Learning the Unforced Rhythms of Grace (3)

Joyfully Fasting!

Matthew 6:16–18 NIV84

“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

In our desire to be with Jesus; become like Jesus and do what Jesus did we are learning the unforced rhythms of grace.

These rhythms of life or habits are designed to help us grow and become more like Jesus.

These practices are tried and trusted ways in which we become more like our Saviour and we know this because He practiced them all - witness; sabbath; generosity; prayer; community; reading scripture; solitude and fasting!

Now these practices did not earn Him favour with God and they do not earn us favour either. Jesus was always the “beloved Son” of the Father as we are also now, by grace, beloved children of God. No, these disciplines do not earn us favour with God, nor are they a measure of our spiritual success, they help us maintain our relationship with God or to use an agricultural metaphor, they help us to cultivate the Christian life.

And it is because of the dangers associated with using spiritual disciplines as a way of earning God’s favour that Paul warns us to keep away from people who “forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth” (1 Timothy 4:1–3).

There is nothing wrong with food and there is no commandment in the NT that requires fasting (there was in the OT on the Day of Atonement). In an example Jesus gave of a religious person who fasted “twice a week” and a sinner who says nothing about his spiritual practices but who cried out, “God have mercy on me a sinner” - it was the penitent and not the faster who “went down justified”(Luke 18:12-14).

Richard Foster in his “The Celebration of the Disciplines” says that fasting is an exercise which equips us to live fully and freely in the present reality of God and in living out these habits of life, God works with us, giving us His grace as we learn and grow - “A farmer is helpless to grow grain; all he can do is provide the right conditions for the growing of grain. He cultivates the ground, he plants the seed, he waters the plants, and then the natural forces of the earth take over and up comes the grain...This is the way it is with the Spiritual Disciplines - they are a way of sowing to the Spirit... By themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done.” ― Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth

Fasting is the discipline or rhythm we are encouraged to adopt because it helps us discipline the bodily appetites.

Fasting literally is not eating food(sometimes even water) for a certain amount of time in order to devote the time to God in prayer.

In Jesus’ day, it was common practice for the Jewish people to fast twice a week (see Luke 18:12).

In the OT fasts cover different periods of time - from the time you wake until sundown but there are examples in Scripture of two day fasts, three day, seven day, twenty one day, and forty day fasts.

Sometimes fasting is called for because of a national crisis, or as a call to repentance or a response to grief and loss. (see 1 Samuel 31, when after king Saul dies, the nation fasts for 7 days; Jonah 3, when Nineveh is warned of their coming destruction, the king calls for a fast, and they are spared & Esther 4, when Esther calls for a 3 day fast when she learns that the Jewish people are threatened with genocide).

But what exactly is the point of fasting?

John Piper describes fasting as a “whole body hungering for God” and Scot McKnight calls fasting “body talk,” a way of praying with your body – the soul is crying out, God, I hunger for you, I want you, I need you.

It is the hunger of the Psalmist in Psalm 63:1-3,7-8 “O God, you are my God, early and earnestly will I seek you: my soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water; to see your power and your glory, so as I have seen you in the sanctuary.  You have been my help, therefore in the shadow of your wings will I rejoice.  My soul follows hard after you; your right hand upholds me.”

Fasting is one of the ways we can make our hunger for God become a reality so we can arrive at the place that Jesus did!

Jesus, when is Samaria at the Well perplexed his disciples on returning from having gone off to find food(v8) , said to them in John 4:31-38 - “I have food to eat that you know nothing about... “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

“Jesus was saying that the most satisfying thing for him, his ‘food and drink’ as it were, was doing his Father’s will and completing his work. This statement throws light on the evangelist’s words in 4:4 (‘he had to go through Samaria’). Jesus had a divine appointment to keep with a needy woman and the Samaritan townspeople. They would accept the good news, which would bring them salvation. Satisfaction for us, as for Jesus, comes more from pursuing the will of God than from meeting our various physical needs (important as they are).” - Kruse, C. G. (2003). John: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 4, p. 140). InterVarsity Press.

This is how Jesus lived His life and carried out His ministry. What nourished him was to commune with God and His word and to nourish others by fulfilling the task he was sent to do.

He continually meditated upon the life-giving words of God and communed with God constantly. He depended totally on the Father, had complete confidence in his love and relied fully on the Holy Spirit. He also has a resolute in his focus on giving himself to the Father’s calling upon his life.

This was the secret of His success in ministry – however busy he was, however stressful the situation, Jesus was nourished by the Father while he was ministering to people.

Fasting then, is the voluntary denial of an otherwise everyday and good function of life for the sake of intense spiritual activity. Fasting provides us with the opportunity to remind us that we have “food to eat….to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”

Fasting serves to remind us that:

Luke 12:23–24 NIV84

Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!

Fasting challenges us not to make a “god” of our “stomach”(Phil 3:19); not to fall into the trap “serving…our own appetites”(Rom 16:18).

“Fasting confirms our utter dependence upon God by finding in him a source of sustenance beyond food. Through it, we learn by experience that God’s word to us is a life substance, that is not food (“bread”) alone that gives life, but also the words that proceed from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). We learn that we too have meat to eat that the world does not know about (John 4:32, 34). Fasting unto our Lord is therefore feasting – feasting on Him and doing His will.”(Dallas Willard).

Why should we Fast?

Not because WE HAVE TO! It is never commanded of us but it is recommended as a voluntary discipline:

Jesus teaches us about HOW to fast, anticipating that we will want to do it!

Jesus practiced fasting and left us an example of how and why we might need to do it!:

Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days until He was eventually tempted by Satan to turn the stones into bread, a temptation he countered by saying, “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from God’s mouth” (Matthew 4:4, Deuteronomy 8:3).

Jesus is reminding us here that as we feed upon the Word of God we are protected from the stress and dangers of burn out in and spiritual attack ministerial labours!

Jesus also taught His disciples about fasting in the Sermon on the Mount, - it was inappropriate for them when Jesus was physically with them (see Mark 2:18–22) - “When you fast…” (Matthew 6:16) not “If you fast…” showing that He knew they would want to do it! He also says, “the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, then they will fast.” —Matthew 9:15

With regard to the specifics of his teaching, He taught His disciples how fasting is to be practiced - "When you fast, do not look sombre as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting..when you fast put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting..." deals with the question of fasting in the negative saying:

(i). “Do not look sombre' - Religion with a smile is far more attractive that religion with a frown. The worship of God should be joyous not a burden.

(ii). 'Don’t do it 'for..show' - Like the “hypocrites do” pretending to be something they are not. Note: The Greek word 'hupokrates' is a word derived from the theatre. In ancient drama the actor would provide commentary on the play for the benefit of the audience. He would explain the plot while they were being entertained. Actors did not wear make-up they wore masks which suited the part they were playing. The religious hypocrite is someone who hides behind a mask. He outwardly pretends to be religious but inwardly is full of lust and iniquity: "Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrissy and wickedness"(Mtt 23:27,28). Hypocrites then are interested in appearance. The religious hypocrite is one who 'plays to the audience'. His eyes are fixed on what men think rather than what God thinks.

(iii) 'Do not..be obvious' - This is good advice. It is possible to fast with the right motives but still run into difficulties for lack of discretion. If you aim to be discreet then the danger of men-pleasing becomes less tempting. So, says Jesus 'Don't 'disfigure' your face or put on sackcloth and ashes', don't be obvious be secretive: "Fast! Jesus says. Such self-discipline is essential in the Christian life. But when you do, be a normal human being. Take a shower. Use some aftershave, and smile"(Ferguson p.112).

Jesus also linked fasting to prayer both in Matthew 6:5-18 and Mark 9:24-32 because both are disciplines of abstinence or self-denial which enable us to take our attention away from ourselves towards God where they rightfully.

And Jesus does make it clear that there will be a reward for fasting!

Any act of obedience or unfeigned service has its reward(Matt 6:4-6) for the 'Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward'.

And the desire for such a reward should not embarrass us. It was said of Moses that "He chose to be ill-treated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value that the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward"(Heb 11v25,26).

There are legitimate desires that God rewards - The desire to 'see God'(Matt 5:8); the desirer to 'please God', the desire to be with God. None of these desires lose their reward!

So, it is not surprising that the early Christians continued this practice:

In Acts 13:1-3 before making a very important decision to move out into ministry, “the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.” (see also Acts 14:23).

Likewise in one of the oldest Christian books outside of the Bible, in the Didache, we note that it was common practice for Christians to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays and for two full days before baptism. Furthermore. in Church history, Lent, the period of time, 6 weeks prior to Easter, was originally a fast, where followers of Jesus would not eat until sundown each day!

And those passages in Acts serves as a really needed reminder that “The state of the times extremely requires a fullness of the divine Spirit in ministers, and we ought to give ourselves no rest till we have obtained it. And in order to [do] this, I should think ministers, above all persons, ought to be much in secret prayer and fasting, and also much in praying and fasting one with another. It seems to me it would be becoming the circumstances of the present day, if ministers in a neighbourhood would often meet together and spend days in fasting and fervent prayer among themselves, earnestly seeking for those extraordinary supplies of divine grace from heaven, that we need at this day.” —Jonathan Edwards Some Thoughts Concerning the Revival.

Let me enforce this though with an example from the Korean Church. Fasting and prayer have almost become synonymous with the churches of South Korea and for good reason. “The first Protestant church was planted in Korea in 1884. One hundred years later there were 30,000 churches. That’s an average of 300 new churches a year for 100 years. At the end of the twentieth century, evangelicals comprise about 30% of the population. God has used many means to do this great work. One of them is a recovery not just of dynamic prayer, but of fasting-prayer. For example, in the OMS (Overseas Missionary Society) churches alone more than 20,000 people have completed a forty-day fast—usually at one of their “prayer houses” in the mountains.’ - Piper, J. (1997). A hunger for God: desiring God through fasting and prayer (p. 103). Crossway Books.

2. Fasting reveals our Commitment to Sacrificial Service:

Romans 12:1-2 talks about offering your body as a living sacrifice to God.

Romans 12:1–2 NIV84

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

All the disciplines of abstinence are types of fasts in which you practice denying yourself of something you want in order to make space in your body, soul, and mind to more deeply and lovingly engage with God.

Cornelius Platinga wrote: “Self-indulgence is the enemy of gratitude, and self-discipline usually its friend and generator. That is why gluttony is a deadly sin. The early desert fathers believed that a person’s appetites are linked: full stomachs and jaded palates take the edge from our hunger and thirst for righteousness. They spoil the appetite for God.” - Quoted from THE REFORMED JOURNAL, Nov. 1988, in Donald S. Whitney, SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES FOR THE CHRISTIAN LIFE (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1991), p. 151.

Fasting is one of the ways we can do this? It is a form of abstinence not for health reasons or for social reasons but for worship and service of God - “An old saint once said that fasting prevents luxuries from becoming necessities. Fasting is a protection of the spirit against the encroachments of the body. When a person fasts, he has his body well in hand, and is able to do the work of the Master.”(Jerry Falwell: FASTING: WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1981), p. 11).

Fasting allows us a way to offer ourselves to God and grow in holiness, as well as helping our prayers and practically being grateful for the food we have, mindful of the poverty we do not have and being considerate to those who go hungry.

This is why in the context of fasting we are often encouraged to try to “fast” from time to time, from things which you fear are becoming addictive - TV; Social Media; Alcohol, etc, - and replace these with dedicated time for God; for the reading of scripture or good Christian literature; for a time of solitude with God, etc.

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899–1981), pastor of Westminster Chapel in London, when preaching on the Sermon on the Mount in 1959–1960 said, “Fasting if we conceive of it truly, must not … be confined to the question of food and drink; fasting should really be made to include abstinence from anything which is legitimate in and of itself for the sake of some special spiritual purpose. There are many bodily functions which are right and normal and perfectly legitimate, but which for special peculiar reasons in certain circumstances should be controlled. That is fasting.”

Richard Foster says, “More than any other discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us. This is a wonderful benefit to the true disciple who longs to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. We cover up what is inside of us with food and other things.” - Piper, J. (1997). A hunger for God: desiring God through fasting and prayer (p. 19). Crossway Books.

Fasting provides the opportunity to reveal those things that control us. - Fasting helps us keep our balance in life. How easily we begin to allow nonessentials to take precedence in our lives. How quickly we crave things we do not need—until we are enslaved by them. Paul wrote, “‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be enslaved by anything” (1 Cor. 6:12). Our human cravings and desires are like a river that tends to overflow its banks; fasting helps keep them in their proper channel. “I pummel my body and subdue it,” said Paul (1 Cor. 9:27). Likewise, David wrote, “I afflicted myself with fasting” (Ps. 35:13). That is discipline and discipline brings freedom. (Richard Foster: Celebration of Discipline).

3. Fasting reminds us that our bodies belong to God:

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 tells us that our “bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you… Therefore honour God with your bodies.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

Your body matters to God as it is in our bodies that our discipleship to Jesus becomes tangible and worked out.

Fasting can be one of the ways in which we allow the teaching of Jesus to help our bodily discipline - “Because it is sometimes necessary to check the delight of the flesh in respect to licit pleasures in order to keep it from yielding to illicit joys.” (Augustine of Hippo).

Fasting is a tool in the battle of confronting with the sins of the flesh. A way of depriving the desires of the flesh.

When we go without food for a time we’re taking on a small degree of bodily suffering in order to train ourselves that our belly is not our god, as it is for many people (Romans 16:18, Philippians 3:19). 

The Apostle Peter taught us, “He who has suffered in his body is done with sin” (1 Peter 4:1). We can learn to be ruled not by bodily drives, personal desires, distractions, compulsions, or surging emotions, but by the Spirit.

Food has its place says Paul - 1 Corinthians 6:12-13 “Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything. “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food”—but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”

Our bodies are for the Lord; they are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:13, 19) and instruments of righteousness (Romans 6:13).

Dallas Willard: In fasting, we learn how to suffer happily as we feast on God.  And it is a good lesson, because in our lives we will suffer, no matter what else happens to us… Fasting teaches temperance or self-control and therefore teaches moderation and restraint with regard to all our fundamental drives.  Since food has the pervasive place it does in our lives, the effects of fasting will be diffused throughout our personality.  In the midst of all our needs and wants, we experience the contentment of the child that has been weaned from its mother’s breast (Psalm 131:2).  (p. 167).

Fasting teaches us discipline!

Paul says to Timothy, “Train yourself to be godly” (1 Timothy 4:7). A successful athlete is supremely disciplined! It takes a great deal of training to be successful at anything!

Success in the spiritual life comes from the discipline of denying ourselves, which is why we can't truly follow Jesus without denying ourselves (Matthew 16:24).

Fasting is a primary way to practice self-denial and then we have the opportunity to apply this to other problem areas (e.g. drink problems; lust problems; anger problems, worry problems – fast from them!). David said, “I humbled my soul with fasting” (Ps. 69:10). Anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, fear—if they are within us, they will surface during fasting.

Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:25-27

1 Corinthians 9:25–27 NIV84

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

We must, as in all spiritual disciplines, fast not for for self-glorification but to please God and seek His will in our lives!

We must not think that if we fast and pray we can force God’s hand and make Him answer our prayers. Fasting and prayer is no substitute for obedient living to His will - Isaiah 58:3-8 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarrelling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.”

Here are reasons for fasting that brings a kind of discipline to our over-indulgence - “About a billion of the world’s people live in conditions of absolute poverty without even the most basic resources available—no adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical care. 400 million are severely malnourished, including more than 200 million children.” —Larry Libby The Cry of the Poor

Piper, J. (1997). A hunger for God: desiring God through fasting and prayer (p. 124). Crossway Books. “Fasting gives birth to prophets, she strengthens the powerful; fasting makes lawgivers wise. She is a safeguard for the soul, a steadfast companion for the body, a weapon for the brave, and a discipline for champions. Fasting repels temptations, anoints for godliness. She is a companion for sobriety, the crafter of a sound mind. In wars she fights bravely, in peace she teaches tranquillity.”(Basil the Great (A.D. 330-379).

APPLICATION:

Fasting can become feasting when it helps us to concentrate in prayer and meditate deeply on Scripture.

Food can satisfy me for a time but the word of God satisfies me forever!

Let us work up an Appetite for God and do this by JOYFULLY FASTING, seeing fasting as one way in which we can put ourselves into a situation where we can be joyfully fed by God and His word.

Let us practice the discipline of fasting in order to cultivate a hunger for God, seeing it not as a time of deprivation from food but a provision of food — an unseen food that God provides - the “bread of heaven” (Exodus 16:4, Psalm 105:40).

We fast from food in order to feast on GOD!

“fasting is not a statement that food or other things are bad, but that God is better! In other words, fasting is not a rejection of the many blessings God has given to us, but an affirmation that in the ultimate sense we prefer the Giver to his gifts. Fasting is a declaration that God is enough.” (Sam Strorm)

Practically speaking, this does not mean that you should immediately launch into a 3 day fast or a 40 day fast but try to practise a fast from a meal to begin with and see if that will lead you further into this practice over time. But above all remember that if you do fast, you fast for God!

In Zechariah 7:5

Zechariah 7:5 NIV84

“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted?

What a question to test our motivation - “When you fasted… was it really for me that you fasted?” (Zech. 7:5).

Was you fasting, your praying and your singing; your obedience to my word; your giving to my work - is it really for God?

John Piper has written a book on Fasting entitled, A hunger for God: desiring God through fasting and prayer and in the Preface he answers the question as to why he wrote this book and answered: “My aim and my prayer in writing this book is that it might awaken a hunger for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples. Fasting proves the presence, and fans the flame, of that hunger. It is an intensifier of spiritual desire. It is a faithful enemy of fatal bondage to innocent things. It is the physical exclamation point at the end of the sentence: “This much, O God, I long for you and for the manifestation of your glory in the world!” (p. 22).

Is this our desire also? “This much, O God, I long for you and for the manifestation of your glory in the world!” - Can we say with the Psalmist say, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is nothing upon earth that I desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.”(Psalm 73:25–26).