The Truth About Fasting

Introduction

Recap:

Matthew 6:1 ESV

1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

We have seen the reward of giving and prayer when driven by our love for God.

Tonight, we will see the impact of fasting on the believer when done in the proper way.

Read

Matthew 6:16–18 ESV

16 “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. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 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.

What does the Bible teach about fasting? Reflecting on Matthew 6:16-18 and other passages, Richard Foster comments in Celebration of Discipline:

“It is sobering to realize that the very first statement Jesus made about fasting dealt with the question of motive. To use good things to our own ends is always the sign of false religion...Fasting must forever center on God. It must be God-initiated and God-ordained...Fasting reminds us that we are sustained by ‘every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’ (Matt. 4:4)...Therefore, in experiences of fasting, we are not so much abstaining from food as we are feasting on the word of God. Fasting is feasting!”

Fasting, like praying and giving, is a legitimate spiritual discipline to be practiced in private between a Christian and the Lord. How often we practice it is not prescribed, because that too is between the believer and Christ. When we desire to seek God’s face more than we want dinner, that will be the proper time to fast.

1. The Jeopardy of Fasting.

Matthew 6:16 ESV

16 “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.

We shouldn’t fast if it is for show.

Matthew 6:16

16 “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.[1]

The spiritual leaders of the day would go around and make themselves look miserable while fasting. “Pharisees typically fasted on Mondays and Thursdays, refraining from food but not from drink.” This means that everyone knew that twice a week, they were going to look miserable.

Illustration:

Be dramatic with facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice. Say stuff that would be normal conversational things.

Sure, people might go up and say to that person. Man, you are really spiritual. I don’t have the discipline to be like you. Great job keep it up! The praise of people was poured over them. Yet, Jesus calls them hypocrites. Play actors. The reason they are fasting isn’t the reason given for fasting.

Our reward is in full if we do it for men. Should we even fast though?

2. Fasting Is Expected

“When you fast” is used in both verse 16 and verse 17.

We also see Jesus state in

Matthew 9:15 ESV

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.

There is a clear expectation that we would be a people who fast regularly.

The early church in Acts practiced fasting and it was for the purpose of seeking God’s will in choosing church leaders.

Acts 13:2–3 ESV

2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

and

Acts 14:23 ESV

23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Yet, if you expand out fasting it has many different purposes that lead to spiritual rewards.

3. The Reward of Fasting. (Matthew 6:17-18)

Understanding The Biblical Fasting Purpose

“Fasting is the laying aside of food for a period of time when the believer is seeking to know God in a deeper experience. It is to be done as an act before God in the privacy of one’s own pursuit of God (Exod. 34:28; 1 Sam. 7:6; 1 Kings 19:8; Matt. 6:17).

“Spiritual fasting entails setting aside activities as well as reducing the intake of food and replacing these activities with the exercise of prayer and preoccupation with spiritual concerns.[2]”

a. Pursuit to know God deeper.

“Fasting is to be done with the object of seeking to know God in a deeper experience.”

Isaiah 58 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. 13 “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; 14 then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

and

Zechariah 7:5 ESV

5 “Say to all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted?

b. Pursuit of a time of confession.

Psalm 69:10 ESV

10 When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.

c. Pursuit of a greater prayer experience.

Ezra 8:2 ESV

2 Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom. Of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel. Of the sons of David, Hattush.

and

Joel 2:12 ESV

12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

d. Pursuit of knowing God’s will.

“The early church often fasted in seeking God’s will for leadership in the local church (Acts 13:2). When the early church wanted to know the mind of God, there was a time of prayer and fasting.”

Acts 13:2 ESV

2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

e. Pursuit of worshipping God.

Luke and Acts depict fasting as a part of worship.

Luke 2:37 ESV

37 and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.

and

Acts 14:23 ESV

23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

4. How to fast?

Kinds of Fasting in the Bible

a. Traditional Fasting

“Refraining from eating food. The Bible describes three main forms of fasting.”

i) Normal Fast

“The normal fast involves the total abstinence of food. Luke 4:2 reveals that Jesus “ate nothing”; afterwards “He was hungry.” Jesus abstained from food but not from water.”

ii) Absolute Fast

“In Acts 9:9 we read of an absolute fast where for three days Paul “did not eat or drink” (HCSB). The abstinence from both food and water seems to have lasted no more than three days (Ezra 10:6; Esther 4:16).”

iii) Partial Fast

“The partial fast in Dan. 10:3 emphasizes the restriction of diet rather than complete abstinence. The context implies that there were physical benefits resulting from this partial fast. However, this verse indicates that there was a revelation given to Daniel as a result of this time of fasting.[4]

b. Non-Traditional Fasting

Non-Traditional fasting doesn’t relate to food. It is not typical. It can consist of things like:

Social Media

Texting

Gaming (PC, Console, Phone)

Television and Movies

Videos on Youtube, TikTok, etc.

Certain kinds of Music

Taking a break from certain activities like playing frisbee, golf, basketball, playing an instrument.

As a whole, I recommend choosing to do various kinds of food fasts because they are rooted in the types of fasting in the Bible. However, the non-traditional fasts definitely can be impactful and helpful to the believer wanting to dedicate more time and focus on the Lord.

Conclusion/ Invitation

“God judges the greatness of his servants by searching their hearts, examining their inner attitudes, and seeing deeds done in secret.”

What about fasting for us today? The issue is the same as it has been throughout this section (Matt. 6:1-18). How you fast depends on whom you want to impress. If your fast is for your spiritual benefit and God’s glory, no one else needs to applaud your commitment.

CHALLENGE/Homework:

Ask the Lord if you should for one week remove one specific activity, a single meal a day, or a particular type of food and replace it with spending time with the Lord?

Examples:

1) Choosing to remove social media from my phone and instead read the Bible and pray.

2) Choosing not to eat supper and instead choosing to use that time to read the Bible and pray.

3) Choosing not to have anything with sugar or caffeine to drink for a week, so every time you get the urge to drink that Gatorade, energy drink, or soda, you use that urge to pray and seek the Lord.