Grow In Fasting

Grow series: Fasting May 28, 2017; ICA East.

We are in the second week of a series called GROW…and we’re talking about SPIRITUAL GROWTH. Remember I talked last week about Miracle Grow…the fertilizer, right?

What we want to happen during this series is we want to give you SPIRITUAL MIRACLE GROW. We can’t apply it for you…you’ll have to do that. But we want to talk about certain things that can help you GROW in your Spiritual Life.

When we moved into our house in Regency 21 a few years ago, the yard outside was pretty sad. It was basically just a big weed box, with a dead tree stump in the front. Not pretty at all. Then about 2 years ago, we put in a garden. And when we first put it in, it was perfect, because everything was the right size. But you know the thing about plants is they don’t stay the same size. They started growing, and now these plants that used to be just the perfect size are taking over our yard. The other day the pembantu down the street said it looked like we were living in a “hutan.”

Plants don’t stop growing…unless what? Unless they are dead, right? And it’s the same with our spiritual lives as well….Overall when we look back over the years, there should be GROWTH happening. There are different seasons to be sure…there’s winter when it seems like everything is dead, and there’s summer…and there’s fall and spring…but over the years, as you look back, we should all be able to say…I’m not the same. I’ve GROWN. More like Jesus.

That’s the goal as your pastor. I want you to GROW HEALTHIER. And so last week we talked about the most important spiritual fertilizer of all…PRAYER. In fact, it’s so essential, you can’t live without it. We talked about the prerequisites for effective prayer…a pure motive and a relationship with your Father…and then we talked about the PRACTICE of prayer. Does anyone remember the acronym we used? [P-Praise, R-Repent, A-Ask, Y-Yield]

The MIRACLE GROW we want to talk about today is FASTING. Timely, right? We just enjoyed a big meal together on Thursday, Take a look at our group photo from the #EpicMeal. and now we’re going to talk about fasting. It’s also timely because of course our neighbors just started Ramadan. So it’s a good time to talk about FASTING. What is Fasting? What does it do for our Spiritual lives?

Now - right off the bat, I should say that FASTING is not a popular topic. We should feel bad for Fasting…out of all the spiritual practices….poor Fasting is the one everyone wants to FORGET ABOUT. ESPECIALLY in a culture that has such delicious FOOD. I think every culture has their “COMFORT FOODS”…right? These are food that probably have a really high carb content…so they are not healthy, but they are usually warm and filling and delicious. In America, comfort food is like a warm potato cheese casserole…something you bake in the oven. Here…it might be a good Nasi Goreng. Or what else? [Ask…]

We love our food. So why would we want to take it away? “Isn’t FASTING unnecessary Elis? Can I just give money, or volunteer, or pray…..and KEEP MY NASI GORENG?”

It’s interesting because if you look at the teachings of Jesus about fasting, he doesn’t say “IF YOU FAST.”… and neither does he says “you MUST FAST.” He simply says, “WHEN you fast.” It is ASSUMED that his followers will fast. It’s not even a command, because at that time it didn’t have to be commanded. Jesus apparently had the assumption that his followers would fast.

Something has happened to the Church since Jesus’ day. And it’s probably a result of what has happened to the culture at large. Because we live in a modern time when—generally speaking—our whole goal is to fix any discomfort and fill any craving.

If you’re hungry…at least in Indonesia…you have 20 different “Kaki Lima” options within walking distance. Food is E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E here. If you’re in your car…you can just go through the drive through…you don’t even have to get out of your car. All you have to do is push the button to roll down your window. Remember the old way of rolling down the window? (roll) Ya…that was too difficult. Now we just do this (push the button)

You have a craving for Teran Bulan…..just call Go Jek and they will bring it right to you and you don’t even have to get out of your pajamas.

Are you too hot? Turn on the AC….our AC is practically going 24/7 at our house.

Where I grew up…it was are you too COLD? …Just turn on the heater.

My car in America had HEATED seats. I’ll tell you what…on cold mornings when you had to scrape the ice off your windows before going to work…Heated seats is AMAZING.

I watched a documentary the other day about SHOES…and the technology that goes into the rubber soles of your shoes to make sure that your feet feel NO discomfort when you are walking…you feel like you are walking on air. The irony is that everything is so close now, and we have cars and motorcycles or bicycles…or those new things that you stand on and just kind of lean forward and they move you—we have so many transportation options now that we don’t really have to walk anymore. But just in case you ever do have to walk anywhere…..don’t worry! The amazing soles of your amazing shoes are going to help you survive.

Of course, I’m teasing a little bit. And of course, there are still MANY people in the world who have never had these kind of comforts. Indonesia is an interesting country because we have people who don’t have to walk anywhere if they don’t want to, yet they own shoes that cost 2jt…and we have people who don’t even own a bicycle walking around in bare feet. It’s an interesting place. But the point is that whether you have all the comforts in the world…or have none of them…everyone in general would agree that being comfortable is GOOD. Having a full stomach, as opposed to an empty stomach is GOOD. The idea that we should intentionally deprive ourselves of something as basic as food, is kind of a STRANGE idea in the context of the modern world where the whole goal is to fix any discomfort and fill any craving.

Living here in Indonesia, of course, fasting doesn’t seem so strange because we are surrounded by a religious culture that COMMANDS FASTING once a year. So it seems a bit more routine here. As Christians living in Indonesia, the topic of fasting might even perk up some guilt because we wonder if maybe we should be doing that.

There’s two errors people can make when it comes to fasting. We can either think it’s strange and out of step with the modern culture so we just ignore it all together…or we put too much emphasis on it and we turn it into a command…something we have to do in order to be righteous before God.

So this morning, I want us to talk about FASTING. I want to to talk about it’s PURPOSE…the Rewards that come with fasting…and the the actual PRACTICE of fasting. Purpose, Rewards, Practice. Let’s talk about it.

The scripture for this morning is a continuation of the passage we read last week about prayer. Jesus talks about Prayer, and then immediately goes on to talk about fasting.

Its found in . Let’s read it.

16 “And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get. 17 But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. 18 Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

PRAY

If you remember last week’s message about Prayer, right away you are going to notice some similarities. For both topics, Jesus talked about HYPOCRITES.…and he was getting at MOTIVE. What is our MOTIVE for praying and fasting? For the hypocrites, the motive was to gain moral SUPERIORITY. It’s about getting POWER for themselves.

But Jesus says, that’s not the PURPOSE of prayer OR fasting. The purpose should be SEEKING and WORSHIPPING God.

I liked this description from Pastor John Piper: “Fasting is a temporary renunciation of something that is in itself good, like food, in order to intensify our expression of need for something greater; namely, God and his work in our lives.”

So we don’t fast to punish ourselves for our sins.

We don’t fast to earn favor with God.

We don’t fast to earn points with the pastor at church.

We fast because we want to say to God, “I Love you God…I NEED you and your work in my life….EVEN MORE than I need food. You are MORE IMPORTANT, MORE NECESSARY, more DESIRED than everything else.”

And Jesus says that the way we know our fasting has the right motive is that we don’t call attention to it. It’s a test. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for group fasts. There are many examples in the Bible where the Israelites were called to FAST. So fasting can be PUBLIC or private as long as the purpose is centered on SEEKING GOD and WORSHIPPING GOD.

Now…here is something important that I want you to get. As Christians, we can LIKE FOOD. WE LIKE comforts. It’s not a SIN for you to enjoy an air-conditioned room, right? It’s not a SIN to LOOOOVE Potato Cheese Casserole or the best 12k Nasi Goring. As Christians we believe that God gave us this world and the things in it for our ENJOYMENT. We can worship God through FEASTING as much as we do when we are FASTING. When we are FEASTING, we are ENJOYING God and the good gifts he gives us. We are saying, “I LOVE YOU GOD, thank you for providing this DELICIOUS Nasi Goreng Jawa for me…you are so Good to me”

Fasting is A DIFFERENT FORM of worship. It’s saying, “I LOVE YOU GOD…and I NEED YOU more than anything else in the world. You are my priority. You are more important than everything else. You have the top spot in my life.”

So the PURPOSE of fasting is WORSHIP. And Jesus says, when our purpose is RIGHT….then God will see us and REWARD US. We can’t make REWARDS the MOTIVE….but when our is motive right—then Jesus says, God will REWARD us.

What are the REWARDS of Fasting?

Has anyone here played sports? I use to play Football in High school…we had lots of running, that helped us condition our respiratory system to keep oxygen to our muscles so they would recover and ready for the next play. Lifting to make our muscles strong for pushing back our the other team. WE practice a lot of blocking technique, to keep us from injury. We had to eat the correct foods at the correct times so that we had the fuel to burn on game day. THESE ARE THE DISCIPLINES OF FOOTBALL….

Then their are the rewards. What it feels like to work hard and dedicate your life to achieve one goal. Learned how to be a member of a team…Learned how to be the Captan of the Team. Learned that you can do more with a team, than you can by yourself…learned how to practice hard and win. In my time as a football player in the three years I played Varsity football we only lost 3 games. One of them being in the state championship game.

Playing an instrument is the same way. You have to DISCIPLINE yourself to practice…but the REWARD of being able to express yourself musically, and make music with other people…those are huge rewards.

Fasting is the same way…it has a discipline aspect and a rewards aspect. So what are the rewards of fasting?

There are a lot. In fact, believe it or not, there are PHYSICAL rewards to fasting. It’s GOOD for your body. It helps your body repair itself. It gets rid of excess fat and toxins. It can help you shed some Kilo’s. Some of us could shed a couple kilo and it would do us good. right? Fasting has some GOOD physical benefits.

But of course, even more important, are the SPIRITUAL benefits.

One of the greatest REWARDS of fasting is that it BRINGS FREEDOM. How so? Because more than any other discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us. We have learned to cover up what is inside us with food and recreation and entertainment….but when we fast from FOOD, or from Facebook, or whatever…the things that are controlling us on the inside start to surface. If pride controls you, it will be revealed almost immediately with fasting. King David wrote in , “I HUMBLED my soul with fasting.” Anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, fear….if they are inside you, they will surface during fasting. And the only way you can be free from those things that control you—is if they surface—then they can be healed through the power of Christ. So fasting reveals things that Christ can then free you from. So Fasting brings FREEDOM.

Another reward it brings is BALANCE.

Richard Foster, in his book CELEBRATION OF DISCIPLINE writes, “Our human cravings and desires are like rivers that tend to overflow their banks; fasting helps keep them in their proper channels.”

In other words, it’s easy for things to get out of balance in our life. Food is good, but if it gets out of balance…we start to experience the health consequences. Wanting to stay connected to people on Facebook is good, but it can get out of balance…and our whole day is wasted staring at a screen instead of interacting with the REAL, live people in front of us. A river is good, but when it overflows its banks, it can be dangerous and destructive. There are many things we LIKE that in and of themselves are GOOD…but if we let them get out of balance, they—too—can become destructive.

Fasting helps RESTORE balance. It reminds you that you are not a SLAVE to your appetites or your desires. You are the boss of them, they are not the boss of you. Fasting gives you POWER over those things in your life. It helps you keep them inside the banks of the river where they belong. As part of the Month of Ramadan I will be fasting FACEBOOK…sometimes people fast entertainment or movies or….COFFEE. Paul wrote in , “All things are lawful for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything.” It’s about BALANCE…keeping those things in their place so they won’t have destructive impact on your life.

Besides FREEDOM and BALANCE, many saints through the centuries have written about the rewards of Fasting. They talk about things like this:

Increased effectiveness in prayer

Guidance in decisions

Increased concentration

Deliverance for those in bondage

Physical well-being

Insights and revelations about God’s word

Before Tracy and I moved to Indonesia, we were in an intense time of seeking God. There had been some initial talks with Pastor John about the possibility of coming here, and so we decided to do a fast. We had no opinion or agenda to bring to God. We simply said, God we’re seeking you. We NEED you in our lives. We want our lives to worship you. And so we did a 21-day partial food fast…basically we only ate fruit and vegetables. And we didn’t see any visions or hear any voices, but I will tell you by the end of that fast, we were 100%, rock-solid sure that God wanted us in Indonesia. And I’ll tell you what else, the doors here just started FLYING open…I mean almost TOO fast. It was like God laid out runway for us to get here.

You know what we found out after we got here? Pastor John and Korie had ALSO fasted before asking us to come.

God REWARDS those who diligently seek him. We don’t fast FOR the rewards…we fast because we recognize that we NEED God more than anything…but when we do fast with that purpose in mind, God REWARDS us in ways we might not even expect.

So the PURPOSE of fasting is to WORSHIP God. The Rewards are FREEDOM, BALANCE, guidance —among many other things….and finally this morning, let’s talk about the PRACTICE of FASTING.

Now FOOD is not the only thing we can fast. It could be anything. Remember that definition from John Piper: “Fasting is a temporary renunciation of something that is in itself good, like food, in order to intensify our expression of need for something greater; namely, God and his work in our lives.”

So you could fast from your phone, or from sugar. Sometimes people fast from sleep for a very short time.

For the rest of our time this morning though, I want to talk about Fasting from FOOD…because when the BIBLE talks about Fasting, that’s what it’s talking about…fasting from FOOD. And I do think there are unique benefits that come from that kind of fasting.

There are also unique challenges…because when you withhold food…you are going to have some very physical cravings. You are going to be HANGRY. And it is going to be UNCOMFORTABLE.

Part of the reason for that is because we have been conditioned to eat 3 meals a day. So it gets to be around 8, 12 and 6 and our stomachs start growling at us. And we think we are starving to death.

But…did you know you are actually NOT starving to death? Actually, I figured this out a while ago and so I stopped eating 3 full meals a day. Usually I just have 2 meals….breakfast and dinner. And then I might have a few nuts in the middle of the day, or a snack. I usually skip lunch…unless I’m out with people.

It actually takes the average person about 21 days or so before they are LITERALLY starving. So I am not going to starve to death if I miss lunch. And most likely you will be okay too.

But here’s a few PRACTICAL things to know if you want to attempt a fast:

First of all, you should never fast WATER. A normal fast INCLUDES water. You can only live 3 days without water, maybe less here…so don’t skip that. Second, you need to make sure you are physically able. You shouldn’t fast from food if you have diabetes, or a heart condition, or are pregnant or nursing. And there might be other conditions that make fasting dangerous. So you should be sure that you are physically able to fast. If you aren’t, you can find something else to fast. If you are physically able to fast from food, then you can start off by fasting from lunchtime to lunchtime. So you are missing 2 meals over a 24-hour period. And you might want to drink fruit juices during that time. So start small. Try that once a week for a couple weeks, and then you can move up to a normal fast from morning to morning….so you will miss 3 meals. If that goes okay, you can try a longer fast of 3 days to 7 days. Some people fast even longer…up to 40 days I’ve heard of. If you do an extended fast like that, the first 3 days will be the hardest. By days 4-6 you are feeling more alert. And then by days 9-10, most of the toxins have been eliminated and the hunger pains are much more minimal. If you do ever plan to do an extended fast, you should eat smaller meals in the days leading up to the fast. You want the last thing in your stomach to be fruits and vegetables. And you should avoid caffeine for the few days before. And then during the fast, you should expect to lose about a half a kilo a day. And you should expect to be COLDER because your metabolism isn’t keeping you as warm. When you BREAK the fast…what you DON’T want to do is run over to Carl’s Jr. and order a cheese burger and fries. Your stomach will hate you. And you will be in the bathroom all night long. You want to ease back in to eating by starting with fruit juice the first day, and then slowly add in yogurt and veggies, and rice…so ease back into a full diet.

As we close and the worship team comes forward…

When it comes to the PRACTICE of fasting…the most important thing to remember is it’s about SEEKING GOD. Worshipping God. Loving God. Telling God you NEED Him and you want Him to work in your life because you realize that more than anything else, you CRAVE HIM…you CRAVE his Spirit in your life.

Remember we talked earlier about the whole goal of the modern culture is to fix any discomfort and fill any craving. It’s true isn’t it? And our cravings can turn destructive can’t they? They can overflow their banks and sink us in a mess. You know the best way to overcome a destructive craving isn’t to keep filling it and filling it. The best way to overcome a destructive craving is to REPLACE that craving with something GOOD and PURE and HEALTHY. When you pray and fast, you are conditioning yourself to CRAVE God. Just like your body can be conditioned to feel hunger 3x a day. You can condition yourself to CRAVE God. And that’s a craving that you were MADE for…that’s a craving that ends up filling you with LOVE and PEACE and JOY and GOODNESS and FAITHFULNESS and POWER and PURPOSE. And when GOD is your highest craving and you are being filled by Him with all those good things. You will be LED by your craving for God to walk away from those things that destroy you. It’s powerful. You will be FREE. You will start growing like crazy.

Fasting is your way of saying to God… “I NEED YOU in my life. I am dependent on you. You are the MOST important thing in my life.” It’s a way of DRAWING NEAR to God, and the Bible says, when you draw near to God, he will draw near to you. And that’s where breakthrough happens. You start pouring miracle grow on your life….you start bubbling over with joy and gratitude and power and you’re seeing prayers answered and you are being used by God…and you’re getting insights you’ve never seen before. You are experiencing FREEDOM and BALANCE. And you are starting to look more and more and more like Jesus.

Tonight starts our Spiritual Emphasis week…I want to encourage you try fasting this week. I think it would be powerful for us as a church to Fast…and ask the Lord What would you have us do. I will be fasting this week…Will you join me?