NOT Looking Like WEARY WILLY the clown S31e84 Mt6:16

You might remember the classic face of Weary Willie the clown. He performed for decades with Ringling Brothers Circus.  He's a great example of what not to do with our faces as we fast and pray.

We are not to put ash on our FACE where people can see it.

We are to put "ash" on our HEART, where the secret eyes of God can see it.

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https://youtu.be/4HxIjVGQSmE

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good morning, my brothers and sisters. Today's going to be about not looking like Weary Willie the Clown. Remember this famous clown with the painted-on frown here? His name was Emmett Kelly, and he performed with Ringley Brothers for many decades as Weary Willie. That's the name of the character. And he sported this tattered clothes and a battered hat and a five o'clock shadow and this signature, tragic, mournful expression. Now, the Hebrews disfigured their facies with ash, just like Weary's Weary Willie's five o'clock shadow. And their intent was to publicize by this 24-7 PR department that we all have the physical difficulties of fasting. They made themselves look unsightly to rouse a reaction from the horizontal witnesses here on this planet, perhaps pity or sympathy, and thereby satisfied getting a reward. But because it's not done by God, no reward is forthcoming from Him. This is from Matthew chapter 6, verse 16. We're just after the Lord's Prayer. And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces. That's the ash part. That their fasting may be seen by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your father who is in secret. And your father who sees in secret will reward you. So let me get this straight. We have a father who is in secret that is unseen, yet he sees and rewards in secret what has not been seen by others. Now, this of interest mirrors what we learned about giving, which we're supposed to give to the needy, but beware of practicing our righteousness before people and sounding no self-trumpet before other people in order to be seen. And be aware that the attention of God and his rewards are at stake, kind of at risk here. So be wary about self-congratulations and don't let the PR department of your right hand know what the left hand of your giving is is even doing. It also mirrors what we learned about prayer. When you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. There's hypocrites in each of these stories. They love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room, shut the door, pray to your father who is in secret. And your father who sees in secret will reward you. So be a prayer, do pray, and when you pray, be a prayer, prayer in a non-hypocritical, not standing in the synagogues and not standing on the street corners. I thought it was interesting to kind of caught this, that it's not just the in the streets, it's in the streets corners, so that you get two roads, can have access to witness the greatness that is me as I'm praying. In a sense, I think there's a subtext here about being a reward hunter, but don't squander that reward by getting it as a mere attention from other humans. So I don't know if we should actually be seeking the rewards, but he certainly wants to make us aware of not losing the rewards by squandering them up before men. So we're supposed to be praying directionally to the Father, secretly, shut the door to the Father that is in secret. All right, so what about fasting today? Well, here's a couple principles. Uh when you fast, do it before the Lord, anoint your head, wash your face that it may not be seen by others. So don't look gloomy, don't disfigure your face so that you were seen by others. Don't look like weary Willie. So we have a real father in secret. So what is fasting? Fasting is abstaining from food for a time in order to focus our hearts on the Lord. And why fast? Well, it's used in Scripture to humble ourselves before the Lord and to put a physical discipline on a spiritual discipline to sharpen this, sharpen it and increase its effectiveness. So it expresses dependence. This self-promotion is exactly the opposite of what fasting is supposed to have as a desired effect. Now, fasting was to be started when Jesus was no longer around. So perhaps in a recognition of this season that we're in now where we're not in the direct presence of the Lord. And it's associating with weeping and mourning. And I can't help but think also of repentance. Now, fasting is that of the body, but then the Lord says, but make sure you're doing your actions right too, justice, compassion, support for the oppressed. Another reason to fast is that Jesus fasted. It was required by the Jews once a year on the year on the day of atonement. All right, so let's draw some conclusion here. Fast before God and for the eyes and ears of God alone. Do it with humility, supplication, maybe even secrecy, not with strife, certainly in self-promotion and doing it before the eyes of man horizontally. So, in a sense, it's anointing our heart with ashes, not our face with ashes. And let the lowliness be seen by God even strategically to avoid, or make some strategies to avoid being seen by man. The piety of the story is for God, not for man. So there is something for man: justice, right acts, and compassion. But be careful as you fast and pray and give. God is the ultimate judge of fasting and praying and giving. And when it's and when seen by the Lord, it is his pleasure that we're shooting for. Fasting, praying, giving can all be done wrong. Done that is done before man, and the true reward is lost. The worthy reward is squandered by the attention that we're seeking of other humans. So, in conclusion here today, yes, indeed, fast, but don't look like weary willy as we do it. Thanks for listening.