Day 1

Galatians 5

¹.It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery

 

The freedom given by the grace of God: is it really a license? That is a big question because you have people operating at either extreme. Some say, you cannot be a Christian, unless you follow their list of rules. You have done this, you have done that, or other dos and do nots. They ask: “what is the length of your dress? Does it reach your ankle? What is that hairstyle?” Christianity is made to look like dos and do nots. That is one extreme.

The other extreme is, you do whatever you choose, and you are still saved! They argue: see I raised up my hand in a meeting in form 2, so I am a Christian! Whatever I do. and that is quite a question among modern man.

Let me ask, what is it you are teaching people as you evangelize? You want to bring to the Lord people at their own terms? Do you teach them to hear and obey God’s voice? Or to assume everything is okay to do? You know Deuteronomy 18 verse 10-12 is saying that the reason the children of Israel occupied Canaan is because the Canaanites they replaced had traditions that were wrong and so deserved destruction.

Therefore, as per the book of Galatians, when you become a Christian, you really can’t continue with those traditions. You cannot say you are a Christian and you are continuing with the same traditions and beliefs of your ancestors.

The gospel challenges every culture in the world, it does not matter which. This is because every culture in the world is part and parcel of the fallen man who has introduced in his life things that are honour devil and not God. Inside it of course, in every culture, is also the voice of God. So, it is true Christ came in order to give us freedom.It is important to understand, yes there is certainly freedom in Christ, but he want to say it is no license to do evil.

 

Day 2

Galatians chapter 4

What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate.

 

When we talk about freedom, it is lack of control by another. It is lack of a fear that directs your life. So, you make choices as to what you do or do not do. You do not do something because another human is directing you and stealing your freedom. I still remember in 1963 the years of Kenya’s independence. As a young boy, we were trying to wonder what will happen when we got independence because we had been colonized for all of my parents’ life; and we were being told by Jomo Kenyatta that we would get independence! The first thing we thought was you would run to the white man son’s bicycle and just grab it! You are free! You could do whatever you want! Then Jomo Kenyatta said, no, no, no! It is freedom and work, Uhuru na kazi. It is freedom and work. We are not going to get anything free. You will not grab anything of the white man without buying. In fact, if you want to replace the Whiteman in his farm, you have to buy the Land from the white man despite the fact you doubt the white man himself had bought it from your ancestors. Therefore, he redefined what freedom was and we need to understand what this means when he talks about spiritual freedom.

Christ’s aim was you have freedom but with responsibility…Uhuru na kazi. This is because work was to be something you enjoy, something worth to do for you are doing it for yourself. That is different from the bondage before we came to Christ. The devil makes you do things because of fear, threatening if you do not do this, you get this! You will get a curse! That is bondage! You cannot go where you want when you want, is like there is a curfew. They say hey! That one is a witch, you will get into trouble! he! You do not approach that one , they intend to do you harm . Thus, you live under fear. That is bondage.

If you really have freedom, you do not act out of particular fear but love. You are happy God is in charge, he is in control, and you are saved. You believe in God and his protection, so you do not fear the ghosts and the witches and all the fears that come with your traditions are now not your fears.

The book of Hebrews says, the main reason Jesus came was to rescue us, including Africans, Europeans, human beings, rescue us who all our lives lived under the fear of death. So, the fear of death, the bondage of the fear of death, is the reason Jesus came, to give us freedom from that fear. We still know we are going to die, but we do not fear death. We ask, death, where is your sting? It is still there but it has lost its sting.

Therefore, you no longer do those cultural things that promise you protection from evil or promise you blessings, because you know your blessings come from God. You are one who has come to Christ, and you have become God’s child, so you do not do those things. You therefore can bury your dead relative just as a body; it has no impact on the living. So, you do not start saying oh! The body cannot pass through the gate of the home, oh! It will cause chaos! You now know the dead body can’t do that! Not when you are protected by Christ. Or ohh! When you are burying the head has to face a certain direction no! A dead body is a dead body, it no  longer has power. You do not live under any fear. You do not name your child in a way to honour the spirits of the dead either, no! Not because they are not part of parcel of you but because you belong to Christ yourself. And so, you do not fear the things that those in bondage actually fear. Instead, you stand firm in Christ because it is possible to now enjoy what Christ accomplished for us on the cross. That is really what we are hoping and talking about.

 

Day 3

Galatians 5

¹⁰ I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty.

 

The consequences of mixing traditions are tragic, are you in Christianity or not? In that case if you mix you will never enjoy the freedom there is in Christ. You will not enjoy the things Christ offers because you are not fully surrendered to him, you do not fully trust he is with you. So, do not be like a baby, who does not know all that is in store for him. Look at verse 2, a baby is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. He is not free! So you can be a Christian, but you are not fully enjoying the freedom there is in God.

The trouble is that if you do not fully accept Christ, you will not enjoy all that is available through grace as  you are not fully in it. You are trying to be protected a little by Christ and a little by ancestral spirits. As a consequence he leaves you alone. Now please understand, he says I am a jealous God, my glory I will share with no one. That is a very, very important thing to understand. Therefore, you need to come to where you give yourself fully to God. Therefore, you admit you do not get any salvations from your traditions at all. Salvation is by grace through faith. That will be something you need to be aware about.

Salvation comes through just trusting yourself into God’s hands. So, ask yourself, in this custom or tradition you are required to do, are you still following godly teachings or not? Or are you still having a little one leg in Christianity, and one leg in culture? That is something that you need to ask yourself very clearly. If there is going to be persecution from traditionalists because of the things you have decided not to do, I think it will be important to understand clearly that you are ready for it. You will be just like three little children who said, “Ah! our God can help us, for we can do whatever we want under God, we just need to please him, we will not do king what you are telling us to do because it is not right. Our God is able to save us from your hands, but even if he chooses not to, we will always be with him not you. We are safer with God than with you, even in the fire!” and obviously they were thrown in the fire, and they discovered it was true; fire could not cause any pain at all to them! That is something that you need to have clearly in your mind as you choose Christ.

Therefore, we are asking ourselves, does grace give you freedom to do whatever you want? The answer is no! because in grace is you choose on your own to be guided by Christ. You become a slave of Jesus Christ by choice. So, you are not free to do whatever your earthly evil nature chooses you to do, you now follow the way of Christ. The only thing is, he tells you Take my yoke, because my yoke is easy. It means there is still a yoke, but his yoke is easy. That is what Jesus is saying.

 

Day 4

Galatians 5

⁷ You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? ⁸ That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you

 

Therefore, it needs to be understood that grace does not give you freedom to do whatever, wherever. It guides you onto living a life of obedience to Christ and honouring to him. So that is the first thing we need to understand.

The second thing we have said is, this grace gives guided freedom, why? Because it takes you away from fears. fears in your culture, fears in your way of doing things, etc. You now have the freedom to do the right things. You no longer have to do things that you do not want to do because you are afraid of what the spirit of the dead will do. You are free from that fear. You are also free from somebody who says “unless you do this I will kill you” because you understand, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. That is the message Paul has given us. So, you need to come to where you are able to entrust yourself to him, God, fully and enjoy all he has to offer.

For sure, freedom grace gives is freedom to obey God, is freedom to serve God, and I think it will be important that you understand that message and live by it. That way you can enjoy all Christ intended for us to enjoy. So let me just read this again, Galatians now chapter 5, v1

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery

 

In other words, coming to Christ means freedom, It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Therefore, do not let yourself be burdened by the yoke of slavery you are enjoined in traditionally. That is what Paul is saying.

 

Day 5

Galatians 5

² Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all

 

In other words, if you are to enjoy the freedom there is in Christ, not a hoof should remain behind in your traditions. Not a hoof should remain behind on your earlier religion. Whatever, your earlier belief system, you are either become all his, or not his at all! As long as there is a little of your earlier belief remaining out there, you are not his!

Let me read again, Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, just one thing, Christ will be of no value to you at all. He is a jealous God. He will not share you with another faith. He will leave you on your own to your other religions.

Then in verse 3 we read

. ³ Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law

There is no need of doing one traditional thing and leaving out others. The demons will still be on your case. So, you reject everything that  ancestral worship thing requires, for if you do even one of it, Christ will have nothing to do with you. I think that is what verse 3 is saying. So, if you let yourself do one traditional belief thing, just go! Leave Christianity and just do it all.

Then Galatians 5:4 is saying

⁴ You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

 

Paul wants you to know, in as long as you are going back to your traditional religion, you want to do circumcision their way, you want to give a goat so that you become an elder, etc. … he will have nothing to do with you. If you want to marry in a process that honours the ancestral spirits, my friend, the moment you have gone that route, Paul is saying, you are gone from Christ. You who are trying to be justified by law, you are trying to fulfil those African Traditional Religion things, you have alienated yourself from Christ. You have fallen away from grace. Grace does not apply to you anymore.

Then verse 5 he says,

⁵ For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. ⁶ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

 

Therefore, Paul wants them to know, they have to make up their minds! you can’t be in both, you cannot be following your traditions, in this case, they were in Jewish traditions, or even Galatians traditions, and still hope to enjoy the grace of God. By entering the grace of God you come out of your slavery of your African Traditional Religion belief system and of the past.

This is because, through the spirit, verse 5 is saying, we eagerly wait by faith the righteousness of which we hope. So, it is true we do not have the full benefits yet, part of the benefits yes, we will receive in heaven, but we now live in hope. For in Christ Jesus, please understand, whether you get circumcised or not get circumcised, that is of no consequence! Do not think you are any closer to God because you are now circumcised. He is telling you; African Traditional Religion is of no value. It does not have any spiritual impact. The only thing that counts, is faith expressed through love.

Therefore there are certain things you do but they are of no spiritual consequence, they do not help you. The critical thing is, do you trust in God, have you put your faith in God, is what Paul is saying.

But then goes back to this Galatians and asks, verse 7,

⁷ You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?

 

He still can’t understand how anybody who has God’s freedom, all God’s benefits, the miracles all happening without shedding blood, without circumcision, without anything done by him , what has happened that you go back to works?! You were enjoying the freedom, you were enjoying God’s blessings, now you want to stop receiving them free, in order to work for them?

verse 8 he says,

⁸That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.

 

That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. It is not from the Lord! The Lord does not tell you one thing and you do another. He told you, I died on the cross for you, you only need to trust in me, and you will enjoy God’s provisions. Where did he change his mind and told you to be circumcised or do other things? That kind of persuasion, please understand, does not come from Christ, the one who called you.

 

Day 6

Galatians 5

⁹ “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough

 

Somebody brings a small wrong teaching, which is not quite in line with the word of God and you will finally be totally lost because it is so little you accept it, but it is going to move you away from God fully. In other words, if you are going north, then you change just small degree away from north, by moving even by a small margin, overtime we will be very, very far away from North. He is saying Ah! you should not agree to go that way. It is a small yeast works through the whole batch of dough and everything will be leavened.

verse 10 is saying,

¹⁰ I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty.

 

In other words, Paul hopes they understand that it was an error to go back to traditions. If for example you have already gotten yourself involved in that kind of traditional beliefs, circumcisions, in tereburu, all those kinds of things, stop it. However, Paul is saying there is hope; you can actually come back to God. It does not matter how far you have fallen; his mercies are still available for you! There is hope. Paul is saying,

I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view.

 

But note the false teacher throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. Let us be clear! False teachers are going to suffer. God will hold them accountable. He says elsewhere, whoever misleads these little ones, it would be better to put something around his neck so that he can die properly! There is a curse for anybody who is teaching this idea of going to traditions. Instead of preaching that salvation is available, as a free gift given because of the work accomplished by Christ on the cross, they want us to work for it. Whoever is doing that, can expect God’s curse. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be.

It is good to hear that false teachers will not go scot-free, because they get innocent people in a church where they enjoy walking in the Lord, and then they are taught some funny teaching that cause them to live in bondage.

Paul is saying, No! Please understand there will be consequence for anybody who has misled these little ones, God’s sheep. So, you need to understand that we must obey the Bible as it is, and not teach the wrong thing, because God will hold us responsible for misleading others.

Of course, the solution really is to study the Bible for yourself. If you know how to read, read the Bible for yourself. So, when somebody comes teaching you something funny, you just go back to the passage and you can tell” ah, that is a new one! this is a new one! I do not think it is right, I do not think I can follow it because it is not in line with God’s word because I know God’s word. No wonder David said, thy word haves I hidden in thine heart. why? That I may not sin against you. If you truly do not want to backslide, hide God’s word in your heart. so, you can always tell when wrong teachings comes your way. Because it contradicts something that you already know.

 

Day 7

Galatians 5

¹¹ Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished

 

In other words, Paul is saying I am ready, quite ready, for the suffering for my stand. it will come because those people who want to teach culture, those traditions, will fight back! They will also be up against you. Paul is saying: I am ready for it! I am very ready for it! He then asks them …brothers and sisters, why do you think I am getting trouble? It is because I do not teach like them. that is why I am having the troubles that you hear I have. In that case the offence of the cross has been abolished.

in other words, you need to understand as you come to the cross, there will be many people who will be jealous of the freedom of the spirit you are enjoying and try to make things complicated. But we are learning here that if you really want to enjoy God’s goodness, you must be willing to have enemies of those who would follow the world. if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offence of the cross has been abolished. He insists no, no, you need to understand that there will be trouble when you stand on faith in Jesus.

He continues saying,

. ¹² As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!

I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! not just circumcised, emasculate themselves! You can see Paul is fed up with false teachers. We need to be also fed up with them. Like I have said before, you will not be aware of them if you do not read God’s word. Somebody has said, teach people how to recognize a good currency, and they will always identify the fake one. This is because the fake one will be different from the currency they know. Similarly, know God; know his word so thoroughly that when the false teachers come, within no time you realize, “argh! That is a false teacher!” what has she said? that this verse says this, that this verse says that. God has done this or that! you easily dismiss them! You do not spend a lot of your time with false teachers.

I think number two, that anybody Disciple or anybody who leads somebody to the Lord and disciples them, needs to show him a few principles on how to interpret scriptures, some principles of hermeneutics. This way, they know that somebody who is interpreting a verse in certain way out of context, you can tell he is not right. He is quoting the Bible but actually misinterpreting it.He is quoting it, in the wrong way. You know that is what a lot of these false teachers do. They use the same Bible but twist it.

If you truly learn how to interpret the Bible, you will know one of the principles of biblical interpretations is that the Bible interprets itself, it does not contradict itself. If you see a contradiction, most likely there is something you are missing. This is because one author writes it, but he used maybe 60 different writers. It is God who inspired it, and it is therefore consistent. There are other rules of interpretation that help you to interpret it correctly.

So it is important if you do not want to end up in a cult, you know God’s word, and you have clear ways of interpreting it.

 

 

 

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