Untitled Sermon (34)

SCRIPTURE PASSAGE

Matthew 6 “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.

SERMON

How many of us like to wait?

My guess is, not many of us. My self included.

Beyond that, many of us may not be very good at waiting anymore.

When we feel hungry, food is available within minutes.

When we want entertainment, we open Netflix, YouTube, or social media.

When we want to buy something, it arrives at our doorstep the next day.

Our world is designed to remove inconvenience, delay, and discomfort.

Living in such a world, something slowly happens to us.

We begin to assume that every desire should be satisfied immediately.

Every craving should be fulfilled.

Every discomfort should be removed.

Every inefficiency should be addressed.

Every longing should be met.

The problem is that the way of Jesus often moves in the opposite direction.

Jesus invites us not merely to satisfy our desires, but to search them.

Not merely to indulge our appetites, but to surrender them.

Not merely to follow our cravings, but to follow Christ.

That is why fasting is such a powerful spiritual practice.

Because fasting reveals what is happening inside us.

Fasting reveals what we truly depend on.

Fasting reveals what controls us.

And ultimately, fasting teaches us to hunger for God."

Today, as we begin this two-part sermon series on fasting, I want us to see that while fasting means abstaining from food,

fasting is not primarily about food. 

Fasting is about formation. 

It is one of God's ways of shaping us into the likeness of Christ.

<click>

Fasting was practiced throughout Scripture. 

Various instances of fasting in the Bible, show us that fasting was very much a part of life.

This slide gives just a sample of some examples of fasting in Scripture.

There was no fixed pattern or rule by which fasting took place.

But fasting was often linked with worship and prayer.

In other words, fasting was always linked to this element of looking to God, depending on God, humbling ourselves before the Lord.

Fasting always meant less food, more God

No food, all God

Jesus Himself fasted in the wilderness for 40 days. 

It was a time of testing to prepare Him for ministry on earth.

While Jesus Himself fasted,

Jesus never commanded his followers to fast, 

although He affirmed fasting 

and assumed that His followers will fast.

Jesus makes two crucial statements about fasting.

First is in Matthew 6 “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.

Jesus does not say if you fast, He says when you fast.

Jesus assumes that His followers will fast.

<click>

Notice the context of this passage: 

Jesus talks about fasting alongside the practices of giving and praying.

If we affirm that giving and praying still apply today, fasting equally applies to us today as well.

There is a view that fasting is only from food.

ie. from social media, from phone, from coffee isn’t counted as ‘fasting’.

But depending on our individual situations, some of us struggle more without coffee or our phones, than without food, for a period of time.

<click>

Second crucial statement Jesus makes about fasting is in Matthew 9:14-15 14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast,[c] but your disciples do not fast?” 15 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. (wineskin after) 

We are now in the days where the bridegroom is ‘taken away from us’

Who is the bridegroom? It is Jesus.

When is this time that the bridegroom is taken away.

The time is now. 

Jesus was taken away to the cross, rose 3 days later, and is now ascended back to the Father.

<click>

The point of Matthew 9:14-15, is that Jesus assumes his disciples will fast after He is taken away. ie. now. the present Church age we are in.

My point here is that 

Fasting is not a forgotten practice for a previous generation of believers.

It is a God-given practice for disciples living between Christ's ascension and His return.

But Fasting is the spiritual discipline that may initially make us feel less spiritual.

When we struggle through the hunger, or the sense of ‘craving’ when we fast from whatever it is we commit to fasting from.

All sorts of temptations may come. We end up thinking about what we are fasting..

That’s where fasting should be paired with prayer and Scripture.

No need for long readings or prayers 

Which brings us to the deeper question. 

What does fasting do in us?

What is the heart of fasting?

<click>

The Heart of Fasting

Offering our bodies to God

Discovering the things that control us

Hungering for God

<click>

1. Offering our bodies to God.

There are two parts to this point: 

a. Our bodies. 

b. To God.

<click>

Our bodies

Romans 12:1 “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."

Paul doesn’t say offer our heart, or offer our soul, or offer our thoughts, or offer our feelings.… 

He says offer our bodies <click>

The Greek word translated ‘bodies’ is soma, which means the whole self, whole body.

Discipleship is not just spiritual. It is embodied.

We tend to prioritise the heart over the body, or heart over the whole person.

But we forget that Jesus took the trouble to come in a human body. Embodied. The incarnation.

<click>

We follow Jesus not only with our thoughts or our feelings. 

We follow Jesus with our whole bodies.

Why we raise our hands

Why we kneel when we pray

When we fast, we are giving not just a part of ourselves, but our very bodies to God.

John Mark Comer says when we fast, we literally pray with our whole body.

When we fast, we are saying:

'Lord, even my physical appetites belong to You.

Even my desires belong to You.

Even my body belongs to You.'

Fasting becomes a tangible act of worship.

<click>

A tangible act of worship To God

Romans 12:1 specifies that the recipient of the offering is God.

That may seem obvious.

Of course fasting is for God.

But Jesus knows that sometimes we may fast as though it’s not for him.

Or we may engage in spiritual practices as though it’s not for him.

<click>

Even spiritual practices can become self centred.

Zechariah 7:5 ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted?

In Matthew 6, Jesus shows that even spiritual practices can become self-centred.

<click>

Matthew 6 “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.

Key point here is that fasting should be done for God, not for show to other people.

We offer our bodies TO GOD, not to other people.

<click>

Richard Foster: Physical benefits, success in prayer, the enduing with power, spiritual insights - these must never replace God as the centre of our fasting. 

<click>

John Wesley: Let our intention be this, and this alone, to glorify our Father Who is in heaven.

<click>

Pope Benedict, in his message for Lent 2009, said this:

In our own day, fasting seems to have lost something of its spiritual meaning, and has taken on, in a culture characterized by the search for material well-being, a therapeutic value for the care of one’s body. Fasting certainly bring benefits to physical well-being, but for believers, it is, in the first place, a “therapy” to heal all that prevents them from conformity to the will of God

What Pope Benedict is saying here is that While there are physical benefits to fasting, the purpose of fasting is not physical detox.

It is spiritual detox. 

To detoxify our bodies from all that prevents us from submitting our lives to Christ.

First aspect of the heart of fasting, is that it is a key way to offer our bodies to God in worship.

Second aspect of the heart of fasting, is..

<click>

2. Discovering the things that control us (Richard Foster)

Fasting reveals how much we rely on immediate gratification

1 Corinthians 6:12 All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.

We often do not know what we are dominated by until we are deprived of it.

Most of us think we are free until something is taken away from us.

Examples:

coffee

phone

social media

snacks

constant noise

We often do not realise our dependence until we experience deprivation.

<CLICK>

Richard Foster says this:

Richard Foster: “We cover up what is inside us with food and other good things, but in fasting these things surface. If pride controls us, it will be revealed… David writes, “I humbled my soul with fasting (Psalm 69:10).

Anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, fear - if they are within us, they will surface during fasting.

When we fast, we may become irritable.

We may become impatient.

We may become anxious.

We may become fearful.

Fasting did not create those things.

Fasting revealed those things.

If we do not want to be dominated by anything, 

we have to know what are the things that can dominate us in the first place.

Only when we know what can control us, can we live out Romans 8:13

<CLICK>

Romans 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Once those things that control us are exposed and revealed, the Spirit begins His work of transformation. Revelation brings restoration.

But fasting is not merely about saying no to food.

Christianity is never simply subtraction.

Every 'no' is meant to create space for a greater 'yes.'

<CLICK>

3. Hungering for (the Word of) God.

When we fast, we feel hungry.

Hunger is not the point of fasting.

But it has a purpose. A threefold purpose.

<CLICK>

Hunger teaches

Deuteronomy 8:3, shows what hunger teaches us: 

“And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

Fasting reveals that what we actually hunger for is the Word of God.

Every rumbling in the stomach becomes a reminder: I need God more than I need bread."

Whenever you feel hungry, use it as a reminder that we hunger for the Word of God.

<CLICK>

Hunger redirects

When Jesus fasted in the wilderness, and was hungry, the devil tempted Jesus to satisfy his hunger by turning stones into bread.

Jesus quotes Deut. 8:3 by saying “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)

Jesus’ hunger redirected Him to the Word of God.

Fasting redirects us to Feasting.

Richard Foster says that Fasting is not so much abstaining from food as feasting on God’s Word.

John 4:31-34 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 

<CLICK>

Hunger longs for.

When we are physically hungry, we long for the chance to eat soon.

Hunger anticipates.

When we fast, and feel the hunger, we remember our longing for Christ to come again.

Matthew 9:14-15 14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 15 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. (wineskin after) 

This passage is also in the Gospels of Mark and Luke (Mark 2:18-20, Luke 5:33-35)

The specific reason for Jesus’ disciples to fast is that the Bridegroom is taken away from them.

And fasting takes place, because we long for the Bridegroom to come again.

Our hunger for God’s Word ultimately points to our hunger for Christ to come again.

The deepest purpose of fasting is not self-discipline.

The deepest purpose of fasting is longing.

We fast because the Bridegroom is not yet fully here.

We fast because we still await the day when faith becomes sight.

We fast because every earthly satisfaction leaves us longing for the One for whom we were created."

Mark 2:18-20 18 Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. (wineskin after)

Luke 5:33-35 33 And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” (wineskins after)

When we fast, our hunger for food points us to our hunger for God, and our hunger for

The physical benefits of fasting reflect God’s design in creating our bodies.

Over-consumption of food or unhealthy food parallel over-desiring any particular thing in life apart from God.

So what is fasting?

Fasting is not a way of earning God's favour.

Fasting is not a spiritual performance.

Fasting is not a religious diet.

Fasting is a way of placing ourselves before God so that He can form us.

When we fast:

we offer our whole bodies to God,

we discover the things that control us,

and we learn to hunger for God above all else.

And in that process, the Holy Spirit gradually shapes us into the likeness of Jesus Christ.

The One who offered Himself completely to the Father.

The One who resisted temptation in the wilderness.

The One who said, 'My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me.'

The goal of fasting is not fasting.

The goal of fasting is Jesus Himself.

Response

1. WHAT

“Lord, what are You inviting me to fast from?”

For many of us:

it may be one meal

it may be one day a week

one evening of entertainment

social media for a fixed period

2. WHEN

Be specific.

Which day?

Which meal?

Start small. Start realistic. Start prayerful.

3. WHY

But don’t stop there.

The key to fasting is deciding what you will do with the space and the money saved that fasting creates.

What will you do instead?

Read scripture

Pray

Sit quietly with God

Take a walk with God

Turn your hunger pangs into heartfelt prayer.

Perhaps the question for us today is not whether fasting is difficult.

It is.

The question is whether we desire to become more like Christ.

And if fasting is one of the means God has given His Church for that purpose, then perhaps the invitation before us is simply this:

Start somewhere.

Start small.

But start.

And allow your hunger to become a pathway into deeper delight in God