Hungry Prayer

Introduction

ILLUST - Christine’s food cravings with the girls and her food cravings with Brooks. ‘Our desires reveal what’s going on inside.’

This is one of the effects of fasting. It tends to reveal what is going on inside of us spiritually. It reveals where our true desires lie, what we are truly hungry for,

(ESV)

16 “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.

*Draw two lines on top of sheet

line 1- How hungry are you for God?

Layout of message:

2 Reasons We Should Fast

Several Ways to Fast Wrongly and Rightly

4 Practical Steps to Begin Fasting

But first,

What is Fasting?

Most of us generally know what fasting is, many of us have understood it as a Christian discipline, but I imagine few of us have actually fasted.

Fasting is like the strange uncle of the church - everyone knows he’s there but no one wants to approach him.

When we fast, we put aside our physical desires, specifically food and sometimes drink, to pursue a hunger for God.

A statement of my hunger for God expressed through an abstaining of my physical desires, specifically food.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899–1981), the pastor of Westminster Chapel in London, delivered a great sermon on fasting when he was preaching through the Sermon on the Mount in 1959–1960. In it he said,

Fasting if we conceive of it truly, must not … be confined to the question of food and drink; fasting should really be made to include abstinence from anything which is legitimate in and of itself for the sake of some special spiritual purpose. There are many bodily functions which are right and normal and perfectly legitimate, but which for special peculiar reasons in certain circumstances should be controlled. That is fasting.2

Day of Atonement is the only annual national fast day in OT Law. It was the only time Israel was commanded to fast.

Leviticus 16:29 ESV

29 “And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you.

After Israel had been exiled and then returned to the land, four days of public fasts became traditional.

During the time between the OT and NT, fasting became synonymous with devotion in Judaism.

“Fasting like a Jew” had become proverbial in the Roman world of the first century (Suet. Aug. 76).

In the OT, fasting was abused. Instead of displaying a humble hunger for God, it became a standard of piety and an expression of religious image.

The prophets would call out the hypocrisy:

Isaiah 58:1–10 ESV

1 “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. 3 ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. 4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord? 6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.

2 Reasons to Fast:

Jesus expects us to fast.

We are rewarded when we fast.

Jesus expects us to fast.

Jesus did not say if you fast but when you fast. (And WHEN you fast, But WHEN you fast. . . )

Jesus assumed his followers would fast which is why he gives instruction on the proper ways to fast.

Context of Chapter 6 is Jesus correcting his followers on three areas common to the Christian life that can easily and quickly move from a practice of personal devotion to a public spectacle of religious dedication.

Jesus did not say if you fast but when you fast.

When you give (2). . . When you pray. (5) . . When you fast (16).

We typically have no problem understanding the first two practices to be normal and regular parts of the Christian life, but fasting?!

Jesus makes no distinction between the three .

We don’t ask “Should we give?”, “Should we pray?” But we will sometimes ask “Should we fast?”

Or perhaps we don’t even ask the question at all which points to an even bigger problem.

How often do we actually talk about fasting?

Google “sermons on prayer” = 130 million

“sermons on fasting” = 3 million

Each of these three are a personal declaration of my dependence on God.

We are rewarded when we fast.

According to v16, the hypocrites would make it abundantly clear they were fasting - they wanted everyone to know.

they received their reward — everyone knew

Reward (payment, wages)

Jesus says when we fast, we are to do it secretly — our reward then cannot be that everyone knows if we do it in secret — so how will we be rewarded? What’s the benefit?

“Your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Not same word for reward in v 16 — This is not wages for fasting that God is bound to give us.

God gives us a reward that satisfies.

What is that reward?

If we are fasting with a God-focus instead of a self-focus, then it would seem to say that when we come to God in fasting and prayer we will receive that which we came to God for.

Fasting reveals our desires and renders our rewards.

Remember your answer to line 1? How hungry are you for God?

A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer God’s Greatest Adversaries Are His Gifts

The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night. For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18–20). The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but his gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable

We can fast for right or wrong reasons.

notice the difference between v16 and v17 is not that one person fasted and one person didn’t — the difference is not one of method but of motivation

Wrong reasons to fast:

In the OT, fasting was abused. Instead of displaying a humble hunger for God, it became a standard of piety and an expression of religious image.

Leviticus 16:29 ESV

29 “And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you.

After Israel had been exiled and then returned to the land, four days of public fasts became traditional.

During the time between the OT and NT, fasting became synonymous with devotion in Judaism.

“Fasting like a Jew” had become proverbial in the Roman world of the first century (Suet. Aug. 76).

In the OT, fasting was abused. Instead of displaying a humble hunger for God, it became a standard of piety and an expression of religious image.

The prophets would call out the hypocrisy:

Isaiah 58:1–10 ESV

1 “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. 3 ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. 4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord? 6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.

To attempt to manipulate God.

- Fasting is not a hunger strike

Gandhi used fasting as a way to manipulate people as well as political systems:

A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer Fasting Is a Political Weapon

By the ancient laws of Manu, a creditor could only collect a debt owed him by shaming the debtor. He would sit, for example, before the debtor’s house without eating day after day until the debtor was shamed into paying his debt.

That may have worked for Gandhi; however, we are not looking to change the policies of a government — we are looking to see God’s hand move.

Fasting is not magical, etc.

To impress others.

- Fasting is not a religious badge

We, in our selfish desires, have a tendency to take aspects of worship and view them as either something to consume or something to perform.

When giving goes God-focused to Self-focused it can easily become a performance

When prayer goes. . . we expect those who hear our prayer to be impressed as we perform our religious duty. Or we quickly come to expect prayer to be something we consume — if God does not answer the way we expect prayer must be not beneficial.

Goes with any aspect of worship — church service, worship music, etc.

Right reasons to fast:

To reorient our desires and delight in God’s goodness.

Fasting is abstaining from a strong physical desire in the presence of a greater spiritual desire.

ILLUST -

The real question is, “How great is your desire for God?” or How hungry are you for God?

A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer God’s Greatest Adversaries Are His Gifts

The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night. For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18–20). The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but his gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable

Fasting is not the giving up evil things but of good things.

Fasting is the testing of our desires to see if God is the greatest.

Did you ever wonder why we have desires at all?

They serve as a hint for our true desires.

ILLUST - Abraham sacrificing Isaac.

: “God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you.”

(ESV)

7 The law of the Lord is perfect,

reviving the soul;

the testimony of the Lord is sure,

making wise the simple;

8 the precepts of the Lord are right,

rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the Lord is pure,

enlightening the eyes;

9 the fear of the Lord is clean,

enduring forever;

the rules of the Lord are true,

and righteous altogether.

10 More to be desired are they than gold,

even much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey

and drippings of the honeycomb.

To declare our dependence on God’s grace.

Those with empty bellies do not need to be reminded of their dependence but those with full bellies tend to believe they are independent. Fasting intentionally reminds us that we are dependent on God. 

Often in the Old Testament, in places like and 2, we see fasting associated with times of confession and repentance for sin. Fasting is saying that more than we need a meal, we need God’s mercy to cover over our sin. We fast when we are confronted with our sin. If we’re struggling with a particular besetting sin, our impulse should be to fast, to set aside food for a time, saying, “God, help me in this battle with this sin. I need Your mercy more than I need a meal.”

To seek the direction of God’s will.

We think of , and . They either needed to know God’s will, or they knew God’s will but they needed help following it. What we’re saying when we fast is that more than we want our hunger to cease, we want God’s Kingdom to come and His will to be done in our lives.

The apostles before they sent out Paul and Barnabas

To long for the day of Jesus’ return.

(ESV)

What is fasting?

Why should we fast?

we fast to declare our dependence on God.

we fast to

How should we fast?

In answering these questions, I hope to ask one final question: How hungry are you for God?

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.

If you don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great.

God did not create you for this. There is an appetite for God. And it can be awakened. I invite you to turn from the dulling effects of food and the dangers of idolatry, and to say with some simple fast: “This much, O God, I want you.”

If you don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great.v

— John Piper, A Hunger for God

How Should We Fast?

(adapted from David Platt)

Focus on God.

Abstain from food.

Substitute the time with prayer and study.

Taste and see that God is good.

Conclusion

In answering these questions, I hope to ask one final question: How hungry are you for God?

If you don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great.

God did not create you for this. There is an appetite for God. And it can be awakened. I invite you to turn from the dulling effects of food and the dangers of idolatry, and to say with some simple fast: “This much, O God, I want you.”

— John Piper, A Hunger for God

There is a correlation between fasting and the Lord’s Supper.

Fasting anticipates the future while the Lord’s Supper celebrates the past.