Fasting Series

Good morning. We are continuing our series called Learning to Live Like Jesus. A series that is based on the extended passage known as the Sermon on the Mount. The past few weeks, we have been looking at chapter 6 that really speaks of the obstacles to living life in the kingdom. A few weeks ago, we talked about the biggest obstacle that comes into play is the idea that sometimes we tend to do spiritual practice in order to be seen by man rather than by God. A few weeks ago, Austin talked about the need that some people have to do their works of service for others to see. Last week, I talked about how some people pray in public in order to be seen. This week, we are going to talk about the topic of fasting. People sometimes fast in order to be seen by God. I had thought about actually skipping over this passage because I think we have to shorten the series, but I also realized that for many people fasting is a foreign concept. We live in a culture that is all about instant gratification. So something like fasting almost seems like an ancient relic from the past. As I thought about it, I thought this is something I should probably preach on because sometimes because of the fact we don’t practice fasting enough some people are living flat or they are stuck in their spiritual life. The reality is that Jesus fasted so we should fast. Jesus understood the importance of fasting when it came to spiritual warfare, and he also understood the importance of fasting when it came to intimacy with God. I would like to have somebody read through the first couple passages today, which is from the book of Matthew 6:16-18. (Scripture read here.)

As we can see, this passage is about fasting. Since fasting is such a foreign concept, I thought I would like to shed some light on this idea of fasting and, hopefully, more importantly, that some of you would actually begin to take the practice of fasting and incorporate it into your spiritual life or what we refer to around here as your rhythm or your rule of life. As we begin, we need to come up with a working definition of fasting. Fasting is simply to deprive oneself of food for spiritual purposes. At its purest sense, fasting is really just depriving yourself of food. We know that although fasting isn’t really trendy in culture, there are certain people that believe fasting does have some health benefits to it. I did a little bit of reading. I am by no means an expert. But some suggest that periodic fasting can help reduce the risk of diabetes, high cholesterol, and even cancer. Not to mention the possible weight loss that comes through it. But just as the world focuses on fasting for health purposes, the intent of the Christian is to focus on fasting for spiritual purposes. We know that there are some health benefits that could come through fasting, but we also know that our primary objective is not the physical health benefits but really the spiritual health benefits that come to our soul. In case you were wondering, there is no New Testament passage that commands us to fast, but there is a lot of biblical precedence for it. In fact, the first three words of today’s passage assume that we will fast. It starts out by saying “When you fast.” If you were here a few weeks ago, one of the passages started out “When you give to the needy” the assumption was you would give to the needy. Last week we talked about the idea of how it began with “When you pray” the assumption was Jesus’ disciples would pray. Today, when it starts out “When you fast” there is an assumption that the disciples would engage in fasting. It was not whether you fast or not. It was really all about the intention. What was the heart motive behind the fast? As we see, the heart motive behind the fast for the Jewish people was to be seen by men. The passage goes on to read “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men that they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.” Again, we see these guys doing it for show. I was reading one commentary that suggested they were doing it for the people in the gallery. They were treating the fast, a spiritual and sacred practice, as really a performance. When Jesus says “they have received their reward in full” what he is really suggesting is that they fasted in order to receive the applause and approval of men. That was the reward they were seeking and that was the reward they got. Little did they know, when they took that reward, they were giving up on a reward that maybe God had intended for them. There is a basic assumption that the disciples were intended to fast when they were with Jesus and really even on after Jesus left and right up to today. We see a biblical precedent just as we saw a biblical precedent for the need to give to the needy. We saw a biblical precedent for prayer. We also see a biblical precedent for fasting.