Fasting

Matthew 6:16–18 ESV

“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.

Series Introduction

This morning were going to begin a new seires were we deal with some basic habits and practices that should be the foundation of every believers life.

These are things that Jesus himself told us should be a regular practice in our lives.

And i want us to spend the next 4 weeks going through them and positioning ourselves to put them into practice as we begin the year.

Matthew 6

In Matthew Chapter 6 Jesus is well into the sermon on the mount.

This the first of his five major discourses recorded in the book of mathew

and through this sermon Jesus is trying to instruct his followers on what it looks like to live a kingdom life.

He is giving them instructions for living..

The Details on how to follow him..

and when we come to matthew 6

Jesus gives four practices specifically that he says are expected of every believer..

Not just pastors..

Not just the holy of the holy..

But every follower of christ..

Jesus says when you give..

When you pray..

When you fast..

and then he tells us to seek and put him first in everything.

When

I want to make it very clear..

Jesus does not present these things to his followers as optional..

he doent even present them as new ideas...

he presents them to them with the expectation that they already know that they should be doing them.

Matthew 6:2 (ESV)

“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.

Matthew 6:5 (ESV)

“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.

Matthew 6:16 (ESV)

“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.

Matthew 6:33 (ESV)

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Jesus presents these as expectations and directives..

Not optional ideas for your day..

these are things that should be common in the life of the believer..

But we live in a day where they are no longer expectations..

We have made them relative to our desire or avalibility…

Us

If we are not intentional about doing these thing..

We treat all of them as optional...

We say they are important

but our time and actions tell a different story..

If

We say things like..

if/when I get the chance to pray… I will

If I have the money.. Ill give..

… Fasting…

If I get the time to read my word… I will..

WE TREAT These Practices AS OPTIONAL..

BUT JESUS SAYS..

THESE ARE THINGS WE SHOULD BE DOING IF WE ARE HIS FOLLOWERS!

Jesus says a follower of christ should be a person of prayer and fasting.

We Should be a person of generosity..

and should be someone is seeking the kingdom and righteousness first in everything they do..

They are basic instruction for daily living..

So lets dig into the expectations christ has given us

lets dig into the “Basics of our christian Walk.”

Fasting

Since we are in the midst of a fast.

I want us to jump a head a little bit in the passage and begin today by talking about fasting.

Look what Jesus says in verse 16-18 again

Matthew 6:16–18 (ESV)

“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.

Again Jesus says when you fast..

Jesus gives just as much importance to fasting as he does to prayer and giving.

And he says.. When you fast..

Dont make a big scene about it..

infact dont even let others really know by your actions that you are..

but do it in private devotion to god..

and when you do God will reward you..

What is fasting?

So what is fasting?

In his book entitled “Fasting”

Jentzen Franklin defines biblical fasting as

“refraining from food, for a spiritual purpose.”

Fasting is a private disicpline..

Composed of physical action and spiritual action..

1. Private..

Fasting is a private practice,

though we do fast together as a body..

And there are many examples of corperate fasts throughout scripture..

Fasting is about you and God..

And when done in corperate setting and we are all practicing private disicple..

we in turn come together in a corperate way..

Fasting is not just a religous or pios practice..

One that is ment to proove our religous we are..

Pharisees

Jesus is addressing this because the pharisees, or religous leaders of the day, made a big deal about their fasting..

In fact, all of the disicplines that Jesus speaks of here the pharisees practiced publically in a way that they wanted the public to see them..

and look to them as super religous because of their actions..

And so they were disfiguire their faces… and make them selves look starved when they fasted.. so that people would think they were extrmely pios..

Jesus

But Jesus points out..

That in making such a public spectical their fasting had become more about their religous ranking..

than it did about thier relationship with God..

and so in doing so.. thier fast became pointless..

Private..

Jesus says instead..

Go close your door..

cleanse your face like normal..

and let it be between you and god..

and your father who sees you in secret

will reward your fast..

So fasting is private..

2. Physical

Secoundly fasting is a physical action

Scripture

In fact, the word that the old testament hebrew uses for fasting is tsoom

and literally means to cover the mouth.

So nothing can go in..

in fasting, we choose to abstain from food in some form or way..

in order to better seek god in many ways and to become more sensitive to his spirit..

Not

Its important to note that true biblical fasting is not obstaining from tv, or social media..

though those things may do much good for us..

Fasting is not choosing to forgo certain activities or places ..

Fasting is abstaining from food for a spiritual purpose.

Different

And scripture records many different types of fasts

Not just completly shutting the mouth

The Absolute Fast

Moses did an absolute fast on the mountain for forty days..

that is no no food or liquids of any kind.

Its important to note that these were spirit led events..

And he was in the presence of god..

If you choose to do a complete fast its recomened that you do no more than short times such as 1-3 days.

Normal Fast

A more typical fast recorded in scripture is the normal fast.

This is completely abstaining from food.

but still taking water.

This is the fast Jesus most likely practiced in the wilderness for 40 days.

May others are recorded in fasting this way as well.

Partial Fast

and then finally there is the partial fast..

This is abstaining from certain food groups or items for an extended period of time.

The daniel fast is a great example of this type of fast but it is not the only one.

Daniel fasted for 21 days.

during this time he essentially fasted meats, breads, sweets an drinks..

This type of fast is much more sustainable for longer periods of time..

which is why many churches practice it through the begining of the year..

3. Spiritual

Finally Fasting is spiritual

fasting is about abstaining from food for a spiritual purpose..

a spiritual purpose..

in fasting we dont just cover our mouth from food..

we open it to god..

Fasting is a time to pray, to read, to worship, and to meditait and to listen..

To ask god for direction, breakthrough, and favor..

Its a time to seek god like you have never sought him before.

WITHOUT SEEKING.. FASTING IS JUST A HORIBLE DIET..

AND NOTHING WILL COME FROM IT..

All throughout Scripture

I want to point out though that fasting is practiced all throughout scripture..

Old testament and new testament alike..

It is part of the walk of anyone who follows god..

and almost every major biblical person practiced it..

So why do we fast more often?

After all Jesus lumps fasting in the same category as generosity and prayer…

But yet we rarely fast..

But its important that we do..

Why?

Why

Why do we fast?

Jesus said too

first and foremost christ expects us too

he told us he expects us too in our passage here..

Its a directive strait from him..

Jesus mentions fasting in other passages as well.

specifically noting that when he is gone there will be a time when the disicples will need to fast..

Jesus modeled it

Not only did Jesus direct his followers too.

but he modeled its importance..

as we know when he was baptized..

He came out of the water

and went into the wilderness and fasted for 40 days before his minsitry began..

When he came out he faced great temptation..

but he was prepared.. because he had been fasting..

Fasting Puts God First In our Priorities

When we fast we put god before even our needs..

And certainly before our desires for cheesecake..

Jesus will deal with this extensively later in the chapter..

when he tells us that we dont need to worry about what we eat.. what we wear.. because god knows these things..

and instead we are to seek the kingdom of god and righeousenss first..

Fasting.. does this..

Its puts the kingdom first..

As we fast we seek god and we pray..

the point its to seek god during this time greater than we normally do..

because of this..

fasting humbles us..

Fasting Humbles us

Choosing to abstain from foods that we enjoy..

or food in general..

is choosing to declare in your life that God and our intimacy with him is more important thant our pleasure and desires..

scripture

in fact

fasting the humility in the bible are linked many times..

When people needed to humbled themselves before the lord they would fast..

at times kings would calls entire kingdoms to fast as an act of humility before the lord..

flesh

Fasting is a statement to our flesh that it is not the most important part of our life..

But our relationship with God is..

Fasting Makes our spirit sensitive to the Holy SPirit

It is believed that John was fasting when he received the revelation of the book of revelation.

When we fast and seek god our spirit becomes more sensitive to the voice of the lord and his leading.

Fasting brings great blessing and reward..

Remember what Jesus said..

that if we will fast in secret..

and make the point of fasting about private devotion..

The heavenly father who see in secrect will reward you

Like tithing is for the our finances..

Fasting is for our year..

When we choose to take the frist part of the year and fast

God puts a blessing on the remainder of our year..

and brings about blessings that we could not have asked or prepared for..

Fasting Breaks bondage, addictions, and opression off our life.

There is power in fasting..

Especially purposefull fasting that is infused with faith..

Need

again there are many examples through scripture about people who were in great need and chose to fast..

and god changed their situation..

In Judged 20:26 scripture records that the israelites had lost 40,000 people two days of battle..

Then they called a fast..

and God gave them the victory..

If you have a need.. fasting bring victory..

Isaiah 58:6 ESV

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

In fact.. Jesus said their are some victories that can only come about if we fast..

There are something that can only be broken with fasting.

in Matthew 17, a man comes with his son who is posesses..

and askes Jesus to deliever him..

He had asked the disisciples..

but they could not deliver the boy..

Jesus rebukes the demon..

and the disicples..

and tells them that this kind comes out only through prayer and fasting..

Fasting Brings wisdom, Guidance and direction

Jesus did this at the begining of his minsitry

Elijah did this before going to the mountain

Paul and barabus fasting for direction in thier minsitry..

Fasting brings about guidance and the wisdom of the lord..

Are you hungry?

My question to you today is what are you hungry for?

fasting ironically is a hunger..

but its not a natural physical hunger

Its a hunger for more of god..

to be closer to god..

Moses

Why could moses go 40 days without eating or dirnkning in the presence of god?

Because he was consumed with him..

He was sustained and filled by his presence..

Jesus

Jesus tells us in the sermon on the mount as well.

that there is a blessing for people who have this hunger..

Matthew 5:6 ESV

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

they shall be satisfied..

when we begin to hunger for the things of god..

instead of the things of the stomack..

Jesus promsies we will be satisfied..

Jeremiah 29:13 ESV

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Are you hungry for god in 2024?

Are you hungry to know more of him?

Are you desperate for him to move in a situation?

Do you need guidance and direction?

Do you want the blessings of God on your life this year?

Then its time to get hungry for spiritual things and to fast..

To set asside time for god and to fast..

BUT MORE THAN JANUARY..

Regular

Make it a regular part of your routine..

Fast once a week..

or a couple days a month..

But do it..

And you will be blessed.