2025-06-08 Fasting: Our Offering To Jesus

We are starting a new series today called / / When You Fast… We are continuing our walk through these disciplines that we’ve been talking about over the last few months.

/ / To be a Christian is to center our lives around Jesus and the way He has called us to live.

Jesus didn’t come to just be a teacher and give humanity some good information. He came to lead us somewhere.

If we think of what Jesus says in John 14:6, / / “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”, there are three distinct things there

/ / The Way is something you follow.

The Truth is something you learn.

The Life is something you apply (live).

Every profession in the world that is involved in helping someone (Dr, therapist, nutritionist, trainer etc…) is based on the truth being delivered to that person so that they can go and apply that truth to their lives and see positive change.

/ / Jesus didn’t come to just give us words of Truth, but the WAY of truth.

Matthew 7:24, Jesus says, / / “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

The NIV says it this way, / / “…everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice.”

We sing songs like, “Christ is my firm foundation, the Rock on which I stand.”

Or “I will build my life upon your love, it is a firm foundation.”

“On Christ the Solid Rock we will stand…all other ground, is sinking sand…”

These are great confessions. Jesus IS our foundation, that is true. BUT, that’s not what He said. He didn’t say whoever builds his house on me. He said whoever listens to my teaching and does it, puts the teaching to use in their life, those are the ones who are building on solid rock. The solid rock is a metaphor for a stable life built on following the teachings of Jesus!

So maybe, this year, you’ve been coming in here weekly, and we mention that we fast on Wednesdays. And you’re like, “I don’t know anything about fasting, or why I would.” That’s ok!

Now, I won’t ask for a show of hands, so you can just ask yourself - who here has actually been consistently doing this? Fasting and Praying on Wednesdays?

The reason I ask is to focus on a couple thoughts:

First, we can sometimes think that / / other people are doing something, so we don’t have to. Or like, we just don’t want to participate in that aspect of community life as a church. We’ll pick and choose what we do.

Second, and I really want to make sure that this isn’t happening: the enemy will try to make you / / feel bad if you’re not doing something by making you think everyone else is doing it, but that’s probably not the case, and even if it was, no one can condemn you for it.

See, all of these practices we are talking about are by invitation. Jesus is saying, if you want life, follow me. If you want to weather the storm, follow my teachings. And trust me, there will be storms.

Now, I want to clarify my belief here, of which much smarter people than me have shared. When we get saved. When we decide to receive the sacrifice of Jesus as our own to redeem us from sin, we also become a disciple. They are one in the same. Not two separate events like we decide He is Lord of our lives, and then some other day we decide to actually follow him as Lord of our lives.

But there is a tension here. I wouldn’t say you have to read your bible everyday to “be saved”, because salvation is by Grace alone, through Faith alone, in Christ alone. But also, I only know that through the illumination of Scripture by the Holy Spirit. Paul says, “I didn’t know that coveting was wrong until the law told me not to covet.”

So we have to keep that tension in mind. / / The disciplines don’t save us, but the disciplines are for those who are saved to walk in the life Jesus is leading them in.

So we want to look at / / Fasting as a Spiritual Discipline, because the whole of scripture talks about the people of God engaging in this practice.

We’ll start in Matthew 6:16-18, which is part of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). This is Jesus’ kind of manifesto for Kingdom living. It’s a masterclass in the way of Jesus, living for and to Him and His purpose. Living for and to the Kingdom of God.

And this is appropriate. In the very previous passage is where Jesus teaches on what we call the Lord’s prayer. And so he finishes talking about prayer and then talks about fasting. We just finished our series on prayer, and now let’s talk about fasting.

/ / (16) “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. (17) But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, (18) 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.”

/ / 1. Our Relationship With Food

Before we get into it too deep, let’s just define what that word means. You may have heard the word fasting before. You have have heard it connected to various things.

But the word here is very plain and simple. / / nēsteuō and it means to abstain from food. Strong’s bible dictionary says this: / / to abstain as a religious exercise from food and drink: either entirely, if the fast lasted but a single day, or from customary and choice nourishment, if it continued several days.

Here’s the problem: This does not sound all that exciting to me. I happen to like food.

In fact, I haven’t met many people that are like, “I don’t need to eat. I just don’t enjoy food. Food’s just not my thing.”

I’m sure they’re out there, but for the most part for most people food is something we love to enjoy.

Tell me about that great restaurant you found.

Tell me the recipe. Absolutely.

We had dinner with our Discipleship group a few weeks ago and Sandra brought lamb curry….. it was amazing.

I will spend 20 hours cooking a brisket.

In fact. when I started working on this sermon, it was Wednesday afternoon, I was fasting. Not a great time to be thinking about all this food!

We go on vacation, and what is near the top of the list in what we remember? The food.

Cruise ship reviews…. the food.

Resort reviews… the food.

Now, before you start thinking that food is bad. It’s not. Neither is enjoying it.

There are all kinds of scripture that talk about enjoying food, enjoying meals together, enjoying company around the table. We don’t have time to go there, but suffice to say, food isn’t the problem.

/ / Food is really a gift from God to enjoy!

God even uses the connection of how we experience food with how we experience Him. Psalm 34:8, / / Taste and See that the Lord is good.

If food was bad, and if enjoying food was bad, then God certainly wouldn’t equate enjoying and experiencing Him with our enjoying and experiencing food, right? That would not make sense.

God uses food. He uses the table. He uses our connection over a good meal.

As John Mark Comer says, / / Food is not just a symbol of Gods goodness, it IS God’s goodness.

But again, we have a problem, we all know that / / any good thing, can become a not so good thing.

And this comes in many different forms. But there is a dark side to our human relationship with food.

Statistics now show that upwards of 45% of adults in America are not just overweight but obese, that number jumps to 75% if you include what is considered just overweight.

Nearly 20% of kids aged 5-19 are considered obese.

And on the other side of things, somewhere between 30-40% of the food supply in America goes unsold or uneaten every year. An average family of four will throw away thousands of dollars of food every year. And yet our friend Vanessa Tinsley who runs an organization in town called Bridge to Hope, where she feeds thousands of people every month, can’t get enough food to meet the needs. In our own community.

Not only that, but getting healthy food to people can be a difficulty.

Healthy food is often times more expensive, so the issue of feeding your family when you have little money, and the issue of obesity, or at least poor health can often be connected.

Add to this food affects our body and our relationship with the human body can be as dark and broken as our relationship with food.

Everything from disordered eating, to obsession with food.

The body-conscious to the body-shamed. Feeling like you’re never fit enough. Feeling like you’ll never be fit. Both are damaging to the core. And Miami is no foreigner to trying to look good to a fault.

When it comes to our view of our bodies, the confusion can become wild.

On one side we have those who struggle with trying to be the skinniest, smallest, fittest, best looking because the magazines, the tv shows, the influencers are all shaming them into it.

And on the other side you have the “do what you want, eat what you want, your body is beautiful no matter what” mantra, to a point of completely disordered health.

And so we have an epidemic of eating disorders, both high and low, which by the way don’t exist outside of western culture. Probably because food is used to survive, rather than what it’s become, big business - make it cheaper with less quality to make more money. And it all plays in, not just the food industry, but the “health” industry, the medical and pharmaceutical industries, the diet industry… It can be hard to wade through the weeds.

But the truth is:

/ / Food is a gift from God. When God created plants and animals, both of which he has given us to enjoy, he said it was good.

/ / Your body is a gift from God. When God created humanity he said, “It is VERY good.”

And we see how the pendulum can swing so heavily in every direction from God’s ordered design to humanities fallen and disordered state of both understanding and being.

Where is the balance?

How do we right the ship?

Is there a way to call these things back to order?

And what does it all have to do with the practices and disciplines of following Jesus?

Queue Fasting - a practice from the way of Jesus to heal our relationship with food and our bodies, helping get our whole person in touch with the presence, peace, and power of God.

/ / 2. Jesus’ Relationship With Food

Jesus had a right relationship with food, across the board. He didn’t see food as an either/or, fasting or feasting, but both / and.

So, Jesus feasted. Luke 7:34 says, / / “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking…”

The narrative of the book of Luke is so centered around the table that Robert Karris, a biblical scholar, says, / / “In Luke’s Gospel Jesus is either going to a meal, at a meal, or coming from a meal.”

So, if you’re following Jesus, in Luke’s storyline, you probably just ate or going to be eating soon.

But Jesus didn’t ONLY Feast. He had balance. He fasted. He limited himself. He understood foods proper place.

Is it any wonder that when the devil tries to temp Jesus when he is fasting, the first temptation is to turn a stone into bread? What does Jesus say? / / “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

When Jesus sends the disciples into a village to buy food, and he stays back at the well outside of town, has a conversation with a Samaritan woman that comes to draw water. The disciples come back and try to give him food and he says, / / “I have food to eat that you do not know about… My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” (John 4:32, 34)

And to connect this idea of fasting and prayer, which we will see often, in Mark 9, which is one of my favorite stories in the gospels, a father brings his son to Jesus to be healed. The disciples try to heal him, and they can’t. This is the story where the father, in his discouragement asks Jesus to help them, “If you can..”. And Jesus says, “If You can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” And the Father, who I so identify with, says, “I do believe, but help my unbelief.”

Jesus heals the boy, actually casts a deaf and mute spirit out of him, and later the disciples ask why they couldn’t cast it out. Jesus responds, / / “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” Mark 9:29 (NKJV)

So, in those two stories there, the woman at the well, and the father and son, the implication here is that Jesus is fasting in that moment.

We see that there are things Jesus is doing that are a direct result to his obedience to fasting.

What about us?

Statistically speaking, in the US, only / / 16% of white evangelical protestants fast. Our / / black protestant brothers and sisters are way ahead of us at 34%, and our / / Catholic friends are winning at 40%.

So, two thoughts from that:

Just a thought. If Jesus did things as a direct result of his obedience to fasting, and we aren’t fasting, are we limiting what we experience in God because of a lack of obedience in this area?

And I’ll just leave that there.

But also, If you aren’t fasting as part of your discipleship to Jesus you’re not alone. And this isn’t a point of shame. In fact, the very topic of fasting can actually bring up some pretty intense emotions for some people. Especially if you’ve ever struggled with any sort of eating disorder, there can be fear attached to the idea of doing this.

I’ll say it again, generally speaking, most people don’t like the thought of fasting, and yet, we have to ask ourselves, / / is this something that Jesus did and invites us to do that he wants to use to work in and through our lives?

It’s no wonder that fasting is viewed as one of the most important and powerful of all the practices of Jesus.

/ / 3. When you fast…

Getting back to Matthew 6. Two times Jesus says this in these 3 verses.

He starts with, / / “When you fast…” don’t do it like this, and then says, “But when you fast…” do it like this…

/ / When you fast…. Jesus simply assumes his disciples, his followers, WILL fast.

When you fast. Not, if you choose to, but, when you do. He assumes that people already do, and will continue to fast. Notice that He doesn’t have to tell them what it is, they already know.

Later in Chapter Matthew 9:14 John the Baptists disciples actually come to Jesus and say to him, / / “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

So, no one is left out of this one. We are still in those days.

Jesus here proposes that fasting will be a regular part of being his follower until the time of his return.

/ / 4. Fasting Brings Reward

After telling people not to fast like the hypocrites, he says, Matthew 6:17-18, / / “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.”

Now, there’s some mystery there. / / He doesn’t say what the reward is.

He doesn’t say what we get out of fasting.

And he doesn’t say when we will get that reward.

But he is clear. The Father sees you when you fast, and will reward you.

I can’t explain why or how, but I can definitely say that I have noticed changes in my life since I started fasting consistently and intentionally in my discipleship of Jesus. Not in the ways that I might classically think, “I hope God rewards me ..”

There is something about our obedience toward God that positions us in the place of reward.

When I fast, I am actively putting myself in the path of God in the secret place.

/ / 5. Where does Fasting come from?

So we can ask a couple questions here. Who fasted, and why did they fast?

/ / Moses fasts for 40 days in Exodus 34:28. This is the first mention. And he’s receiving the covenant of God in that time.

Israel fasted on holy days.

All of the major biblical characters fast.

/ / Why did they fast?

The people fast as a way of repentance, as a way of turning back to God, as away of lament.

/ / So by the time of Jesus there is a consistent practice of fasting twice a week until sundown. And this carried into the early church.

I’ve mentioned the Didache before, it’s the teaching of the twelve apostles, and the early church took this as a command to fast. Listen to what it says, / / But do not let your fasts be with the hypocrites; for they fast on Monday and Thursday; but you shall fast on Wednesday and Friday.

And also, before baptism it says that the one who is doing the baptizing, and the one being baptized should both fast, and it says you shall require the person being baptized to fast for one or two days.

Now, of course this isn’t scripture, right. This is the practice of the early church. But they had good reason for it. And so as a matter of value and trust in what those who have gone before us have done, that’s why we as a community fast on Wednesdays.

Will we add Fridays? You can add Fridays whenever you want. Feel free. I don’t know if I’m there yet. But maybe that’s the very reason I should.

The point is this, / / the early church took fasting incredibly serious. The early church fathers and mothers all talk about.

/ / The 40 days leading up to Easter, called Lent, was originally a fast, where followers of Jesus would not eat until sundown every day, and that’s actually where Islam pulled their practice of Ramadan - from the Christian practice of Lent.

So, two days a week, special occasions, like baptism and Lent. This was the regular way: consistent, communal fasting for 1500 years of Church history. And then it seemed to begin to decline.

By the time of John Wesley in the 1700s, who started the Methodist movement of churches, which was really based on a deep holiness and a reverence for the early church and it’s practices, in a lot of ways these spiritual disciplines we’ve been talking about this year. In one of his sermons, / / “I fear there are now thousands of Methodists, so called, both in England and Ireland, who, following the same bad example, have entirely left off fasting, who are so far from fasting twice a week… that they do not fast twice in the month! Yea, are there not some of you who do not fast one day from the beginning of the year to the end? But what excuse can there be for this?…for any who profess to believe the Scripture to be the word of God. Since, according to this, the man that never fasts is no more in the way to heaven, than the man who never prays.”

That sermon was titled “Causes of the Inefficacy of Christianity”. Inefficacy means failure to produce the desired effect.

Now, don’t think this is command and you’re sinning if you don’t, or you’re not going to heaven if you don’t. That is not the case. But what Wesley is trying to get at here is that there is power in the disciplines, there is power in fasting, and the reason is because it is the very nature of Jesus’ invitation to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him.

Wesley felt so strongly about this that in the beginning of the Methodist church he would not allow someone to be ordained into the ministry without this practice of fasting twice a week, Wednesday & Friday, as the early church did. He might not love where some of the Methodist movement has gone as of late.

And outside of the western church, where we love our food and our earthly pleasures probably a bit too much, in the eastern church, in the African church, India, Egypt, fasting still continues to play a major role in the rhythm of the church.

I’m not saying this is the reason, but we often ask why the miracles we see in remote places of the world don’t happen here…or at least not as regularly.

So, if you’re here for just one point this morning, let it be this, and in all transparency, this is a direct quote from John Mark Comer: / / Fasting is one of the most essential and powerful of all the practices of Jesus, and arguably, the single most neglected in the modern, Western church

/ / 6. Fasting Basics

/ / A. What is fasting NOT?

/ / i. Fasting is not abstinence (alone)

“I’m fasting social media”….

No, that’s just giving up social media

It’s good, but it’s not biblical fasting

We probably should!

Abstinence has a long and wonderful history inside and outside of the church. It’s a core tenet to Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs because it aids in breaking the power of addiction.

So, it’s good. But it’s not fasting.

This really comes up a lot in the Lent season, if you’ve been in church traditions that observe Lent. These days people give up alcohol for lent, or sugar for lent, or social media, or any number of things.

As I mentioned earlier, Lent used to be a 40 day fast where they wouldn’t eat until 5pm everyday leading up to Easter.

The funny thing is. I think everyone knows this. We know exactly what our doctor means when they tell us we need to fast before bloodwork. No one confuses that with, “I can pick and choose what I give up…” I admit, I have asked before, “Coffee too?” and every time, “Yes, coffee too…”

/ / ii. Fasting is not a restricted diet

Juice fast – dietary cleanse

/ / What about the Daniel Fast?

So, I’m not alone in this, but others would disagree. So I’ll tell you what I think, which is from what I understand, but know that this isn’t necessarily the position taken by everyone. The Daniel fast is not actually fasting - it’s restricted eating.

Is it for a purpose? Yes. For spiritual reasons? Maybe. But here is why I say this:

In the book of Daniel, him and his friends eat this way as a matter of right living before God, with no mention of the word fasting. And fasting is regular practice by the Jewish community at this point, so it’s not that the word or practice aren’t in use yet.

Also, the bible after this point, to my knowledge at this time, does not ever mention what Daniel did as a fast, or encourage others to do the same.

We have to remember the Jewish culture, instituted by God in the Law of Moses had some pretty strict dietary measures.

So, Daniel 1:8 says, / / “But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank.”

And there may be some confusion about Daniel 1 vs Daniel 10, but we can talk about that later if you want. For now, I won’t belabor it, but my understanding here is that Daniel, who is held captive in a foreign nation is being told to eat food that go against God’s dietary laws in Judaism.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a super righteous thing to do before God in the midst of what Daniel is facing. I just think we misidentify it as fasting.

But we can take really good lessons from it:

We should give up bad foods. Or even having times where we limit rich foods. That’s not bad.

We should give up social media. Or take regular breaks from media in general.

Restriction has a long and rich history in the church, whether that be food, or way of life.

/ / B. So, what IS Fasting?

/ / At its most basic, fasting is not eating food for a period of time.

Some references in the bible also include not drinking as well, but not all do. Exodus 34 says Moses didn’t eat or drink for 40 days. But that is a supernatural occurance - the rest of us would literally die if we didn’t drink water for more than, what is it, 7 days or something.

/ / C. Does fasting have a set period of time?

/ / Short answer: No

There are two fasts that are specifically ordained by God for His people in Scripture:

/ / The Day of Atonement, which was also a day of Sabbath Rest.

And the / / fast in Joel 2. There was a terrible plague of locusts in the land, so bad that the prophet Joel calls it the Day of the Lord. Biblically speaking, that’s kind of a run for the hills kind of day. So Joel 1:1 says, / / The word of the Lord that came to Joel… (14) Consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly…. (2:12) “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.”

Romara Chatham in her book Fasting: A Biblical Historical Study, says that / / those two fasts were 24-26 hours long. She also states that Jewish custom in the New Testament time period commanded that a proper fast must continue from one sun down til after the next, when the stars appeared and for about 26 hours.

/ / Most all other fasting was done from sunrise to after sunset.

This is why when we talk about fasting here we talk about it from a sunrise to sunset  time frame.

Then of course there are examples across scripture of 2 day, 3, day, 7 day, 40 day fasts. There is no set prescription.

Now, in regard to sunrise to sunset. I don’t wake up early at 5am on Wednesdays just so I can eat before I fast. But what this does do is make me less legalistic about the night before. I might have a snack at 8pm, whether I should or not, is beside the point, but I’m not breaking a 24 hour fast. I’m not fasting sundown on Tuesday to sundown on Wednesday.

/ / D. When should we fast?

Again, this isn’t a / / hard and fast rule.

/ / The early church fasted Wednesday & Friday

We know that John the Baptists disciples fasted.

We know Jesus fasted. So they probably held to the traditional Jewish Monday & Thursday.

Paul the Apostle was a pharisee, he would have strictly fasted Monday & Thursday.

But again, this isn’t a command, it’s an invitation.

If we look across scripture, John Mark Comer breaks this up into two types of fasts:

/ / Rhythm and Response

/ / Rhythm being the regular practice of self-denial in the discipline of fasting.

Monday & Thursday in Jewish Tradition

Wednesday & Friday across church history. And this had reasons

First, as the Didache outlined, to set them apart from the Jewish community. The church was a new way of living, so they wanted to be defined as such.

Second, because Wednesday was the day Jesus was betrayed, and Friday was the day he was crucified.

/ / Response

Most fasting in the Bible is fasting as response

An enemy invasion

The scripture I read in Joel, of the plague of locusts

Sin, repentance, loss.

Queen Esther calls for a three day fast.

/ / E. Is Fasting Personal or Communal?

/ / It’s both.

Now, when Jesus says in Matthew 6 to fast in private, he’s not talking about doing it alone every time you do it. As a community they fasted Monday & Thursday, so everyone knew. He was led into the wilderness and fasted for 40 days, and we have it written down for all to read. Does Jesus lose his reward because we know he fasted? Of course not.

/ / The point: Don’t use fasting like the pharisees to appear more religious.

Fasting doesn’t make us religious, it doesn’t elevate us, it doesn’t make us righteous. It humbles us. It makes us lowly. It identifies with suffering more than with glory.

Fasting, like any of the disciplines, come from the place of Ephesians 2:10, / / For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Having been made righteous by Jesus, we now live righteously.

We are made Right with God, and we do what is right by God.

Not because the disciplines or good works make us righteous, but because we have been made righteous and now live in Him!

So, fasting in community is not wrong. Fasting for virtue signaling is the thing we want to avoid.

Don’t post on Instagram…. Fasting today….

“Hey fam, Y’all may be wondering why I’m wearing these sackcloth and ashes….”

Headaches and hunger, am I right … #fasting #righteous

Think of it this way:

/ / As we fast personally, we grow personally.

As we fast corporately, we grow corporately.

We can fast alone without fasting corporately, but we cannot engage God corporately in this way without learning to fast individually. So our personal discipline has corporate implications.

And we need to keep saying it, Fasting is by invitation, not by command, so there’s no condemnation.

But in this way, / / fasting becomes about more than just my life, it becomes about our community as well.

/ / F. Why do we fast?

Over the course of this series we’ll look at four basic categories:

/ / 1. To offer ourselves to Jesus

2. To grow in holiness

3. Amplify our prayers

4. To stand with the poor

Much of what I’ve said has given a lot of this first idea, to offer ourselves to Jesus

But let me kind of wrap this up with 4 thoughts on offering ourselves to Jesus

/ / i. Self-Denial:

This is what John Wesley was talking about.

The invitation of Jesus to become a follower, / / to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow him.

/ / ii. To Suffer with Christ:

Not my words but scripture. And we’ve talked a lot this year about enduring through pain and suffering. Paul gives hope and purpose to it in Philippians 3:8-10, / / Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith – that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

/ / iii. Hunger for Jesus:

The more we follow Jesus, the more we fall in love with Jesus, and the more we have a burning desire to be with Jesus.

John Piper calls Fasting / / “Whole Body Hungering for God”

Hunger is the feeling of wanting and needing something you do not have.

What happens when we don’t have a hunger for God?

The reality is, and this may be unpopular, but God is worthy of our lives, our worship, our pursuit, and our devotion regardless of whether we have any feelings or experience. That doesn’t mean we won’t have feelings or experience. But there are seasons of life where you may not “feel”, and that doesn’t mean give up, it means be faithful.

This is why knowing the truth of what we believe is so important, because if we are Christians just because it makes us feel good, then when the going gets tough, we’ll duck out. And we see it all the time. People get invited into an easy Christianity, told that it’s all going to be sunshine and rainbows from now on, and then when life happens, or the world doesn’t understand them anymore, or they encounter the enemy’s work rather than the Holy Spirit’s work, they duck & run.

I like the way John Mark Comer puts it. He says, / / if you’re struggling with not feeling like you have a hunger for God, there must be some part of you that at last WANTS to want to hunger for God.

The hunger may not be there, but you wish it were. That’s a great place to start.

That’s an “I do believe, but help my unbelief” kind of moment.

Let me put it this way: Sometimes we fast because we are hungry for God, and we desire to offer our whole life to Him, and sometimes we fast to become hungry for God.

/ / iv. The Gift of Our Body

Romans 12:1 says, / / I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Offering our bodies as a living sacrifice: / / We fast, not to get something from Jesus, but to give something to Jesus.

If Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, / / Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Maybe not for you, but I can tell you, days that I’m fasting I am very aware of the weakness of my flesh. My desires want to spring out of control. My flesh wants to give in. My body itself can become weak and frail feeling.

When I offer my body as a living sacrifice, I’m not offering peak performance…. I’m not offering wagyu bone in ribeye here…it’s more like taco bell grade F ground beef.

But I’ve learned this to be true. / / I can’t offer your sacrifice. I can only offer my own. And out of love for Jesus we offer this gift of our weakness, at whatever level that may be.

/ / v. Where do we go from here?

This is the invitation.

/ / Jesus fasted, he invited us to follow him, he assumed his disciples would fast, as we’ve seen from Scripture, “When you fast…”

What’s interesting is that he never commands it. He never says you’re doing things wrong if you don’t.

/ / Fasting is not about our salvation. But let me tell you, it will connect you to your hope of salvation.

/ / Fasting is not going to make God love us. Yet, it will draw you close to his heart where you feel his love.

/ / Fasting is not stopping or starting God’s blessings. Yet it may in different times and different ways be a key to move the heart of God in your direction.

This is an invitation to Practice:

Some of you have already been doing this, within our community, of fasting from sunrise til sunset on Wednesdays. And I invite each and every one of you to do that over the next four weeks of this series.

/ / If this is new for you, this may be a bit of a challenge.

Why? This isn’t health fasting, this isn’t bloodwork fasting, this isn’t forgetting to eat until dinner.

This is offering your body as a living sacrifice to God as acceptable worship

It is identifying with the weakness of our flesh as we seek the strength of our Savior.

It is denying our self-gratification and desire for the sake of worship and seeking first the Kingdom of God.

And that makes this different.

Guess what, the devil doesn’t care if you fast for bloodwork.

The devil doesn’t care if you fast so you can fit into those jeans on the weekend.

But the enemy prowls around like a lion looking for someone to devour that is pursuing the kingdom of God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

/ / vi. Purpose & Intention

My therapist will sometimes ask me, “How did fasting go this week? Were you intentional?” And sometimes I will realize that I was just not eating food and I didn’t pay attention, or wasn’t intentional in the practice of fasting.

/ / Offering our bodies as a living sacrifice is an intentional offering to God.

So, in this week let your intentional focus on Wednesday in fasting be this prayer, “Jesus, I offer my flesh and its desires to you as an offering of worship. Let my life be a living sacrifice.”

/ / Remember, this is a practice. Which means we can’t expect to be perfect. So, if you can only do a set amount of time to begin, that’s ok. Build the muscle over time, so to speak.

Imagine this, A conversation with Jesus. He says, “Hey, I want you to fast on Wednesday…”

And you’re like, “I can’t do that long….can I do 1 meal? I’ll fast lunch this week and see how I do and then next week maybe I can do breakfast and lunch…”

My guess, and I could be wrong, but my guess is he will NOT say, “NO, that’s not good enough. All day or nothing at all…”

When I teach my daughter something new and she doesn’t get it right the first time, I don’t give up on her after the first try.

And I don’t want you to try this once or twice and not love it and give up

The hope here is that this becomes a practice that we individually, and corporately, are walking in together in our discipleship of Jesus, maybe just maybe til He returns!

/ / vii. Practical Thoughts

A great way to keep focused is that any time you WOULD be doing something involving food. Meal time, cooking, eating, snacking, shopping, take that moment and give yourself to prayer.

If you feel hunger pains, take that opportunity, “Jesus, I offer my life as a lifting sacrifice…”

I’m hungry, and I CHOOSE to deny myself.

My tummy is rumbling and I CHOOSE to focus my attention on you.

/ / What about concerns?

Health concerns

Start small. Use wisdom and discernment.

Food disorders

If you’ve struggled or do struggle with food disorders, either under-eating, overeating, or anything of the sort, you have a disordered relationship with food. Maybe this is the week you decide it’s time to talk to someone about it. Allow the Good Shepherd to walk with you through that valley of shadow toward life.

If that is the case and it is wise for you to not fast at this time, you can take the approach of abstinence… And although it’s not fasting, maybe you take those times you’d lose yourself in social media, to pray instead. Or maybe, instead of food, it’s coffee, if that’s something you turn to often. But begin to look at your life and ask what it looks like for you to employ self-sacrifice as an offering to Jesus, as you hopefully choose to journey with someone in the difficulties of your relationship with food.

Tips

/ / Drink a lot of water

/ / Black Coffee?

/ / Prioritize: You don’t have to shut down life for the day and sit in a prayer closet. You still probably have to go to work, still have to raise your kids, still have to do all the things. But intentionally within that, take moments, take time to focus on the offering you are bringing to Jesus.

Slow your day down as much as possible to allow yourself to be attentive to Jesus.

/ / Leave judgement at the door

If you’re anything like me, any practice that seems difficult can sometimes bring the idea of, “I’m doing it wrong.” Or “I’m no good at this.” Or “I’m going to fail”….

Allow yourself the opportunity to be all of those things, but really, none of those things as you simply engage in self-denial before Jesus as an offering of worship.

To the best of your ability, don’t give in to the self-defeating and internal dialogue. We are self-denying, not self-defeating.

Try not to think on, “Is this working? Do I feel closer to God? Will this help in my prayers being answered? Oh no, I feel like nothing is happening, I don’t feel change, I don’t feel good at all…”

Just let those things go. It’s not helpful…

Closing Thoughts

/ / I would say that the main focus and purpose of fasting is devotion and obedience with a heart of worship.

When I tell my daughter to do something, and she doesn’t understand why she needs to do it, she doesn’t see why she should do it, but she responds in love toward me by being obedient, she both reaps the reward of whatever it is that I encouraged her to do, but also, meets me in relationship.

Relationships are built on mutual movement toward connection. And when we are obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit, the instruction of the words of Jesus, the invitation of Scripture with a response of love, we are doing our part in building that connection.

We never want to become legalistic about our Christianity, far from it, but it’s an easy question to ask, “Is there love in disobedience?”

Not as a matter of proving love, but as a matter of being loving toward the person we are in relationship with.

/ / This is about our relationship and pursuit of all that God is.

This is about seeking first the kingdom of God.

/ / This is about allowing God to work in and through you as we are faithful to Him, following Him to the best of our ability, in our weakness, experiencing His strength.

This is not about perfection, it’s about us coming in whatever state we are in, weak or strong, confident or unassured, healthy or not, spiritually attuned or spiritually confused, resilient or fragile, and approaching the perfect one with our offering of praise, a living sacrifice of self-denying obedience.

Communion

I felt as I was preparing this week that an appropriate end to this service would be to take communion, to remind us of the true bread of life. Although food plays an important role in our physically being sustained, our hope is in the one who offers eternal life.

Jesus said in John 6:53, “Truly, Truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”

Not surprising that vs 60 & 66 say when many of his followers heard him say that, they decided to no longer walk with him.

Jesus asked the twelve disciples, “Do you want to go away as well?”

And Peter responded, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the WORDS of eternal life…”

I can only imagine the sigh of relief when they sat down for the Last Supper together and Jesus… (Luke 22:19-21) …took bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it and gave it to them, saying, “THIS is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise, the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

What a relief! It’s a metaphor. We don’t eat his flesh and drink his blood…

It’s a metaphor, a symbol, an invitation to remember and connect with this moment for all of time until He returns!

Paul would later write in 1 Corinthians 11:26, For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

So, I want to take communion this morning as we close, and maybe this is your first time considering fasting, I want you to hold fast to the words Jesus spoke in John 6, my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. It is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that sustains us. HIS sacrifice proves that he is worthy of our response in self-denial to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice.

If you want to come and grab the elements for you and your family, we’ll take communion together. And I’ll read from 1 Corinthians 11 today.

…the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.