Reflect God in Your Private Devotion

Have you ever thought about how many of our human traditions revolve around food?

Now, it should be clear to you as I stand before you today that I’m a guy who likes to eat, and the truth is that I spend a fair amount of my free time thinking about food.

Whether I’m watching the Food Network, researching new restaurants for us to visit, or suggesting new recipes for Annette to try, food is a central part of my leisure time. Too much so, if the truth be told.

And as I was thinking about today’s passage from chapter 6 of the Book of Matthew, it struck me just how central food is not just in our day-to-day lives but perhaps especially to our celebrations.

Think about it: Weddings just aren’t complete without a reception that includes at least hors d'oeuvres — and, sometimes, great and elaborate feasts. We mark birthdays with cake — and, sometimes, special dinners. When friends come to visit, what do we do? We take them out to dinner. If you want to celebrate a promotion, what do you do? You go out to eat.

And all of these celebrations are really only complete when they involve friends and family. Dining out alone is one of the hardest things to do as a single person. And there’s nothing sadder than the idea of someone cutting their birthday cake by themselves.

It is, perhaps, not surprising, then, that the Bible is filled with stories of people enjoying the act of sharing a table together.

Think of Jesus’ first miracle, for instance. It was when He turned the water to wine at a wedding feast in Cana. And we see Him at various points in His earthly ministry eating with tax collectors and sinners at the home of Levi or Matthew, eating in the home of Zacchaeus. We see Him teaching Mary while Martha labored in the kitchen to prepare a meal. He fed multitudes on two different occasions. He shared the Last Supper with His disciples before His crucifixion and then, in His resurrected body, he shared a meal with the two disciples He had met on the road to Emmaus and then another with most of the Twelve in Jerusalem. And He prepared fish for seven of His disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

The Book of Revelation describes the marriage supper of the Lamb that will take place in heaven, where the Bride of Christ, the church, will celebrate the consummation of the relationship that began for each of us when we first turned to Jesus in faith.

The Old Testament weighs in with its share of references to meals and feasts, as well. Abraham broke bread with the pre-incarnate Christ and two of His angels outside of Sodom and Gomorrah. Jacob ate with Laban to celebrate earning the hand of Rachel in marriage — and then found out he’d wound up with her ugly sister, Leah. Joseph ate with his brothers when they returned to Egypt with Benjamin. Israel ate the first Passover feast on the night that the angel of death struck down all the firstborn of Egypt. Ruth shared a meal with Boaz, and they soon fell in love. Esther set up a great banquet for her Persian king and entrapped Haman, who had plotted to kill all the Jews of his kingdom.

And, lest we forget that eating can be sinful, remember that the sin that brought the curse of death upon the world was when Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden.

God made us as people who need food in order to survive, but He also made us as people who ENJOY both food and fellowship.

Indeed, He prescribed seven different feasts for the people of Israel to participate in as a nation each year. But He also commanded that they participate in a day of fasting each year on the Day of Atonement.

We see the first mention of the Day of Atonement in the 16th chapter of Leviticus:

Leviticus 16:29–31 NASB95

“This shall be a permanent statute for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls and not do any work, whether the native, or the alien who sojourns among you; for it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the Lord. “It is to be a sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may humble your souls; it is a permanent statute.

Now, you didn’t hear the term “fast” in those verses, because the Hebrew word for “fast” doesn’t appear there. Instead, the word that appears is “anah,” which means “to humble” or “to deny” yourself.

In the 35th Psalm, King David expresses how these two concepts — fasting and humbling oneself — came together as he sought the Lord in prayer:

Psalm 35:13 NASB95

But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fasting, And my prayer kept returning to my bosom.

And so, as we put these Scriptures together, we can see some of the biblical reasons for fasting: as part of an act of repentance, as an exercise in humility before God, and as a means of directing oneself to God in prayer.

So what’s missing from that list?

Well, one thing that’s missing is fasting so you’ll be seen as pious by other people.

And that’s the kind of fasting that Jesus preached against in this week’s section of the Sermon on the Mount.

Turn to Matthew 6:16, and let’s see what He had to say about reflecting God in your private devotion.

As you’re turning there, I’ll remind you that we’ve already talked about reflecting God in your heart, reflecting God in your relationships, and reflecting God in your public worship.

And, in fact, today’s passage on fasting is just the last of three examples that Jesus gave when He warned His disciples against practicing their righteousness before men to be noticed by them.

You’ll recall that the first two examples dealt with giving to the poor and praying. Fasting was the third type of piety expected of Jewish people during that time, and so I easily could have combined it with the others as I taught about them a couple of weeks ago.

But giving to the poor was — at least during Jesus’ time — an act that took place in public, as one passed a beggar on the street, for instance.

And praying could take place either publicly in the synagogue or privately at home.

But fasting — in other words, not eating or drinking — was something that could only happen in private, and so I’ve separated it from the others as a private act of devotion to God.

So, let’s see what Jesus had to say about fasting in these three verses.

Matthew 6:16–18 NASB95

“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. “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face 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, what you need to understand first is that Jesus is probably talking about individual fasts here, rather than corporate fasts like the one the Jews would observe on the Day of Atonement.

The expectation of fasting on the Day of Atonement was so great, in fact, that there was a penalty for any who would not participate, and the only way such a penalty could be enforced was if someone was seen eating or drinking on that day. Conversely, one would have to be seen NOT eating or drinking for it to be known they were fasting.

But what Jesus warned against was the same, whether for the corporate or the individual fast: Don’t do it in such a way that you’re trying to be noticed by others.

Don’t put on a gloomy face. There’s a little wordplay going on in verse 16 that helps make the point. The phrase that’s translated here as “put on a gloomy face” actually means to make your face invisible or unrecognizable. And so, the idea is that the hypocrites were making themselves unrecognizable in order to be recognized for their piety.

The Pharisees and other pious Jews of Jesus’ time fasted twice a week, as well as other times during the year. There was nothing wrong with that. In fact, even the disciples of John the Baptist adhered to this fasting schedule.

That’s why Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record an incident when John’s disciples asked why the disciples of Jesus did not participate in these extra fasts.

Here’s a portion of Mark’s account:

Mark 2:18–20 NASB95

John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came and said to Him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. “But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

Jesus could have responded that the extra fasting days were not required by the Mosaic Law. But He didn’t respond that way, and that’s strong evidence that He recognized the potential for such fasts to be appropriate.

Or He could have responded by restating what He had said in today’s passage from the Sermon on the Mount. Instead, He used their question as an opportunity to make a claim about His identity. He was the bridegroom of whom the prophet Isaiah had written:

Isaiah 62:5 NASB95

For as a young man marries a virgin, So your sons will marry you; And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So your God will rejoice over you.

This verse is part of a passage in which Isaiah is sharing God’s word about the Millennial Kingdom, when Jesus will have returned to earth after the Great Tribulation and will rule with His saints from Jerusalem.

And so, the idea from the passage in Mark is that the disciples ate and drank in celebration and joy over being with the promised Messiah. The time for fasting, the time for denying themselves in mourning, would come when Jesus was gone from their midst.

So, then, what does all this mean to us as Christians in the 21st century?

Well, the first thing you should understand is that Christians are not commanded anywhere in Scripture to fast. Even the Old Testament commandment to fast on the Day of Atonement does not apply to us, because Jesus atoned for our sins once and for all at the cross.

Now, if you have never followed Jesus in faith, this doesn’t apply to you. You still bear the guilt for your sins, and you still bear the curse for them that God pronounced in the Garden of Eden — that being death, both physical and spiritual.

But Jesus, God’s unique and eternal Son, came to earth and lived a sinless life and then gave Himself as a sacrifice on a cross in order to so that all who would repent of their sins and believe in Him could have eternal life — life with God the way it was meant to be.

Jesus atoning death on the cross — and His supernatural resurrection on the third day — mean that those who follow Him in faith now have access to Him, both in this life and the next.

We are indwelt by His Holy Spirit. Jesus intercedes with His Father on our behalf. And He will raise us from the dead to spend eternity with Him in glorified physical bodies in the end times.

So, if we who have followed Jesus in faith have the Holy Spirit within us — if we have God Himself living within us as the Spirit of Christ — then there really is a sense in which we are like the bridegroom’s attendants, who can eat and drink with joy and celebration in His presence.

But I want to point you back to the first word from today’s passage in Matthew, chapter 6.

“Whenever.” “Whenever you fast,” don’t put on a gloomy face.

Jesus didn’t say, “IF you fast, don’t put on a gloomy face.” He said “whenever.” And so we can deduce that Jesus assumed His disciples would fast at some time.

He didn’t condemn the practice of fasting in itself. Indeed, he talked about it right along with giving to the poor and prayer, both of which I think we’d all agree are expected activities for Christians.

So, then, the question we should ask is, When is it appropriate for a Christian to fast.

The Old Testament examples we talked about are instructive here.

Fasting can be a sign of repentance and seeking forgiveness.

“While fasting does not automatically equal repentance (since that is a matter of the heart and later behavior), it may help believers to demonstrate to themselves the seriousness of their sin and to strengthen their resolve to live faithfully.” [Kent D. Berghuis, “A Biblical Perspective on Fasting,” Bibliotheca Sacra 158 (2001): 93.]

Fasting can also be an aid to prayer.

“Biblical examples that link fasting and prayer illustrate the desire of the human heart to commune with God. Many Christians today still testify to the helpfulness of fasting as an aid to prayer.” [Kent D. Berghuis, “A Biblical Perspective on Fasting,” Bibliotheca Sacra 158 (2001): 93.]

Fasting can also serve as an aid to experiencing God’s presence in your life. Remember that Jesus told John’s disciples that His own disciples didn’t fast because He was with them and that they would fast when He was no longer with them.

“Fasting, then, is an appropriate way of reflecting the loss of His immediate presence. Believers today may fast when they feel distant from Christ.” [Kent D. Berghuis, “A Biblical Perspective on Fasting,” Bibliotheca Sacra 158 (2001): 94.]

And, finally, fasting can be an act of ceremonial corporate and public worship.

Nehemiah wrote that the returned remnant of Israel fasted, repented of their sins, and reminded one another of God’s graciousness before making a covenant to follow Him and keep His commandments.

And the churches in the Book of Acts fasted before commissioning Paul and Barnabas as missionaries and before appointing elders.

Some evangelical leaders throughout history have said that the examples of fasting in Nehemiah and Acts are not to be followed today, because they reflect Jewish practices “and are inconsistent with Jesus’ teachings. However, it is more likely that God would still want His servants to learn the lessons that fasting can help teach. If believers are to serve the Lord effectively, it would be wise to accept this responsibility with the same sense of seriousness exhibited by Jesus, Paul, and the early church.” [Kent D. Berghuis, “A Biblical Perspective on Fasting,” Bibliotheca Sacra 158 (2001): 95.]

The key in all cases is that fasting be done unto the God’s glory and not for your own glory. Remember that fasting was connected to humility from the beginning.

That was the problem of the hypocrites that Jesus spoke about. They wanted to be seen by others as particularly pious or holy, and the only reward they would get for that kind of fasting was the approval of others.

If you fast — whenever you fast — do it with the right reasons and with your heart set toward God. Do it with joy and with an external appearance that suggests not that you’re fasting but that you’re off to a banquet.

If you’re a follower of Christ, that’s exactly where you’re ultimately headed, to the wedding feast of the Lamb, where Jesus will be united with His bride, the church.

It’s interesting to note that even the Day of Atonement fast was a precursor to a great feast.

The Feast of Booths was a week-long harvest celebration that the people of Israel celebrated just five days after the Day of Atonement. And I think there’s something really neat about the fact that the one followed so closely after the other.

It reminds me that God desires for we forgiven sinners to live with joy. “I have come so that they may have life, and have it abundantly,” Jesus said.

There is a time for fasting, and there is a time for feasting, and God provides for both times for we who are subjects of the kingdom of heaven.

Now, as it turns out, we were supposed to have the Lord’s Supper during last week’s service, but I only remembered that when I was crawling into bed early last Sunday morning, so I postponed it until this week.

And yesterday, when I remembered that I had done so, it struck me as a bit of a “divine coincidence” that we would celebrate communion together at the Lord’s Table at the end of this message on fasting.

You see, there is a sense in which we DO as Christians mourn over the absence of Jesus, even as we have His Spirit dwelling within us. We long for the day when we will see Him face to face.

But in this regular observance of the Lord’s Supper, we also remind one another of His sacrifice on our behalf, and we celebrate our salvation, and we look ahead to both the day He will return and the day we will feast with Him in heaven.

There is a sense in which the times between our observances of the Lord’s Supper are fasts themselves, and our taking of the elements of this shared meal together are feasts of celebration.

In a moment, we will sing our closing song, and then let us feast together with hearts turned to Christ just as surely as they should be turned to Him in our fasts.

Let’s pray.

Now, if you have followed Jesus Christ in faith, I want to invite you to join us this morning as we participate in the Lord’s Supper.

This is one of two ordinances given by Jesus to believers. The other is baptism. Neither the Lord’s Supper nor baptism have the power to save you — we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

But both baptism and the Lord’s Supper were commanded by Jesus as acts of obedience to Him and as ways of proclaiming that we who follow Him in faith belong to Him.

So, if you have made the decision to follow the risen Christ in faith that He is the Son of God and Redeemer of your soul, then I hope you will join us as we participate in this sacramental meal that dates all the way back to when Jesus shared it with His disciples at the Last Supper on the night before He was crucified.

If you are a Christian watching at home, feel free to join us with bread and juice or water — the early church used both as part of its communion observance.

The conditions during the Last Supper were different than the conditions we have here today, but the significance was the same as it is today.

Jesus told His disciples that the bread represented His body, which would be broken for our transgressions.

Let us pray.

Matthew 26:26 NASB95

While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”

As Jesus suffered and died on that cross, his blood poured out with His life. This was always God’s plan to reconcile mankind to Himself.

“In [Jesus} we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.”

Let us pray.

Matthew 26:27–28 NASB95

And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.

Take and drink.

“Now, as often as we eat this bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”

Maranatha! Lord, come!

Here at Liberty Spring, we have a tradition following our commemoration of the Lord’s Supper.

Please gather around in a circle and join hands, and let us sing together “Blest Be the Tie that Binds.”