True Fasting

Good morning. Welcome to FBC Creedmoor. Today is the last day of our 21-day focus on prayer and fasting. I want to thank each person who joined us in giving up a meal or something important to you during this time in order to seek after God and listen for His voice in you life. I also want to encourage you that if you were only able to do it part of the time, or had days when you didn’t stick to your fast, it’s okay. We do not do things to try to earn the right to be heard by God, we approach Him on His throne of grace and He extends His attention to us with the same grace and mercy that He extends forgiveness to us.

I’m going to go ahead and announce that we will do another 21 days of Prayer and Fasting next January, so hopefully you will take what God taught you this time and apply it next year to have an even better experience and result.

But as we prepare to leave this season of intentionality behind us, I want to look at a passage in the Bible that actually talks about Fasting in a different light. I think this will help us transition to how God desires us to apply what we’ve learned during this time to our ongoing walk with Him over the rest of the year.

If you have your Bible with you, please turn with me to the book of Isaiah chapter 58. In this chapter, God compares the fasting that the nation of Judah was practicing to the true fasting that pleases Him. Their fasting was a time of going through some of the motions of fasting, and putting on the appearance of seeking God, but their hearts were not in the right place. Let’s begin our reading in verse 6 where God shares the kind of fast that He desires...

Isaiah 58:6–14 CSB

6 Isn’t this the fast I choose: To break the chains of wickedness, to untie the ropes of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and to tear off every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your house, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to ignore your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will appear like the dawn, and your recovery will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the Lord’s glory will be your rear guard. 9 At that time, when you call, the Lord will answer; when you cry out, he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you get rid of the yoke among you, the finger-pointing and malicious speaking, 10 and if you offer yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted one, then your light will shine in the darkness, and your night will be like noonday. 11 The Lord will always lead you, satisfy you in a parched land, and strengthen your bones. You will be like a watered garden and like a spring whose water never runs dry. 12 Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will restore the foundations laid long ago; you will be called the repairer of broken walls, the restorer of streets where people live. 13 “If you keep from desecrating the Sabbath, from doing whatever you want on my holy day; if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, seeking your own pleasure, or talking business; 14 then you will delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride over the heights of the land, and let you enjoy the heritage of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Let’s pray...

As I read this passage, something stood out to me.

True Fasting is not just a short season in our lives, it is a lifestyle of caring about the things God cares about.

In the verses above what we read, the people of God were going through the motions of sorrow and repentance through a ritual on a specific day or season of fasting, but the rest of their lives didn’t line up with what they pretended to believe during their fast. So, a true fast isn’t about what a person does on a day , or in 21 days, it’s what they do the rest of the year. The time of praying and fasting we are ending today hopefully helped us to line up our hearts with God’s heart, and hopefully helped us to put ourselves in a place where we were able to listen to God and hear Him speak to us more clearly and deeply. But those were steps of preparation that should lead us into the rest of this year and beyond. They are things we did in order to adjust our lifestyles and activity more closely to what God wants from us.

This passage goes on to talk about some specific things that God values. These aren’t the only things He values, but we can use these as a starting point for living a life that honors God.

Fight for the oppressed.

Isaiah 58:6 CSB

6 Isn’t this the fast I choose: To break the chains of wickedness, to untie the ropes of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and to tear off every yoke?

Looking at this verse and trying to figure out how it applies to our lives in 2021, there are different things that we can do to honor God.

What does “Breaking the chains of wickedness” look like for us? I believe that this could apply to a number of things. Some of the ways we can break chains of wickedness is to work to undo unjust systems and structures that exist today. There are systems in our nation that have resulted in great injustice and wickedness towards different groups of people. A few days ago I saw one of my friend’s social media posts highlighting the different treatment that people get in our nation’s justice system. He contrasted the treatment of 17 year old Kalief Browder and 22 year old Riley Williams. Browder, and African American male, was arrested in 2010 for allegedly stealing a backpack and spent three years in jail awaiting trial. After three years in jail without a trial, the charges against him were dropped. On the other hand, Williams, a white female, was arrested for stealing a laptop from Nancy Pelosi’s congressional offices during the Capitol insurrection on January 6th, with intent to sell the computer to the Russians. There is video of her stealing the computer, and it has not been recovered. However, she was released into the custody of her mother despite the fact that the judge declared that, “The gravity of these offenses is great. It cannot be overstated.”

I know that I will probably get someone complaining that I’m bringing politics into the pulpit, but the Bible clearly tells God’s people to actively stand up for the oppressed. I don’t care what political views you have, there is something wrong with a justice system that systematically treats one group of people differently than another one. God says, “THIS IS WHAT I CARE ABOUT!!! I care about injustice, I care about oppression, I care about relieving people’s burdens.”

Not all burdens are legal or have to do with someone’s race or ethnicity. Untying ropes suggests people should help others get free from unjust situations that bind them (unfair agreements, alliances, enslavement). Maybe you know of someone who is considering entering into some sort of agreement, and you realize it would put them at a great disadvantage. Maybe its someone desperate for a home who is about to sign a lease that is not fair. Maybe it’s a child who has agreed to a deal with a manipulative and mean kid. Years ago I heard about a child who had been convinced by one of their classmates to give them their dessert out of their lunch box every day. This kid was trusting and always liked making others happy, so he agreed, but when his parents heard of the agreement, they put a stop to it, knowing that it was a case of one child taking advantage of another. Maybe you know someone who has dug a financial hole for themselves. They have maxed out their credit cards and are barely able to make the minimum payments on things, and part of the reason is that they have never figured out how to handle their money well, and spend much of it on needless expenses. Perhaps you can help them learn to do without some luxuries, make a sensible budget, and begin walking with them as they pay down their debt and work towards achieving financial freedom from debt. For those of you who at some point in your life made the hard choices to get out of debt and are now living free, you know just how great it feels to not have those things hanging over you. Help someone else find that freedom too. But the greatest freedom we can help people with isn’t financial freedom, or freedom from oppression by a human entity. The greatest freedom we can help others with is spiritual freedom.

Set the oppressed free - Help people find freedom in Christ. This isn’t just helping them come to know Christ as Lord and Savior, it also includes helping disciple them and grow in their relationship with God. Even after we start following Christ, we often need help to grown and break free from the things that have oppressed us and the sin that held us captive. We are no longer slaves to sin, but that reality needs to transfer to our understanding and behavior as we practice freedom from what used to hold us in bondage. This process of discipleship is one of the key activities that God’s people are called to take part in, being helped and helping others along the journey of becoming more like who God wants us to be.

The passage goes on to point out that God desires for His followers to...

Care for the needs of the poor.

Isaiah 58:7 CSB

7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your house, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to ignore your own flesh and blood?

The prophet hits all the major physical needs people have: food, shelter and clothing. God is concerned with the well-being of people. The Old Testament Law had specific provisions in it to help provide for the poor. Farming was the principal occupation of the population, and God commanded to leave the edges of their fields unharvested so that the poor, the foreigners, and the widows could gather that food to provide for themselves. He also commanded that every three years and extra tithe be collected to be stored away in each town to provide for the Levites, the widows, orphans and aliens.

The New Testament also calls for believers to help care for the poor, especially other Christians in need.

James 2:15–16 CSB

15 If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?

Living godly lives, then, isn’t about drawing a small circle around ourselves and trying to keep it free of sin, it’s about widening our circle to recognize that we have been called to care for one another and be a part of a community that helps, encourages, holds accountable, and grows together in godliness.

The result of these first two focuses results in the third point that the prophet makes. God’s people are to...

Live righteously.

Isaiah 58:8–9 CSB

8 Then your light will appear like the dawn, and your recovery will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the Lord’s glory will be your rear guard. 9 At that time, when you call, the Lord will answer; when you cry out, he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you get rid of the yoke among you, the finger-pointing and malicious speaking,

When we fight for the oppressed and care for the poor, our lives are focused on others rather than on ourselves. It is evidence that our times of fasting, repentance, seeking God and desiring to please Him aren’t just motions we go through in order to fulfill some religious requirement and look good in front of the community. These signs of sincerity and of aligning ourselves with God are evidence of a heart that is in right relationship with God. More often than not, this leads to a life that pleases God, and that brings glory to God.

Matthew 5:16 CSB

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Jesus tells us that our good works don’t contribute to us being more worthy of God’s attention, but our good works bring glory to God. He tells us that

Stop blaming others, talking about them, and instead get involved in helping others.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 58

If you get rid of the yoke among you,

the finger-pointing and malicious speaking,

10 and if you offer yourself to the hungry,

and satisfy the afflicted one,

then your light will shine in the darkness,

and your night will be like noonday.

There are some people that spend their time oppressing others, blaming them for their problems, and criticizing them instead of trying to be part of the solution. God calls us to get rid of the yoke of oppression and burden and to stop treating each other poorly. Instead we are to focus our energies on being a part of the solution. Interestingly, God doesn’t say, “Offer your food to the hungry,” He tells us to offer ourselves. I think the idea here is that we are to get personally involved and invested in helping others. If we think that all we have to do is give a few dollars, or donate a couple of blankets or old sets of clothes to help a cause, we can do that without really giving ourselves. We can give to the poor and our hearts can be untouched by their situation. However, God wants us to let the needs around us move us in the deepest core of our being. Just as Jesus was moved by the crowds of lost people as he proclaimed the kingdom of God to a people who was too blind to see who was before them, we are also called to care about the people in need around us. Offering ourselves to the hungry and satisfying the afflicted ones is a costly act that changes us and affects us permanently. Yet this same costly act is what allows us to be a light to those who are in need, and gives us an opportunity to share with them the reason why we are willing to sacrifice and serve them. It opens the door to people not only having a temporary need met, but an eternal one met as they too are able to put their faith in Christ. Amazingly, this act of giving ourselves opens up the gates of God’s provision for us too. God promises to satisfy us and strengthen us as we pour ourselves out for others.

It is when we are acting as God’s ambassadors that God can use us to help not just change the lives of individuals, but the lives of entire communities. It is when we are doing this together, as a church that God allows us to fulfill one of the greatest images in this passage. When we are doing this we can...

Help fix the ills of our community.

Isaiah 58:12 CSB

12 Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will restore the foundations laid long ago; you will be called the repairer of broken walls, the restorer of streets where people live.

Can you imagine this title being used of us here at First Baptist. We are the “repairers of broken walls, the restorers of streets where people live.” What an awesome way to be known in our community! We live in a sinful and broken world where generations of sins have caused hurt and harm to our community. Most of us would probably be able to say, “I had nothing to do with the things that broke down the walls and destroyed the streets.” But we can be a part of the solution to bring healing and wholeness to this place.

But we can’t do this on our own. We need God’s help to accomplish it. We need to remained plugged into Him on a regular basis so that He can restore us, give us strength, and guide us in what we are supposed to do. That is why the end of this passage calls us to..

Honor God, seek Him and devote time to Him.

The Sabbath wasn’t just a day off for the Israelites, it was a day to spend time in worship and focused attention to Him. I have talked to multiple pastors at different churches who have shared with me their concern that many of their church members have gotten used to staying home on Sunday because of the pandemic. I was talking with someone who goes to another church that told me she loves tuning in to her church’s online service as she sits at home in her pajamas and how it’s going to be tough to go back. Others have simply stopped attending church either in person or even virtually, and have filled in the time with other activity or rest. God calls us to honor Him, to focus on Him and “delight” in Him. We need this time with Him to stay centered on Him, to stay connected to Him and to hear what He desires from us. We need it to be re-energized so that we can continue to follow and serve Him.

I know that there is a real need for distance while COVID is still an issue. I encourage people who are at high risk to take the steps they need to take to stay safe and healthy. At the same time, I encourage you to keep up with one another, and as we are able to do more and more in-person activities to invite one another and encourage each other to come back. We were not created to live out our Christian experience by ourselves; God made us to live in community with one another. For those who have filled their Sundays with other activities and leisure times, I encourage you to make time to focus on God and be a part of a body of believers that will hold you accountable, help you grow spiritually, and encourage you in your day-to-day life.

These are the things that God desires as a “true fast” from His people. I hope you will join me throughout the rest of this year to adjust our lives more and more in the daily habit of living lives that honor and please Him.

Let’s pray...

Hebrews 13:20–21 CSB

20 Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus—the great Shepherd of the sheep—through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 equip you with everything good to do his will, working in us what is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.