Real Righteousness – Fasting (Part Two)
Matthew 6: 16-18
Recap.
His point so far has been if what you do things for is to be seen by people then you will get your reward because what you were trying to do was gain the attention the appreciation the applause of people, and that is all you will get then. And this principle has applied all the way through everything Jesus has said so for, not just about fasting which he is addressing here. People out there might think you are being spiritual but not your heavenly father who looks at the heart and sees what you real motives are will respond accordingly. God sees the heart and if what you’re doing is coming from the heart then he will reward you openly. So again, the real point of the passage is that real righteousness is not seeking the approval of people it’s about pleasing God. They got their reward, and you’ll get yours from the father if you’re doing this right.
I found this the most intriguing of the list three religious’ practices
1. Prayer deals with our relationship with God.
2. Giving deals with our relationship to other people
3. Fasting has to do with developing spiritual discipline within us.
Alright as I pointed out Jesus assumes that you’re fasting and later in Matthew Chapter 9 he indicates that those who are around after he ascends to heaven should on occasion fast. So, we need to give some attention to fasting.
I want to begin with a confess I haven’t fasted in a long time, so I hesitate to speak on something I haven’t practiced a lot. I think I found a little comfort in a book I read some years ago, a book written by a well-known Christian psychiatrist called M Scott Peck. He died recently but one of the books he wrote was called, The Road Less Traveled”, and then he wrote another book called, “The Road Less Traveled and Beyond”, in the second book he has a chapter on addiction and in that chapter he begins by saying, and I quote.
“I must confess that I am an addict in particular I am it seems hopelessly addicted to nicotine I write and lecture all about self-discipline, yet I don’t have enough of it myself, to stop smoking”
(The Road Less Travelled and Beyond – M S Peck 1996)
That’s sort of the way I feel about this, In my past I have had an unhealthy relationship with food. I used to take part in a sport that required to lose weight dramatically in order to compete in a weight category. I always struggled to meet the weight I wanted to compete at, partly because I knew at the heavier weight, I couldn’t hold my own. This meant up to my mid-twenties, I sometimes fasting unhealthy for weeks on end before a competition. I fasted a few times for spiritual reasons since I gave up that sport 34 years ago, but the whole thing was rather mixed up for me and I haven’t fasted for many years. I would also like to say if ever you have had a problem with unhealthy dieting habits or any form of eating disorder then I think it is unlikely that God is calling you to fast in this way, but there are others as I shall discuss later,
What is Fasting?
With that in mind let me try and unpack for you a little about the Biblical concept of fasting. Let me see if I can answer some of those questions I mentioned yesterday.
First, what is fasting? Well, the word means abstaining from something usually food and the way it is usually used in the New Testament. It occasionally can be an involuntary type of abstaining from food and that seems to be the way it’s used in Second Corinthians when Paul is describing all the things he’s gone through. However, what Jesus is talking about here is a voluntary form of fasting.
One of the first things I should point out is that fasting is never commanded in the New Testament. The New Testament never commands that we fast, it has illustrations of it, and Jesus assumed we would do it on occasion, but it's never commanded. Now why would you fast voluntarily? There are some who argue that there are health benefits Some argue that you should fast just to let your body rest for health reasons. That may be true but that is not what is being talked about in any place in the Bible.
There are however spiritual reasons for doing this. I have looked at all the references to fasting in the New Testament and it’s never seen to be prescribed as being done on a regular basis. It was never meant tot be a weekly practice, however it was done on special occasions or special reasons for example when they sent out Paul and Barnabas they fasted first.
In first Corinthians Chapter 7 Paul talks about a form of fasting where a married couple would with abstain not just from food, but the marital relationship and he instructs that it must be done by consent, and both have to agree before they do that. All, all of which indicates to me that it is not a regular repeated practice. So, what it is, is abstaining from food and possibly other things, but it’s mainly about food.
Why Fast?
All right why would you do this, why would you abstain from food? When I look in the scripture, I’m not sure I can find a place where it tells us exactly. The closest thing that comes to it is the apostles came back and said to Jesus we couldn’t I deal with this demonic situation and Jesus said this significant spiritual demonic situation can only be dealt with by prayer and fasting, so apparently there’s some exceedingly difficult situations that calls for prayer, concentrated prayer, and that might include that you abstain from other activities to focus on prayer or Bible Study.
Fasting should reminds us that we are sustained by the word of God, therefore our experience of fasting should be so much more than just abstaining from food as when we are fasting, we should be feasting on the word and spending time in the Lord’s company in prayer. I like the idea then is that we are going to abstain from normal activities in order to focus on the Lord in prayer and Bible study.
One commentator I read concludes, and I quote, that fasting is neither commanded nor forbidden it is done voluntarily on special occasions to dedicate oneself to undistracted prayer and study. I think that captures it as much as anything I’ve read. Let me repeat it, it’s done voluntarily, on special occasions so that you can set aside time to dedicate yourself to undistracted time with the Lord.
So that’s the why we fast, but that brings up the question of how we should do it.
How Do We Fast?
The Bible doesn’t say a whole lot about it, other than it is about abstaining from food. Beyond that you’re left of yourself, you’re left on your own get creative in how you approach it. One historic Jewish source said at that time, I quote, “the Jewish fast lasted from dawn to sunset, outside that time normal meals could be eaten”. So, the original Jewish form of fasting at the time of Jesus involved ceased from eating during the daytime, once the sun went down, but you could eat an evening meal. The Jewish scribal law taught that on the day of atonement it was forbidden to eat or drink, but also is was forbidden to bathe or to anoint oneself with oil, or to wear sandals, or to indulge in the marital relationships.
The most common form of fasting today follows the principal that you don’t eat meals but suggest that should at least drink a lot of water I think the scripture does not go beyond that and it up to you to figure out if you’re going to fast one meal, two meals, three meals, for one day, two days or longer. Or to fast in another way. It is important that under God grace we don’t get legalistic about this and some fast only during the day, then eat a meal at night, which of course gets more difficult the further you get from the equator especially in the summer months. I think all of that is up to you to do whatever you think because the purpose is this is a voluntary choice on your part on special occasions and that you replace the mealtimes with undistracted time with the Lord. The principle being to replace whatever you do routinely with time with the Lord. That’s sort of the idea.
Other Types of fasting.
Now let me address one more question I want to say that it’s possible to think about abstaining from other things. We can fast from anything, if we love music and decide to miss a concert in order to spend time with God.
At one point in my life I recognized I was so obsessed with rock music I felt the Lord called me to abstain from that and I had spent a time reflecting on how much time I should listen to music and which was the appropriate type of music to listen to. That time of abstinence turned into to something much longer that I had initially imagined it would be. I know a number of people who felt God had called them to take a time out from watching television or playing computer games. Other felt God called them to abstain from wasting time browsing social media. I have to say the more I read my Bible and listen to the teaching the teaching of Jesus the more I am inclined to believe that a 21st century approach to fasting should be more inclined to deal with these sorts of issues than just not eating food.
If we are to develop the inner righteousness Jesus taught here surely it should be much more about allowing God to bless us during our weakest moments by depending on God to strengthen and deliver me from temptations, that had infiltrated our everyday activities. I wonder how many of you have ever abstained from television. Now let me ask you a question how much time do you spend watching screens. Could you guess?
In 2021 the company I used to work for IPSOS MORI did a survey which showed that the average screen time in the UK excluding work computer time was 6 hours and 25 minutes Imagine if you fasted from screen time for a month how much time you could spend with the Lord and do for the Lord, and how much he might be able to reveal to you?
I think we do need to fast sometimes and to begin with something as simple as maybe television might be helpful. This is not a tirade against TV’s or mobile phones, that’s not the point and it’s not saying one is better than the other. I am also aware that it is very useful to use modern technology to either study or spend time with the Lord. It about wasting time as a passive consumer of entertainment is the problem, that is what takes too much of our time just being entertained, and not spending enough time growing and learning and spending time with the Lord. Why not try turning off your technology for an hour a day and turn on to Jesus and the Word.
If the only time you are spending with the Lord and studying you Bible is on a Sunday, you starving to death. You need three square meals a day. You should be reading the word daily and praying daily. If you’re total input of the scripture is what you hear on a Sunday, you’re starving to death. Suppose you only ate once or twice a week; you would be physical skin and bones. Don’t become spiritually just skin and bones.
Fasting is about recognizing the need to eliminate some of these things, some of the distractions so we can focus on jut the Lord and think about him. Listen to some Christian music, great idea, focus on the Lord and see if that doesn’t help your spiritual life. Amen?
Did you know that frequently in the Bible our relationship to the Lord is compared to a marriage. So if you’ll permit me I’d like to talk about marriage for Paula and I have always made a habit of spending a great deal of time together, It doesn’t mean we don’t have our individual interests. But we talk to each other all the time every day and that airtime, well those talk time minutes, are free minutes.
Some people talk all day long on their mobile phones. Several years ago, I was offered mobile phone contract with 4000 minutes a month. I think that nearly 4 hours a day. Imagine how close we would get to someone if we talked to the for four hours a day. What this Jesus is talking about here, and I think if we are to grow spiritually, we need to eliminate some of the routine stuff that may have grown and become a barrier in our life to spending time with the Lord and replace with time when we listen to him. So, we can hear from him and learn from him, and grown to be more like Him in our relationship with God, and our relationships with other people.