Matthew 6:16-18

Please stand with me and let’s hear the Word of the Lord this morning from Matthew 6:16-18

Matthew 6:16–18 CSB

“Whenever you fast, don’t be gloomy like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive so that their fasting is obvious to people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting isn’t obvious to others but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Would you pray with me? pray and slide go ahead and have a seat.

Oh the Pharisees… that word itself conjures up something in our minds. Stuffy religious people who sit on the sidelines and judge. That smirk and sneer to their friends, while considering themselves better than others.

And for all the rightful issues the Pharisees had - they did a lot of good deeds. They followed the letter of the law. They gave to the poor. They gave to their synagogues and the temple. They prayed and memorized Scripture. They did really good deeds. I’m sure they received all sorts of awards and accolades.

But they were doing them all for the wrong reasons. They wanted the approval of men. They wanted to LOOK holy and be respected for their actions.

Their actions were dis connected, dis integrated from their heart.

One of the great traps of the enemy is a disintegrated faith. A faith that’s untethered to reality - truth that’s not properly applied. For Christ came to give us anew reality - a new heart - and a new life. A life that is caught up in the love and light of God.

But there is a different type of disintegrated faith - one that cares little for actions, as long as their heart is right.

This kind of hypocrisy is one that knows all the right answers, has great theology on paper, but the mind and spirit seem disconnected from the outflow.

Jesus didn’t come just to save your spirit - he came to save all of humanity, even the physical - one may even say ESPECIALLY the physical.

We can have the best theology. We can mentally assent that God is good, we can say that our love has given us love for God - but if that faith doesn’t pour out into love for God and others practically speaking - it’s a death faith.

Both are wrong - both seeking the approval of men - and living a disembodied faith, a faith that stays in the ethereal and never into the physical.

I say all that - because in our passage today, we are dealing with an issue in which the religious leaders of the day were once again using religious activity to appear godly to other people. They wanted to appear Righteous - but Christ is talking about being righteous.

And while we will talk about the pharisees and this kind of hypocrisy - we need to again take this and let it shine on our own hearts - which for many people in our context is quite different.

Let’s look at the very first part of verse 16

Matthew 6:16 CSB

“Whenever you fast,

Okay hold up. Whenever you fast? you can translate this “when you fast.”

Jesus is taking for granted that his listeners will fast! But that is shocking to many of us - because fasting is largely non-existent in the American evangelical world.

In Jesus day, it was common for Jews to fast regularly for different feasts and religious days. And the Pharisees were known to fast twice a week. Fasting was a normative way of life.

For us today , only 16% of evangelicals fast during holy times - according to pew research. They’re talking about times like lent and the like - but beyond that, a person having a regular discipline of fasting unto the Lord is largely an anomaly. Now these statistics skew wildly depending on your tradition - for example Historic Black churches in america, 80+% fast regularly. Pentecostal Churches, they have the banners and flags - and 90+% fast regularly.

But when you add those into to the statistic, it’s only around 20% of protestants who fast.

I say all this - because when Jesus says “When you fast” it should feel shocking to us. So many of us just have no concept, no teaching, no discipleship, no DESIRE to explore this area of worship.

To the extent, that in a lot of circumstances, we’ve coopted the word fasting for other things.

Fasting, biblically speaking, defined would be: slide

“The practice of abstaining from food. This could be done as an expression of remorse for wrongdoing, as an expression of mourning for a loss, or as a spiritual discipline meant to help one focus on spiritual matters.”

That’s the definition of fasting - but most people conflate it with abstinence. For lent - regularly you will hear people say: “Oh i’m fasting from social media.” Now - first, good, that’s a good decision to focus on Christ instead of glowing screens. But secondly - that’s not a fast - that’s abstinence. Abstaining from certain activities can be good and beneficial - but it’s not fasting.

Our desire for comfort and to be well fed and over fed really stands in stark contrast to this section. If we can’t rationally think of a reason to do something - we are predisposed NOT to do it.

Part of the reason for this disconnect from our “spirit” and our bodies comes from the enlightenment. For a lot of western Christians - we treat the mental, the internal experience as what is most real. Famously stated: “I think therefore I am.” People that we are a mind or a soul, and we have a body.

But for many cultures - and as demonstrated in Scripture - we ARE our bodies. It’s a true part of who we are - we are embodied people. Our Soul, Spirit, Body - all make up the human.

What we do with our body - and what happens to our bodies - all impacts our real lived experience. perhaps you could say it this way: because God is the creator of all things - and he even stepped down into creation to make it new

Matter, matters.

the created stuff - the earth, the people, the birds the flowers, matter - it all matters to God. The Sermon on the Mount will talk about this more later - but God cares for creation - deeply. That’s why the word became flesh. To redeem us and creation. All of creation groans for redemption.

Christ didn’t come just to save your souls - but our entire beings and existence. The material and immaterial. Think of Psalm 103:3-5

Psalm 103:3–5 CSB

He forgives all your iniquity; he heals all your diseases. He redeems your life from the Pit; he crowns you with faithful love and compassion. He satisfies you with good things; your youth is renewed like the eagle.

Not just forgiveness, but healing and redemption. He comes to give us youthful life!

For Jewish people - fasting was often done corporately - or as a community, as a way to pray with their bodies - crying out that what we really needed was God, and his ways, not our own. Fasting was a sign of repentance, a sign of desperation, a way to worship without words as our bodies call out to God for sustenance.

And yes - it’s not fun to not eat! While practicing jews would take place in the corporate fasts - the pharisees - who wanted to appear godly - fasted often. Look at all of verse 16 now:

Matthew 6:16 CSB

“Whenever you fast, don’t be gloomy like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive so that their fasting is obvious to people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward.

Fasting, as well as other external acts - became rather abused by many. They wanted a pretense of piety. The rabbinic tradition viewed fasting as meritorious - as righteous - and therefore became a way of showing how holy one was.

And to show, just how much they were suffering, it seems like people would purposefully be unattractive, so people would know they’re hungry. We have another term for this: they were a bit extra. They were being dramatic. They wanted people to see how much they were doing on behalf of God and to give them all sorts of adoration.

And like before - Christ says - they have their reward.

They wanted people to notice them - good for them, they got people to notice.

They were virtue signaling their piety, and they were commended for their virtue by the people (and themselves).

Again - that’s their reward. So fasting, in a sense, had no spiritual benefit to them.

Jesus says for us to do otherwise - look at verses 17 - 18

Matthew 6:17–18 CSB

But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting isn’t obvious to others but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

I suppose we should again - notice he says WHEN you fast. And then goes to a sharp contrast to the hypocrits - when you fast put oil on your head (in context, oil was often used as parts of perfume - and it was expensive!) so get dolled up, dress well, clean yourself us, wash your face - and don’t let your fasting be obvious.

Again - God knows - and in the secret he will reward you.

Reward with what? I would go back to the previous sections, into the store house - God himself is our portion and reward.

John Wesley said this of fasting:

First, let fasting be done unto the Lord with our eye singly fixed on Him. Let our intention herein be this, and this alone, to glorify our Father which is in heaven.

John Wesley

This, then is our intent. It’s in a sense, reminding our whole being that what we truly need, more than food, more then accolades or attention or money or anything

is the Lord.

And he does, indeed, meet us in it. Because, remember what we talked about in the Lords prayer:

God is NOT far away

He is everywhere. He is near. He is close. And through the intercession of the Spirit and by the blood of Christ we can approach the throne of grace with boldness to receive help in our time of need.

So, one may ask, why the need to fast - if God’s everywhere? Why does God need me to fast?

He doesn’t! But we do.

The noise of the world and the flesh grows and grows and can be deafening if we don’t rule over it in the name of Christ!

All to often we look for food and sleep and knowledge and stuff to give us power and what we need - when ultimately, we need the Lord.

Fasting is a way we do this tangibly with our bodies. Andrew Murray said it this way:

Prayer is reaching out after the unseen; fasting is letting go of all that is seen and temporal. Fasting helps express, deepen, confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves to attain what we seek for the kingdom of God.

Andrew Murray

There is a discipline of the flesh here. Not in hatred of the body - but in a way to rule over the desires, to quiet the flesh, in order to be awakened to the presence of God.

But - it should not be in order to be seen by others. It’s in order to be seen by God.

This is the point of the this section of the Sermon on the Mount - doing religious activity in order to gain favor with people is fruitless before the Lord. But the righteous one is concerned with the Father, and what he is doing and up to. We need our concerns to be those of the the Father - not our world.

And so much of what the father does is not seen. So many of the most fruitful servants of Christ throughout history never had a podcast. They are just doing the day in day out life with Christ.

Consider all the great things God does that we don’t even consider - or can’t comprehend - but he does it out of love for his creation.

We sends rain and sun on the earth - causing plants to grow, but also allowing some to die, and decompose, and then break down for worms and bugs to enjoy and then fertilize the soil, and allow the ecosystem regrow again and again, both for food and for animals the thrive.

How many forests around the globe, so dense and and remote no humans visit them - and how many of these forests are teeming with life that God sustains, with little glens bursting with flowers and plants and beauty - and no people are there to see it - it’s just a secret place that God sustains for his glory and for the good of creation!

Think of the cosmic and celestial scenes and shores on billions of planets around the universe, that God tends to that we will never witness. Just secret care for creation.

God works in secret. And he deserves all praise! But most people don’t look for or see all the ways God is working and active - we are too distracted or caught up for our own glory.

Now, Enter Jesus, the very radiance and image of the father, meaning the one who is invisible has now appeared to us in his Son. That is what Hebrews 1:2-3 says.

And Jesus himself - said he does only what he sees the father doing. That’s John 5:19

John 5:19 CSB

Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son likewise does these things.

Jesus was all about the Father! He was praying continually. He would worship all the time. He went to synagogue, he healed the sick. He ate and slept. He fasted and served. And he regularly went into the wilderness to pray where no one was around except God the Father.

And while Jesus was on earth during his earthly ministry - he may have upset a lot of israel - but largely the roman world, and the globe had no idea who he was.

It wasn’t till after he rose again, and the Church received the Spirit that the gospel spread like wildfire around the globe. Jesus was powerful, faithful, and oftentimes lived in quiet obscurity.

What does this mean:

It means the Christian life done well (or life well lived), is about pursuing the Father, working with the Father, and enjoying the Father, largely in obscurity. (need to work this into a neat quote for a slide)

We don’t need more super Christians who get a huge inflated ego only to crash and burn in sin and pride! We need humble, holy, people made alive by the presence of God who are loving God and others day in day out! And - friends - those are the people God uses to truly transform the word. Those Working for his eyes only. For his pleasure only. The joy of life with the Father.

We focus on the big evangelistic crusades, we focus on the big churches - and that makes sense - because theres a big splash. But those methods of go big are not the most statistically successful in making disciples! Wanna know what is?

Parents who live life and faith well.

Parenting is perhaps the most humble position at times - and the clock never stops, right? And to be a parent is largely a role of service. From feeding to cleaning to funding to driving. And then mix in praying, singing, discipling. It’s humble - and it’s worth giving our lives too - as it is the most effective discipleship strategy for the next generation!

And it’s largely unseen. It feels largely unnoticed.

But friend - the FAther sees the mom who is up late, weeping over her children, praying that they know God and are safe. The mom who feels so alone cleaning everything and everyone in the house before even thinking of taking a shower herself.

You are not alone - Jesus is there with you, washing the babies feet with you.

The Pharisees were so concerned about being seen by others that they missed God. And to miss God is to miss joy, and life, and hope, and peace.

This practice of secrecy is a safeguard in many ways against sins of pride.

And for us - in America - we need to hear this section of Scripture from the Lord. Pursue the Lord, in secrecy. Serve him for his eyes only. And enjoy God forever.

Let’s pause there and ask our question:

So What?

These verses 16-18 are the third in a chain of righteous living that Christ is talking about. First about giving to the poor, then about prayer, now about fasting. All of the actions are in and of themselves good. BUT right action with the wrong heart is unrightesouness.

Jesus isn’t saying Don’t give to the poor, or Don’t pray, or Don’t fast. Not at all! The implication is that we will do all of those things: BUT check your heart as to why. Are we doing them to honor God and to enjoy him? As means to love God and love others? or to puff ourselves up and to feel good about ourselves?

That is THE fundamental thing Jesus is addressing here.

God, through Christ’s atonement and the regeneration of the Holy Spirit enables us to live life well through salvation.

The Lord gives us a new heart to produce righteous works for God’s glory.

The new heart is first - this is through salvation in Christ. But it should produce righteous works for God’s glory.

This is Ephesians 2 - we are saved by grace through faith, right - look at Ephesians 2:8-10

Ephesians 2:8–10 CSB

For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

We are saved by grace through faith - FOR good works.

Now we do these out of the overflow of God’s grace to us - and for his Glory.

It’s all by Jesus, and for JEsus. If we are living life - and we start feeling the anxiety of wanting to appear righteous and holy and thought well of - we need to quiet ourselves and focus on God. God and salvation in Christ is the ultimate cure for identity issues and anxiety. We will get into that more in the coming weeks.

But our world is so loud and quick - and it’s easy to not hear God. To not slow down enough to discern God’s voice.

Lot’s of practices can help with this - from Church, to scripture, and prayer, but there are two main ones in view here in our Scripture this morning. Secrecy and fasting. And both feel antithetical to the American culture.

First, Secrecy

It feels like views, likes, follows, and engagement drives our culture. Are you having a reach? Is your business, your channel, your sanctification growing exponentially up and to the right?

It is so tempting to compare ourselves to others who, indeed, seem to be growing, having influence, and even are doing good things. And Satan uses that comparison to fuel jealousy in our hearts.

It’s not a bad thing to be successful. When a righteous man prospers the city rejoices. That’s proverbs 11.

Thank God, there are some faithful and incredibly successful individuals who have great reach. But our goal cannot be influence and reach. Our Goal must be God. And if God grants us the reach - we need to be found faithful in it.

Friend, we need to enjoy and practice faithfulness and joy in the secret and obscurity. Jesus spent 30 years in total obscurity before his ministry!

That’s the savior of the world!

In prayer - we need to pursue activities that no one will see or notice but God as an act of worship.

This is relatively simple to practice. What’s a need in your circle or community? how can you meet that need, in the name of JEsus, and do it secretly - as like a secret inside joke just between you and God. I bet you will find yourself discerning the smile of God as you do.

Fasting

Fasting - is a means of praying with our bodies unto the Lord.

We need to realize just how desperate we are. We need to realize tat the entertainment and comforts we spend money on shape us more than we realize. We need to remind our bodies, our spirits, and souls who is the author of Life. We need to reawaken our hunger of God.

Are you hungry for God? Do you want to feast on him? Than fasting is a practice for you. I invite you, brother, sister - to hunger after God through prayer and fasting.

This is what fastings about.

If you heard this, and perhaps you’ve never done a fast, or maybe it’s been awhile, and you want to join in, but you want to know how - let’s go over that briefly

Remember - first, check your heart - what’s your desire in it? If it’s anything but God - confess that mixed motive. It’s not a fad diet - it’s not a cool thing - and in fact, we should do it in secret (unless we are doing a corporate fast.)

And we should probably talk about that really quick: do we have to do it alone - is that what JEsus is saying here in MAtthew 6? The answer is no. JEsus is talking about the heart and the desire. In Scripture in old and new - believers fasted together. Churches fasted together. But it’s the intent - am I doing this to look good for others, or to pusure God with others. That’s the litmus test there. In fact - there is great beauty and power when believers fast together unto the Lord. Most importantly is check your heart.

So you’ve checked your heart, you desire God and to worship him, and to seek him - and you want to get started, how?

I’d recommend starting with a 24 hour fast. The traditional fast is from sundown to sundown the next day - so for example monday - tuesday. Monday evening, you’d eat an early supper, then begin your fast as the sun sets. You would abstain from eating breakfast, and lunch, and then break your fast after sunset on tuesday. Consider during the times you would usually be eating, to go pray. Every time your stomach growls, may it be a reminder to pray - remind yourself that while your hungry for food - your truly hungry for God.

You’ll notice things in your body that you usually don’t. You may experience thoughts and emotions that are less than pleasant as the hunger exposes your soul - pray about those things. when we practice this regularly - you’ll find theres more and more of God to explore during these times.

Some can’t jump into a full 24 hour - start with just one meal. Perhaps fast from lunch, and instead of eating for 30 mins on break - devote yourselves to prayer.

When we think of fasting, traditionally it’s going without food and drink, except water. Please - when you first start practing - dont forget to drink water! While the body can go weeks without food - you can only go days without water. In fact - drink more water than usual when you fast.

I find it helpful to journal during a fast - especially if I’m fasting for a specific reason. IT can help order my thoughts, as I seek to hear God.

If you want help to get started - I’m more than happy to help, and our groups will study this deeper this next month.

But i can’t help but wonder what would happen if our community started praying, and fasting regularly after God. What if we, as a community fasted unto God for worship, and direction. I wonder what would happen when we realize just how hungry we are for God and his kingdom. I wonder how he’d speak to us. I wonder what actions we’d be moved to take. I wonder what strongholds of Satan and sin that would be torn down.

Would we be a people after God’s own heart. Would we pursue him in the secret place, and work with hi in secret, to change the world.