By Rev. Brent Russett – Asbury Free Methodist
March 20, 2022
Matthew 6:18-23
I know that Lent has not been a tradition that many of you grew up with. We are learning to celebrate it here at Asbury because traditionally, the historic church has found it a helpful discipleship tool. As you know, one of the main features of our vision here at Asbury is that we would be a group of exceptionally well-discipled followers of Jesus. So, that is why we are learning to practice lent.
Traditionally, there are three spiritual disciplines that are emphasized during lent: They are prayer, almsgiving, and fasting. A couple of weeks ago, during our series on Philippians, I spoke on praying through anxiety. Last week I spoke on generosity which is part of almsgiving. So, today I thought I would speak on fasting.
I know that this is not a popular spiritual discipline, but this morning I am going to try to convince you that there are times in your life where, in order for you to move forward in your spiritual life, you will need to fast.
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Fasting is making a resurgence in our culture. You may have heard something about intermittent fasting for weight loss. There is a lot of research on the health benefits of fasting for most people. The physical benefits are good, but the spiritual benefits can be better.
There are a lot of different ways to fast. The traditional fast for many of my Roman Catholic friends during lent was fasting from chocolate. A fast that has become popular lately is a social media fast or sometimes a total media fast. Some people do a spending fast where they don’t buy anything other than what is absolutely necessary. This would include trips to Tim Hortons. I always find it interesting that Tim Horton’s role up the Rim contest runs the same time as lent. Some people fast from a particular hobby.
But the traditional kind of fasting is a fasting from food. Or sometimes it is a fasting from particular kinds of foods. Daniel, in the Old Testament, fasted from meat and wine and rich food and lived off of vegetables and water.
Some of you are saying, well, I take on a fast of brussels sprouts. That is not the way that fasting works. Fasting is about depriving yourself of something you usually have or like or something you need for a short period of time. If you are diabetic, it would be unwise to deprive yourself of all food, so you will have to become creative.
But this morning, I am going to talk about traditional fasting. Missing a meal or not eating for a day or three days and sometimes longer.
There are some things that you need to know about fasting. The first is that it is meant to augment your spiritual life, not be a substitute for it. In the prophet Isaiah’s time – there were a number of fast days that were scattered around the yearly calendar, and the people of God fasted. They didn’t eat anything for that day. They did all the fast, they did the right religious things, but God was not impressed.
Isaiah 58:1–10 (NLT)
True and False Worship
1 “Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast.
Shout aloud! Don’t be timid.
Tell my people Israel of their sins!
2 Yet they act so pious!
They come to the Temple every day
and seem delighted to learn all about me.
They act like a righteous nation
that would never abandon the laws of its God.
They ask me to take action on their behalf,
pretending they want to be near me.
3 ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.
‘Why aren’t you impressed?
We have been very hard on ourselves,
and you don’t even notice it!’
“I will tell you why!” I respond.
“It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves.
Even while you fast,
you keep oppressing your workers.
4 What good is fasting
when you keep on fighting and quarreling?
This kind of fasting
will never get you anywhere with me.
5 You humble yourselves
by going through the motions of penance,
bowing your heads
like reeds bending in the wind.
You dress in burlap
and cover yourselves with ashes.
Is this what you call fasting?
Do you really think this will please the LORD?
6 “No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free,
and remove the chains that bind people.
7 Share your food with the hungry,
and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them,
and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
8 “Then your salvation will come like the dawn,
and your wounds will quickly heal.
Your godliness will lead you forward,
and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind.
9 Then when you call, the LORD will answer.
‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.
“Remove the heavy yoke of oppression.
Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!
10 Feed the hungry,
and help those in trouble.
Then your light will shine out from the darkness,
and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.
You get the idea of what is going on here. The people were trying to act religious and fast was a part of that, instead of being righteous. Verse 4 asks,
Isaiah 58:4 (NLT)
4 What good is fasting
when you keep on fighting and quarrelling?
This kind of fasting
will never get you anywhere with me.
What you need to know is that fasting was meant to augment your spiritual life; it was not meant to be a substitute for your spiritual life. Depriving yourself of food does not replace loving your neighbour. That is why the reading in Day one of your Lenten prayer booklet is so helpful.
Fast from judging others;
Feast on Christ dwelling in them.
Fast from fear of illness;
Feast on the healing power of God.
Fast from words that pollute;
Feast on speech that purifies.
Fast from discontent;
Feast on gratitude.
Fast from anger;
Feast on patience.
Fast from pessimism;
Feast on hope.
Fast from negatives;
Feast on encouragement.
Fast from bitterness;
Feast on forgiveness.
Fast from self-concern;
Feast on compassion.
Fast from suspicion;
Feast on truth.
Fast from gossip;
Feast on purposeful silence.
Fast from problems that overwhelm;
Feast on prayer that sustains.
Fast from anxiety;
Feast on faith.
– Author Unknown
Fasting from food was never meant to substitute for living the Christian life. It was meant to augment it.
That being said, you heard Matthew 6 read.
Matthew 6:16–18 (NIV)
“When you fast, do not look sombre as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, 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 others 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.
Did you catch that – Jesus said When you fast. He didn’t say if you fast. There is an expectation of Jesus that the people of God will fast. Here is a story from the gospel of Mark
Mark 2:18–20 (NIV)
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?”
19 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.
Jesus is basically saying, there are appropriate times to fast and appropriate times not to fast. You don’t go to a wedding celebration and say I am fasting. That would be crazy. My disciples are celebrating that I am here. Of course, they are not fasting now. But the time will come when I am not longer with them. I take that to mean, physically with them. Then they will fast. Jesus isn’t physically with us – so there are times when it is appropriate to fast.
So, the question we need to ask ourselves is, why fast? The first answer to that is that Jesus seems to expect us to fast. You see Jesus fasting in the wilderness before his temptation. You see in the book of Act the early church at Antioch fasting. (Acts 13) You see, the church in Syria fasting. (Acts 14) You see Paul fasting. Fasting, it seems, is part of the spiritual journey for the early church because it was expected by Jesus.
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The next reason to fast is that it helps us in spiritual warfare. Like I mentioned before, Jesus fasted before he encountered Satan. You have the disciples in Matthew 17 trying to cast out a demon, and they couldn’t do it. Jesus cast out the demon, and then told the disciple that the reason they couldn’t cast out that particular spirit was that it only came out by much prayer and fasting.
Fasting helps us in spiritual warfare. This is especially true in the area of temptation.
If you have a besetting sin, then fasting is a way to train your soul. You can’t just win your freedom; you have to walk out your freedom, and fasting is a way of learning to do that.
Here is a 30-minute sermon in two minutes. You are a three-fold being. You have a Spirit that is infused with God’s Spirit. You have a soul, which is your will, mind, and emotions. You have a body. The way you were meant to work was that your spirit was meant to rule your soul, which was meant to rule your body.
What often happens is that we flip that on its head. Our body, our sensual cravings rule our soul, which then rules or crushes our spirit. Our emotions and our cravings rule us, and so when temptations come along, it is easy to say yes. Our emotions and our cravings are like a three-year-old throwing a temper tantrum.
A good parent will help the 3-year-old come to grips with their emotions. No, you can’t hit your sister when you feel like it. If you have ever seen an 18-year-old who cannot self-regulate – it is not a pretty sight.
Fasting is like helping our three-year-old self, self-regulate. Just because I want food does not mean that I have to have food. Just because I am hungry does not mean that I have to eat. As you learn the lessons of fasting, it reorders your inner world. Your spirit is over top of your will. And your will rules your mind and your emotions, and your body.
That is part of what it means to fight temptation. God’s Spirit in our spirit gives us the grace to choose what is good and right. We may have emotional or sensual cravings, but fasting has trained us to allow ourselves to be ruled by our spirits. That is why fasting is helpful in the face of temptation. (OK, the sermon within a sermon is done)
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Here is another reason to fast. Fasting gives an earnestness to our prayers. In fasting, we often acknowledge our need for God. It is especially true where our spiritual temperature is low. It is true when our church’s spiritual temperature is low. Where we are not what we know he is calling us to be.
In the time of the prophet Joel, the people of God were spiritually dull. They were religious, but they were not close to God. Here is what God says to his people.
Joel 2:12–15 (NIV)
12 “Even now,” declares the LORD,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
13 Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.
14 Who knows? He may turn and relent
and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
for the LORD your God.
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion,
declare a holy fast,
call a sacred assembly.
Part of returning to God was fasting. It is sometimes helpful to have regular times of fasting. Lent is a good time to do that. It builds the discipline of fasting into the church year. But there are other times when we feel like it is God’s call for what we need for our spiritual life. There is a sense of urgency that we need God in a different way than we are experiencing him right now. When God calls you to fast – fast.
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Here is another reason for fasting. Fasting teaches us to go to Jesus to satisfy our hungers.
Do you have a comfort food? I have a whole list of comfort foods. Pizza, Nachos and cheese, chocolate-covered almonds – and the list could go on and on and on. The reason why they are called comfort food is that we eat them to bring comfort.
One of the things I struggle with is that I have a whole lot of reasons for eating that have nothing to do with hunger. I can eat when I am bored, or restless, or thirsty, or sad, or anxious, or just because it is there. I sometimes just eat out of habit.
You notice that a lot of these things have nothing to do with physical hunger. They are hungers of the soul. When we fast, those hungers of the soul become a lot more obvious. When they do become obvious – I would like to eat now because I am feeling some kind of emotional discomfort – I am reminded about what Jesus said about himself.
John 6:33–35 (NIV)
33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world….”
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Jesus is talking about soul hunger. We need food to sustain our bodies, but being fully alive comes from being spiritually satisfied. When I fast, it becomes more evident about where I am looking for life in Jesus and apart from Jesus. I can then use my hunger as a prompt to turn to Jesus. When you fast, expect to pray more.
Lanny Wolfe wrote a song called Only Jesus. It says
The world will try to satisfy
That longing in your soul.
You may search the wide world o’er
But you’ll be just as before!
You’ll never find true satisfaction
Until you’ve found the Lord,
For only Jesus can satisfy your soul.
Satisfy your soul, only
Chorus:
Jesus can satisfy your soul,
And only He can change your heart and make you whole.
He’ll give you peace you never knew,
(Sweet), love and joy and heaven too,
For only Jesus can satisfy your soul!
I have walked you through the reasons for fasting. Jesus expects us to fast. Fasting helps in temptation. Fasting gives an earnestness to our prayers.
Throughout the bible, there were days set aside for fasting. It is good for us as a church to do that as well. It may be the season of lent, or it may be that God would call our church to a season of prayer – fasting will be a part of that.
There are also times in your spiritual journey when you will need to fast. There is an urgency about your request. That is a time to fast. There is a need to reignite your spiritual life. That is a time to fast. God will lead you personally into those times.
Fasting does not replace the rest of your spiritual life, but sometimes it augments it. It is part of your spiritual toolbox. There are times to use this tool. I want to urge you to make it part of your spiritual disciplines from time to time.
Pray.
Sermon Questions – Fasting for Life
March 20, 2022 – Matthew 6:18-23
Introduction
1. What are you celebrating today?
2. What are you praying about today?
3. When you think about fasting, what comes to mind?
Digging in
4. Read Isaiah 58:1-10 – What were the Israelites doing that offended God? What kind of fasting did God want? Does this mean that we don’t have to fast from food?
5. Read Matthew 6:16-18 – What does this tell us about Jesus’ expectations of fasting? What does it tell us about how to fast?
6. Read Mark 2:18-20 – What does this tell us about fasting?
7. Read Matthew 4:1-4 – Why do you think that Jesus fasted?
8. Read Joel 2:12-15 – What were the conditions that surrounded the called for fast? How does this apply to us?
9. Read John 6:33-35. What is Jesus saying about himself in this passage? How does this apply to fasting?
10. When should we fast?