Fasting

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

Engagement

“The Skinny on Fasting” video [Skit Guys}

Tension

While that video may be a bit far fetched, it may be a lot closer to the truth than most of us would care to admit. I think most of us know at least a little bit about fasting since it is mentioned over 50 times in the Bible - both in the Old and New Testaments. But in spite of that, it may very well be the least understood and least practiced of all the rhythms of grace that we’re studying in this sermon series.

So my prayer this morning is that this message will do two things:

First, that we will come away with a better understanding of what a Biblical fast should look like, and

Second, that we will be motivated to incorporate this rhythm of grace into our lives on a regular basis.

Truth

This is the third message in our current sermon series - Rhythms of Grace. In this series we’re learning about 8 different rhythms of grace that God wants to build into our lives because they will help us to become more like Jesus and grow in our relationship with Him.

So far we’ve studied the rhythms of meditating on God’s Word and prayer. And hopefully you’ve been applying what we’ve learned in order to incorporate these rhythms into your daily lives.

Today we’re obviously going to be talking about the spiritual rhythm of fasting. And I think that most of us are going to be a bit surprised to learn about some aspects of fasting that we’ve probably never considered before. I say that because I know I learned some things that were new to me this week.

Most weeks, we usually begin with a definition or with our big idea and then expand on that and develop it as we proceed through the message. Today I’m going to take a little different approach. By the time the message is finished we’re going to develop a definition of fasting that we can use to help build this rhythm into our lives. But we’re going to do that bit by bit as we proceed rather than all at once.

Since fasting is mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments, let’s begin by defining the underlying Hebrew and Greek words:

fast =

Hebrew sum = “to cover the mouth”

Greek nesteuo = “abstain”

Both words deal with abstaining from food. And I’m sure that the legalist in the video we saw earlier would insist that unless your fast consists of abstaining from food “God would not approve”. But as we’ll see this morning, a Biblical fast could involve abstaining from things other than just food. So let’s begin our definition of a fast like this:

Fasting is abstaining from food — or any other good gift from God ...

Among those other good gifts could be things like social media, TV, video games, or even work. All those things can be good gifts from God if they are used properly. But all of those are really just a manifestation of the greatest gift God gives us - the gift of time. So it is at least possible that giving up something that takes up our time can meet the definition of a Biblical fast - but only if some other criteria are met as well.

As we build out this definition, we’ll begin this morning with a familiar passage from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, but then we’re going to spend most of our time looking at an Old Testament passage that I’m pretty sure most of us haven’t considered a whole lot before today.

Matthew 6:16–18 ESV

“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. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 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.

I know you’re probably going to be surprised to hear this, but we are never commanded to fast in the Bible. Even the Old Testament law only required one fast - on the Day of Atonement. But since the cross, where Jesus became the atonement for our sins, even that fast is no longer required.

Even though fasting is not commanded, we see it practiced throughout both the Old and New Testaments. We know that Jesus fasted Himself for 40 days before beginning His public ministry. So there is obviously some spiritual value in fasting. In fact, we see here that Jesus certainly assumes that fasting will be a rhythm of grace that we will incorporate into our lives. Notice that He says, “When you fast...” and not “If you fast...” And this is not the only place we see Jesus making it clear that He expects His disciples to fast.

In Jesus’ day, religious Pharisees fasted twice a week - on Monday and Thursday. Jesus never condemns the fact that they were fasting. He only condemns them for the way they went about it, making a public spectacle of their fasting in order to show how pious they were. It was the heart behind the action that was wrong. Not surprisingly, that is the same issue that God raises in the Old Testament passage we’re going to look at this morning.

Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 58. You should be able to find Isaiah pretty easily. Remember Psalms is near the middle of your Bible and then if you turn towards the back of your Bible you’ll come to Isaiah pretty quickly.

Isaiah 58:1–12 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. 11 And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.

In the first five verses, God reveals to Isaiah why He is displeased with the religious ritual of fasting among His people. And it was for the very same reason that Jesus condemned the Jewish religious leaders. Their hearts were not right. Here we see that the people appeared to be very pious when they fasted. They wanted people to think that they were truly seeking God and wanting to know His ways. But in reality they were only fasting in order to coerce God into satisfying their own pleasures. They appeared to be humble, at least on the outside, but in reality, they were far from that.

But interestingly, in verses 2 and 3 we see what the real purpose of fasting should have been - to approach God in humility in order to seek Him and to know His heart and His ways and to delight in His presence. It seems the people knew that was what God was looking for, but in their selfish focus on satisfying their own desires, they thought that if they just looked like they were doing that on the outside, God was going to somehow be obligated to give them what they wanted.

We’re now ready to expand our definition of fasting a bit further:

Fasting is abstaining from food - or any other good gift from God - in order to humbly seek God...

In other words, if you just get so busy or wrapped up in something that you’re doing that you miss a meal, you can’t call that a Biblical fast. Or if you’re fasting in order to lose weight or for some other health benefit, that’s not a Biblical fast.

At the end of this month, many people will observe Lent by giving up some food or some activity or something they enjoy for 40 days. But for the vast majority of those people, I doubt that really qualifies as a Biblical fast because most of those people won’t use that as an opportunity to humbly seek God.

A Biblical fast means that I take the time that I would have otherwise devoted to preparing, eating and cleaning up after a meal or whatever else I voluntarily choose to refrain from in order to engage in some activity in which I am humbly seeking God.

If I skip lunch once a week and spend that time reading my Bible and praying, that would be a Biblical fast. Or if I give up watching TV one night a week to read a book that will help me to grow in my relationship with Jesus, that could be a legitimate fast. But if I’m skipping meals because I want to lose weight or I give up watching TV so I can play video games instead, that is obviously not a Biblical fast.

Up until now, I’m guessing this definition of fasting is pretty much what most of us expected. But when we get to verses 6-7, we’re exposed to another facet of fasting that I’ve never personally considered and one that probably most of you haven’t either. In those verses God reveals that the kind of fast He chooses is one in which his people serve the needs of others, especially those in the culture who are least able to help themselves - the homeless, the hungry, the oppressed, and the poor.

The people of Judah would fast to show how pious they were while at the same time ignoring all of God’s commands that had to do with loving their neighbor. They were mistreating their employees and neglecting the poor and the homeless while enjoying their own luxuries. They isolated themselves from the suffering all around them so that they wouldn’t see it and have to do something about it.

I love Pastor John Piper’s comment on this idea:

...how you treat people on Monday is the test of the authenticity of your fasting on Sunday.

With that in mind, we are now ready to finish our definition of a Biblical fast:

Fasting is abstaining from food - or any other good gift from God - in order to humbly seek God and love others

Abstaining from a meal or some other worldly need or pleasure tends to make us more aware of the needs of the people around us - not just their physical needs, but also their spiritual needs and especially their need for Jesus. Fasting reminds us that we are, as we read in verse 12, to be repairers of broken walls and restorers of our culture. And that is just not possible if we are only focused on our own selfish desires.

When we humbly seek God through fasting we are reminded that the way we love other people is a test of how genuine and deep our love for God really is. It’s just not possible to separate “love the Lord” from “love your neighbor”. That’s certainly an aspect of fasting that I had never really considered until I began to study Isaiah 58.

When a fast includes that kind of focus on the needs of others rather than our own selfish needs, then God says we will be greatly blessed. God will reveal Himself to us and guide us and protect us and strengthen us and meet our needs. Like we’ve seen with meditation and prayer, the purpose of genuine Biblical fasting is not to change God or to get Him to give us what we want. It is to change us and to make sure that our desires are in line with His desires and His will.

Application

So how do we incorporate this kind of Biblical fasting into the rhythm of our lives?

GUIDELINES FOR BIBLICAL FASTING

Start small

This is an important principle for us to apply when it comes to all 8 of the rhythms of grace that we’re studying in this series. But it’s particularly crucial when it comes to fasting. If you’ve never fasted before, don’t try to fast for 40 days. In fact, you probably shouldn’t even begin with a whole day fast. You might just want to start with one meal.

If you’re going to fast from social media or TV or video games, maybe start with one day rather than committing to a whole month up front.

The goal is obviously to be able to work up to longer periods, but most of us aren’t going to be able to do that right off the bat. It’s better to start small and succeed than to try to start too big and then fail and just give up altogether.

Determine my purpose

Most of the fasts that we see in Scripture were done for a particular purpose. This week I tried to find every reference I could find to fasting and came up with this list of reasons that people fasted in the Bible:

Mourning

Repentance

Pray earnestly for others

To overcome fear

To seek God’s protection/favor

Pray for healing

To prepare for ministry/to anoint people for ministry

Worship

I suppose that there is nothing particularly wrong with fasting just to be with God, but I think our fasts will be more effective if we have defined a particular spiritual purpose ahead of time.

Make a plan

Check with your physician. If you are going to fast from food and drink, and you have medical issues or take medications, you should always consult your physician before you begin a fast. I’m pretty sure that God does not want you to endanger your life with a fast.

Determine the length of your fast. You should plan ahead of time exactly how long you are going to fast. Don’t just say that you’ll fast until you’re hungry or until you fell like quitting. Having a definite timeline in advance will help you stick to your fast.

Determine how you are going to seek God. Are you going to spend that time reading the Bible and praying? Are you going to read a book on prayer or on the attributes of God? Where are you going to spend your time - in a quiet room in your house or outdoors?

Limit who I tell

Since the purpose of a fast is not to impress others, you should limit who you tell. You will obviously want to tell those who are going to be directly affected - like your family. If you’re not going to eat for some period of time or if you’re going to refrain from some other activity that will impact them, they probably need to know. You might also want to tell someone who is going to pray for you or hold you accountable. But beyond that, this is between you and God and nobody else needs to know. So it’s probably not a great idea to schedule a breakfast or a lunch meeting or a dinner with friends while you’re fasting and then try to explain why you’re not eating.

Serve others

This is the aspect of fasting that is really new to me this week. But based on what what we’ve learned from Isaiah 58, it might very well be appropriate to fast as a means of serving others. Let me share a few examples of how this might work.

Perhaps you normally buy coffee on your way to work or your job requires you to eat lunch out on a regular basis. What if you decided to fast one day a week and then donate the money you saved each month to the Gospel Rescue Mission so that someone that cannot afford to eat is fed?

What if you normally play golf once a week and you fasted from that one day a month and volunteered at Hands of Hope or the Food Bank and also made a donation of the money you saved. Don’t forget to include the cost of all the golf balls you would normally lose on that round. If you’re like me that might be more than the green fees.

How about fasting from television one night per week and using that time to tutor a struggling student?

The list of possibilities is pretty much endless, but I hope that I’ve given you some ideas that might spark you own way of fasting and serving others.

Action

By now I’m sure you know I’m going to ask all of us to make this really practical and apply it in our lives this week. So once again, you’ll find a “homework assignment” on the back of the sermon outline.

Since our lives are all so different, I’ve given you some options to pick from this week. Some involve fasting from food and others involve fasting from some other activity and using that time to seek God and serve others. I’m praying that every one of us will take one of those actions this week.

Inspiration

Fasting is abstaining from food - or any other good gift from God - in order to humbly seek God and love others

Of all the rhythms of grace that we are going to be learning about in this series, this is undoubtedly the one where I fall short the most. But in a way, that is really exciting to me because it means it is also the area where I have the most room to grow. And I’m excited to see what God is going to do in my life and in the life of our church as we all incorporate the rhythm of fasting into our lives.

Discussion Questions for Bible Roundtable

If you’ve ever attempted to fast before, what were some of the obstacles you faced? How did you overcome them?

Why do you think that fasting is likely the least practiced of the rhythms of grace? What are some practical things we can do to incorporate it more consistently in our lives?

How did Isaiah 58 change or add to your ideas about Biblical fasting?

Although fasting isn’t required in the Bible, how do we know that it is important? What are some of the benefits of fasting?

What are some appropriate purposes for fasting in today’s culture?