Daily Meditations from John N. N. Ng'ang'a: week of 11th - 17th October : What are We Liberated From?

 

Day 1

Col 2:7-8  See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. NIV

Christians are liberated from their past enslavement. Before we became Christians there were things we did yet we did unknowingly. We felt compelled to do them. That is the mark of slavery. Such things may include cultural requirements or philosophies and traditions. By avoiding philosophy and tradition as foundation or authority for decisions to guide our lives we are free to do what will honor God and bring us joy.

It is true that all of us have some habits that lead to tradition. You cannot avoid tradition but before allowing it to be your habit, you are free to question it.

Tradition (whether African or church group one) should never be basis of our life. Instead God's word should guide us. If a habit is not in line with God's word we should stop it before it grows to become a habit. It is not enough to explain that everybody is doing it.

 

Day 2

Col 2:9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, Col 2:10-11 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. NIV

The second thing we need to be freed from is self. We must be 'Christo-centric' .The reason why tradition and philosophy should not be our authority for any decision is that Christ and His Word is a much better authority. Our brain cannot equal God's Word.

The Greek word for Godhead or deity is the abstract noun for God (Arndt) and includes not only the divine attributes but also the divine nature (Beng). Union with Christ alone is sufficient, for he is head of all other authorities; they can add nothing to holiness or to redemption. In Christ all we require to know and have can be found. We should therefore be suspicious, even of our fleshly desires. If they are not consistent with God's Word, they may not be good for us eventually, however attractive they may look.

 

Day 3

Col 2:11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead .NIV

But how do we gain this freedom?

Verse 11 identifies Christ's death and resurrection as the true circumcision (cf. Phil 3:3), in which Christians, as Christ's Body, participated.

Both concepts are, for Paul, expressions of the corporate reality implicit in the Christian's faith - union with the Saviour's death and resurrection. Circumcision here is the death of Christ, by which he wrought severance from the old age, cleansing of sin and reconciliation to God (cf. Deut 30:6; Jer 4:4; 9:25-26).

It is to this end that Christian baptism is to be related. In baptism we declare that we shall not follow our old ways of life but instead we shall only follow Christ who died for us. We also show that we are rising with Christ and hence the power that God used to conquer death for Christ is available for us to conquer any power that held us in bondage.

 

Day 4

Col 2:13  When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins. NIV

Sinful nature refers to man under sin, which is called by Paul a moral uncircumcision. Resurrection, viewed as a corporate action together with Christ, finds its realization through God's gracious forgiveness (cf. Eph 2:1-10).

Sin is a prison. One who is dead in sin cannot help himself, just like being in a mud-hole one needs someone to help them to a dry ground. Jesus never sinned. He is therefore able to help us out of our personal 'mud-holes'.On our own we just continue to struggle without a chance we shall come out of the hole of mud since trying to remove one leg makes the other sink even deeper. Many of us have this experience and hence our joy when we finally experienced the freedom there is in becoming Christian.

Thus we need to be liberated from ourselves. Only until we realize that our personal efforts are cannot yield true freedom, shall we continue in the mud hole, too proud to seek help!

 

Day 5

Col 2:14  having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. NIV

Next we need to be liberated from guilt.

The 'written code' here is a certificate of debt and presumably refers to the written Mosaic law. For Gentiles it may include also the law to which their consciences assent (cf. Romans 2:14-15; Ex 24:3; Ephesians 2:15). This obligation which, unfulfilled, stood against us was discharged on his cross.

I read in Gideon Magazine a story of murderer who gave himself up after 20 years, due to guilt. The police had closed the file and given up ever finding the murderer. But after more than 20 years, having settled in another part of the country and even raised his own family, he found out that he could bear the guilt longer. He therefore left his family and moved back to his old town where he told the police he was ready to be held accountable for the murder.

Guilt can give you no peace yet when Jesus said, "All is finished. Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing", all our confessed sin was covered. We can now live without guilt despite the terrible sins we did in the past.

 

Day 6

Col 2:15  And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. NIV

Do you fear death? Christ's death is meant to bring us from living under the fear of death. His death has stripped death any power.

This is used in the classical Greek of the defeating or "stripping" of enemies in war.The above verse, picturing Christ as "stripping" principalities and powers through his death and resurrection, probably refers, on one hand, to angelic powers (through whom the handwriting of ordinances had been given, Gal 3:19) who control human rulers, and on the other hand, to such personified evils as death.

Heb 2:14-15 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-that is, the devil- 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For the individual, death remains to be destroyed (1 Cor 15:25-26); "in Christ" its destruction occurred when, in his triumphant ascension, the Saviour led captive this and all other powers (Eph 4:8).

God's gracious forgiveness (Col 2:13) is to be understood in the light of the meaning of the cross: in it man's debt is cancelled and the powers holding man captive are themselves openly defeated and made captive. Realizing this, the absurdity of turning, as an aid to redemption, from the triumphant Christ to the subjected powers or to self becomes apparent.

 

Day 7

Col 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.NIV

We also need to be freed from the salvation by dos and don'ts.

These are the rules and observations needed before true salvation paid for by the cross. Now you can enjoy friendship with God and all that offers just by trusting the accomplishments of the cross. The objectionable observances, which evidently had been imposed by the false teachers, not only flew in the face of Christian freedom (cf. Rom 14; Gal 5:1) but, as among the Galatians (Gal 3:1-12; 4:9-10), threatened to draw them from Christ back into the shadow of the former age (cf. Heb 10:1-10).

Paul points out that shadowy symbolisms and prohibitions have faded before Christ, the daylight reality. To impose such laws (today we call them by different names) on others as tests of spiritual maturity are most evident signs of Christian immaturity and error.

Are there things in your church or fellowship we have made prerequisite to salvation? Unless you dress with this fashion, unless your wedding is like this, or unless you like the pastor or unless you have donated so much money or unless you have done at least 5 of the things on our fellowship's list, you are not saved?

In Christ we are saved by grace through faith in his completed work No dos and don'ts can take our away our salvation.