Sermon Tone Analysis

Spiritual Disciplines – 11

/Fasting/

/Text: Matthew 6:16-18/

 

Place Preached - (Mississauga International Baptist Church)

Date Preached - (01~/15~/04)

 

Introduction:   

 

Fasting is perhaps the most feared and misunderstood of all the Spiritual Disciplines.

*What do we fear?*

 

* Fasting will make us odd

 

* We will suffer

 

* We will have to give up our self-indulgent ways.

* It is generally perceived to be a fully negative experience.

Very few practice it.

It is seldom preached or studied from the Scriptures.

Yet it is mentioned as often as something important like baptism (75 mentions) as opposed to fasting (77 mentions).

! Fasting Explained

 

DEFINITION:  Fasting is a believer’s voluntary abstinence from food for spiritual purposes.

It is...

 

* Christian

* Voluntary

* Spiritual

 

There is a broader sense in which fasting can be applied not to food & drink only, but to our abstinence from other legitimate activity for spiritual purposes.

Biblical Fasts

!! 1.

The Normal Fast

 

Abstinence from all food, but drinking water.

EXAMPLE: Christ fasted 40 days (*Matt 4:2; Luke 4:2*) He was hungry, but not thirsty.

!! 2. The Partial Fast

 

Limitation of the Diet, but not abstention from all food.

EXAMPLES: Daniel (*Dan.

1:12*) John the Baptist (*Matt.

3:4*)

!! 3. The Absolute Fast

 

Avoidance of all food & drink.

EXAMPLES: Ezra (*Ezra 10:6*) Jews of Esther’s time (*Esther 4:16*)  Paul (*Acts 9:9*)

!! 4. Supernatural Fast

 

Required God’s intervention in the bodily processes to prevent death.

EXAMPLES: Moses (*Deut 9:9*) Elijah (*I Kings 19:8*)  Both men went 40 days & nights without food or water.

!! 5. Private Fast

 

Fasting in a way not to be noticed by others (*Matt.

6:16-18*)

!! 6. Congregational Fasts

 

*Joe**l 2:15-16 * Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:*16*Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.

*Acts 13:2 *As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

!! 7. National Fasts

 

Jehosaphat’s response to a coalition invasion (*2 Chron.

20:3*)

Other Jewish National fasts (*Neh.

9:1* & *Esther 4:16*)

Nineveh’s response to Jonah’s preaching (*Jonah 3:5-8*)

!! 8. Regular Fasts

 

Every Jew was to fast on the day of atonement (*Lev.

16:29-31*) /only one instituted or commanded by God/.

Four annual fasts instituted by Jewish leaders while in Babylon (*Zech 8:19*).

Pharisees of Christ’s Day.  *Luke 18:12 * /I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess./

!! 9. Occasional Fasts

 

On special occasions as the need arises.

Implied in *Matthew 9:15 * /And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them?

but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast./

The most common fast among Christians today would fall under the categories of NORMAL, PRIVATE & OCCASIONAL FASTS.

! I. Fasting Is Expected

 

Jesus expected that His followers would fast.

Notice wording of *Matt.

6:16-17*  “/when ye fast/” & again “/when/ (NOT “IF”) /thou fastest/”

 

These are the same expectations Christ had toward our giving (*6:2-3*) and our praying (*6:5-7*)

 

Jesus also makes it clear that until the Bridegroom returns He expects us to fast...

*Matthew 9:15 * /And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them?

but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast./

Besides all this it was clearly the practice of believers in the book of Acts.

(*9:9; 13:2;* & *14:23*)

 

It’s interesting that Jesus gives us no command regarding how often or how long we should fast.

Just like all the other Spiritual Disciplines, fasting is not to be a legalistic routine.

It is a privilege and an opportunity to seek God’s grace that is open to us as often as we desire.

! II.

Fasting Is To Be Done for a Purpose

 

There is more to Biblical fasting than just abstaining from food.

Without a spiritual purpose for your fast, it’s just a weight-loss fast.

/There are several major purposes given for fasting in Scripture, none is to impress God or earn His favour!/

 

!! 1.

To Strengthen Prayer

 

When there is a special urgency about the concerns you lift before the Father.

Ezra’s petition for safe journey as he led exiles back to Jerusalem.

*Ezra 8:23* /So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was intreated of us.

HE ANSWERED OUR PRAYER!!/

 

Fasting is not a spiritual hunger strike that induces God to do our bidding.

Fasting for something outside of God’s will is a waste of time!!

 

Fasting changes our praying more that it changes God’s hearing.

Fasting expresses our earnestness about the matter being prayed for in a divinely appointed way.

*Joe**l 2:12 *Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye /even/ to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

 

The most important aspect of this discipline is it’s influence on prayer.

In his book /God’s Chosen Fast/ Arthur Wallis remarks...

 

“/In giving us the privilege of fasting as well as praying, God has added a powerful weapon to our spiritual armory.

In her folly and ignorance the Church has largely looked upon it as obsolete.

She has thrown it down in some dark corner to rust, and there it has lain forgotten for centuries.

An hour of impending crisis for the church and the world demands its recovery./”

!! 2. To Seek God’s Guidance

 

There is Biblical precedent for fasting for the purpose of more clearly discerning the will of God.

SEE *Judges 20:18-28* – Explain context of the shocking sin committed by men of Gibeah.

The other 11 tribes of Israel went to war against Benjamin three times, but only after they fasted did God give Israel the victory *vs26-28*.

Before Paul & Barnabas appointed elders in the churches, they prayed with fasting to receive God’s guidance.

*Acts 14:23 * And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.

ILLUS: David Brainerd’s personal Diary *April 19, 1742*

"/I set apart this day for fasting and prayer to God for his grace; especially to prepare me for the work of the ministry; to give me divine aid and direction, in my preparations for that great work; and in his own time to send me into his harvest.

Accordingly, in the morning I endeavored to plead for the divine presence for the day, and not without some life.

In the forenoon I felt the power of intercession for precious, immortal souls; for the advancement of the kingdom of my dear Lord and Saviour in the world; and withal, a most sweet resignation and even consolation and joy, in the thoughts of suffering hardships, distresses, and even death itself, in the promotion of it, and has special enlargement in pleading for the enlightening and conversion of the poor heathen.

In the afternoon God was with me of a truth.