The Discipline Of Fasting

Let me begin this morning by asking you a question. How many of you here have
ever fasted for religious or spiritual reasons? Would you do me a favor and
just put up your hand? All right, not a bad representation, but I'm willing to
bet that if I were to ask you how many of you have ever contributed to the poor
or spend time in prayer, probably all hands would go up. Is that not true? Let's
just demonstrate it. Given to the poor, spend time in prayer, just about everybody.
And what the illustrates, I think, is that though fasting is clearly evident in
scripture, it has pretty much fallen out of favor in our self-indulgent
society. We ask ourselves the question, why in the world would anybody want to
fast? Why would anybody want to put his or her body through the discomfort of
hunger or thirst? And yet scripture so clearly teaches us that fasting is a
significant spiritual discipline. Note again, how Jesus begins this passage. He
says, when you fast do not look somber as the hypocrites do referring to the
Pharisees and the teachers of the law who are fasting as a showed to people as
opposed to a demonstration of piety towards God. The passage doesn't say if you
fast, but rather when you fast. And though I'm not so naive as to
suppose this morning that by one presentation on this, I'm gonna persuade you to
take up fasting as a regular spiritual discipline. Let me at least try to share
with you in the time that we have what scripture teaches about fasting and why
it's important as a spiritual discipline. So let's begin with the
observation then. That fasting is a soundly established biblical practice. Now
here's a good test of Bible knowledge for you this morning. I wonder who knows
what is the first recorded instance of fasting in the Bible? Anybody know? It's
Moses on Mount Sinai when he receives the commandments of God. It's recorded for
us in Exodus 3428 where scripture says Moses was there with the Lord 40 days
and 49 without eating bread or drinking water. Clearly an instance where he
draws his life from God because nobody can go without drinking for 40 days. You
can do it without eating but not without drinking. And then the first biblical
injunction towards fasting and you know if you're taking notes you might want
to track some of these references is Leviticus 1629 where scripture says this
is to be a lasting ordinance for you. On the 10th day of the seventh month you
must deny yourselves and not do any work. The phrase you must not deny yourselves
is generally understood as referring to fasting and in the NIV that's in fact
one of the marginal notes. The 10th day of the 7th month in the Old Testament is
what? It's the Old Testament day of a totemant and this is the only day in all
of scripture where the Israelites are commended to fast typically from
sundown of one day to sundown the next day. Now from here on in there are many
instances in the Old Testament where God's people fast. I'll give you a couple
of references quickly Judges 2026. This is in the context of the civil war
between the tribes of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin and this scripture says
that all Israel fasted in face of the horror of having to kill their own
brethren. Other passage 2 Samuel 12 16 this is the passage where David after his
sin with Vachiba fasts for a period of time because their child has become
ill God is determined to take the child from them and David is fasting
earnestly for the child's life. Moving to the New Testament Luke 237 we have
the story of the prophetess Anna the Bible says that she didn't cease day
and night to be in the temple praying and worshiping God and the Bible says
she did so with prayer and fasting she was looking for the coming of the
Messiah and then Acts chapter 13 to the early church the teachers and the
prophets are gathered together they're praying and they're worshiping the
Lord and their fasting and it's in the context of that fast that Barnabas and
Saul known to us as the Apostle Paul are set apart for the work of missionary
work their apostolic journeys begin at that point in time later on in the
next chapter Acts 14 we have a similar situation where leadership in the
church the elders are appointed after much prayer and fasting think how many
churches in the world today would be in much better shape if their leadership
were chosen after not only prayer but also after fasting and then of course
there's the example of Jesus Matthew 4 and Luke 4 a reference to it also when
Mark's Gospel he begins his ministry with a 40 day fast and then in addition
to that there is the injunction of Jesus in Matthew 914 and 15 this is in the
context of John's disciples who are coming to him and they say how is it that
we in the Pharisees fast but your disciples do not fast and Jesus answered how
can the guests of the bridegroom more and while he is with him the time will
come when the bridegroom will be taken from them then they will fast and so
here we have an ongoing instruction and expectation that as long as Jesus has
not yet returned and is in heaven there will at least be seasons when God's
people are invited to engage in a fast so fasting is a well-established and
a sound biblical practice even though there are very few immediate
directives that are addressed to it second observation what to make this
morning then is that fasting in scripture and in history can take a number of
different forms there is what's known as a partial fast the partial fast is where
you deny yourself perhaps certain foods for a certain period of time the
best example of that biblically is Daniel and his four friends they come into
Nebuchadnezzar's palace they want to feed them rich food and Daniel and his
friends do not want to defile themselves with food that is unclean and so they
choose to eat only vegetables and to drink only water the Roman Catholic
traditional practice of not eating meat on Fridays or abstaining from certain
things during the season of land or even the Muslim practice of fasting during
the daytime in Ramadan is an indication of a partial fast then there is what's
known as a normal fast and a normal fast is what you think of when a person
doesn't take food drink or both in some instances the typical biblical fast
runs for one day typically from sundown to sun up and will often include not
drinking and not eating for that period of time but there are other instances of
three day fast Esther when Mordecai is brewing his plan to destroy all of
Israel in the book of Esther and she's called upon to go to the king she
fasts for three days and that fast the David engaged in earlier when his
son was so ill if I read scripture right that was probably a seven day fast
that's a normal fast it will often include drinking but certainly not eating
and then there is what's known as an extreme or a radical fast that's for much
longer periods of time Moses is 40 day fast certainly falls into that the fast
of Jesus in the New Testament for 40 days that's a typical radical fast you can
go about three days without drinking before you run into serious trouble and I
remember from IRA terrorists who would go on hunger strikes back in the
70s and I think maybe in the 80s that you can go without food for maybe 60 or
70 days but by then you're seriously damaged and beyond that you very quickly
die and that is certainly not the biblical recommendation so it's an
established biblical practice it can take a number of different forms and of
course it serves multiple purposes I mean one of the first questions that we
ask in our comfortably self-indulgent society is what good am I to God when
I'm hungry right and what spiritual function does not eating serve when I can
do all of the things that I'm accustomed to doing well biblically speaking a
fasting serves a number of purposes the first is related to health reasons now
in the Bible this is fairly rare the only instance that I can think of is
that story that I referred to a few moments ago Daniel and his friends not
wanting to defile themselves with the King's rich food but one of the the
interesting schizophrenic aspects of North American society and I don't know if
you've ever thought about this is that on the one hand dieting books and on the
other hand cookbooks are both best sellers all the time so we stuff ourselves
and then we feel badly that we've stuffed ourselves and then we have to diet or
do whatever else to get ourselves back to where we want to be 50% of North
Americans are overweight 45 billion dollars a year is spent on a variety of
dieting programs those programs have about a 5% success rate to thirds regain
their lost weight in one year and almost everybody after five years and one of
the reasons for that is that your body adjusts to the lack of food that you're
taking in and for that reason a lot of people that try to diet by denying
themselves food discover that very quickly they put it back on the Bible
doesn't talk much as I said about dieting for health reasons it does say that
our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and that therefore they ought to be
yielded to God and we ought to take care of them and we ought to take care of them
well health reasons more importantly from a biblical point of view is to help us
control our passions now if I were to ask you this morning what do you think is
the strongest passion that most people struggle with chances are that you
would say our sexual drive and yes sexual drive is a powerful drive but it is
far exceeded by our drive for food and drink long before an individual reaches
sexual maturity they hunger and thirst and cry out for food and long after our
sexual prowess has begun to lean or perhaps disappeared altogether hunger and
thirst are still major issues and so because they are such a strong urge
and I listen to me carefully they often can be at odds with what God's will is
for our lives and you can illustrate that simply by looking at your own life
what happens when you're hungry or what happens when you're thirsty it begins
to dominate every part of our lives and if you look at Scripture you will
discover that at every major temptation it was food that was the issue Adam and
even the garden is rolling the wilderness Jesus with his temptations make
these stones into bread his response was you don't live by bread alone but by
every word that proceeds from the mouth of God and so the test of our spirituality
is not so much how obedient am I to God when all my needs are satisfied and I
feel comfortably stuffed and good about myself the question is well I still do
what he wants me to do well I still trust him and I'm hungry and when I'm
thirsty and so fasting in Scripture is one way of coming to grips with not
being controlled by the lusts and the passions of our body and our mind the
Apostle Paul put it this way he said I don't run like a man running aimlessly I
do not fight like a man beating the air no I beat my body and make it my
slave so that after I have preached to others I myself will not be disqualified
for the prize and perhaps nowhere else is the difference between being a
Christian and living in the world more clearly demonstrated than in this
difference between feeding the flesh catering to our own indulgences and
learning for a greater cause to lay aside our desires our passions and our
longings in order to be obedient to the will of God so for health reasons to
control our passions and then of course to grieve over our scene we read in
Deuteronomy 918 the words of Moses once again I fell prostrate before the Lord
for 40 days and 49 I ate no bread and drank no water because of all the
scene you had committed doing what was evil in the Lord's sight and so
provoking him to anger you might recognize that text after Moses came down from
the mountain he had just fasted for 40 days and 40 nights now he's coming down
the mountain they've made his golden calf he is furious and he falls on his
knees before God and now he fasts in other 40 days and another 49 so 80 days in
rapid succession clearly only empowered by God's presence and by God's power
but he grieves for the scene of the people of Israel and in 1 Samuel 7.6 we
read the same thing when they had assembled admispa they drew water and
poured it out before the Lord and on that day there they can fast we have
sinned against the Lord again in the context of Israel's battle with the
Philistines and their need to surrender to him wholeheartedly and to get rid of
their idols sackcloth and ashes in scripture are often the visible sign of
that kind of repentance we read in 1 Kings 21 27 that King Ahab when he heard
these words that is the judgment of God pronounced on his household because
he had stolen neighbors vineyard he tore his clothes put on sackcloth and
fasted and he lay in sackcloth and he went around meekly interestingly enough
God took note of his grievous repentance and with hell judgment in his
lifetime and made sure that it would come in the lifetime of his children so
grieving overseen is part of fasting and then of course there is the whole
issue of seeking the Lord wholeheartedly we read in Joel 212 even now declares
the Lord returned to me with all your heart with fasting and weeping and
mourning seek me with all your heart I think you'll agree with me this morning
when I say that very often when we seek the Lord for you know some answer to
prayer or some solution to a problem that we face or maybe a sin that we need to
overcome or relationships that need to be restored we we make it a matter of
prayer we pray maybe for a day maybe for a week maybe a little bit longer but
then when the answer is in forthcoming we just put it on the shelf justified by
saying well the Lord must not be interested in me or interested in answering my
prayer and on we go with life and what fasting indicates in Scripture and
indicates to the Lord is that I'm dead serious about the answer that I'm looking
for and I'm not gonna let go of you Lord God until you you either give me what I'm
asking for or you can show me whatever else it is that you're doing in this
situation so it is an outward demonstration of our seriousness before God it's
not a tool for manipulation because God doesn't respond to manipulation very well
if you haven't discovered that in your life he just as well you know I'm God
and you're not and you can throw all the 10 terms you want and I'm not going to
give you what I don't want to give you but when it comes from our heart and
we're seeking him with all of our heart sometimes that's the only way to break
through those strongholds remember one of the versions in the gospel about
that that young lad that was demon possessed in Jesus as this coin does not
come out but by prayer and fasting fasting is an indication of seriousness
before God and then of course throughout Scripture when we seek him whole
heartedly sometimes it's for protection and deliverance sometimes it's for
clarity and direction but in all of those cases their instances where we
seriously engage the Lord and say Lord I'm not gonna let go of you I'm not
gonna let go of you until I hear from you and you guide me and you direct me
and you protect me how many blessings do we miss out on sometimes I wonder
because we're not prepared to go through the discomfort of really fighting this
out with God and laying hold of him until he fulfills his word and fulfills
his promises in our lives it's not that he's hesitant to grant us blessings
even though that's often our experience of it isn't it we we try so hard and
we get so little and we have so many questions and so many doubts like God
why don't you make this a whole lot easier but sometimes God is just with
holding things to make sure that we really know what it is that we're asking
for and that he can know that we're really serious about what it is that we're
seeking him for so it's an established biblical practice to take many
different forms it serves multiple purposes and let me just talk and a few
of these closing moments about some very practical considerations the text
makes clear how easily this too can be distorted to our own advantage the
Pharisees clearly used fasting as a way of making their own mark only one
commandment to the best of my recollection and if you know otherwise correct
me only one commandment in the Old Testament for one days fast a year they
prided themselves in fasting twice a week but very clearly as the text says not
to be seen by God but to be seen by other people and like all other spiritual
disciplines we ought to stay away from trying to impress other people with
our spirituality not as much a danger with fasting as I said earlier then
maybe giving to the poor and spending time in prayer simply because it is much
less frequently engaged in but nevertheless a danger that we can easily succumb
to you so our fasting should be spirit directed not something you just jump
into but something that you feel the prompting of God's Holy Spirit maybe
you're in an impossible situation maybe there's something that isn't yielding
maybe there's the nudging of God's Holy Spirit deep in your heart maybe you'll
come away from the service like this uncomfortable on the inside because the
Lord is saying to you it's time for you to deny yourself some food and drink and
to seek me earnestly because I want to take you the next step in my life with
you if he does that hard as it may be try to step out and obedience as we'll
see in a few moments you'll be richly rewarded we need to be sensible about it if
you've never skipped a meal in your life don't start in a 40-day fast you won't
do very well and you'll never do it again if you're engaging a lot of physical
work be realistic about what you can handle if you have an eating disorder don't
use our religious reason to proclaim an unholy fast which will do you in be
sensible about starting where you can start and seeing what you can handle do
it wisely now what to expect if you've never fasted most people think that the
biggest problem they face when they fast is that they get hungry do you know
that well I want to tell you that's the least of your problems because after a
day or two days your hunger pangs disappear your stomach shrinks and your
body readjusts but if you're a heavy coffee drinker and you're not drinking
coffee I'll guarantee you you'll have headaches because you'll have a caffeine
withdrawal you'll have periods of weakness not as much as people think but there
will be moments of weakness moments of dezeness and you'll get cold and not
only that the worst part of fasting in my limited experience with fasting is
the sense of loneliness especially around mealtimes you cannot appreciate the
degree to which eating a meal together feeds our souls and provides
fellowship and you consider the dinner table it's painful enough to watch
everybody else eat but the sense of not participating puts you in a whole
other space and that of course is part of the purpose of fasting because even
while physically you are withdrawing from the indulgences of the world
spiritually you get attuned to God sometimes in ways that you were not attuned
before know what to expect be realistic about it and then remember and this is
important the Lord rewards obedience notice again how the passage ends your
father who sees what is done in secret will reward you what kind of rewards I
cannot tell you many people tell that spiritual clarity increases during or
after a fast it may take the form of an answered prayer it may take the form of
a breakthrough in an area that you've been fighting for it may just be the
sense of God's approval because you've taken up your cross and you followed
him and his will has been more important than the desires and the passion of
your body doesn't make a lot of sense in today's world only makes sense in
today's world from a health and fitness point of view but it makes huge sense
biblically from a spiritual point of view because God promises to reward us as
we seek him with all our heart
Lord with all my heart I worship you all I have within me I give you
all I adore is in you
Lord I give you my heart I give you my soul I live for you alone
every breath that I take I've a moment I'm away Lord have your way in me
this is my desire to want you Lord with all my heart I worship you
all I have within me I give you praise all that I adore is in you
Lord I give you my heart I give you my soul I live for you alone
every breath that I take I've a moment I'm away Lord have your way in me
I give you my heart I give you my soul Lord I give you my heart I give you my soul
I give you my heart I give you my soul Lord I give you my heart I give you my soul
Lord I give you my heart I give you my soul I live for you alone
every breath that I take I've a moment I'm away Lord have your way in me Lord I give you my heart I give you my soul
I live for you alone every breath that I take I've a moment I'm away Lord have your way in me
Lord have your way in me Lord have your way in me