Not So Fast

Psalm of the Day Psalm 109:16-31

Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 36:24-27 (Forrest)

Ezekiel 36:24–27 ESV

I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Sermon:

Good morning Church! I was Glad when they said to me “let go and worship in the house of the Lord!”

A question that is not really that question. for example: why are all the cabinets in the kitchen open does not literally mean: why are the cabinets in the kitchen open, but really, David get in here and close all the stinking cabinets in the kitchen before I lose my mind. And, it tuns out, answering that question literally will only make matters worse. because the correct answer to: why are all the cabinets open is not: because i didn’t want to close them, but Oh, I am sorry Let me get up off the couch and go close them all.

A question about FASTING

The buildup felt like it might be taking us somewhere else. After the series of healings Jesus has been doing, there has been some opposition rising. This man is a blasphemer, he is claiming the authority of God, this man is a sinner, he dines with tax collectors and sinners, how dare here. Well now this feels like a but of a let down. What about fasting?

And on the surface level this is a bit of a different and less accusatory sort of question. it is not the whispered behind the back sort of accusation. the disciples of John come straight to Jesus to ask him. and it is not by the groups that would seek to later kill him, again, it is not the scribe and the Pharisees as before, but now John’s disciples. But we also can’t miss what is being sort of implied in this.

Hey Jesus, we fast, because that is good, and the Pharisees fast, because that is good, but we can help but notice as you are dining with sinners, that you don’t fast. Whats with that. upon deeper reflection it is a deeper question than the one that came before. For the Pharisees it was: why do you eat with sinners. the disciples of John ask: why do you eat at all?!? But this brings we to the first point that I would like to make, which is to notice that the issue is not here HOW do you fast.

The Issue is not HOW

Since we went so quickly through the Sermon on the mount we didn’t get a chance to cover this in full, so I want to take a step back and make this point really quickly. Matthew 6:16-18. If you really want to know the HOW of fasting that is where you should go.

Matthew 6:16–18 ESV

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

The how of fasting is in secret, the how of fasting is not for gain on this earth. Fasting, like praying and giving that came before it in this section of the SotM is to be done not for human applause or recognition, but for “your father who sees in secret.” Fasting is therefore a disciple between you and God. The direct answer of how to fast is to make sure you are well kept, don;t advertise it. Literally Jesus says: wash your face, don’t look miserable. In fact, this is an interesting thought. If no one knows that you are fasting, then you are doing it right. So one might expect that when this question is raised, Jesus could say, ohhh, john’s disciples, you just don’t get it. You don’t think we are fasting but we are. WE unlike you guys and the Pharisees, are the only ones doing it right. and if this was a HOW question, we might expect that Jesus would answer that way, but this was NOT a how question. Notice. they are asking WHY

But WHY

if we just read the question again it is critical that we understand how they ask Jesus this question. Matthew 9:14

Matthew 9:14 ESV

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

and as we ask the WHY question we can get some insight into what is really going on here. Lets flip the question for just a second to see why this is important. Instead of WHY don’t you guys ask. Lets turn the question back on the disciples of John and the Pharisees. WHY DO you guy fast?

Jesus, the one who searches hearts, who forgives sins, who can discern the thoughts of those who mumble around us already gave us the WHY of the Pharisees, we read it once already but it is worth looking at again from this angle. Matthew 6:16

Matthew 6:16 ESV

“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.

Why do the Pharisees fast? so that others may see them and wonder. SO that others will see them and think: oh my goodness, HERE is a righteous man. So that others look and think: if ever there was a righteous person, it is Pharisee “x”. if ever there was someone who is close to God, well then it is defiantly Joe Pharisee over here. the WHY DO YOU for the pharisee is for the praise and adoration of man. and, jesus says in the SotM, if that is your why, well then go for it, but that is all you will ever get. Jesus says: if the approval of man is what you want, then when you get it, again verse 16 “Truly they have recieved their reward”. So part of the answer of the “why not” is because Jesus and his disciples are in o way looking for the same thing that the pharisees were. if we don;t need the praise and approval of men, then there is no need to fast in that way.

But when we turn it to John’s disciples, the question become a bit more telling as to the true heat of the matter. I would like to give these guys the benefit of the doubt. I am going to assume that they do not fast for the praise and adoration of the people around them? so why might the disciples of John be fasting. put simply, they are dong it for one of the reasons that we see fasts over and over again, they are mourning.

Lets go back and look at the message of John the Baptist. again, this was a while ago but his message was twofold: 1) repent for 2) the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 3:2). and both of those messages can lead one to fast. 1) repent. They are mourning their sins. they feel the weight of guilt and shame. it is in some sense of: why are you fasting, because i am so distraught over my sins that i just don;t even want to eat. It is because I feel like: why should my flesh get nourishment when my soul is so troubled. And this is not, we need to be careful here, this is not punishment. it is not like: if I abuse my body then I will be making penance here, but instead it is, i have issues in my soul, and I need to take care of them first, so I will fast to take care of my SOUL which is more important, THEN i will take care of the flesh.

but then in 2) we also see why fasting might be applicable. By way of example turn with me really quickly to Jonah 3:7-10

Jonah 3:7–10 ESV

And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

If the kingdom of heaven is at and, that is a time for fear and trepidation. John doesn't mean this like we might, for these categories did not exist. we pray: your kingdom come, because we know the king, we understand the joy and peace that it will bring for those in Christ Jesus. But when the kingdom comes, in what the prophets describe as “the great day of the Lord” it is wrath and judgment. it is revelation language where he comes to “tread out the winepress of the wrath of god almighty. it is when he people cry out” the great day of the lord has come and who can stand. And so you fast because that is worth mourning over, and, as the king of Nineveh says “who knows, God may turn and relent”

which leads us to the true heart. This question about fasting Jesus wants us to see it in terms of WHEN

And WHEN

Is is not that the followers of Jesus do not fast, because we should. It is because, while the disciple of John were fasting, they didn’t understand the nature of the times they were living in.

Matthew 9:15 ESV

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.

Jesus is there, on earth, this is a time of jubilee and rejoicing. The Disciples do not mourn, for Jesus is here. and it would be rude to fast in the middle of a party. Imagine, you get invited to a party, and the host has gone over and above, it is a time of joyous celebration. They have gone all out, spared no expense, they want you to join in their joy and happiness. this is a wedding, there is no room for crying and mourning, it is the happiest day of this person’s life. and you walk in here and rain all over that parade. it makes no sense. The reason that Jesus disciples DON'T fast and John’s DO is because Jesus disciples understand who jesus is and John’s don’t fully yet (although they will get there later). The reason that the disciples of John DO fast and Jesus’s DON'T is because john’s disciples don’t yet understand that there is joy and rejoicing because the MESSIAH is here and Jesus disciples do understand that this is a time of praise and joy because here Messiah, here is Lord.

But again, this gets to what is really the heart of the matter, which is John’s disciples fast because they see the coming day of the Lord, they think they understand the KINGDOM is at hand and they are filled with terror and trepidation, and Jesus’ disciple DON'T fast because they understand that the kingdom is not just at hand, but in the person of Jesus Chrsit God’s kingdom has in some sense COME DOWN. So now is not a time of fasting, it is joy and really, it is time for work. and so the real issue that Jesus drives us to see is that this is all about the KINGDOM

Becomes the key to the KINGDOM

This whole conversation is then used by Jesus to tell us about the kingdom of God. and we are introduced here to some parables. On Thursday at grace group we will talk all about parables, we will get some general insight and dive a little deeper. Then We will have a whole sermon on parables in general once we get the parable chapter in Matthew 13, we will have many sermon on individual parables, but as these are our first real ones, a few quick things.

parables are, by and large, usually about the kingdom. How to enter the kingdom, what life is like in the kingdom, how things operate in the kingdom. If fact, one of the most common ways that Jesus will introduce parables is “the kingdom of heaven in like”

parables are, by definition and by design, hard to understand. they communicate the secret things of God to those who will understand and they hide meaning for those who will reject it.

So with that in mind jesus jumps into two very short parables. The parable of the unshrunk cloth and the parable of the wineskins. and these are two inseparable parables, for they inform each other and teach us the nature of the kingdom, and more to the point, they teach us what Jesus had come to do.

so we start with the parable of the unshrunk cloth and realize that Jesu wants u to know he came to do something NEW

Jesus is doing something NEW

Lets read it again. Matthew 9:16

Matthew 9:16 ESV

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.

Another thought, and we will deal with this in detail again on Thursday, but it is important to understand, the best way, and really, I would argue the only way to understand parables is to ask what the big picture is, then let that inform how we understand all the little pictures. so the big picture here is that you cannot fix what is old with what is new. because to do that actually is counter productive. and that is a truth of life, like, before we spiritualize this (which we will) just on the surface level reading that is the thought, if you trey and fix the old with the new then you got problems.

so then e can do some kingdom reflection. what then might be the old? well Jesus brought this up in terms of fasting, so the Old is probably the old ways of trying to interact with, and please, and seek God. simply put it is the old religious ways? so then what is the new? the new is what Jesus is doing.

we could ask it this way: which is helpful, because this parable comes to us in the context of fasting: What is fasting, it is the old way of trying to please God, it is the old way of trying to show your repentance, it is the old way of seeking his favor, and showing both him and yourself I would argue, that He is worthy of all honor and praise and that you will give up any and everything to serve him. and so, in some sense, fasting is a patch that you will place on your relationship with God. But what jesus offers is a new way to do that. and the new patch that jesus offers is not compatible with any sort of works based righteous ness. so, as a note, this is why Christians should not fast for any of the reasons that I noted above. Fasting will not earn you righteousness before God, that is old patch thinking. It will not earn you forgiveness, fasting is not the way to receive favor with God, that is old patch thinking. Jesus has done something new. The kingdom is shown to be different. In fact, says jesus, trying to think and operate in those wold ways in the time of the new patch will only make matters worse.

Any sort of self righteousness, any sort of self valuing, thoughts any thought of earning favor or forgiveness through works of your own is completely counter to what Jesus came to teach ad Jesus came to do. because what Jesus came to do is so completely different than what came before, it is not just a patch, Jesus came not just to do something new, but something COMPLETELY NEW

Something COMPLETELY NEW

Matthew 9:17 ESV

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.”

Preface this with we need to be a little careful HOW we say this, because if we are not careful we can overstate this, but here is the heart of this parable

Notice the connection, OK, well Jesus is doing something new here, we get that, so a new patch is put on something new, but maybe, someone could think, maybe the heart of what it is still hasn’t changed. if you are thinking that, Jesus next parable is for you. Again, it is helpful t look a the whole picture. here we have not just a new patch and old cloth, but an old wineskin and new wineskin and new wine.

since most of us are not wine makers or vintners or viticulturists(as i looked up and learned), and NONE of us are 1st century vintners, let me tease this one out for a moment. After wine is pressed it is put in a barrel for a while to start the fermenting proceeds. Then, after a while you move the wine from a barrel to wine skins. These wine skins were made of, literally skin, the hide of some animal. and in the continuation of the fermenting process gasses would be formed and so the win skins would pressurize. So imagine then an old win skin, one that has been used a few times, it is stretched out a little, and more than that the hide has begun to dry out and become less pliable and more brittle. One thing we can relate to in our modern age is if you have ever seen what the Sun in New mexico can do to tires that are old. they get dry and they begin to crack. and so when that rubber begins to crack what can you NOT do? fill it up to the PSI that you could before, or it will burst. so too with Wine skins.

and so if that is our big picture what is jesus saying, he is saying what he is doing is not just taking the new wineskin and filling it with the old wine (as I mentioned before, the heart is still the same, jesus is just talking about same root thing) he is saying the wineskin is new because the wine is new because everything he is doing is new!

Just to cut to the heart of the matter: How we please God is new, because it is through the righteousness of Jesus. how we approach God is new, because he is our intercessor. How we please God is new, because I have been crucified with Christ and t is now no longer I who live but Chrsit who lives in me. What I look forward to is new, because I long for his second coming. I am new, because if anyone is in Chrsit they are a new Creation, the old has Gone, behold the new has Come. How I pray is new, because he taught us how to pray. W could go on and on and one, because What Jesus is saying is that the old has gone and what he is doing is beautiful built on and predicated on his work and person.

Gone are the days when the priest would go in over and over again to offer sacrifices that could ever really atone for sin, for Chrsit is the perfect sacrifice. This really, if I may be so bold. the entire premise of Hebrews is condensed down to this short one verse parable. Jesus is the mediator of the NEW covenant. he is better than Moses, better than the angels, better in every way for what he has done is better in every way.