The Sermon on the Mount: Practicing Righteousness Without Hypocrisy Pt. 1 - Fasting

Introduction

Read Matthew 6:1-18

Matthew 6:1–18 (ESV)

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

The character of a citizen of the kingdom of heaven

The influence of a citizen of the kingdom of heaven

The standard of the citizen of the kingdom of heaven

The inward righteousness of the citizen of the kingdom of heaven

Who are We Living For?

As we seek to grow in righteousness, God has given us His grace through many disciplines that can help develop His righteousness within us.

as they hymn writer sang, “prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love”

the spiritual disciplines help to anchor us in the God we love when our hearts and flesh seek to leave and wander from Him.

But like anything, these tools can be misused and misapplied.

We live in a visually stimulating culture. In an age of social media, Tik Tok, and YouTube, we have come to believe that influence comes as we are seen and known by as many people as possible. Even within the church we have adopted the idea that the bigger and more wide-known the church is, the more influential it must be.

And there is a certain truth to this, as there is influence that comes with being seen and known, but that influence is not always the kind of influence that we are striving for.

We, too, are called to live lives of influence. We are called to live lives of holiness and righteousness and we live in the tension of Matthew 5:16

Matthew 5:16 (ESV)

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Yet, Jesus now tells us to beware of practicing our righteousness before others in order to be seen by them. So which is it, should we let our lights shine before others or should we practice our righteousness away from others?

And the answer is yes to both. There is a problem if we hide our righteousness to the point of not wanting others to know who we are and who we are following. There is a great temptation to hide the fact that we are believers in Christ. We are called to live out our faith in such a way as to lead others to this same saving relationship we have with Christ.

However, the other extreme is when we only live out our faith in front of others, but there is no righteousness in the hidden places.

C.S. Lewis - “Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching.”

This is what Jesus is getting at. To be truly righteous, we must be righteous even and especially in the hidden places where there is no reward to be gained or credit to be claimed. While we should be known as people who live righteously in our giving, praying and fasting, no one should know how much you really give or pray or fast other than God Himself.

This is hard because it means dying to my pride and allowing other people to affirm me in my righteousness and simply trusting that God sees and knows the righteousness He is developing within me.

The question we have to ask is, Who are we living for?

Am I living for the praise of others, essentially, am I living for myself? Do I obey simply to see how people will be impressed with my abilities and righteousness?

Or Am I living for the praise and glory of God, which means living righteously in front of others for them to see what God is doing in me, but it also means most of the righteousness God has developed within me will go unnoticed and un-praised by others. It means I am going to be faithful to God even when I do not benefit or see any increase of influence among others because of it.

Jen Wilkin, in her teaching on the Sermon on the Mount, tells us to ask this question of ourselves. Am I being tempted to hide from unbelievers because there is potential shame in living for Christ? Then I need to shine my light before them for His glory. Am I being tempted to live out my righteousness for others because of potential praise? Then I need to hide in the shadows. Wherever the temptation is drawing my heart shows me how I am being called to live out my faith in a particular situation.

What is Fasting?

While there are many disciplines that can be used to develop Christ’s righteousness within us, like worship, Bible reading, serving, and evangelism, Jesus mentions three specifically here in these 18 verses, giving, prayer, and fasting.

This week we are focusing on the last one, fasting. We will go back to giving next week and then to prayer after that.

What is interesting here is that Jesus simply assumes that we are going to be practicing the disciplines of giving, praying, and fasting. While there is no command to fast, there is certainly a level of expectation that Scripture gives to God’s people on the spiritual good and benefit that fasting can bring.

Fasting is Abstaining From Food for a Spiritual Purpose

Fasting is essentially abstaining from things, in most cases, food, for spiritual growth and benefits. Fasting throughout Scripture was a means for God’s people to be able to deny themselves so they could focus on their relationship with the Lord.

Why Should We Fast?

Hypocritical Fasting

There was a practice among the Pharisees that they would make themselves look hungry and miserable so others could see and know they were fasting. Fasting was a proof of their righteousness and they wanted to make sure people knew it.

Not to Make People See How Good and Self-Denying We Are

Of course, there are wrong ways to fast. And Jesus begins this whole passage on giving, praying, and fasting by telling us the wrong way to practice all of these, and that is to not do it for the praise that we might receive from others.

Do not fast if you want others to see how good you are. Look at how self-denying James is, isn’t he amazing. Unfortunately, if that’s the reason we are doing it, that will be the extent of the benefit we receive from this spiritual discipline. It will have no good for our souls.

Not to Lose Weight

Another way our modern mind might view this is that this is good for our health, which that is a benefit, but that is not why we are called to this discipline.

There are many new intermittent fasting kind of diets. And it is good to take care of our health and our bodies. But if that is our focus in fasting, it is the same thing as what Jesus is describing here. We want to build up our pride instead of receiving what God desires to give us through this practice.

Not all Public Fasting is Hypocritical

Community Fasting

The community of Israel would fast as they repented for their sin.

Nineveh fasted as a part of their repentance when Jonah came to them.

Even today, there are churches, both Catholic and Protestant that practice fasting during specific seasons together as an encouragement. Community fasting can be beneficial just as giving and praying together in community is beneficial. But there should also be times of private giving, praying and fasting for us and not just a public practice of these disciplines.

For the Reward of Christ

To Receive Christ Himself

While there might be many good secondary benefits and blessings to fasting, the main reason we should fast is to receive the gift of Christ.

What I mean is that fasting is not an end in itself. If we are fasting to just say that I have fasted, or if I am fasting for other benefits or for God’s physical blessings, then I am actually not seeing the true purpose in fasting.

Fasting is a spiritual discipline and a means of God’s grace to help us deny ourselves of those things which distract us from Christ.

As John Mark Comer says it, “We are not trying to starve our bodies, we are starving our flesh.” What he means is we are starving the part of our souls that keep us distracted from our focus and love of Christ Himself.

How does Fasting do this?

Fasting Is A Tool of Sanctification

It Uncovers Our Sinful Tendencies

Richard Foster - “We cover up what is inside us with food and other good things, but in fasting these things surface… Anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, fear - if they are within us, they will surface during fasting.”

As we fast, our sinful tendencies begin to show themselves as our body goes through its hunger pangs.

Snickers - Hangry? Why Wait?

We begin to see and take notice of our temptations as we fast, whether its fasting from food or other things. This is a good thing because fasting can take us back to developing our “poverty of spirit” as Jesus talks about in the first beatitude.

It Turns Our Hearts Back to Cross

Being turned back to our sinfulness will direct our hearts back to Christ who has come to save us!

As we come face to face with our sin, we are again reminded of our need for Christ and the gospel. And fasting reminds us that it is to the cross we must go for our needs and satisfaction.

Much of the fasting that takes place in the OT occurs because the people of God see their sinfulness and their need to repent and turn their hearts back to God. Fasting helps us to focus on our need to repent and turn away from our sinfulness so that we can receive Christ’s righteousness.

As our body hungers, it should cause us to remember our hunger and thirsting for righteousness

Fasting is Feasting On Christ and His Word

fasting reminds us that what we truly need is Christ and His Word. And fasting from food or other physical provisions can lead us to seek our nourishment from the only One who can truly meet our needs.

After Jesus had spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting and praying, Satan came to tempt Him by telling Him to turn the stones into bread. You can meet your own needs Jesus because you have the power to make bread out of anything.

What did Jesus respond with?

Matthew 4:4 (ESV)

But he answered, “It is written,

“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

Jesus knew that His ultimate nourishment did not come from food, but from the Word of God. This does not mean that food was unnecessary because we see that after this temptation, the Father sends His angels to minister and serve Christ and to provide for His physical needs. But Christ knew His real need was to feast upon God’s Word, and His fasting served the purpose of allowing Him to focus upon the true source of provision.

In the same way, fasting helps us to focus on where our true provision comes from, which is Christ and His Word.

Fasting helps us to Feast Upon Christ, to taste and see that the Lord is good!

Remember the fourth beatitude? Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Fasting reminds us of our need for righteousness and that only Christ can meet that need.

This is why we are also told not to look miserable while we are fasting, because we shouldn’t be miserable. If we are being filled with Christ and being sustained in Him, we should be more filled and joyful then the one coming out of Texas Roadhouse filled with the biggest juiciest Prime Rib one could buy.

Conclusion

It is good to remember that fasting is not commanded, except in specific situations. Do not simply do a fast so you can say you’ve done a fast. You will miss the very point of fasting if you are focusing on the task of fasting.

And yet, the gift of fasting has been given to us to experience the joy Christ has for us. It is a means of grace God has given to us so we can grow deeper into His love and holiness.

If you would like to learn more about the spiritual discipline of fasting, along with many other spiritual disciplines, there are a couple good resources I would direct you to, Richard Foster’s “the Celebration of Discipline,” and Donald Whitney’s “Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life.” Both of these works have a chapter on fasting that can help you to explore this discipline in more detail than we are able to go in here.

But ultimately, remember that fasting is a spiritual discipline for God’s people and for those who recognize their need for faith and repentance. If you have never placed your faith in Christ or see your need for Him, then fasting itself will not give you what you need. Christ alone can give you the salvation you are looking for. True fasting can only take place in Christ. This morning, if you want to know how to experience the joy and blessing of life God has for you, it begins with turning to Christ in faith and repentance.