To Fast Or Not To Fast
Matthew 6:16-18
“But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face…” vs. 17
The Monkeys Go Fasting
Show clip of the monkey video
Read Passage – Matthew 6:16-18
16 “When you fast, do not look somber 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.
The Temptation To Skip It
I thought you might enjoy that video; it was kind of goofy and fun but it also addressed what we are talking about today; fasting. I know for me, fasting has always been one of those things I heard about and was even encouraged to do but never really understood why or exactly what to do. I grew up in a Plymouth Brethren church and they told us to do it but never really gave particulars. I was tempted when we got to this section just to skip talking about it but then I thought, well, lets see what other pastors have said about this and how they preached about it. Interestingly enough, most skipped it. There wasn’t a lot of material on it. But I knew Jesus talked about it for a reason so I dug a little deeper and decided it was an important thing to figure out why Jesus was addressing this.
Spiritual Disciplines
Actually, fasting is considered a “spiritual discipline.” If you are like me when you hear the word discipline I think “ouch!” discipline is something that hurts. A spiritual discipline is more of a spiritual refinement or spiritual training in a way to build our character or behavior; it is meant to build us up spiritually. It really is a way in which a Christian trains themselves to experience God in a deeper way. Forms of spiritual discipline can be committing to a reading plan, prayer, Scripture memorization, etc .
Ex. The way that gold was refined in ancient days, was the ore was placed in a great cauldron with fire underneath it, as it heated up, the ore would melt, and all the impurities would rise to the surface. The smelter would then skim off the impurities, the dross. But he wasn’t finished there, he would stock the fire more and more impurities would rise to the top. He would skim those off, and heat it up more. He would continue this process until the gold was pure. And it is said that he knew that the gold was pure when he could see his reflection in the gold.
The difference with this gold example and ourselves is that we voluntarily commit ourselves to the discipline where fore the gold it is done to it; but you get the idea. It even begs the question:
Are we willing going to choose to discipline ourselves?
I would suggest that we do discipline ourselves when it is something we want. If we want to achieve a certain level of something for our job, for a sport, for an art (like playing an instrument), etc. we discipline ourselves to school, practice, etc. to train ourselves. It seems with fasting the issue comes in our understanding of it.
The Purposes Of Fasting
First, lets look at the purposes of fasting. It’s hard to commit ourselves to something if we don’t understand why we are doing it and what benefits it brings to our lives.
A. To Center On God
One purpose of spiritual fasting is to center on God. It is to bring God to the forefront of our thoughts, our day and our actions. And, it is to keep our thoughts on him. We can do a lot of things for a lot of reasons but when we commit to fasting for spiritual purposes it is to center on God. It’s important not just to do something for the sake of just doing it or because it has always been done that way. Israel fell into that trap and God, through Zechariah asks them in Zech. 5:7:
“…was it really for me that you fasted?” Zechariah 7:5
The Israelites had gotten into the practice of fasting but not to center on God but to fulfill a ritual. When that happens it doesn’t really achieve the purpose of drawing ourselves to God, it is more of a pride thing to say “look what I have done and how good I am.”
Ex. Memorizing Scripture to show off how much Scripture you know. Note: It is good to memorize Scripture but we can do it with the wrong intention.
B. To Remind Us Who Sustains Us
Another purpose for fasting is to remind us who sustains us. We can easily become too dependent on food to be our sustainer. Now food is good and it does, the right food of course, bring our body health, nutrition, and the essentials we need to be healthy but when we commit to fasting, it reminds us that our true sustenance comes from God himself. Paul reminds us in Colossians 1:17:
“He (God) is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:17
Sometimes we need to do things to remind us that God is our sustainer. We get comfortable and used to providing for ourselves, to filling our needs, and for other things to give us value and worth. Fasting is meant to remind us that God is our sustainer.
Ex. Tithing – much in the same way that tithing is meant to remind that God is our provider. We have material things and bringing a portion of that to God is acknowledging his provision and expressing our dependency as well.
C. To Disrupt The Norm
And a third purpose of fasting is to disrupt our norm. It’s meant to kind of throw us for a jolt, disrupt our routine and kind of mix things up a bit. We can become complacent and fall into routines that may tend to not acknowledge God in the everyday flow of our life. Fasting kind of makes us rethink how we spend our time, what our habits are, good or bad, and bring us back to a focus on God. It’s meant to turn us to God. Psalm 17:6 says:
“I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.”
Psalm 17:6
We can get to a point where the non-essentials of life take control. Fasting can help keep the natural desires of our human selves in check and balance. In a sense fasting can drive us to our knees and to change our focus.
Ex. The work world – Boss comes in one day and has a sessions where you rethink the focus and purpose of your company and what you are doing. Just mixes things up a bit and disrupts the norm.
Warning: When It’s Not The Right Purpose
With that understanding of the purpose of fasting, we can look back at verse 16 and Jesus’ words of warning make a lot more sense:
“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting.” vs. 16
Jesus is warning the disciples and the crowd that is listening that you can fast for the wrong reasons. The church leaders were not fasting for the right purpose. Jesus even tells us what their purpose was; to draw attention to themselves. In fact, the more they could embellish the fact that they were fasting, the better it was because it would draw more attention to themselves and that was their reward.
Also take notice that the church leaders, who Jesus was calling “hypocrites” were making themselves look disfigured and drawn. That was so that they would draw more attention to themselves and be notice. That is the wrong reason for doing a fast. In fact, that became their reward. They got what they wanted.
Considering Fasting
So our decision today is to consider fasting. Consider doing something that will enhance your spiritual life; something that will help center you on God, mind you of your dependency on God and help regain that focus that you might be desiring. If you are thinking to yourself, “Why?” let’s go back to verses 17-18 for that answer:
“But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 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.” vss. 17-18
Notice the first few words are “but when you fast…” not “if you fast.” Jesus is encouraging us to fast and expects it to be a part of our life. He expected the disciples to fast and he expects his followers to fast.
Now I do need to say one thing; fasting should be done with careful consideration and I would even say that you should consult your physician. Many people have health conditions that need to be considered and accounted for. Many people have lifestyles that could make it difficult to fast. So please, consult your physician. Get some guidance and some advice from a professional who knows you and understands what you are dealing with in your life. That being said, you also need to consider something else; what to do with the time you would normally spend eating. We spend a lot of our day preparing and eating food. When you go on a fast, consider what you will do with that time and I would even say consider how you might use it to draw closer to God. You could be gaining anywhere from an hour to 3 hours a day. And, if you normally sit down with family or friends during your meals, consider how that will affect them. I would suggest that sitting and watching them eat will not help you with your fast. It might make it more difficult. Here are some ideas you might want to jot down that will help you fill the time and focus on God:
-Prayer walks (walking will help your physical health as well and it’s okay to do)
-Directed reading plan (Choose a book of the Bible or specific passage to focus on)
-Serving (some activity to help others)
You also need to consider the length of the fast. You can do anything from a meal to a day to 40 days. I think most people would encourage a least a day to really get the full affect. If you start at sundown of one day and go to sundown of the next that can make it easier too. Just don’t eat at night after the sun goes down and then your soon asleep and that can cover the next 6 – 8 hours.
So just what kinds of fasts should you consider? Here are four that are the most typical.
• Normal Fast
First is what I call the normal fast. The normal fast is where you give up solid foods but not necessarily liquids. You can still drink things that give your body nutrition and the vitamins you need to have the proper energy and stamina. So you drink things like V8 Vegetable drinks, fruit juices, vitamin drinks like enhanced water, etc. This seems to be the kind of fast that Jesus might have gone one in Matthew. It says in verses 4:1-2:
“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.” Matt. 4:1-2
Notice when Jesus fast is done that Satan tempts him with bread. He had given up solid food. It never really tells us if Jesus gave up liquids. Some assume he did and others assume he did not.
One of the good things about this kind of fast is that you can choose to take the money you would spend on food and give it to a charity or shelter to help others who are in need.
• Partial Fast
A second type of fast is a partial fast. This is a time where you give up certain foods like meat, sweets, alcohol, etc. We see this in Scripture from Daniel:
“At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.” Daniel 10:2-3
Daniel did this ealier in his life as well when he and his buddies were in the kings service and he asked to eat none of the kings food only vegetables. It is interesting as well that in this passage it says that Daniel used no lotions as well and that this fast was for 3 weeks.
Some people do this today around lent. They give up a certain food for lent as a way of focusing on God. The Roman Catholic Church is good at encouraging this and other religions do this as well.
Ex. When I was in Jr. High school and I met John McDaniel and he gave up sweets for Lent . I had never heard of that before but it was interesting and lead me to think about doing something similar.
• Absolute Fast
The third type is the hardest of them all and that is the absolute feast. That’s where you give up everything, solid foods as well as liquids. Caution: this should not be done for an extended period. Our bodies need water and nutrients and these kinds of fasts should be done for shorter periods. If you remember, Esther did this kind of fast. Remember she was a queen and a Jew in a foreign country, Persia. When a bounty is put out on the Jews heads and the call is to kill them, she goes to her uncle Mordecai and says in verse 4:16:
“Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do.” Esther 4:16
Dire times call for drastic circumstances and that is what happens here. Notice also that it is for 3 days. A shorter period of time and for a specific reason.
• Corporate Fast
Finally, there is the corporate fast. That is where a group of people are committed to a fast and again, usually for a specific cause or reason. We find one of these types of fasts in the book of Ezra in 8:21:
“There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.“ Ezra 8:21
Here there was some traveling about to take place and the people fasted to humble themselves and seek God’s protection on their trip. Pretty cool. A good example of this might be when a church proclaims a fast to seek God on a particular task or event. The great thing about something like this fast is that you are doing together and you can encourage each other and you have a common experience to draw on.
Draw Near To God
Hopefully those 4 types of fasts help you consider what you might want to do or try. But really, here is the bottom line; in our lives we should be seeking ways to draw near to God. Drawing near to God is not just going to somehow happen. We are encouraged in James 4:8 to draw near to God:
“Come near to God and he will come near to you.” James 4:8
This is an awesome promise from God. If you draw near to him, he will draw near to you. There are no “if’s” or “buts” or “maybe’s” in this verse. It’s a promise. We were created to be in relationship with God and he wants to be close to us and he wants us to get close to him. We do that in a lot of ways, you ar doing it by being here this morning, going to church, we draw close to God in prayer, in reading etc. Maybe now you might consider trying out a fast and drawing close to God that way.
