Fasting

Welcome:

FCA announcement- Wed. 8am in Mr. Hantak’s Room

Welcome again to Hype Student Ministries for those who may not know me, my name is Kent and I’m the youth pastor here at Crosspoint Community Church and we are right in the middle of a teaching series called “Spiritual Training” as we explore some spiritual disciplines.

Ask who remembers what we talked about last week and which book of the bible we studied? Throw out some candy to the winner.

Prayer; Luke

Introduction

show slide of picture of monkeys here

One day, a group of monkeys in a banana grove decided to fast. “Fasting once in fifteen days is good for our health,” said a wise old monkey. All monkeys nodded their heads.

“Let’s fast tomorrow,” said their leader. All monkeys agreed.

Soon, the day of fasting arrived. All the monkeys closed their eyes and said a prayer. A little monkey opened a corner of his eye.

There on the trees were bananas! Ripe bananas!

The little fellow licked his lips.

“No eating today, Chotu. We are fasting,” said his mother giving him a stern look.

“I was wondering…” said Chotu.

“What were you thinking of?” asked the mother impatiently.

“I was thinking — to fast means not to eat, right?” said Chotu.

“Yes?” said the mother.

The whole troop was now alert.

“But we can hold a banana in our hand, can’t we?” asked Chotu.

“What did you say?” Mother glared at Chotu.

“No eating. Only holding the banana in our hand,” added Chotu hastily.

The troop gravely considered this suggestion.

“Is there any harm?” asked Chotu humbly.

Mother looked at the wise old monkey. “A good suggestion must be considered, even if it comes from someone younger to us,” said the wise old monkey with a serious look.

“I see merit in Chotu’s suggestion,” said the leader.

So, it was decided that there was no harm in holding a banana in their hands and looking at it.

“But no eating,” said the leader sternly, as each monkey picked up a banana. A yellow ripe banana.

Holding a banana in hand all the monkeys closed their eyes in meditation.

Then Chotu opened a corner of his eye again.

Banana! Yellow ripe banana! Banana in hand!

“No eating allowed, Chotu,” said the mother, who was keeping an eye on her son.

“I was just thinking, only thinking…” drawled Chotu.

All the monkeys were keen to hear what Chotu had in his mind.

“I was thinking, is there any harm in peeling off the banana?” asked Chotu hopefully. Noticing the look of disapproval, Chotu added hastily, “Mind you, not eating. Only peeling off the banana and looking at it.”

All the monkeys gave serious consideration to the suggestion from Chotu.

“I see no harm,” said the wise old monkey. In no time, the bananas were peeled off.

Holding the peeled off banana in their hands and with eyes closed, the monkeys sang songs in praise of the Lord.

Then Chotu opened a corner of his eyes again. Banana! Peeled banana in hand!

“No, Chotu, you can’t eat it,” the mother warned Chotu.

“I was just thinking, only thinking…” said Chotu.

All the monkeys were now alert. They were keen to know what new suggestion Chotu was about to give.

“I was thinking, is there any harm in keeping the banana in our mouth?” asked Chotu hopefully.

“Not eating,” assured Chotu, “Only keeping it in the mouth, instead of holding it in our hands.”

“Hmmm… By keeping the banana in the mouth, you are not breaking the fast for sure,” said the wise old monkey.

Without further discussion, all the monkeys popped the banana into their mouths.

It was Chotu again who blurted out, “Mumma…”

Mother monkey gave him a questioning look. She could not talk as she had the banana in her mouth.

“Mother, I think… I think…”

All the monkeys held their breath.

“I think banana is gone. It is in my tummy.”

All the monkeys gave Chotu an understanding look, running their hands on their tummies. There was silence. Then the wise old monkey spoke, “We have made a great discovery.” All monkeys looked at the wise old monkeys with great attention. The wise old monkey spoke slowly, weighing each word, “We have made a great discovery that you cannot keep a banana in the mouth for too long.”

All the monkeys nodded their heads gravely. The End.

Transition statement: Give our volunteers a round of applause. Raise your hand if you have ever heard of the term fasting?

What is fasting? Ask if any student knows the answer.

Definition- 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.

Tyndale Bible Dictionary

So basically what is happening when we fast is that we are saying no to something in order to say yes to something else. We are saying no to food, or maybe only certain kinds of food, or maybe it’s saying no to an activity like video games, or social media. We might say no to certain things for a period of time whether it’s one day or 3 days or 1 week or however long you determine to say no to that thing or activity. During that time you’re saying yes to prayer, scripture reading, spending time with God. We’re saying no to self and saying yes to using that time to be with God.

This evening we are going to go over this topic of fasting as it relates to it being a spiritual discipline. In doing so we will cover 3 points.

What is Biblical fasting?

Why is fasting important?

What are some practical tips for fasting?

What is Biblical Fasting?

Fasting is mentioned in both the old testament and the new testament.

In the old testament we see people fasting as a way of an outward showing of an inward repentance of their sin.

Joel 2:12–14 CSB

Even now— this is the Lord’s declaration— turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Tear your hearts, not just your clothes, and return to the Lord your God. For he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and he relents from sending disaster. Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him, so you can offer a grain offering and a drink offering to the Lord your God.

We also see in other places where people fasting in order to receive direction from God.

In the new testament we see people fasting in similar ways.

Acts 13:1–3 CSB

Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As 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.” Then after they had fasted, prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them off.

Acts 14:21–24 CSB

After they had preached the gospel in that town and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch, strengthening the disciples by encouraging them to continue in the faith and by telling them, “It is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” When they had appointed elders for them in every church and prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. They passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia.

In both of these passages the early church is fasting before making major decisions of where to go and who is appointed into leadership positions.

From these old testament and new testament passages we see that biblical fasting can take place as it relates to

1. repenting of sin

2. seeking God’s direction for your life

3. as a way to grow our faith which means to grow more dependent on God and trusting in Him

Now fasting is much more than just an outward action. Fasting includes your heart attitude.

Jesus has this to say about fasting in Matthew gospel account.

Matthew 6:16–18 CSB

“Whenever you fast, don’t be gloomy like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive so that their fasting is obvious to people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting isn’t obvious to others but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

What we see here from Jesus is that there are some people who fast in order to look more spiritual. Instead of fasting to grow relationally with God, there are people who fast to make themselves look better compared to others. This is why Jesus calls these people hypocrites. They’ve taken an action that is meant to glorify God and they’ve taken it to glorify themselves.

To recap so far, biblical fasting is when you say no to food, a certain type of food, or an activity because you’re repenting of sin, you’re seeking God’s direction for your life, you desire to grow in your faith and dependence on God. Biblical fasting happens when you fast with a humble heart attitude of worshipping God instead of putting the focus on you.

So since that’s what biblical fasting is, why is fasting important?

Why is Fasting Important?

Our main purpose on earth as humans is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. (Repeat this)

We can glorify God and enjoy Him while on earth in part. But when we are with God in heaven after our earthly lives are over, God glory and our joy will be complete and so much more.

But along our journey through life here on earth we get distracted. Don’t we? Yes, there are many things, even good things that can distract us from glorifying God and enjoying him.

Fasting, and the other spiritual disciplines help us see clearly past the distractions.

Show facebook image

Talk about driving in the snow illustration.

Driving home to a destination

Driving with the brights on makes us the snow more distracting.

Need to drive with our regular lights on to see where we are going.

So why is Fasting important?

Because it helps us focus on God and where He wants us to go and how to live. Because in the end our main purpose on earth as humans is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

Transition Statement: Ok so we’ve gone over what is biblical fasting and why it’s important, let’s finish up quickly with some practical tips for fasting.

What are some practical tips for fasting?

Don’t put yourself in a situation where you are tempted to break a fast. If you are fasting from something, don’t put yourselves in a situation where the thing that you’re giving up is present. (Relate it to the monkey story) (If you’re fasting from sugary foods don’t go into a candy store) (Social Media fast- delete the app)

Make a specific fast, for a specific time, for a specific reason. (Ex. When Amber and I fasted about where God wanted us to live) (No food, 24hrs, for direction in next steps in life)

Have accountability- Share with one person in order to encourage you and keep you accountable to fast in a biblical way.

Practical Tips for Fasting

Don’t put yourself in a situation where you are tempted to break a fast

Make a specific fast, for a specific time, for a specific reason

Have accountability

A final note before we close, fasting is usually coupled with prayer. Because when we fast, our focus is being relational with God and prayer is a relational act as we learned last week.

Pray for Tom- Announce Tom is leaving