The Lost Act of Fasting (Matthew 6:16-18)
Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Transcript
Sermon
Sermon
Key Passage
Key Passage
“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, 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 others 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.
Introduction
Introduction
Our topic today is a massive challenge.
I’ve heard a lot of sermons in my life, but I can honestly say that I don’t know that I have heard an entire sermon on the topic of fasting.
And, if I have heard a sermon on fasting, I quickly repressed the memory because I’ll be honest with you, fasting doesn’t appeal to me very much.
Almost every sermon I preach, I have begun the journey.
Last week, when we talked about forgiveness, I have had to navigate forgiveness in my life.
When we talk about fasting, I must confess that this practice is simply not evident in my life.
Its absence is not from rebellion, I don’t think. I’m not looking at the Bible saying, “I’ll obey these parts, and ignore other parts.”
In our talk today, I’ll share with you my struggles with the topic and what I am doing in my life to begin walking with Jesus in a new way.
So, today’s topic is not so much a sermon for you. It is a sermon for me. It is the journey of preparation of God’s word, learning what it means, assessing my own life, then applying God’s truth to my life.
Our challenge today is to share what the Bible says about fasting.
I want to communicate a clear definition of fasting
When are we to fast?
Why do we fast?
What is the outcome of fasting?
Who knows, with the work of the Holy Spirit, maybe you and I may embark on a journey that includes Biblical fasting and grow to know and trust God in new ways as a result of today.
Preaching
Preaching
“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
I want to begin with a look at the word “fasting”
This idea shows up in the Bible over 40 times, ranging from practice in the OT as well as in the NT.
Because of this, we will not dive deeply into all of these, nor will we reference every verse about fasting in the Bible.
I want to give an overview for us today that highlight
From this, we can conclude it is something that was done by those who were before Jesus as well as after Jesus ascended into Heaven.
This is not an OT concept, nor is it a new theology. It is something that has been beneficial and meaningful to true followers of the heart of God for thousands of years, including today.
What is fasting?
What is fasting?
I want to begin with a definition of what fasting is.
Our world, especially recently, know what fasting is.
There are those who have engaged in a health fad called “Intermittent Fasting”.
This is fasting, but it is not the fasting that the Bible is talking about, but from our current fads, we can start to wrap our heads around a definition.
Intermittent fasting is where you schedule your day and week and avoid meals, so your body burns different calories and consumes less calories in a given time. All of this is in the great quest to lose weight and gain health.
Another act in our world that we might be familiar with is “Lent”
For 40 days before Easter, some people give something up and “fast” from it until Easter.
You may give up social media, television, or even drinking Dr. Pepper among a bunch of other options.
It is supposed to be something that teaches us self-restraint as well as a time to grow spiritually.
Both of these are not necessarily wrong, but neither are a Biblical fast.
Biblical Fasting is:
not eating food
Although there may be value in dropping social media for a few weeks, this isn’t a Biblical fast.
When the Bible talks about fasting, it is talking about food (and sometimes water).
There is no Biblical reference to a fast from riding your chariot, or some other reference.
It seems uniquely focused to food
Biblical Fasting is:
not eating food
devoted to God
When something is devoted to God, there is no other purpose for it.
When God asked for the city of Jericho (in the OT) to be devoted to God, everything was destroyed.
There was no, “Well, we will devote this awesome X-box to God, then bring it home and play it.”
It meant that everything was destroyed. There was no secondary use. It was only for God and nothing else.
When we look at fasting, we cannot have a dual or competing role in our lives.
You cannot do Intermittent fasting AND make it a Biblical fast as well.
Is this fast for you or for God?
“Devoted” means it is for God and God alone.
Here is the thing, God knows our hearts. As we can see in today’s passage, it is easy to look like we are doing the right thing on the outside, but God knows the thoughts and motivations of our hearts.
Biblical Fasting is:
not eating food
devoted to God
practiced with worship and prayer
When fasting was practiced in the Bible, it is often tied to the practice of prayer and/or worship.
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.
This was Paul’s moment of being set apart for ministry before God in Antioch.
Do you see what the people were doing?
They were worshiping and fasting.
The Holy Spirit spoke to them
Then they fasted and prayed before sending them off.
Do you think that this was to the glory of the church in Antioch that Paul and Barnabas were sent out?
No, this was done through fasting, prayer, and worship for the glory of God.
Biblical Fasting is:
not eating food
devoted to God
practiced with worship and prayer
expected
With this, we come back to our text today and read what Jesus says:
“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do...”
When you fast
Jesus doesn’t say, “If you fast”. He says, “When you fast”
As we read about the life of Jesus, we can see that Jesus fasted for 40 days before He began His ministry
In the early church, as we have already read, fasting was a regular part of their walk with God.
Our world of church and religion has largely embraced the need of prayer and embraced the heart of worship, but has left the practice of fasting to the New Testament.
When Should I Fast?
When Should I Fast?
Now that we have an understanding of what the word “fast” means, what are the rules around it? When are we supposed to fast?
Fasting is done for a number of reasons in the Bible, and I hope to be able to bring them all to clarity with my simple list
When should I fast?
Regular practice
First of all, there is no rule in the Bible that says, “Thou shalt fast 3 times a week” or anything like that.
Fasting is something that is available to all believers.
As we continue into this teaching, we will see that it has tremendous value of growing intimacy with God, and tremendous risk of self-gratification.
In the Bible, there were some who exhibited a regular habit of fasting.
The Pharisees would fast multiple times each week.
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
Although this is a negative example, we can see that there are those who have a regular practice of fasting.
John the Baptists disciples fasted regularly.
The Jewish people would fast regularly on the Day of Atonement as a part of their regular practice of fasting.
Like everything else in this Sermon on the Mount, fasting is a matter of the heart.
It isn’t governed by rules, it is engaged in relationally, as a matter of our heart.
This can be through routine practice.
When should I fast?
Regular practice
Together with others
In the OT, we can see examples of the entire nation choosing to fast together and seek God
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.”
There is power in prayer, and there is power in collective prayer
There is also power in fasting, as well as collective fasting.
Oftentimes the collective fasting would be done for one of the following purposes.
When should I fast?
Regular practice
Together with others
Repentance
In moments when a person or group of people would find that they were in sin, fasting was a means of repentance before God.
When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” Now Samuel was serving as leader of Israel at Mizpah.
“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
Fasting in repentance is a demonstration of confessing our sin before God and going humbly before Him in devotion.
Repentance and forgiveness before God are not small things.
Again, imagine relationally between a husband and a wife
If there is a large sin that divides them, a quick, “I’m sorry” and then moving on with the day doesn’t really express a heart of contrition.
Something devoted to your spouse would express that heart.
An opening of our heart and recognition of our sin.
Not a good and innocent sin. It is the understanding that our sin is deeper and darker than we can even comprehend. It breaks the heart of the God who loves us and sent His Son to die for us.
Fasting in repentance is a deep expression of confession before God.
When should I fast?
Regular practice
Together with others
Repentance
Crisis
In 2 Samuel 12, we see that the baby that was born to Bathsheba and David fell sick, David was heartbroken.
This was the consequence of David’s sin.
David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground.
In this moment of crisis David went to God grieving and pleading on behalf of his child.
Do you know what happened? The child passed away.
We’ll talk more about this in our last point, but I want to say this right now: fasting is not a manipulation tool to use on God to get your way, or to get him to see the world through your eyes.
When should I fast?
Regular practice
Together with others
Repentance
Crisis
Preparation for significant events
As we already read, the Apostles fasted and prayed before commissioning Paul and Barnabas to be missionaries.
Jesus fasted for 40 days before beginning His ministry.
When should I fast?
Regular practice
Together with others
Repentance
Crisis
Preparation for significant events
To know God more
This is certainly not an exhaustive list. Rather, this is an example of times that people fasted in the Bible.
As we assess our lives, I probe my own life on the last four specifically:
Do I ever have anything to be repentant of? Yes
Is fasting an appropriate response alongside of repentance?
Do I ever have crisis and feel overwhelmed and confused? Yes.
Do I have events in the future that are significant in my life or in the life of the church? Absolutely.
Do I truly desire to seek after the heart of God more? Yes.
In all of these situations, our lives are not that much different from the saints from the Bible.
They were people with a sinful nature, living in a sinful world, seeking hard after a God who desires to be known.
Maybe we have lost a passion for the heart of God over the centuries and maybe fasting can be a part of restoring our hearts to Him.
How should I fast?
How should I fast?
This is where we can pick up our text for today in brief. I’d like to expand our text further into an OT text as we seek to learn the heart that God desires for fasting.
“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, 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 others 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.
One thing about fasting is that it is very easy to be distracted.
What was happening in Jesus’ time was that the hypocrites (Pharisees) would make themselves look miserable, so everyone would know they were fasting.
This is in the context of the last couple of private instructions from Jesus
May your giving be done for only god
May your prayer not be on the street corner
May your prayer not be wordy, but genuine.
These are all acts that are intended to be done in a way that is devoted to God and not for any other motivation.
Jesus says that our fasting ought to be done in a way that only He knows.
What if no one knows you are fasting? Good. It is between you and God. It is for your relationship with Him.
In order to dig deeper into the “how” behind fasting, I want us to turn in our Bibles to Isaiah 58.
In this chapter, the prophet Isaiah gives a strong warning and instruction regarding fasting.
‘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 quarreling 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.
The prophet Isaiah points to the people of Israel fasting.
These guys were fasting, but they were not fasting as God desired them to fast.
When they fast, their actions betrayed the purpose behind their fasting
They were unjust when they fasted
Their fasting ended in arguments and dissention
They even ended up fighting and saying evil things.
God says, “You cannot fast and expect that I will be pleased with your fast when nothing in your life is changing.
Wrong Fasting:
To be seen by others
To make myself feel better
While continuing in sin
To manipulate God
In our passages, we have seen how God has expressed His displeasure with some practices surrounding fasting.
I want to move away from this and get to the heart of this topic of fasting and come to some practical understanding of what God desires and the value it has for us as believers.
Biblical Fasting:
Denies the flesh
The first point I want to address here is that God-pleasing fasting is a denial of our flesh.
We can see this in all of the “Wrong Fasting” topics
Every one of them have to do with our flesh controlling the motives and actions of our lives.
They all drive to the glory and purpose of fasting being myself.
I believe this passage in Isaiah 58 highlights this point.
What effect does fasting have on our bodies?
We get hungry. We get angry. We get light-headed. Our physical bodies go into rebellion and revolt.
I think this is a snapshot of what was happening in this chapter.
They would fast and end the day hangry and fighting with each other.
Even though they were fasting, their flesh continued to win the battle of their actions.
And as we have seen, our actions pour over from our hearts.
They were fasting, but were their hearts aligning with God?
Clearly, not.
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
When we fast, we take the physical needs of our bodies and make them secondary to our spiritual needs.
Now, I don’t want anyone to swing the pendulum too far here. Food is good. Food is provided by God.
But sometimes, we need to remind our physical bodies and our flesh that God is in control, not them.
Fasting is a spiritual act done by denying physical needs.
Biblical Fasting:
Denies the flesh
Trains our bodies
Another way of looking at this is that we often struggle with temptation and wrong motivations in our lives.
The draw to these things can be tremendous.
The same is for when we fast.
We have a tremendous draw and temptation for food.
It is a physical representation of the fleshly disposition to sin.
Jesus experienced this in the wilderness before began His ministry.
Food is not bad, but in the preparation for ministry Satan tempted Jesus, using bread
He tempted Jesus by saying, “you can turn the rocks into bread and eat them.”
Jesus could have done this. Jesus had the power. Bread is not sinful.
However, at this time, Jesus was denying His humanity and its desires and devoting this time to God.
The bread during the fast would have been giving his flesh authority over His Spiritual purpose.
Jesus saw the battle for what it was and responded:
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Jesus is giving us an insight into fasting that we need to understand.
Our life comes from God. The flesh can get in the way and it needs to be put in its place.
During Jesus’ fast, He was fulfilling the needs of His body with God, not the human needs.
Which leads us to our final point.
Biblical Fasting:
Denies the flesh
Trains our bodies
Aligns us with the heart of God
Again, I want you to see this. It does not align God’s heart with our desires. It aligns our hearts with God’s desires.
This is what Jesus said when He said, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
He was meditating on the heart of God through the Word of God.
This is where we continue in Isaiah 58:
“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 them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Isaiah is not saying that we have to do all of these things for God to be pleased with the fast.
All of these things were common statements by God to the people of Israel.
These are reflective of His heart.
When we fast, we must grow and align our hearts with His own.
We can see this when David was praying for his child not to die.
David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.”
Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.
David had a request in his fast, but he also aligned his heart with the heart of God.
After his child died, do you see what he did? He worshiped God.
Fasting is not to change God’s heart to our desires
Fasting surrenders our hearts to God’s desires.
What will fasting do?
What will fasting do?
What does fasting do in my life?
It seems like something that is optional, but as we talk it out, can we see that it has some value?
I hope so.
I want to draw a few more verses from Isaiah 58 that show what God says about fasting in our lives.
If you want some extra credit reading, please read through Isaiah 58 a few times this week. If you want extra, extra credit, do it while fasting!
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 them, 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.
The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
When we deny ourselves and pursue the heart of God, here is what God says.
When we fast for purposes that are honorable to God, our hearts align with His.
He is clearly seen in our lives. He is glorified in our actions.
I want to be one in whom the light shines from
I want to be a well watered garden
I want to be like springs whose waters never fail
These are the descriptions from God of the person who fasts and seeks after Him with a heart that denies themselves and pursues His heart.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Fasting is a blessing that God has given us. It is the blessing of knowing Him and seeing Him in our lives.
I’m not calling for an all church fast.
I’m calling each of us to consider the Word of God and consider our lives.
Fasting is a means by which God is asking us to trust Him in our discomfort to experience His glory in our lives.
Gospel presentation
Communion
Food is not bad, nor is it wrong. It is God’s blessing to us.
Also, there is a balance between fasting to align with the face of God and celebrating the Lord’s supper and embracing the work of God.
Fasting aligns my heart
Fasting changes my actions
Fasting is intentional surrender
Fasting is pleasing to God
God’s part will always be God’s part
Don’t fast if you don’t want the consequences of Jesus’ heart
serving
giving
loving
helping
smelling like sheep
