Feasting and Fasting (sermon)

I - I just dont understand why...

Y

we have a desire to grow in faith For an authentic Long lasting Life shaaping relationship with Jesu

But we literally have no idea how to get there.

Most of us

For some it comes easily For other we settle for something less than that For some we give up on God For others we struggle we wrestle and we wonder what we are doing wrong

I think we are looking for ways

Part of the problem is for years chirstians have been looking for ways to lower the bar to make it easier to belong in the church and rightly so But as a causualty we tossed out things that have been foundational to discipleship and the Christian walk for centuries

In the church we called them disciplines or practices

Sometimes bc they are hard Sometimes because they are strange Sometimes because they were abused and misuesed

So for the month of October we are examining one of these ancient rythmns and practices a week. And trying to get back to the Bible and relearn why they matter and how to incorporate them into our discipleship. And asking the question do they have value today?

G - When it comes to Feasting and fasting Jesus ReSet the table

This week fasting and feasting This has been a key tool in discipleship forever

-what it it?

Intro background/through xtian history

I was shocked to discover that xtians have done this forever...

Why?

Eating matters more than you think.

Believe it our not eating is a CONSTANT character in the Bible. Trace the theme.) If you read the Bible you realize eating and our human bodies actually matter quite a lot more than we want to believe. It impacts you a lot more than you think.

Think about how you act when you are hungry, or eat the wrong thing. You become a different person.

Eating is something you do multiple times a day and like anything else it can be for God's glory or not.

- The basics of Christian Assembly

If you asked the early church what was the most important thing in our church, the thing that you couldn't follow Jesus without. They would not choose the musical instrument. The building, The pastor, the pews, the stage the hymns, the announcments, or even the Bible itself. They would say it is the TABLE the FEAST.

Background

The New International Version Chapter 2

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

In fact it is so imporant check out acts 2

If you asked the early church what was the most important thing in our church, the thing that you couldn't follow Jesus without. They would not choose the musical instrument. The building, The pastor, the pews, the stage the hymns, the announcements, or even the Bible itself. They would say it is the TABLE the FEAST.

Fasting and Feasting are meant to be RESPONSES to encounters with God

I was surprised by this b/c we tend to think of spiritual practices as the opposite. We think about singing songs to experience God, or reading scripture to hear God’s voice, fasting to have this experience of God in hunger or perhaps to get God’s attention in prayer. But the bible sees it the other way. F/F are ALWAYS responses to God.

The Place of Fasting (Responding to Grave (serious) Enouncters)

Crossroads Esther - resolves to talk to the king on behalf of the Jewish people, knowing that she will likely be killed for speaking up. Before her meeting she calls for a fast in the Jewish community

(Pit in your stomach)

Repentence - Joel. How do you Return/repent - Fasting is a part of it

The New International Version Chapter 2

12 “Even now,” declares the LORD,

“return to me with all your heart,

with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

13 Rend your heart

and not your garments.

Return to the LORD your God,

for he is gracious and compassionate,

slow to anger and abounding in love,

and he relents from sending calamity.

14 Who knows? He may turn and relent

and leave behind a blessing—

grain offerings and drink offerings

for the LORD your God.

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion,

declare a holy fast,

call a sacred assembly.

16 Gather the people,

consecrate the assembly;

bring together the elders,

gather the children,

those nursing at the breast.

Let the bridegroom leave his room

and the bride her chamber.

17 Let the priests, who minister before the LORD,

weep between the portico and the altar.

Let them say, “Spare your people, LORD.

Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,

a byword among the nations.

Why should they say among the peoples,

‘Where is their God?’ ”

(Pit in your stomach)

Mourning - David for his enemies

(Pit in your stomach)

The New International Version Psalm 35

13 Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth

and humbled myself with fasting.

When my prayers returned to me unanswered,

14 I went about mourning

as though for my friend or brother.

I bowed my head in grief

as though weeping for my mother.

15 But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee;

assailants gathered against me without my knowledge.

They slandered me without ceasing.

16 Like the ungodly they maliciously mocked; m

they gnashed their teeth at me.

Throughout OT and NT Fasting is shown to be how you respond when you enconter God in a Somber, serious or greivious way.

When your encounter with God, puts a Pit in your stomach. Those times where if you are honest you don’t really feel like eating anyway.

In those situations Fasting is intended to help us bring our bodies along with our minds and souls in prayer, repentance, and mourning.

The Place of Feasting (Responding to God’s GRACE) -

Regular/Appointed Feasts

7 major OT feasts - Passover, Atonement, Tabernacles - Celebrated by isreal to commemorate and REMEMBER God’s providence.

Passover example

Jews would come together with family, neighbors, friends and enemies to REMEMBER God’s grace in whatever situation.

Today our easter, christmas, and thanksgiving meals are SORT OF like this. They happen every year, they are supposed to be about God’s blessing.

But bible has another kind of feast

Impromptu Feasts

If God shows up in your life in a surprising way. With an abundance of grace Feasting is a great way to mark it. God’s people would share big meals together, invite everyone, to TELL the story, CELEBRATE God’s Grace, and share food together.

1. the Jews in the book of Esther have a huge feast to celebrate God coming through

2. The prodigal son...

3. the woman who loses the coin....

Celebrating something God did for them.

Today: New Job, graduation, weddings, other occasions of celebration.

But by Jesus day - Fasting and Feasting had become less about responding to GOD, and more about personal advancement.

Instead of Fasting being a private/personal or communal response to an encounter with God. It became a PUBLIC way to flex your spiritual muscles

Instead of Feasting being a PUBLIC response to an encounter with God. The elite closed their tables. It became a PRIVATE way to advance yourself, socially.

BUT Jesus RESETS the table

Jesus Comes Eating and drinking through gospels reshaping and restoring these practices. Calling people to fast in secret and FEAST in public Jesus comes Feasting with open tables. And fasting in private.

Fasting - about spiritual signaling

people flaunted that they fasted 2x a week and would let everyone know it.

It was a way to show others just how religious you were

Feasting - Social Status, Racial idenity

1. Feasts were occasionas for political advancement. Competeing to eat with the best people to increase your status.

2. people judged you worthy or not based on who sat at your table.

Jesus RESETS the table

He breaks all the rules of the elite of his day.

He eats on the wrong days

He gets criticized for not fasting enough

He calls for secret fasting

He eats with the wrong people (CONSTANTLY) at an OPEN TABLE in public

Everywhere he goes he brings feasting, bread, fish, water to wine, and the celebration that come around the table.

Jesus doesn't share somber or minimal meals. He FEASTS joyfully everywhere he goes and their are baskets of leftovers.

His eating habits so enrage the religious gatekeepers they are one of the key factors that lead to his crucifixion.

His disciples dont fast enough

AND

they eat with people they shouldn’t eat with.

the gospels are all about eating.

You can make the argument that if it weren't for the way Jesus was eating, he perhaps never would have been crucified.

And

Jesus after spending all of his time around the wrong tables,

brings that practice into the center of Christian life.

He institutes a new kind of FEAST for his followers.

An ultimate feast - he takes his practice of eating and drinking and says, when you eat and drink FEAST in response to the GRACE of the Gospel.

This practice comes to a head in acts 2:42

Explain and then read

read it

You see that?

The first church is marked by 4 practices teaching, fellowship, prayer - and the BREAKING OF BREAD

FEASTING

The first Christian's recognized what we sometimes forget.

That if you believe the gospel, you believe thAt...

You are the recipent of the ultimate Grace We live in a world that HAS been saved Evil has been defeated on the cross Death has been beaten in the empty tomb And ressurection, restoration, and the healing of this whole (often tragically broken) creation is on the way.

And how do God's people respond to Encounters with God's grace

...

That's right by feasting

This is cause for a FEAST. A feast to end all feasts.

It is because of that truth that the first Christian's made FEASTING (the breaking of bread) central to their lives together.

Bible says whenever Christians gather around the table to eat and drink they ought to REMEMBER they are keeping a feast. To REMEMBER his sacrifice.

In eating that meal at that OPEN and PUBLIC feast, and in eating our meals togehtr in that WAY we PROCLAIM with our bodies, mouths, and even bellies the death and resureciton until he comes again!

He makes FEASTING and the TABLE the place of Christian worship, celebration, rememberance, and sustinance.

Y -

TRANS: So how can Jesus, the Gospel, and his GRACE reset our tables. How can we start glorifying God eating or drinking?

Reclaim Fasting

I really, really, really, really had planned on telling you to try fasting this week and see what the RESULTS are, but after wrestling with scripture this week. God just doesn't ask us for that.

BUT - i don't think we are off the hook either. Jesus diddnt intend fasting for the trash heap of history.

SO, if you are healthy enough to fast (not pregnant, or diabetic, or having difficulty eating as it is)

if you are healthy enough.

EVALUATE and pay attention.

Are you encountering God in a crossroads moment Like Esther, you know what you should do but your afraid. Or perhaps your life is changing because of God’s call and you have no idea what is next. You have that pit in your stomach feeling. Consider fasting for 12 or 24 hours and bring your body in line with what God is doing in your heart.

Are you encountering God in a tragedy, yours or someone elses. You are wrestling, morning, hurting, and questioning . You have that pit in your stomach feeeling as you meet God in the midst of pain. Consider fasting for 12 or 24 hours and bring your body in line with what God is doing in your heart.

Are you encountering God in noticing your own sin? Something you thought wasnt such a big deal, or something you justified for a long time, or perhaps a sudden slip of your character has harmed yourself, someone else, or God. You recognize a sin issue in your life and it is rightly bothering you, you regognize a way you have turned away from god, and its giving you that pit in your stomach feeling. Don’t ignore it or paper over it, ask for forgiveness, and CONSIDER fasting for 12 to 24 hours to bring your BODY in line with what God is doing in your heart.

If you chose to practice these FIRST, make sure you are healthy enough to. AND second don’t make a big deal out of it, keep it to yourself.

2. Reclaim Feasting

This month open your table to someone new. Have a meal to celebrate. It doesn't have to be fancy the first Christians used their most simple stables, BREAD and WINE. But invite somone to eat with you and dedicate that meal to CELEBRATING what God has done, and what he is doing.

I'm feeling convicted and challenged by this one. Because i let so many days go by, getting from one thing to the next. Utterly forgetting and ignoring this abundant grace. The big and small ways God shows up in my days. AND the ultimate grace of the gospel.

RESPOND to God’s grace this month in your home (or someone elses), around your table with your family and others

I let myself get weighed down

In eating that meal at that OPEN and PUBLIC feast, and in eating our meals togehtr in that WAY we PROCLAIM with our bodies, mouths, and even bellies the death and resureciton until he comes again!

He makes FEASTING and the TABLE the place of Christian worship, celebration, rememberance, and sustinance.

ANd when we fast in Jesus name, but especially when we eat.

Jesus Resets the table of our lives.

- The basics of Christian Assembly

- The basics of Christian Assembly

If you asked the early church what was the most important thing in our church, the thing that you couldn't follow Jesus without. They would not choose the musical instrument. The building, The pastor, the pews, the stage the hymns, the announcments, or even the Bible itself. They would say it is the TABLE the FEAST.

Background

The New International Version Chapter 2

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

If you asked the early church what was the most important thing in our church, the thing that you couldn't follow Jesus without. They would not choose the musical instrument. The building, The pastor, the pews, the stage the hymns, the announcements, or even the Bible itself. They would say it is the TABLE the FEAST.

So how do we plug into this practice.

when you Fast

and when you Eat - REMEMBER - Welcome - Celebrate - and Be Sustained

Y

So how do we plug into this practice.

when you Fast

and when you Eat - REMEMBER - Welcome - Celebrate - and Be Sustained

Adopt a practice of regular fasting - not for spiritual spolights - but in private as a responce to encounters with God in your life

Sin

Let Jesus reset your table. By gathering intentionally.

When you gather eat for God’s glory

Welcome others, celebrate God’s blessing, remember what he has done for you, and Be sustained by his body and blood.

W

I don't know where you are but, I'm feeling convicted and challenged by this one.

Because i let so many days go by, getting from one thing to the next. Utterly forgetting and ignoring this abundant grace. The big and small ways God shows up in my days. AND the ultimate grace of the gospel.

I let myself get weighed down by the inconveniences, the to-do lists, the drive to appear like things are going great, the general hum and struggle of life.

Necessarily things undone, and unnecessary things done.

That I have no margin in my life for KEEPING the FEAST. I have no margin to NOTICE and mark the amazing ways God provides.

I MISS IT.

I let days go by without sharing the table even with my own family and weeks go by without sharing it with others.

But if we believe the gosple, if we belive the bible, if we believe JESUS. We need to open our tables and celebrate God around them.

To celebrate the small moments of Grace

To celebrate the BIG moment of the Ressurection and the Gospel

That sin is defeated on the cross

Death in the empty tomb

and evil and the tragedies of this life are on the way out.

I cant help but think if I celebrated these truths with food and others more often I would have a much deeper, much firmer, and much more abiding relationship with the GOD who gives all these good gifts. And that as WE eat and drink to God’s glory we would grow closer together and closer to god. AND find ourselves living out the gospel in a way we never thought possible.

, death, and the tragedies of this life are on the way out

My friends The world is saved, and that is a cause for a party.

Lets pray

If you asked the early church what was the most important thing in our church, the thing that you couldn't follow Jesus without. They would not choose the musical instrument. The building, The pastor, the pews, the stage the hymns, the announcments, or even the Bible itself. They would say it is the TABLE the FEAST.

They devoted themselves to the breaking of bread. Koinonia, the apostles teachings, prayer.

And they would be right. Because the table is where we observe the one ritual that tells the story of Jesus and reminds us who we are. The table is where we gather. To feast on Christ and his promises. And not just this table but anytime faithful people are gathered around one. Jesus said whenever you...

When you make an effort to mindfully eat or not eat for God’s glory you will find that yourself growing closer to God as you let him into more areas of your life.

In fasting YOu will find yourself praying with your whole body in confession, mourning, and wonder. And growing closer to him, remembering that he is our sustainer.

In feasting You will find yourself encountering God around teh table remembering that

The world is saved, and that is cause for a party.