1 Slowing Down to Go Fast by Pastor Jeff Marshall Matthew 6:16-18 January 24, 2010 Osceola United Methodist Church How many of you made a list of things you want to accomplish in 2010? If you were to make a list, my guess is that fasting is probably not in the top 10 and probably not even on that list. Am I right? Fasting is not something we discuss a lot in this congregation. Now, every year when Lent comes around people talk about fasting. But to be honest with you, that kind of fasting is a very poor representation of what biblical fasting really is about. And so in putting together the topics for this sermon series on prayer, we felt it would be important to include one of the most neglected areas of our prayer lives Fasting. I ll be honest with you - I used to fast some, but it is a discipline that I have neglected far too many years. It is an area that I struggle with for two reasons. How many of you like to eat? I do! I enjoy food in fact, I spend too much time on the internet looking at recipes! I like to eat I enjoy food. Sure, there are times that I will skips meals, but that is because I won t take the time to stop and eat. That is one problem for me when it comes to fasting. My second problem with fasting is that I will not make the time to slow down to fast. Meals times are usually hurried or in front of the television. Mealtimes that are relaxed and unhurried are usually in the company of friends with a special meal. Otherwise, eating is out of necessity and habit. So today we are going to venture into a topic that has been long neglected in the life of the church. There is so much to share on this subject that I can only scratch the surface. I would really love to do a bible study on this subject, and if you are interested, there is a place to mark on the welcome sheet, and some day in the near future a class may come about. A lot of what I m going to be sharing with you today comes from two resources. One is the book, Celebration of Discipline, by Richard J. Foster. The other is 7 Basic Steps to Successful Fasting and Prayer by the late Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. In your bulletin there is a link to a website for Campus Crusade for Christ where you can read that pamphlet by Bill Bright. Let s start by looking at the passage that forms the basis of our message today. It s Matthew 6:16-18. 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
2 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. Look at the first word Jesus says, When. Not if but when you fast. Jesus expects us to fast as part of our on-going relationship with Him. As with giving to the needy, back in the first part of chapter 6, Jesus says, "when" you fast, not "if" you fast. I ll stop short of saying it s a command, because quite frankly, there is no command in Scripture to fast. Just as Jesus didn t say, "if you fast," neither did he say, "You must fast." Fasting is mentioned throughout all of Scripture. Moses the lawgiver, King David, Elijah the prophet, Queen Esther, the prophet Daniel, Anna the prophetess, and the Apostle Paul. All of these people in Scripture have one thing in common. They fasted at various times. And of course, we have the example of Jesus Himself fasting for 40 days as He was beginning his public ministry. But just what do we mean by fasting? Well, it's not dieting. It's not skipping meals to lose weight. No, whenever fasting is mentioned in the Bible it refers to abstaining from food for the purpose of growing spiritually. Another definition I found is that fasting means to lay aside any pleasurable and/or vital activity for a period of time in order to intensely pursue God and know His mind with the intent of obeying His revealed will. The focus of all this, by the way is God, not you! Kind of like worship it s not about you it s all about God. Anyone remember the opening sentence of chapter one of The Purpose Driven Life? "It s not about you." The same goes for fasting. As with giving to the needy, the right thing can be done for the wrong reason. Fasting isn t done primarily for your benefit, but to prepare you to be used by God. Remember our definition of fasting? It s one of those things we call "spiritual disciplines," or those activities we can do to open ourselves up to God. In the United Methodist Church we also call these things, "means of grace." This doesn t mean that you earn God s favor by doing them. It simply means that we open ourselves up to the grace of God more as we take part in activities like prayer, devotions, worship, fellowship, and fasting. So with that in mind, let s take a look at some rules of Biblical fasting. The first rule is to...keep it secret! Jesus says in Matthew 6, I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. In other words, when we fast for the purpose of looking good in the eyes of others, that will be all the reward we can expect
from it, because God will not bless our effort in fasting. Jesus warns that doing spiritual things for the purpose of gaining a spiritual reputation is only going to give us the reputation at the expense of reward from the Father. That goes for fasting and any other spiritual discipline. The Pharisees and the others were "broadcasting" the fact that they were fasting. They made themselves up to play up their "suffering." They did it for show. Richard Foster mentions that the practice of the Pharisees was to fast on Mondays and Thursdays because those were the market days and so there would be bigger audiences to see how pious they were. You ve probably all known people who seem fine one moment and then when they realize they have someone s attention, the old "woe is me" attitudes come forth. They basically want you to pat them on the back and say, "Ohhh poor baby, suffewing for Jesus wike that..." But what if I m invited out for a meal during my fast? If they re believers, simply tell them you re fasting and that you ll need to take a rain check for another time. So what s the difference between that and being like the hypocrites Jesus was talking about? You re simply giving information when asked. This would also give you a great opportunity to ask them to pray for you as well. If a non-believer asks, simply thank them for the invitation and tell them that you have other plans. You don t need to try and explain fasting. Fasting is not to be broadcast for show - in order to make us look good. Jesus warns us that the applause of people is the only reward we ll gain for it. A second rule of Biblical fasting is to...understand the reasons for fasting. The first reason we fast to humble yourself before God. When we set aside some of our own desires and needs to present ourselves before God, we come face to face with the fact that God Almighty has granted us a hearing. You see, He does that whenever we pray, but too often we come to Him just expecting Him to bend His ear to us. And yes, God delights in listening to and answering the prayers of His people. But fasting helps us come back to the idea that God is gracious in His dealings with us, and with you in particular. And here s the great thing: God honors humility. The Bible says that God opposes the proud, but gives 3 grace to the humble. 34 He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble. Proverbs 3:34 (NIV). And the Bible also says to humble ourselves, so God can lift us up. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up. James 4:10 (NIV)
A second reason for fasting is to allow the Holy Spirit to bring clarity of the Bible to our hearts and minds. This is tied a bit to the first reason. When we are humble, we are more open to the Holy Spirit teaching us something we ve never learned before from the Scriptures. And not only can we learn something, we can learn how to make it a real part of our lives, getting past the lip service many Christians give the Bible. The Bible is much easier to apply when we understand it. And we cannot understand it apart from the Holy Spirit. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians that unless the Holy Spirit opens our minds, we will never understand 4 the Bible. And only followers of Jesus have the Holy Spirit. Paul writes: 9 However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" 10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians 2:9-11 (NIV) Outside of Christ, the Bible appears to just be a collection of writings that you can take or leave at your leisure. Fasting opens our hearts and minds to let the Holy Spirit show us even more of the riches of Scripture. Here s a third reason for fasting: To allow the Holy Spirit to show us your true spiritual condition. This is a toughie - I mean who really wants to find out they ve fallen short of where they thought they were in their relationship with Christ? But if we want to be all that God wants us to be, then this is necessary. If we continue to live in a spiritual fog, we ll just wander around, never experiencing all that Christ has for us. It s in these times when God might commend you for something, or He might bring something to mind that you need to repent of. Or He may begin a revival in your heart, bringing life to a once-dead life in Him. Or He might use this time to bring you back to your "first love" of Jesus. In Revelation 3, one of the criticisms Jesus had for the church in Ephesus was that they had lost their "first love," that love for Christ that had been a hallmark of that church in earlier days. Let me ask you - is this something you need to own up to - that you ve lost your first love for Jesus? Getting some major face-time with God in prayer, fasting, and the Bible is the antidote. A fourth reason for fasting is to enrich our prayer life. We ve touched on this a bit, so I won t belabor the point. But I do want to point out that fasting is another avenue of getting real with God in a way
5 that you won t find any other way. I think the main reason for this is because we take the focus off ourselves and our needs and focus on meeting with God and listening to Him. Here s the last reason I want to cover today as to why a person should fast: To remind us that it s not food that sustains, but God. Fasting says, "God, I m mindful of the fact that unless You provide, I have nothing. You can take my job, my health, and even my life if you want to. Thank you for providing for me." Let s move onto the third rule of Biblical fasting, and that is to...deny ourselves something meaningful. Fasting is denial of something, and it should be something meaningful. In other words, it should cost us something more than just a little inconvenience. And to help us with that, I want to go through some different types of fasts: * Food. This is the type of the fast usually described in Scripture. In fact, in all but one reference I could find, food was what was being referenced. There are various ways to go about fasting from food - from skipping a meal to going days or even weeks without solid food. But we can only do this if we are physically able to do it. There are some who should not do this kind of fast, because their bodies cannot handle it. John Wesley, the father of the Methodist movement, fasted weekly. His fast consisted of beginning at the end of the evening meal and continuing until the next evening meal skipping breakfast and lunch in one day. That is a common fast among people in the Wesleyan tradition. Another type of fast is to fast from...* Sexual relations. This is the other type of fast that I find referenced in the Scriptures. In fact, it says in 1 Corinthians 7:5 that the only reason to withhold intimate relations with your spouse (other than health and hygiene issues) is to devote some time to prayer or fasting. There are a couple other kinds of fasts that you can partake in, and which are appropriate for our time. The first one is to fast from...* Media. TV, cable, radio, magazines, even newspapers! Did you know that you don t have to know everything that s going on in the world? Really! I read the newspaper everyday. And I listen to the radio to catch the late-breaking news. And I have some favorite TV shows that I don t enjoy missing. And I m just going to go out on a limb here and say that I m not the only one here. The question is this: am I willing to give up any or all of that for a period of time so I can focus on God for a while? If not, I ve got a problem, and it s very indicative of the fact that I need the kind of encounter with God that comes from fasting.
We can also fast from Certain forms of entertainment. For instance, things like the internet, video games, movies, etc. Now let me state for the record that I m not against any of these things, unless they re done in excess. But can you part with some of these forms of entertainment for a while to focus on God in prayer? Jesus died for you and rose from the grave! And I think it s appropriate to deny ourselves some of your pleasures for the sake of getting some deep face time with God. Here s the last rule I want us to cover today regarding how to fast, Biblically. Fill our time with prayer. This is vital and absolutely essential, for without it fasting is a vain exercise of your faith. You d think this would go without saying, but it really doesn t. Fasting is more than just skipping a meal or not reading the paper or missing a movie. The time normally spent doing those things should be spent in prayer, not just filling the time with other things. Like I said at the beginning of this sermon, that s probably one of the biggest struggles for me in this area. I ve got plenty to do, believe me. And I skip meals all the time, not because I m fasting, but because I m too busy trying to get everything done. Not very spiritual, I d say. I think if I were to go ahead and skip the meal, but setting aside my task list in favor of getting alone with God will actually make me more efficient, because I ll spend less time trying to hear God through the clutter of my day. Use your times of fasting to get into the Bible and pray. Make it productive time, focusing on God. So what do we do about the discipline of fasting? Is it some old fashioned idea that has no place in 21 st century Christianity? Bottom line: Jesus expects us to fast He doesn t command it but He expects it. Fasting isn t just a nice idea for the religious fanatic. It s a serious deal. Jesus expects us to fast, and the benefits are just phenomenal. If you re satisfied with the status quo of your spiritual life, then just go ahead and ignore everything I ve said today. But if you re ready to move on to another level, and you re not fasting as a part of your walk with Christ already, then I d say, start right away. Don t deny yourself the blessing of focusing on God this way, okay? And watch God do his thing. During the next couple of weeks pray about it and begin small maybe one meal a week or one program or one morning of not reading the newspaper. And in your bulletin is a card for you to fill in what you are fasting from and if you need more cards to remind you, they are available in the narthex. 6
7 And if you are interested in going deeper on the subject of fasting, and would like to be a part of a group that will give support to one another in the discipline of fasting, check the box on the welcome card before you place it in the offering plate. Campus Crusade for Christ: www.ccci.org/training-and...life/ 7-steps...fasting/ index.htm