The Heart of Ministry: Fasting and Sabbath - Luke 5:33-6:11

FCF:

Reflection Question:

Luke 5:33 “Then they said to him, “John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees, frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink.‘”

Reflection Question: How do I understand fasting or sabbath?

Sermon Opening:

Ashley New member

W e live in a world that never stops. From the moment we wake up, we are bombarded with noise. The noise of life, the notifications on our phones, the traffic outside, maybe the person beside you snores. But louder than that is the noise inside us—the anxiety, the hunger, the need to perform, the need to fix things.

This sermon is about living with the noise inside us.

Text Opening:

Last week Evan covered Levi the tax collector being called to by Jesus to follow him and be one of his disciples.

Levi then immediately throws a banquet for Jesus with a bunch of other tax collectors. Pharisees hear about it and start questioning Jesus.

Our text is a continuation of that banquet.

In these passages, Jesus addresses the practices of fasting and observing the Sabbath, highlighting their deeper significance beyond mere rituals. He emphasizes that the essence of these practices is rooted in one's relationship with God and the transformative power of grace.

Fasting and Sabbath are transformative practices that align our hearts with God, inviting us to experience His grace and renewal, rather than mere obligation.

We’ll see this in the text: Luke 5:33-39

Luke 5:33–39 NIV

They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.” Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”

Point 1: Fasting: Anticipation and Expectation

Explain:

Let’s start with a definition what is fasting?

Fasting is choosing to go without something, usually food, for a time so that one can know God better.

In the text here, Jesus is at a banquet.

Our text says, they said to him, that’s the pharisees. They say John’s disciples and our disciples frequently fast, but here you are eating at a banquet. We fast and your disciples eat and drink.

Here’s what I want to do, I want to talk about fasting in way that I hope we can understand.

Fasting is giving something up to experience God. Fasting is never giving up something evil, it is always giving up something good.

We just did this moment of silence.

e sit in silence, where for a time we give up noise, here’s what happens.

First, we listen to the world around us. We listen to the birds outside, we hear the sounds of the building, the furnace and the cars driving by.

After a while, we tune that out. We begin to hear our own body. We hear our breathing, we might hear the sound of our tongue in our mouth. We hear and feel our body. We’re always making these sounds but we become used to them. In silence, we become aware of the physical sensations in our guts that are often ignored.

Then, if we’re fortunate when we tune out the sounds of our body, we can hear our soul. We can hear the conversation between our soul and the still small voice of God inside us.

When we give up the sounds around us and the feelings inside us, there we encounter God.

Fasting is the same way. When we fast, when we give up food for a day. We go through this time of smelling the food around us, and we give up the feeling of hunger inside us and we encounter God.

Fasting is approached with anticipation and expectation.

This is my first point Fasting is about Anticipation and Expectation

Here in the text, Jesus says, if you have the groom of the wedding with you, celebrate with him. His honeymoon is coming when he won’t be here.

Jesus means don’t fast when you have God, fast when you don’t.

He’s telling the pharisees who said, we fast why don’t your disciples. Jesus says, I’m God here with my people, why would they fast to know me - when I’m here with them?

Jesus isn’t physically present with us in the same way, so we fast to move beyond what stops us from hearing him.

In fasting, we move from reacting to the outside world, to feeling our inner-self, and finally to hearing God.

Illustrate:

Imagine standing in the midst of a crowded city. The cacophony of car horns, chatter, and music fills the air. You strain to hear your own thoughts, only to realize that amid this chaos, your inner voice is drowned out. As you step away, perhaps to a quiet park, you can finally hear your thoughts clearly. Now, envision finding a space inside yourself, where, after quieting the noise, you can finally discern the gentle whisper of God, guiding you amidst life's noise.

Apply:

When we fast, we are purposely denying ourselves something in the outside world as a way to make a path in our inner world for God to speak to us.

If you're feeling overwhelmed with life's pressures, consider fasting from meals for a day. Use the time that you usually spend preparing or eating to engage in focused prayer and Scripture reading. Additionally, replace that physical nourishment with spiritual nourishment, allowing your hunger to remind you of your need for God's presence in your life.

The Pharisees were fasting. But this way of fasting is not what the Pharisees were doing. They were fasting to fast. God cares about fasting because of where it ends, otherwise it’s vanity. This is a new way of fasting. Jesus tells them a parable about this new thing.

Point 2: Flexibility: New Cloth, New Wine

Luke 5:36–39 NIV

He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’ ”

Explain:

Jesus describes tearing a new piece of cotton cloth to patch an old shirt.

The issue with that is that it ruins the new cloth. Also, when the new cotton shrinks it will shrink faster than the old already shrunk cotton and the rip will be bigger.

This is a parable. Parables always use a common story to say something about different topic.

Jesus is using cloth to describe the kingdom of God.

Jesus here is talking about the new kingdom he brings as compared with the old ways of doing that are familiar to the pharisees.

He’s telling them you can’t fix the old ways with a new patch of the kingdom of God. Instead we have to throw out the old ways and move forward with the new.

This requires a level of flexibility.

My second point is Fasting is Flexibility: New Cloth, New Wineskins

The old ways are not capable of moving in the ways the new need.

The old cloth is incapable of moving with the new patch.

We fast because we want to experience the new kingdom of God. We want to experience the new cloth and the new wine.

The pharisees were trying to put their old way of fasting into the new way of Jesus.

Jesus recognizes if I try to force my old ways into the way of Jesus that, it will rip the new and destroy the old.

Jesus closes this section saying old wine become good by aging. It won’t age by placing it in an old skin. The old skin will burst. So you have to put new wine, in a new skin for it to become better.

Illustrate:

Imagine taking a brand-new, 800-horsepower Ferrari engine and dropping it into a rusted-out, 1990 economy car with a cracked frame and bald tires.

What happens when you hit the gas? The car doesn't go faster; it explodes. The frame twists, the transmission shatters, and the wheels fly off. Why? Not because the engine is bad, but because the old structure couldn't handle the new power.

Apply:

I think this is true for many of us. We have an "old car"—an old way of living. It’s the way we handle stress, the way we treat our families, or the habits we run to for comfort. We hold onto these old rusted frames because they are familiar. We tell ourselves, "The old is good enough".

But here is the hard truth: You cannot just drop the engine of Jesus into the chassis of your old life.

For those of us in recovery, this is life or death. You can’t just add Jesus to your addiction you won't get sober—you will just tear your faith apart.

For everyone else, maybe your "old car" is your schedule. You are overworked, anxious, and running on empty. You think, "I'll just add a quiet time," or "I'll just add a small group." But you haven't changed the structure of your life. You’re trying to put a high-performance engine into a frame that is already cracking under the pressure.

The way forward is not to patch the old car. The way forward is to stop driving it.

This is why we fast. Fasting is pulling the car over to the side of the road and turning off the ignition. It is a physical way of saying, "Lord, this old way isn't working. My frame can't handle what You want to do."

If you feel like your life is shaking apart, don't try to drive faster. This week, use fasting as a way to stop. Skip a meal, and in that hunger, ask God: "What part of my old life needs to go so I can handle the new life You are offering?" Don't look for a patch; ask Him for a new wineskin.

Luke as our author, does something brilliant, he connects fasting with Sabbath. In terms of giving something up to recognize God, these go hand in hand. In Fasting we give up a meal. In Sabbath we give up work to recognize God.

Here, Luke gives us two stories back to back about the Sabbath and he connects them to old and new ways of thinking.

Point 3: Sabbath: Liberation and Nourishment

Luke 6:1–11 NIV

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

Explain:

Luke here continues the line of thinking on old ways and new. He brilliantly structures them around the Pharisees again.

The law said don’t harvest on the sabbath and don’t work on the sabbath.

By law, the disciples plucking the heads of are, technically, harvesting.

And to work a healing was to working.

Let’s talk about the sabbath.

The Sabbath was given to people in the time of the exodus.

The people are wandering around the desert, a place with no food or water.

To find food and water they have to keep moving.

God tells them to stop for a day.

God provides them the food they need in the form of manna.

The Sabbath is a liberation. It liberates us from being bound to our work while recognizing that God provides the nourishment.

The is my third point: Sabbath is liberation and nourishment.

The Sabbath is first and foremost a recognition that God is control and provides.

The pharisees in these stories see Jesus’ disciples picking heads of grain and eating them and they see Jesus heal a man.

They get one thing right and one thing wrong.

They are right God’s doesn’t want us to work on the sabbath.

They misunderstand God’s provision.

They don’t understand we stop working because we trust that God will provide the nourishment.

In the Sabbath we stop work because we trust God

Sabbath keeping - resting from work one day in recognition that God ultimately liberates and nourishes. Sabbath keeping is the number one way I know somebody is ready for ministry.

If a person can’t stop working for one day. If they think there is ministry is so important, or so time sensitive, that they can’t put it down for one day, then I know they are not relying on God.

If you can’t start stepping away for one day, then you have too much on your plate, I’ll need to ask you to give something up.

Illustrate:

Think about the physical act of "work" or "harvesting" that the Pharisees were obsessed with. It requires a gripping motion—a clenched fist. We grab our paycheck, we grab control, we hold onto our reputation. When you live with a clenched fist long enough, your hand cramps. It freezes. It withers.

You cannot receive anything with a clenched fist. You can't receive a handshake, a gift, or manna from heaven.

Apply:

In the text, Jesus tells the man with the withered hand to "Stretch it out." Open it. Sabbath is the weekly practice of unclamping your fist. It is letting go of the controls. It is saying, "God, for 24 hours, I am going to stop grabbing and start receiving." You open your hands to receive the rest and the identity He gives you, rather than the one you try to grab for yourself.

"Look at your life right now. How many of you are walking around with a spiritual 'clenched fist'?

We live our lives with a death grip on everything. We grip our jobs because we’re afraid of losing financial security. We grip our children because we’re afraid of the choices they might make. For those of us in recovery, we white-knuckle our sobriety, terrified that if we let our guard down for a second, we’ll slip.

We think that this grip gives us control. But look at the man in the story. A hand that is always closed eventually withers. It becomes useless. When you live with a clenched fist—trying to control every outcome, every dollar, and every person in your life—your soul starts to cramp. You become anxious, withered, and tired.

Sabbath is God’s command to open your hand.

Jesus didn't just heal a medical condition that day; He modeled a spiritual reality. He told the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' He invited him to do the one thing he couldn't do on his own: let go.

Closing:

This week, I want you to practice the 'Unclenched Fist.' Pick one day—maybe today, maybe your day off—and physically open your hands.

When the urge comes to check your work email: Stop. Open your hand. Remind yourself, 'God holds my career, not me.'

When the anxiety about your kids or your future hits you: Stop. Open your hand. Remind yourself, 'God holds the future, not me.'

You cannot receive anything with a closed fist. You can’t receive manna, you can’t receive grace, and you certainly can’t receive rest. This Sabbath, dare to let go of the controls. You will find that when you finally open your hands, God is already there to fill them.

Closing Application:

Many of you feel overwhelmed by the busyness of life, leading to spiritual burnout. Consider setting aside this day for Sabbath — This can be the moment where you intentionally disconnect from work and engage with God through rest, worship, and fellowship. Use this moment to reflect on His goodness and recharge your spirit. This practice can help realign your heart towards God and renew your sense of purpose.