Prayer & Fasting

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Opener

As you all know we are doing a fast this week starting Thursday morning January 7th. It goes through Saturday at 5PM. We will meet at the church at 4PM to pray together.

If you have never fasted before I think you have the most to gain from it! I really believe that. Now with that said you need to fast for the right reasons. Fasting for the wrong reasons is called starving not fasting. So the purpose of today's message is to lay a foundation of what is Biblical fasting.

When we started this 4 months ago one of leaders said this on the last day of the fast:

“I think I’ve realized more than ever before how much I want food because the taste of it is so pleasing, and how I want that more than the strength it actually gives my body. Oh to taste and see how wonderful and good God is and have a redirection and overhaul of my daily appetite!”

One of or other leaders said this:

“I've been thinking a lot the last couple days about how my Spiritual need for Christ is so much greater than my physical need for food. And yet my hunger is disproportionate stronger toward physical satisfaction. I've been praying the famous prayer of A.W. Tozer for myself and for our church family many times this last few days. I'm asking God to awaken a hunger in us for His kingdom to come here on earth.

"O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still." (A.w. Tozer)”

Thesis Question: Should Christian’s fast? Is fasting an Old Testament thing? Does it hold any relevance for those who are in Christ?

Point 1: Fast for a Reason

Matthew 9:14-17 Jesus’ Disciples Don’t Fast

Matthew 9:14–17 NASB95

14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” 15 And Jesus said to them, “The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 “But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. 17 “Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

This passage is going to be our launching point into discussing fasting. Should we fast? Why do we fast? Notice even the question in the passage from the disciples of John, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” If you take that literally you might say isn’t that a question for you? I don’t know why do you fast? That actually is a question I would like to hear both groups answer.

Why do the Pharisees Fast?

I don’t know what the Pharisees would say. But we can make an educated guess. There was a Rabbi of preistly decent that lived before the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. So around the time of Christ. It is said he fasted and prayed twice a week for 40 years to try and stop it from being destroyed. He obviously failed in that mission. They thought pious religious acts could atone for things.

Luke 18:9–14 NASB95

9 And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ 14 “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Notice the Scriptures tells us plainly the condition of their heart: “they trusted in themselves that they were righteous.” And of course the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable says: “I fast twice a week.” Now fasting wasn’t the problem but the motivations were. So if one fasts and thinks they have earned something from God or have can earn their own righteous through piety they are gravely mistaken. Again fasting becomes misguided starving. Paul says in Colossians 2: “asceticism” has “no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.” Asceticism is self inflicted harm which would include things like fasting. Fasting must not become a means of performative righteousness before God nor man. Sometimes when Jesus addresses the Pharisees the issue is they were man pleasers. They wanted to look good in front of others, but what I love about this story is the issue is the Pharisee thought his actions could make him look good in front of God, and guess what? They couldn’t!

Fasting must not become a means for justifying ourselves before God

Why do John’s Disciples Fast?

What about the disciples of John? I would hope that they were fasting in expectation of the Messiah. Which makes Jesus’ statement all the more potent to them considering they are the ones asking the question: “the attendance of the Bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them.” In other words as long as the Messiah is here it is time to celebrate not to mourn (which Jesus associates with fasting). Or perhaps in more simple terms the one you are fasting for, The Messiah, the Deliverer… He is here. And you know what… to the Pharisees the one who can make you righteousness, the one who can atone for your sins, the one who can put to death the power of fleshly impulse is here!

Nevertheless what is most humorous about this passage to me is that they don’t give any reason for fasting. They just simply say we fast why don’t you? In other words you all kind of look unspiritual… what’s up? But Jesus gives them a reason to fast in verse 15: “But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

When religious practice causes us to miss God it actually become counter productive to our spiritual well being. Jesus has to be the center of every Christian discipline.

You need a reason to fast. Fasting without a reason is starvation. You need the right motivation… not self righteousness but humility, “God be merciful to me the sinner” as the tax collector prayed.

With this corporate fast we are doing we are doing it for three reasons:

For Kingdom Expansion at the Sioux Falls Church plant. We are praying God Your Kingdom come Your will be done! God send workers to your field. God reap a harvest for your glory.

We are praying that we, The Summit Church family, would become a people of prayer and dependence on God. More on that with point 2 today.

I encourage you to have a personal reason to fast. It could be for someone you deeply care about that doesn’t know Jesus. It could be for your spouse or your marriage. It could be over a sin struggle. There are numerous possibilities here.

Point 2: Fast for God

They are not fasting now, but will and something new is coming. So lets lay the foundation. What is fasting? And lets primarily look at the old before we look at the new.

What is fasting?

Fasting is abstaining from eating food. Sometimes it is abstaining from food and water (this is often called an absolute fast). Paul did this, Ezra did this, and Easter, Mordacai and company did this. We are doing the normal food fast as a church.

For those of you who are unable to if your pregnant, nursing, have a medical condition etc. there are other options. You could give up “tasty food” like Daniel did. You could do a partial fast if that is in scope. If you are new to fasting you could give up a couple meals a day and pray. Again I am not your doctor. Talk to them. That being said for those who are able. I encourage you to really go after this and embrace what many believers have done for thousands and thousands of years: not eating and seeking God in prayer, fasting.

Another healthy way to think about fasting though it is the opposite of feasting. Sometimes in the Bible a fast would proceed a feast.

Feasting has the idea of fellowship and celebration and joy. Fasting has the idea of loss, humbling ourselves, and mourning (as Jesus notes).

Fasting in the Law

In the Old Testament they fasted when they mourned a loss (maybe of a loved one), they fasted over sin, and to seek God for deliverance (for example in war). One of these ideas is very formative regarding the Lord’s purpose in fasting though because it is found in the Law.

The New King James Version Chapter 16

29 “This shall be a statute forever for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether a native of your own country or a stranger who dwells among you. 30 For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.

“You shall afflict your souls”. This could have included other acts of humility but fasting would have been a core piece of it. And this was part of one of the main religious days of the year in Israel, the Day of Atonement. Fasting on this day is still practiced today.

Now I know some might go “But Steve, isn’t that Law? A Christian doesn’t need any of that Law. We have grace. What does fasting have to do with the covenant of Grace?” I think you should think about this a little differently. You should go, “It’s in the Law!” Why should that excite you? Because that means it was God’s idea. It wasn’t just a cultural expression. It was something God had in mind.

Hermeneutics of Fasting

Fasting is God’s idea. It is in the Law. Jesus Himself does it (more on that later). The New Testament Church (Acts 13) does it. It is God’s idea. Their is a principle of hermeneutics or at least a guideline that goes a doctrine holds to its first definition and explanation unless it is changed later. In others words the first place it is explained carries weight with later uses and examples of the practice. Now that doesn’t happen in reverse. I don’t say Oh Jesus fasted for this reason thus that is why Moses fasted. But if I have some principles laid out in Leviticus for example those are informative for Matthew, for Isaiah, for Acts were it talks about fasting unless it gets changed. Now sometimes doctrines and definitions do change as God reveals things but we look for that in the text. What I certainly don’t do is go “I have fasted a lot. Let me tell you what fasting is based on my expert experience and then read that experience back into the text.” Christians are called to be more humble than that. To trust God’s Word over our experiences and to quite frankly be better thinkers than to make such personal and exegetical mistakes.

Now Leviticus isn’t the first example of fasting in the Bible but it is the first doctrinal instruction of it. Do you see the difference? Jacob married two sisters. That is the first example of it in the Bible. The Law later came and said “do not marry sisters”. One is illustrative and the other instructive so we can use the latter to inform the former. The doctrinal instruction in the law actually helps us go back and go yeah that didn’t work out so well Jacob, did it? So Leviticus is the first doctrinal statement concerning fasting.

What does Leviticus Mean?

Let’s read it again:

Leviticus 16:29–30 NKJV

So what do we learn? The first thing we learn in Leviticus is fasting is connected dealing with sin! This should be obvious as to why.

A sinner is someone who is arrogant and proud. As we talked about last week they do what is right in their own eyes. That’s pride. They can’t even see clearly spiritually. In fact it is much worse than that. They are blind spiritually. But their is another type of sinner. The convicted sinner! We all know him right? “O Wretched man that I am!” The convicted sinner realizes the error of their way. They humble themselves under God’s mighty hand. They run to the only one who can pardon them. They know the path to him. It is not in a house made with stone. It is not on top of the mountain. It is on our knees.

Isaiah 66:1–2 NASB95

1 Thus says the Lord, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? 2 “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.

So annually Israel would fast. And it was to humbly seek the Lord’s forgiveness. That is powerful isn’t it. It also says, “You shall do no work at all.” It other words it wasn’t just about going with out but it was about seeking the Lord. This brings us to another fundamental aspect of fasting. Fasting and Prayer go together like peanut butter and jelly. You could even say the purpose of fasting is prayer or fasting complements or fuels prayer.

There are some things all fasting has in common.

Some things all fasting has in common

Humility. As mentioned before. Fasting invokes humility. Just like getting on your knees does. It is an act of humility. Whether the reason is dealing with sin, seeking God’s deliverance, or mourning a loss. It is an act of lowering ourselves before the Lord.

That being said it is not a forgone conclusion that when you fast your heart will follow. You can just go through the motions and not have your heart in the right place. I don’t call this fasting. I call this starving.

One practical thing you can do is don’t make fasting all about you. Pray for others. If you are mourning over a sin struggle think about the people your sin is effecting and pray for them. When you fast your belly will go “me, me, me, me” and we will in humility before the Lord go, “others.”

One of the beauties in planting a church in Sioux Falls is we as a local church get to live out putting others interests before our own. So we have Sioux Falls Church plant at the top of the list.

Dependence. Whether you are seeking God’s forgiveness or deliverance we are saying, “God I need you!”

Practically speaking this means when you feel those hunger pains your immediate response can be that prayer, “Lord I need you.” Fasting makes you weak and if in your weakness you will call out to The Lord fasting becomes a great way to lean on Him.

Reward. Seeking God as a rewarder. Have not because your fast not. Notice even in Leviticus 16 there is a reward. Coupled with the work of the priest in making atonement through the sacrificial system they are told: “ you will be clean from all yours sins before The Lord.” Now we know the sacrificial system was insufficient by design to permanently deal with our sin. That the system as a whole was pointing ahead to someone who could cleanse our very soul. Nevertheless their is a reward in the text.

One passage that drives this idea home for me with fasting though is Matthew 6:16-18.

Matthew 6:16–18 NASB95

16 “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 17 “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face 18 so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Now Jesus is addressing personal fasting not public fasting that would take place on the feast days. Everyone in Israel knows your fasting on the day of atonement. It is a corporate fast. No brownie points there. Everyone is doing it. It’s expected. But notice He says, “your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” The same idea is at work in this passage with giving and prayer. Seek to please the audience of one. Set your heart on God and not man. Hebrews 11:6 says:

Hebrews 11:6 NASB95

6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

Faith is a fundamental aspect of fasting. You should have great expectation in fasting because you are seeking your “Father” who is in heaven. He has your best interest in mind. Not only that but we know how he operates. Do you know how God operates?

My kids know how I operate. They are not afraid to ask me for a treat. They don’t bat 1.000 with that request but they do well. They are super nice when they ask… I wonder why that is?

With God we know what He is looking for. He is looking for Humility and Faith. The Scriptures say “Without faith it is impossible to please God,” and “God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.”

Two things Prayer and Fasting offer a lot of if done with the right attitude.

So fasting has to do with humility, dependence, and reward.

The Ultimate Purpose in Fasting

But this brings us to something perhaps even more important. Something I am calling “The Ultimate Purpose of Fasting.” Do you know what that is? What is the ultimate purpose of fasting?

It is God Himself. This takes us to point number 3.

Point 3 Fast Like a Christian

Matthew 9:14–15 NASB95

Why will Jesus’ disciples fast? Because He is taken away. In other words they will fast for Him. If I go back to Leviticus 16. What was the whole purpose of the Day of Atonement that fasting, “afflicting your soul”, played a part in? It is really quite simple. Reconciliation and right standing with God.

Wineskin and cloth

This takes us to verses 16 and 17 of Matthew 9.

Matthew 9:16–17 NASB95

16 “But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. 17 “Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Say what? New Testament Professor Craig Keener explains it this way:

New Testament 9:14–17—Appropriate Fasting

Old wineskins had already been stretched to capacity by fermenting wine within them; if they were then filled with unfermented wine, it would likewise expand, and the old wineskins, already stretched to the limit, would burst.

You all can imagine the cloth analogy even better. Clothes shrink in the wash. So if I take a new piece of cloth and put it as a patch on an old already shrunk garment that can’t shrink anymore what happens? When the clothes get washed the unshrunk material will shrink and pull away from the already shrunk material that is retaining form.

Jesus is saying I am doing something new. You can’t be stuck in the Old Ways. They served a purpose and a time but what is coming is categorically different.

We call it the New Covenant.

Sacrifice

Hebrews 9:6–10 NASB95

6 Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship, 7 but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. 8 The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing, 9 which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience, 10 since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation.

Once a year in the holy of holies. Continual sacrifices. Limited effectiveness “which cannot make the worshipper perfect in conscience.”

But Christ’s Sacrifice “the time of reformation”

Hebrews 9:11–12 NASB95

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; 12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

This is one of the most powerful verses on this topic in the Bible friends. Jesus changed things. So John’s disciples, Pharisees, things are changing. We are not going to be operation in relationship to God in the same way no’ mo’. He can make your conscience perfect friends. Because His sacrifice is that great. Once and for all obtaining eternal redemption.

So in the Old on that one day one man on behalf of the nation goes into the Holy of Holies, God’s presence. But now in Christ you can go before the throne of grace any time you want. This is so important. Our unmitigated access to the Father is because of the cross of Christ. I am so serious about this. Jesus brings us into right relationship with God. Prayer is relational: “Our Father who is in heaven....”. Thus so is fasting. If you think fasting is a means to reach God you have missed it entirely. But if fasting is an expression of humility and you press into the relationship you have in Christ it is a great thing!

Now God actually makes his home inside you the Bible says.

The Spirit

There is another key element. The Spirit. We are born again.

John 1:12–13 NASB95

12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

As I have said many times. The Father sends the Son to redeem us. The Son accomplishes redemption on the cross. The Spirit applies redemption.

We are transformed through the cross by the Spirit. So when Paul says aceticism was of no benefit against fleshly impulses. Fighting against sin, temptation and the desires that rise up in us that is because there has been a reformation. Jesus has set us free from sin and death at the cross. The Holy Spirit empowers us to walk in newness of life.

This is so important. Your struggle against sin. Your struggle against the flesh cannot be won by fleshly means. Not forgoing things. afflicting yourself. But Christ was scourged for our transgressions. And by the powerful workings of God in the person of Jesus Christ on the cross we have been reconciled to God, plugged into the Vine, and empowered from on high by the Power of God.

In short how do you walk in holiness by the Spirit and not by the flesh.

So wait then? Are you making an argument against fasting? Well yes. If you are looking to it justify yourself before God. If you are looking to it to kill sin and sinful desires. Yes to all of that. Because that is the pursuit of religious performance over what Christ has done. Or it is at best fighting the flesh with the flesh.

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BUT if fasting is way of humility before God. A way to spend time drawing near to Him in prayer. A way of crying out to Him and saying Lord I need you. And if you are doing all of this “in Christ” understanding that it is through the cross you have access to God then it becomes a healthy spiritual discipline. Just as we do not see prayer, reading the Word, and good deeds (i.e. meeting the needs of the saints) as a means to sanctify us, justify us, or establish right relationship with God but as expressions of Grace in relationship with God so to is fasting.

Fasting when Christ centered is a spiritual discipline that is of great value! Let me put it another way is drawing near to God healthy for the Christian… then fasting is healthy for the Christian.

___________

Remember now I said the ultimate purpose of fasting was God Himself. So I want you to listen to this again.

“But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

Is Christ here with us? Well on one hand He is. He dwells in our hearts through faith. But in another very real sense He is not. We long for His return. We say come Lord Jesus come. So fasting is what John Piper calls a “longing for the not yet of Kingdom.”

Interestingly enough so is feasting. When we take the Lord’s Supper, communion, we are doing it with Him. He is the most important person at the table. But in other sense the Lord’s supper looks forward to what is described as “the marriage supper of the Lamb” in the fulness of the Kingdom.

So we live in an “already not yet” and fasting plays an important role as we look ahead to the return of the Lord.

____________

Jesus Fasted

For the Christian we need no other reason to fast than this alone. He is our Lord and our Savior but He is also our example in so many things. He fasted. But do you know why? He fasted after taking on His role as suffering servant at baptism. He is drove into the desert to be tempted by the Devil. What does He model for us? He models for us the Spirit filled life. We see Him praying and drawing near to God. We see Him quoting Scripture He has hidden in His heart. Not out of fleshly strength not out human ability but depending on the Spirit something the 40 days of fasting makes abundantly clear. No one models the humility, dependence, and seeking of God better than Christ Himself. And fasting was part of that!

The New Testament Church Fasted in Acts 13.

It is an interesting passage. They are praying and fasting ministering to the Lord it says. Their is motivation! Is it not? Fasting and prayer is ministering to The Lord! Holy Smokes.... sign me up. Nevertheless the Holy Spirit speaks and says, “set aside for me Paul and Barnabas for the purpose which I have called them.” Now he doesn't tell them what He has called them to. We know that because we know the rest of the story, but it also seems he didn't have to because it is the calling he gave the church: go and make disciples of all nations” right in the beginning of Acts. So there was never a question of what they should do. There was only a question of who should be sent. “Paul and Barnabas”. They sent their best.

Listen to this again:

“But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

The ultimate purpose of fasting is God. We see this at every stage of redemptive history

We see it at the day of atonement. Fasting was part of the time where the high priest would go into the most immediate presence of God and atonement would be sought for the forgiveness of sins.

We see it with Christ as He is taking on His role as suffering servant to once and for all accomplish eternal redemption.

We see it with the Church advancing the Gospel and hastening the return of The Lord.

We must remember what fasting is not. It is not a means to godliness itself. But it is a drawing near to God in Christ as we long for His return.

Are you ready to fast? Lets do it.

Give invitation for those who may have trusted in religion to save them. “

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