Fasting For Reward - Matthew 6:16-18 Series

Matthew 6:16 When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Introduction

Review

We have been studying verse-by-verse through the Sermon on the Mount and we came last week to this section in chapter 6 on fasting. Just to dust off the cobwebs let me do a quick review of the basics from last week. First, what is a fast? Fasting is any effort to humble your soul by saying no to food and other creature comforts, such as a comfortable bed, a shower, pleasant drinks, skin lotion, or sometimes just not eating tasty food. When do you do it? There are two kinds of fasts: Fasting in times of great sorrow for the purpose of cooperating with what God is doing by sending that sorrow into your life. He sends the sorrow to humble you, and you feel a special need to cooperate with that by humbling yourself through fasting. That is not to say you always have to fast in times of sorrow. Jesus did not fast the night before the crucifixion. Some people asked last week about the tradition of having a meal after a funeral. That is not necessarily wrong, because there is no legalistic requirement that we must fast every time we are sad - just like there is no legalistic requirement that you have to shout for joy every time you are happy. But when you sense a special need to humble yourself before God in a time of sorrow, fasting is appropriate. The other kind is fasting in times of especially earnest prayer and communion with God. When you have a particularly desperate need, fasting is a way of saying to God, “This is how much I want this thing I’m asking for. God, if You are more inclined to answer the prayers of the humble, then I will go to these extreme measures to humble my heart right now. That is how important this is to me.” So we fast in times of sorrow and in times of deep, earnest prayer. And so the most appropriate time of all to fast is when we are repenting of sin, because that combines both types of fast in one.

God responds to fasting

And God responds to that. It is amazing to think of how many events that have changed the course of human history have come in response to fasting: Moses on Mt. Sinai, Hannah before the birth of Samuel, Daniel at the return of the Jews to Israel, Anna at the birth of Christ, Jesus at the outset of His public ministry, and the early church at the sending out of the Apostle Paul. And you can add to that the countless stories we hear of how God has done mighty things throughout church history in response to fasting. God even answered prayers of some very wicked people when they fasted. God is responsive to humble, broken, dependent hearts, and that is what fasting is for. I can give you my own testimony from last week. As I was studying this last week, and I saw how fitting it is to fast in times of repentance, I felt like I should fast. For some time now I have been concerned about how tepid and weak my repentance over sin is, and how little brokenness I tend to have over sin. So I fasted, asking God to humble my heart resulting in a more thorough repentance. I did a Daniel-type fast - eating food, but staying away from tasty food. And the first several days I got some benefit - it helped me keep my attention on God throughout the day, and I felt I was praying from a somewhat more humble posture - but for the most part it seemed like my prayer for greater brokenness went unanswered. But then after about five or six days, the answer finally came. I had a dream. I dreamed that I had stolen a car years ago, and then covered it up. But in the dream I got caught, and the crime was exposed. When I woke up I was terrified. The dream was so real that after I woke up I was actually laying in bed trying to remember if I really had stolen a car. By the time I was fully awake and realized it was all a dream, the feeling of guilt and terror were still there, and the Lord, in His grace, enabled me to attach those feelings to the sin that does exist in my life. I got up and spent some time in prayers of repentance, and it was one of the most profound times of repentance I have had in a long time. And ever since then I have had much greater closeness to Him in my daily worship. So fasting is an effective way to humble your soul, and when you humble yourself before God He is especially responsive to your prayers.