Holy Denial
Notes
Transcript
Entertainment Evolution
Entertainment Evolution
This sanctuary is in a pretty unique situation, because I’d say that most of us here have had the distinct privilege of watching the evolution of home entertainment. I mean I remember when we didn’t even have a remote control for the TV, I had to get up and turn the dial to change channels in my early days of watching TV.
But it’s interesting how the role of the TV and entertainment has changed over the course of my 30 some years here on planet earth. It used to be that there was only a few select hours a week where there was actually something that I wanted to watch on television. Basically Friday night and Saturday morning. Other than that it was infomercials, sit coms I didn’t understand, and soap operas. That’s all, especially because we didn’t have cable growing up.
There was quite literally “nothing to watch” a lot of the time. So there were these natural constraints placed around the consumption of television entertainment. And I had video games, but there were constraints put around them by my parents as well. Certain hours for a certain number of hours and only when all the chores and homework was done, and of course when someone wasn’t trying to use the TV.
But as time has gone on and as technology has advanced there are fewer and fewer natural constraints put on our society’s consumption of entertainment. I mean if you are willing to pay you can watch literally any TV show, episode, or movie ever made with a few clicks. Whereas we used to have to wait week to week to see what happens next, we are now afforded the opportunity to watch an entire season of a show in a single day.
And while this is wonderful on rainy days, we do have to take a look at what this really tells us about certain trends within our culture and the human condition. We are people who are being thoroughly conditioned to get what we want when we want it at any cost. I mean you can order from amazon and get it TODAY in many instances. You can get Mcdonalds delivered for crying out loud. The world economy has recognized the fundamental desire of humans to consume as much as they can in the most convenient possible way and has cashed in. And look, I’m not really complaining about it because it makes my life easier. But, what we do need to recognize is that it forces us to self regulate. It forces us to take responsibility for our human tendency to be unable to say no. It forces us to practice the subtle art of holy denial.
So if you are like what is this man talking about, you might remember that we are in a sermon series called Brand New, where we are exploring different spiritual disciplines that we can practice that will Ignite our love for Jesus, stretch our love for our neighbors, and transform our spiritual journeys. We’ve talked about reading scripture, and last week we talked about prayer, and this week we are going to talk about most people’s least favorite of all the spiritual disciplines — Fasting. And I know you are probably like um what… we are United Methodists. Eating is a spiritual discipline in our tradition. I get it. But don’t totally tune out because I promise I’m not going to shame you or even really try to pressure you into giving up snacks. Just give me some space here. Deal?
Fasting? Yuck
Fasting? Yuck
Listen, the disease of MORE… yes that’s a thing I just said... the disease of more tells us that if only we had this or had that or had a bit more in this area of our life that we would find satisfaction. If I had a different car, a bigger house, a bigger bank account, etc etc then we would be happy. The strange reality that we are confronted with when we begin to follow the way of Jesus and search the scriptures is that “less is more.” What I mean by this is that the practice of following Jesus is a practice of finding contentment and fulfillment through self denial. I mean look, Jesus literally says this in Mark 8:34-36
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
Basically one of the primary requirements for following Jesus is self-denial. And Jesus isn’t saying like hey “deny your existence.” He’s saying deny your earthly desires, your comforts, you own will and direction for your life and follow after my desires, my comfort, my will and my direction for your life. Essentially Jesus is saying that following him isn’t a recipe for a life that is filled with comfort and getting what you want when you want it all of the time.
Which is often a reality that is at odds with modern culture, up to and including some of the messages that we hear from certain parts of the American Christian Megachurch machine whose theology and teaching promises health and wealth and the lie that God wants you to be rich. Got doesn’t care if you are rich or not. God cares if you follow Jesus or not.
So you say, ok Pastor Tim. You say that Jesus says that I’m supposed to deny myself, pick up my cross and follow him.. but how am I actually supposed to do that? Glad you asked. Because I’m not going to tell you to drop everything and go become a missionary if that’s not what you are called to do with your life. Denying ourselves doesn’t mean uprooting our lives, unless our lives are really something that don’t allow us to follow Jesus as they stand. Denying ourselves in our modern context is more concerned with who our lives are arranged around and how we go about living that out. Essentially denying ourselves is taking a posture that orients our entire lives around Jesus and then living in a way that everything that we do is done to bring honor and glory to Jesus’s name.
So, what we have to understand is that the spiritual discipline of fasting is primarily a means of bringing us back into a rhythm of realizing our dependence on God and creating space in our lives for us to listen to him. It’s so easy for us to slip into patterns of self fulfillment, especially in a world where we are consistently bombarded with messages that tell us to indulge in “More.”
In Jesus’s time, fasting was very common. In fact it was so common that it had almost lost its power. Which I know that is a very strange concept for us as Americans, because our culture revolves around food. But here’s the deal, I’ll kind of reframe it. Our culture actually does revolve in a lot of ways around types of fasting, and the motivation for that is much like what Jesus encountered. In our modern world we just call this dieting. You see the similarities? The denial of what we want, sweets, sodas, fast food, whatever. But the goal of dieting is for us to lose weight. Which isn’t a bad thing, stewardship of the body God gave us is good. But dieting is not fasting. Dieting and exercise in many ways can become a practice of vanity if we aren’t careful. It can become inherently about making ourselves look good to others.
And in what was happening within the culture in Jesus’s time was that people, particularly a sect of Jewish leaders called Pharisees, would fast as a means of showing off to the rest of the world how Holy they were. How good they were at religion. And so they would fast and make themselves look really decrepit. Like in order to prove that they were truly suffering. They would make a spectacle of themselves in public in order to boost their public persona.
Jesus wasn’t about this type of behavior. It wasn’t about God. It was about them. And so in the Sermon on the mount he says this in Matthew 6:1
“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
What Jesus means by piety is some of the spiritual disciplines like giving, prayer, and you’ve got it… Fasting. So a few verses later he says this about how we are called to practice fasting: This is Matthew 6:16-18
“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.
But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,
so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
So here’s Jesus’s point. Fasting is meant to be something that is between you and God, because it is about you and God. It’s about your relationship with God. Fasting is not a means of gaining some kind of Holy Street Cred. Fasting is a means of deepening your relationship with and your dependence on God.
How To Fast
How To Fast
The founder of the Methodist movement, John Wesley, had this to say about fasting:
“Some have exalted religious fasting beyond all Scripture and reason, and others have utterly disregarded it”
John Wesley’s observations reflected both what Jesus saw in his world, and what we see in ours today. So as followers of Jesus we do need to be careful not to utterly disregard fasting. Fasting is not commanded in the Bible, other than during the day of Atonement, which we do not practice as Christians. Fasting is not something that we are obligated to, but rather it is a tool that we need to recognize that we have in our toolbox, and we should learn how to use it.
The Apostle Paul taught in the book of Galatians that just because we have freedom from obligation to certain things that it doesn’t mean that we should let our freedom be a means of serving only ourselves.
For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.
Paul’s point here is that even though we are not contractually obligated to the practice of fasting, among other things, that the purpose of this freedom is for us to be more able to tangibly love our neighbors. So while not a requirement, fasting is a means of self regulation from over indulgence of self that distracts us from our call to love our neighbors and serve the world around us.
So maybe you are like well I’d like to try fasting. Great.
Typically fasting means the abstaining from eating for a period of time. Maybe 12-24 hours up to 36 or even 72 hours. That sounds crazy right? I’m with you, you don’t wanna be around me if I haven’t eaten in 12 hours. Hanger is a real emotion and I embody it fully. But Fasting does have both spiritual and health benefits if you can do it.
Richard Foster, one of the foremost voices on spiritual disciplines gives this advice:
“As with all the Disciplines, a progression should be observed; it is wise to learn to walk well before we try to run. Begin with a partial fast of twenty-four hours’ duration; many have found lunch to lunch to be the best time. This means that you would not eat two meals. Fresh fruit juices are excellent to drink during the fast. Attempt this once a week for several weeks. In the beginning you will be fascinated with the physical aspects or your experience, but the most important thing to monitor is the inner attitude of the heart. Outwardly you will be performing the regular duties of your day, but inwardly you will be in prayer and adoration, song, and worship. In a new way, cause every task of the day to be a sacred ministry to the Lord.”
That all sounds really nice right. Almost easy and whimsical. And it does eventually get easier to go without food. But what I want to focus on is that inward orientation. This is really what we are looking for as the goal of fasting. When we deny ourselves of our own need to consume, we created space for ourselves to abide in the presence of God. We create space to focus our thoughts and our hearts on the God who is constantly with us and trying to guide us. It creates space for us to really see our neighbors and their needs as we eliminate our wants from our consciousness.
Now I know that fasting from food is not necessarily something that we can all commit to. But there are plenty of areas in our lives in which we have the ability to say no for a time.
You can fast from social media
You can fast from turning on your television
You can fast from Amazon.com
You can fast from using your credit card
You can fast gossip
You can fast from complaining
You can fast from pessimism and worry
The truth of the matter is that fasting is a conscious decision to go against our nature and to focus on God’s will and direction for our lives. It’s a practice of Holy Denial, of divine decluttering. It’s making a decision to step aside and allow God to be the guiding voice in our lives. Its one of the many ways that we are truly able to “deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Jesus.”
And so my invitation to you this year to engage in some form of fasting on a weekly basis. If that means that on Tuesdays you put your phone away for 12 hours, go for it. If it means that you actually engage in fasting from food, I encourage you to do that, but to do so safely and talk to a doctor first. Maybe it means that you simply say no on a certain department store trip, maybe it means you stay away from Target on the weekends.
You are the ones who know what it is that consumes your time and energy and distracts you from being able to be present with God and from being able to see beyond yourself to the world the God has called you to be on mission to.
And so lets, as a church, practice denying ourselves in 2023 and take up our crosses and follow Jesus together.