Change through fasting and renewal

Psalm 117

Psalm 117 ESV

1 Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! 2 For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!

Prayer list:

•Russel & Lawanda’s family

•Doyan – face numb

•deaths in the family

•Karen – double pnom covid

•Cheryl’s mom – back issues

•Community:

•Carol Hamm mother out of hospital

•Bobby

•Gary -

•Mary Ann’s family

•Paul’s death – Comfort family

•Mary Ann’s niece has breast cancer (Kay’s daughter)

•Mary Ann’s nephew (Cary?) has lymphoma

•President and Nation

Chayanne Smith

Coluntae Smith

Drew and Amy

Harley Bixler

Kim Bloom

Sandra Fletcher

Scott Andrews

Susan Curtin

Betty and Tracy

Verse

Matthew 9:14–17 ESV

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. 16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. 17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

Matt 9:14

Matt 9:14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

Two weeks ago, we read about when Jesus called Matthew. Matthew, a tax collector threw Jesus and his disciples a party.

The Pharisees had just condemned Jesus for eating and drinking with Tax collectors and sinners. Now, the disciples of John Join them in the questioning of Jesus.

What is fasting?

It is the desire to let go of an appetite in order to seek God on matters of deep concern for other, myself and the world

Although the fasting in the Bible typically relates to food, fasting is the self-denial of normal necessities in order to intentionally attend to God in prayer. Bringing attachments and cravings to the surface opens a place for prayer. This physical awareness of emptiness is the reminder to turn to Jesus who alone can satisfy.

It is abstaining from food, drink, shopping, desserts, chocolate and so on to intentionally be with God

It is abstaining from media: TV, radio, music, e-mail, cell phones, and computer games to allow space for listening to the voice of Jesus

It is abstaining from habits or comforts: elevators, reading and sports in order to give God undivided attention

It is observing fast days and seasons of the church year

it is addressing excessive attachments or appetites and the entitlements behind them, and partnering with God for changed habits

It is repenting and waiting on God

It is seeking strength to persevere, obey and serve

It is overcoming addictions, compulsions, whims and cravings

Blessings?

Through keeping company with Jesus by relinquishment of distractions

Through praying for needs in the body of Christ

Through identifying and fellowshiping with Jesus by choosing to follow his sacrificial example

Through freeing up more time for prayer

Through repenting of self-indulgent, addictive or compulsive behaviors

Through letting these small deprivations remind you of Jesus’ great sacrifice on your behalf

Through seeking strength from God for obedient love and service

Fasting around the time of Jesus

In the Old Testament, we read about everyone from prophets to kings fasting. They fasted when they needed strength or mercy to persevere and when they wanted a word from God (see 1 Samuel 7:6; Nehemiah 1:4; Esther 4:16). However, fasting was no magical guarantee that God would answer as the intercessor wanted. King David fasted when he wanted God to spare the life of Bathsheba’s child, but the child died (2 Samuel 12:16-20).

In Judaism, fasting was often an appeal for forgiveness. Indeed, all three practices—giving, prayer, and fasting had atoning value.

Do you remember the parable of the Pharisee and the tax Collector in Luke 18? The Pharisee claimed to fast twice a week.

The Fourfold Gospel 65:Matt 6:16-18—Fasting to the Father

The Didache exhorts: “Now do not allow your fasts to coincide with the hypocrites. For they fast on the second [day] from the Sabbath and the fifth. But you must fast on the fourth and sixth [day from the Sabbath]” (8.1). This reflects a need to distinguish the faith from the common Jewish practice of fasting on Mondays and Thursdays—the two days that were furthest from one another and the Sabbath (Luke 18:12). Monks fasted weekly because Jesus “was betrayed on a Wednesday and crucified on Friday

You see, the Christian church differentiated itself from the followers of Judaism by the days on which they fasted. The Jews being Monday and Thursday and the Christians being Wednesday and Friday.

Polycarp urges his readers in 110 AD, to “persevere in fasting.”

Roman Catholics fasted on Friday well into the 20th century.

But Jesus never prescribed these fasts. Disciples are free to fast according to the Lord’s direction.

Why was fasting done?

Pharisees would fast in contrition. (Luke 18:9-14)

The disciples did not fast for the forgiveness of sins. - This was provided for by Jesus Christ on the cross.

Christians fast to remember Jesus’ sacrifice and his promise of a return.

Early Christians, according to the Didache, faster for those who persecuted the church.

Jesus gave us an example of how we may fast to overcome the power of Satan in out life through self-discipline,

Fasting opens the door to simpler, non-consumer is living.

Fasting is an opportunity to lay down an appetite—an appetite for food, for media, for shopping. This act of self-denial may not seem huge—it’s just a meal or a trip to the mall—but it brings us face to face with the hunger at the core of our being. Fasting exposes how we try to keep empty hunger at bay and gain a sense of well-being by devouring creature comforts. Through self-denial we begin to recognize what controls us. Our small denials of the self show us just how little taste we actually have for sacrifice or time with God.

Fasting reminds us that we care about “soul” things. We care about the church. We care about the world. We care about doing God’s will. Thus we willingly set aside a little comfort so we can listen and attend to the voice and nourishment of God alone. For God can give us grace and comfort and nurture we cannot get on our own.

Fasting is not our focus

We could go into practical ideas of how to fast. What to do and what not to do. But fasting is not the main focus of this passage.

English Standard Version Chapter 9

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.

In John 3:25-30, we read how a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” 27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”

So when Jesus claimed to be the bridegroom, John’s disciples were already familiar with the analogy and could quickly understand the meaning of what Jesus taught.

Jesus was only there for a little while - His disciples were not fasting while he was there, but they would fast later - as we mentioned earlier.

Then Jesus appears to switch gears and give us a new saying.

English Standard Version Chapter 9

No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made.

What does this have to do with anything we just read. I mean, it is a good proverb and we should follow it when we patch clothing. But how does it relate to fasting or not fasting?

I’ll admit, I had never given it much thought. and I never understood why it is here in the text. - Not just here, but in the parallel gospels as well.

First, let’s look at the word garment. The Greek word here refers to a cloak.

Think about who Jesus is talking to here. -

He is talking to the disciples of John who are devout Jews and godly people. They truly want to know the answer to their question.

He is talking to the pharisees who are most likely still around after the party at Matthew’s house and wondering why he was at the party, possibly on a day they should have been fasting according to Jewish tradition.

What if Jesus is turning the world upside down for the religious leaders. He was not here to create a new sect of Judaism for his followers of observe.

He is not patching up Judaism and fixing it where it has become broken and reforming it. He is creating something new.

Wineskins

English Standard Version Chapter 9

17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

In the same way, Jesus uses the example of the wine and old wineskins.

Jesus isn’t here to put what he is bringing into the old Judaism or it would break open and both what is new and what is old would be ruined.

Rather, Jesus comes to put new wine into new wineskin. What Jesus brings needs to have new definitions and a new set of beliefs.

If you put new wine in old wineskins, they will break.. over time, the wineskins lose their elasticity and become brittle. Putting new wine that needs to ferment into the old wineskins will crack the wineskins.

Putting a fulfilled religion into Judaism will crack and fragment Judaism.

What does this mean?

Christianity is not just an upgraded version of Judaism, it is the fulfillment of the promise given to Adam before Judaism was around.

In Gen 3:15, God said, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

God is talking to the serpent here, but in reality, he is talking to Satan. This is the fall of Man. Satan tempted Adam and Eve and they ate the from the tree of good and evil.

But God promises to send send Jesus and now, in Matthew 9, Jesus is here. It isn’t just about Judaism. It is bigger than that.

For a time, God worked through the Jews. They were His chosen people, but in Gen 12:3, God promised that through Abraham all the families of the world would be blessed.

The disciples of Jesus may not have understood it when Jesus spoke, but in time, they would come to know that the Kingdom of God includes Jews, but also gentiles.

Peter’s vision of unclean animals on the roof sent him to Cornelius. The Jerusalem council was the first church council and was record in Acts 15. The issue to be discussed was if gentiles needed to become Jews in order to become Christians.

This issue is exactly what Jesus spoke to in the passage we read today. Christianity wasn’t just a patch of Judaism, it was something new. The gentiles didn’t need to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses because they were saved through grace, not the law.

We are those gentiles to whom this was written. Should we fast? probability. Will it affect our salvation? no.

We are saved through Christ’s death and resurrection.

This does not mean we do not obey the moral law. It does mean that we are not bound by the Jewish law of a theocracy as commanded by God through Moses.

We are still commanded to loving God with all of our heart, mind and soul and our neighbor as ourselves.

Communion

Open table