. By now I have been a Christian long enough; I can do it on my own no! I do not set aside the grace of God, however long I have been a Christian. I was saved by grace, by trusting the grace of God, and I will live by it right up to the end. Christ death would be useless if I can get salvation by works of the law. So, I do not trust them.

If there was another way, God would not have allowed his son to die the painful death. So, the only way we can get righteousness is by trusting God. We are saved by the grace and the only way you can get that grace of God is by putting your faith in Christ, believing that he was God and became man, believing that he lived life without sin, believing therefore when he died; it was for the sin of the world including your own sin. In fact, I believe even if all the other people are righteous, since he came to rescue me, he still would have died on the cross for me. That is how much his love is for me, and that is why I should respond by living an obedient life, honouring life to him, living for him rather than for self. As you wake up each morning, ask yourself, what motivates me to do anything I do? The motivation should never be just to get rich, to please self, the motivation should never be, just to get famous, motivation should never be, just to get pleasure for myself, but motivation should be to bring glory to him for whom I live. That is what it really means to live for Christ.

Yes, for me to live is Christ, to die is gain. I do not set aside the grace of God. Paul is saying, God has given you grace, do not say ah! I can now handle it on my own. Trust him right to the final day.

Remember we are justified by grace in Christ, not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law, no one will get to heaven. Let us put our full trust in him.

 

 

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