Worship Call 0740 Fasting

Worship Call 0740

Tuesday October 4, 2022

Fasting

enter His presence, you're completely covered! Hebrews 9:24-28 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another-- He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. This evening will begin the Biblical feast of Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur, which literally means Day of Coverings, can be a day of deep reflection on what the Lord has done for us. As Yeshua (Jesus) died on the cross 2000 years ago, the Gospel describes how the veil in the Temple was torn in two. This profound spiritual event reveals that the Lord gave all whose sins are covered by His blood access to the Holy of Holies, as He had become our High Priest in addition to being, Himself, the perfect sacrifice for sin. Although the Temple was not finally destroyed until 70 AD, Orthodox Judaism recounts in the Talmud that, beginning in 30 AD, God no longer accepted the animal sacrifices commanded in the Torah for the Day of Atonement [Tract Yoma 39b]. Throughout the ages, while the Temple stood, the High Priest would cast lots for the two goats which were to be offered as sacrifices on Yom Kippur. One lot was for the goat to be sacrificed on the altar, for YHVH -- and the other, called "Azazel," the goat cast out into the wilderness for the removal of sins [Leviticus 16:7-10]. Traditionally, as the Priest cast the lot, finding it in his right hand was a good omen, indicating that God had accepted the sacrifice. However, if the High Priest drew it in his left hand, this indicated the Lord's displeasure and even rejection of the sacrifice. For the 40 years after the sacrifice of Yeshua, the Talmud records that the lot was taken in the left hand of the High Priest. The same result for 40 years, a lot cast into the left hand, carries a statistical probability of 1 in 1,099,511,627,776 -- or one in a trillion chance! There were also other significant miraculous signs described in this tract that something of major significance had taken place related to the most critical sacrifice in the Temple order. It is clear to both Jews and Messianic believers that God was saying something important to the Jewish people in 30AD, something important enough to be recorded in the Talmud and something which demanded an explanation. We believe that the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, 40 years after the sacrifice of Yeshua, followed a period of testimony and testing for the Jewish people concerning the fact that the sacrificial system had been consummated by Yeshua's death on the cross. 40 is a typical number of testing throughout the Bible. While animal sacrifices continued to be offered in the Temple while it stood, and many believing Jews continued to participate in them, it was clear that something new and definitive had opened the way for all people to enter the Holiest place and to know the Lord intimately and personally. Without intending to, the Talmud offers historical support for the significance and reality of the events in 30 AD, which consummated the sacrificial system given in the Torah; i.e., the death and resurrection of the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua of Nazareth, who died for the sins of the whole world. Robert, so enter into His presence boldly today with the full knowledge that the veil was torn -- the sacrifice was provided -- and the work was completed 2000 years ago in our Messiah Yeshua! Your family in the Lord with much agape love, George, Baht Rivka, & Obadiah Baltimore, Maryland

And it is another fine day in the Lord

Happy Anniversary to Michael and Amanda

Remember tonight we continue with our Lord’s day message.

Matthew 6:16–18 (NASB95) — 16 “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 17 “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face 18 so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Fasting which was more commonly observed through the Old Testament is the abstaining from food and drink for a certain period of time. It was connected to prayer in the time of mourning or seeking to sway God to lift the discipline that came upon them, or to keep that discipline from them in repentance and fasting would be for urgent matters.

The disciples were questioned about not fasting while John’s disciples did. Jesus answered with the statement about the attendants of the bridegroom not being able to mourn as long as the bridegroom was with them. (Matthew 9:14-15)

While the disciples did not fast while in the presence of Jesus they would continue after His ascension.

Fasting in general is the private humbling before God, Prioritizing spiritual matters over the natural needs of the body. Devoting oneself to prayer and meditation upon the Lord.

While there was much more said about fasting in the Old Testament there is quite less in the new. While there lies instructions in how to pray, there is no details in the how one should fast or for what period of time. there is only the general statement of “When you fast.”

The general context is private worship before God. and if it is with the understanding that Fasting is a personal matter between the believer and his Lord, then if it is on the heart of the believer to set aside food and drink to prioritize spiritual matters over the body, I cannot see that fasting will not be honoring in the eyes of the Lord.

While the legalist is concerned more with what you are not to do and the guidelines of what and how you should do another thing in keeping with religion. The Lord is concerned with the heart.

Matthew 6:16–18 (NASB95) — 16 “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

Like prayer there were those who came out of their closet and publically announced or put their piety on display before men. The Carnal nature always desires to horn in for the credit. The Lord says that you always have received back your payment in full.

μισθόςb, οῦ m: a recompense based upon what a person has earned and thus deserves, the nature of the recompense being either positive or negative—‘reward, recompense.’ δοῦναι[1]

While we do not want to go to the place where we are seeking to coerce God’s hand by our action, as in if we fast God is more apt to hear us. It seems that often in the Old Testament Fasting included with prayer was to move God.

David fasted and prayed for his child to live. Was it that David was trying to coerce God? but when his child died David recovered and refreshed himself and began to eat.

It is never the act, which is the energy of the flesh, but it is the humility presented before the Lord that moves God.

1 Peter 5:6 (NASB95) — 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,

So, did I answer the question.

As Christians, do we fast?

1. It is not mandated.

2. There are no instructions in the canon on how we are to fast except here what Jesus cautions his disciples on.

3. Fasting was not prohibited either. But Jesus says…When you fast.

4. Fasting is a private matter between you and the Lord, when it is that the humble heart leads the believer to fast and pray then I have to believe that God is honored.

Matthew 6:16 (NASB95) — 16 “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

It is a curious matter why one would want to draw attention to self in the form of piety. It certainly comes from arrogance with eyes on self, seeking self-gratitude among one’s neighbors.

But this is more of the arrogance on display by the pharisees and Jesus says, don’t do what they are in the practice of doing.

And there once again we find the mention of that which produces a recompense or payment for service unto the Lord. That which may pay dividends on earth but certainly that which becomes direct deposit in our heavenly bank account.

The people who were on the mount may have been in abstract poverty. There was not an attachment to the current world, but they longed for the kingdom to come where there would be prosperity and not hunger.

Satan will tempt and distract as he did with Jesus with world riches which is the ploy of the prosperity gospel that God wants us to be healthy and wealthy. In such Case the Church is certain areas of the world and in certain times lived in prosperity. In such areas there is the noticeable decline in the things spiritual, the things of God. While the greatest flourishing of Christianity is in the places of persecution and poverty.

The Lord sums it up in his letter to the Laodiceans.

Revelation 3:14–17 (NASB95) — 14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: 15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17 ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,

It would seem that prosperity becomes much bigger stumbling block then poverty.

Matthew 6:19 (NASB95) — 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

We are dealing still with the matters of the heart.

What is your value system.

Still have people equating material wealth to God’s blessings. It may be or it may be nothing more than a stumbling block from the evil one.

The collecting up of material wealth is not just the tangible but that which one values within the heart the pursuit of worldly gain. Sometimes that dollar is held just out of reach like a carrot on a stick that cause the mule to go forward thinking it can get to that carrot. In so doing the believer is continually distracted in seek obtaining and holding onto worldly wealth

This is why Jesus makes the statement

Mark 10:25 (NASB95) — 25 “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

The Richman has a lot invested in this world. you have heard the saying that one can be so Heavenly minded that he is no earthly good. It is in the reverse that one can be so earthly minded that he is no heavenly good.

The commandment is

Mark 12:28–31 (NASB95) — 28 One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 “The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

It is the matter of the heart. It is relational. Our reward is in Christ, not in this world. And as long as our hearts are directed and centered around material wealth, then that which is stored up in our hearts will be burned up with the works of the world and nothing to show in eternity for a life that should have been lived for the Lord.

What is the storing up?

It is that which is directed to the Lord, the worship and service directly tied to our loving the Lord’s appearing and our longing for the kingdom to come.

That service includes

1. Prayer

2. Fasting

3. Good works

4. Sacrificial giving and giving

Note that Jesus has covered Prayer, fasting and giving as private matters to the Lord outside the notice of others.

5. Our storing up is what we do with our time and our energies.

All of these things are what is going to be evaluated at the Judgment seat of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:10 (NASB95) — 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

1 Corinthians 3:11–15 (NASB95) — 11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

[1]Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). In Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 490). United Bible Societies.