"Humbly Hungering for the God of Grace"

“Humbly Hungering for the God of Grace”
Kevin P. Larson, Grace Church of Columbia, Sept. 3, 2006

Did you know Katie Couric has lost some weight? Well, actually she hasn’t. But recently a CBS employee airbrushed about 20 pounds off of her in a publicity photo in their own Watch magazine. According to Reuters, a network photograph was “digitally altered to give the incoming CBS news anchor a trimmer waistline, darker clothing, and even a thinner face.”

Now Couric didn’t appreciate the alteration. She is quoted as saying she liked the original photo, because, she said, “There is more of me to love.” But the Pharisees would have encouraged such a thing. We have seen here in Matthew 6 of the Sermon on the Mount how the Pharisees took good religious acts like giving, praying, and, here, fasting, and made them into a spectacle to get praise. The Pharisees, we find in today’s passage, Matthew 6:16-18, were doctoring their appearance to make them look godly. If they would have had digital photography and a copy of Adobe Photoshop, they would have lost weight, as well.

Today’s passage begins with “and when you fast.” That “and” connects this morning’s text to last week’s that dealt with prayer, and the previous week’s that dealt with giving. The Pharisees, we found, were praying ostentatiously in the synagogues and on the street corners, so that people would see them and laud them. The Pharisees were also, we saw, sounding trumpets when they gave, letting everyone know of their generosity. Today we see that they were doing whatever they could to let people know they were fasting.

Read with me again Matthew 6:1. It states, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 6:16-18, like the previous two sections, follows the format of that verse. Jesus says, beware of practicing fasting before men—describing how the Pharisees did just that. He then explains that, by fasting that way, you’ll receive only man’s applause that is fleeting and unsatisfying. He then instructs His disciples how to fast, promising that their practice will be seen and rewarded by the Father in heaven.

Let us read this morning’s text and begin with prayer.

Matthew 6:16 "And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 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.

Quite similar to our outline for the previous two weeks, I want you to see this morning, first, the fasting of the Pharisee, and second, the fasting of the Christian.

First, the fasting of the Pharisee. Again, Jesus says, in verse 16, “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others.” We know from Luke 18:12 that devout Pharisees fasted twice a week, likely on Monday and Thursdays. In addition, particularly devout people fasted even more. The widow and prophetess Anna, who greeted the newborn Christ, we know from Luke 2:37 “did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.” This is in addition to the special national fast on the Jewish religious calendar, the Day of Atonement, that was commanded by Moses, as well as other special times that the nation would humble themselves with prayer and fasting before God.

What happened is the Pharisees utilized these times of fasting as opportunities to display to everyone how godly they were. They looked “gloomy.” They labored to “disfigure their faces.” We’re not completely sure what they were doing, but they were trying to look pathetic. They were possibly not exercising good personal hygiene. They were maybe spreading ashes on their faces to make them look pale. They likely wore old, beat-up clothes. They perhaps messed up their hair, going outside with bed-head. And they put on sad, contorted faces, so that everyone would know that they were godly people.

Jesus says, in verse 16, that they did all this “that their fasting” would “be seen by others.” We’ll talk more about the purpose of fasting later, but they took this exercise of self-discipline and put all the emphasis on the “self” part. As they gave with trumpets, and prayed for the crowds, they fasted in costume and with grandeur, so that people would applaud them.

As I mentioned, they likely fasted on Mondays and Thursdays. The Pharisees claimed this was because those were the days that Moses took his two trips to receive the law at Sinai. In reality, however, those were apparently the big market days in Jerusalem. The city would have been full of farmers and merchants and buyers. It conveniently made the streets a stage for them.

Jesus says, once again, “They have received their reward.” People saw. People applauded. And that’s all the reward they got. When I was a teenager, I remember there being a buzz about the singing duo Milli Vanilli. I might even have owned the album. Two African-American men, Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus, won a Grammy in 1990 for “best new artist.”

As some of you will know, in that same year, in a concert in Connecticut, they were singing their hit “Girl You Know It’s True.” The recording got stuck, and it began repeating the line “Girl You Know It’s” over and over. This led to public scrutiny which resulted in the men admitting that they didn’t sing on the record. Shortly thereafter, their Grammy award was revoked. They received public praise, but it was short lived. They were exposed as frauds.

Jesus said that the Pharisees wouldn’t receive a reward beyond that applause. And we know biblically that one day, Pharisees of all stripes and eras will be exposed for what they really are. It could take place at the end, when Jesus, as he does in Matthew 7:23, “I never knew you; depart from me.” Or it could happen sooner, as in the case of Milli Vanilli. The reward of hypocrites is temporal and ultimately unsatisfying.

Let us look at the fasting of the Christian. In verse 17, Christ states, “But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face.” In other words, get up in the morning and groom yourself. In that day, anointing one’s head with oil was the normal thing to do. It was often scented. It likely styled the hair. Jews, like us, washed their faces; they got cleaned up for the day. Jesus is saying, look normal. Take care of yourself. Get up and clean up, as you always do. In other words, don’t do any of these tactics like the Pharisees to make yourself look disheveled. Hide the fact that you’re fasting from men, so that it is seen by the one that counts, and not by human beings.

Once again, Jesus said, in Matthew 6:3, “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” He said this when speaking of giving. This also applies to praying, last week’s passage, and today’s on fasting. We should not only avoid fasting in such a way that pleases others. We should avoid fasting in such a way that causes us to inwardly applaud ourselves.

Of course, we can hide that we are fasting from others, perhaps even ourselves, but we can’t from God. Our “Father who is in secret” sees all. He is omnipresent; He is everywhere at the same time. He is omniscient; He knows everything. Psalm 139 puts it like this. Listen to verses 1-12.

Psalm 139:1 O LORD, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. 7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night," 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
Our God sees all, and if He sees us fasting from genuine motives, as with praying and giving, Jesus says, in verse 18, our “Father who sees in secret will reward [us].”. Again, seeking a reward, if it’s the right kind—the reward of God Himself—is not a bad thing. It doesn’t put us at the center, as the Pharisees were trying to do. It glorifies God. If we go to God, believing like Hebrews 11:6 says, that “He rewards those who seek Him,” we glorify Him greatly. We say that God meets all our needs, that His presence is satisfying. This lifts Him up.

If I tell Amy, “Being with you is rewarding. It is delightful. It satisfies me completely,” that glorifies her. She isn’t going to look at me and say, “You are a selfish pig. All you care about is what you want!” No, by me saying that I want her, it honors her. It’s the same way with God. John Piper compares it to running up to a beautiful, mountain spring and putting your head in and taking a big drink of water. If we do this, if we say, “That is the most refreshing, wonderful water I’ve ever tasted,” we honor the spring. We are satisfied. The spring is glorified. This is how it is with God.

Therefore, pursue finding reward in God. Again, we’re not doing these religious acts like giving and praying and fasting to earn rewards from God in some works-righteousness sort of way. We have tasted the goodness of God, and we’re doing these deeds to more and more eat and drink and be satisfied in Him.

Apparently, in the theatre of Rome in Jesus’ day, a key part of the performance was the chorus. The chorus would sing and the actors would “answer to the chorus.” This is what the Pharisees were doing. Again, the term “hypocrite” refers to a stage actor. They were answering to the chorus. They were seeking their approval. The Christian is concerned about the audience of one, our Lord. We are concerned with what He sees. We are concerned about His reward. We want the reward that lasts, not the temporary one.

This week I passed by “Speaker’s Circle” a few times and saw Brother Jed and his cohorts doing their “preaching.” I thought about walking by and screaming, “Fee Fi Fo Fee, I see a Pharisee” and marching on, but I restrained myself. It sickened me to see Jed and some other guy, standing out there, basking in all the attention, glorifying themselves. Others, like our own Brenda, were sitting in the circle, trying to share the true gospel, out of the sight of the masses, but in the sight of God.

No, Brother Jed and friends weren’t attracting positive attention, as perhaps the Pharisees of Jesus’s day were. But they are still Pharisees. Jed and friends applaud themselves in their hearts, of course. This is their main concern, I’m convinced. But if they get some praise from others, great. However, if they don’t, great, too. They can play the “martyr” card.
Either way, blessing or cursing, the attention they receive feeds their egos within. And that’s the chief concern of Pharisees—to make themselves the center of the universe. It’s idolatry. It’s self-worship.

Christians worship God. That is our chief concern. And we do it through Christ alone. Christ is the only one who gave, prayed, and fasted perfectly with perfect motives. Those that repent and believe in Him have His perfect life given to them, so that they may stand blameless before the Father. He also died a cruel death for those that have failed to give and pray and fast as they should. Those that repent and believe have His perfect death given to them, as well. He lived for us. We can stand before God the Father perfect. He died for us. We can stand before God the Father forgiven.

But those that repent and believe do so because they’ve been reborn. And this rebirth takes our hearts of stone, as Ezekiel 36 puts it, and replaces them with hearts of flesh. We are given new hearts that now love God and can serve Him sincerely. God then sanctifies us, making us more and more like Him, purifying our hearts more and more. We are changed to meet these demands in Matthew 6 through Christ alone. We can now give, pray, and fast rightly.

So this calling of Matthew 6:1-18 should make us incredibly dependent upon the gospel. We need Christ’s life and death to stand before God. We need the Spirit to change us into people that can serve sincerely.

Christian fasting, therefore, like Christian giving and praying, is done in God’s power for His glory. It’s not done in our strength for our praise. It’s done for the audience of one.

This, of course, begs a question that I hope to answer in our remaining time this morning. What is Christian fasting? Jesus says again, in verses 16-18, “when you fast.” He assumes we will fast. But what is it? I will attempt to answer this question from six angles that reflect the six big questions journalists try to answer in each news story. I learned these in my writing days, and I think they help us as we try to look at the contours of most any issue. We will look at who, what, when, where, why, and how.

First, who fasts? We’ve answered this in a way already this morning—Christians fast. But some would disagree with this. Notice how much more we hear about the first two topics we’ve seen in Matthew 6. Everybody knows we should give and pray. But who talks about fasting? I’ll never forget the time that I was speaking about this passage in another church. The pastor I worked with actually told me that I should skip it, because nobody knows much about it or does it!
Some would argue that it’s a Jewish practice that was abolished thanks to Christ. Others would say that it is a Catholic thing that good Protestants should avoid. But here’s the problem with that: Jesus fasted, as we know, in Matthew 4, He assumed we would do it here in Matthew 6, and He taught that believers would one day do it in Matthew 9. Turn with me to Matthew 9:14-15. It reads,

Matthew 9:14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" 15 And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

Jesus’s answer here teaches that, when He is taken away, or when He ascended to heaven, His disciples would fast. That time is now, brothers and sisters. Fasting is intended to be a normal part of the Christian life until we rejoice again in the presence of the bridegroom. In addition, the early church, as told in Acts, fasted. Fasting is a Christian, New Covenant practice. All believers should fast.

Second, what is fasting? First, here’s what it’s not. It’s not simply a powerful political weapon. Ghandi is one known for fasting for political purposes. His country’s laws read that a creditor could only collect from a debtor through shame. The creditor would sit in front of the debtor’s house without food for as long as it took for the debtor to be shamed into paying. Said Eric Rogers,

This very Indian technique worked for Gandhi. His fasting undoubtedly touched more hearts than anything else he did. Not just in India, but practically everywhere, men were haunted by the image of a frail little man cheerfully enduring privation for the sake of a principle. The Bible speaks of something much greater than a hunger strike.

Fasting is also more than just a sound medical practice. If one searched on the World Wide Web, one would find numerous sites dedicated to the health benefits of fasting.
I remember when I lived in Chicago briefly a man who was the superintendent over the Jewish synagogue I lived in. The other seminarians and I worked for him in taking care of the grounds and the facilities. This man, a Russian immigrant, annually fasted for 30 days for health reasons. He claimed it was very beneficial and many experts would agree. One would die quickly without water but can live days without food. It’s considered a healthy thing to do. But any good health that results is but a secondary benefit of the fasting Jesus speaks of.
It’s also not just another religious practice. All cultures and nations and religions everywhere fast and have historically done so. Muslims do so during Ramadan. The high caste of the Hindus, the Brahmans, fast quite seriously.
But it even goes broader than that. Listen to John Piper in his helpful book, Hunger for God,

The Andaman Islanders... abstain from certain fruits, edible roots, etc. at certain seasons, because the god Puluga... requires them, and would send a deluge if the taboo were broken.... Among the Koita of New Guinea a woman during pregnancy must not eat bandicoot, echidna, certain fish, and iguana; and the husband must observe the same food taboos.... Among the Yoruba, [at the death of a husband] widows and daughters are shut up and must refuse all food for at least 24 hours.... In British Columbia, the Stlatlumh (Lilooet) spent four days after the funeral feast in fasting, lamentations, and ceremonial ablutions.... Before slaying the eagle, a sacred bird, the professional eagle-killer among the Cherokees had to undergo a long vigil of prayer and fasting.... [Other] American Indian youth [often undergo prolonged austerities] in order that by means of a vision [they] may see the guardian spirit which will be [theirs] for the remainder of [their] life.... Among the tribes of New South Wales, boys at the bora ceremonies are kept for two days without food, and receive only a little water (Piper, 27).
So fasting is more than just going without food for spiritual reasons. Almost all religious movements do that. We’re talking particularly about Christian fasting here. I think it primarily is an expression of a longing for the bridegroom that He himself speaks of in Matthew 9:15. We’ll get more to the why later. Christian fasting has to do with abstaining from food as an expression of faith in and repentance toward Christ. If it’s not about Jesus, it’s not Christian fasting.

Let’s briefly consider the when of fasting. I’ll remind you again what Matthew 9:15 teaches. Jesus says, “The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” This was Jesus’s explanation for why His disciples didn’t fast, unlike those of John. It also implies that, when we join with Christ again one day in a new heavens and new earth, we’ll no longer fast. Fasting will give way to feasting. We will be with the bridegroom again. Now, in the interval between Christ’s first coming and His second, we fast.

But we obviously don’t fast every day. When, more specifically, do we fast? The only commanded fast in Scripture is the one associated with the Day of Atonement in the Law of Moses. Leviticus 16:29-30 says,

Leviticus 16:29 "And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you. 30 For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins.
We know, however, that Jesus changed all of that. As Matthew 5:17-20 states, he fulfilled the law. Hebrews 10:10 teaches that “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Christ’s death was the Day of Atonement, the day the previous Jewish event foreshadowed. That day of fasting is no more. Now certain fasting days are not required. Believers are free in Christ, however, to fast.
We see circumstances in Scripture where the people of God fasted. Primarily, these times are grouped into two categories—penitence and prayer. First, regarding penitence, we see when Jonah preached to Nineveh, as found in Jonah chapter 3, the Ninevites repented and fasted. Listen to verses 4-10.

Jonah 3:4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. 6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish." 10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
In Daniel 9, Daniel went to God on behalf of His sinful people. Daniel said, in verse 3, “Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking Him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.”

Here is one last biblical example. The King Ahaz was so wicked that 1 Kings 21:25 says, “There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the LORD like Ahab.” But, when the king heard the impending judgment of God, he repented. Verses 27 and 29 state,
1 Kings 21:27 And when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly. 28 And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 29 "Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; but in his son's days I will bring the disaster upon his house."

Fasting is connected much in Scripture with repentance. Many other examples could be given. As with Ahab, God listens to those who fast with penitence.

Fasting is also associated with prayer. In the book of Ezra, the prophet calls for a time of fasting and prayer prior to the nation’s return from Babylon to Israel. He and God’s people fast to ask God for protection. Listen to Ezra 8:21-23.

Ezra 8:21 Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. 22 For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, "The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him." 23 So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.

Other examples are found in the book of Acts when fasting accompanied the beginning of ministry. In Acts 13, the leaders of the early church sent out apostles with fasting and prayer. Verses 2-3 state,

Acts 13:2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

In Acts 14:23, fasting is associated with the ordaining of elders. Luke says there “when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” About this passage, John MacArthur had this to say:

Only the Lord knows how much the leadership of the church today could be strengthened if congregations were that determined to find and follow the Lord’s will. The early church did not choose or send out leaders carelessly or by popular vote. Above all they sought and followed God’s will. Fasting has no more power to assure godly leadership than it has to assure forgiveness, protection, or any other good thing from God. But it is likely to be a part of sincere dedication that is determined to know the Lord’s will and have His power before decisions are made, plans are laid, or actions are taken. People who are consumed with concern before God do not take a lunch break.

So those are two main circumstances for fasting in Scripture—repentance and prayer. Obviously there is much overlap between the two. Other examples could also be given. That answers part of the “when” question—those are occasions for fasting. As far as frequency, there is freedom as believers to decide this. However, Jesus says again, “when you fast.” He assumes we will do so.

Let’s turn to where. Fasting can take place in private or in public. Last week, we discussed the fact that, just because Jesus is warning His disciples about praying to get praise from humans, there are public prayers all over Scripture. He wasn’t condemning all public prayers. The same applies to fasting. We see group fasts in Scripture. There is a difference between fasting “before others” and fasting to “be seen by others.” Matthew 5:16 tells us to let our light shine. But the shining is for the glory of the Father. Public fasts, as long as they glorify God and not the group, are biblical and good. But we are sinners. Beware.

Next, let’s consider why. Let me answer this simply. We fast to express a humble dependence upon God. The term often used for fasting in the Bible is to “humble your souls.” In Leviticus 16:29, which we just read, it says, “You shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work.” That phrase “afflict yourselves” is a common phrase for fasting and literally means “humble your souls.” We also see it in the passage read earlier, in Isaiah 58:3. Isaiah, quoting the Jewish people, says, “Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?” That phrase, here translated “humbled ourselves” is the same as in Leviticus 16. Here, that expression for fasting is placed parallel with a more technical term for fasting. See, biblically, fasting and humility are linked. This act of religious devotion is an expression of our great neediness as humans and, more particularly, our great neediness for the Lord.

Think about it for a second. Our body needs nothing more than food. We can lay around naked for awhile. We can live on the streets for awhile. But we can’t go too long without food. It is necessary. Our greatest need, however, as humans is for God.

Fasting, as John Piper puts it, can function as the “handmaid of faith.” Jesus said, in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” Jesus warned, in verse 27, “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.” In verse 51, He says, “If anyone eats of this bread, He will live forever.” In verse 54, He teaches, “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” Faith could be defined as hungering for Christ. Fasting, as we are reminded of our great hunger for food, can cultivate in us a deeper hunger for our Lord and Savior.

And this great hunger for God once again glorifies Him. The Pharisees, if they were asked, “Why do you fast?” would have answered in spiritual-sounding words. But their motivation was clearly to glorify self. Our motivation must be to bring glory to God. As we fast, we cultivate in our hearts a hunger for God, or faith, that brings Him honor. So, when asked, “Why do you fast?” we should answer, “To express and cultivate our hunger for God for the glory of God.” In other words, as we’ve seen here in Matthew 6:16-18, we fast to express that God is our reward and to receive our reward from the Father. Christ Himself is our reward, but let me give you some other secondary rewards here that further answer the question, “Why do we fast?”

1. It reminds us that Christianity is a matter of desire. Christianity is not just a matter of the intellect. Even the demons have that. It’s not just a matter of the will, of making choices. We make our choices for a reason. Our choices are made based on the strongest desire at the time. Fasting reminds us, as we long for food, that our desire for things other than God amounts to sin and our desire for God amounts to faith. Our task is not to kill our desires. It is to focus them on the right object that can truly satisfy, namely God.

2. It reminds us that God must be our strongest desire. Christianity is a hunger for God. Fasting reminds us of that. We must long for Him and need Him like we long for and have need of food. Each hunger pang should remind us of that. In fact, we must love the giver of bread, the Bread of Life, far more than the bread on our kitchen table. We must not be idolaters, falling in love with the object rather than the reality it represents. Fasting helps us to fight that.

3. It reminds us that we’re sustained by His every word. Matthew 4:4 states that “man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." As we are dependent on food for physical life, so are we dependent on His food for spiritual life. Without it, we perish. With it, we grow and mature. Fasting reminds us of this. In reality, fasting is feasting. We feast on the word while we fast from the food. Fasting reminds us that the word is the true feast, as well as the source of sustenance.

4. It reveals to us our sin. In His book Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster states that “more than any other discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us.” He goes on to say,
This is a wonderful benefit to the true disciple who longs to be transformed in to the image of Jesus Christ. We cover up what is inside us with food and other good things, but in fasting these things surface. If pride controls us, it will be revealed almost immediately. David writes, “I humbled my soul with fasting” (Ps. 69:10). Anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, fear— if they are within us, they will surface during fasting. At first we will rationalize that our anger is due to our hunger; then we will realize that we are angry because the spirit of anger is within us. We can rejoice in this knowledge because we know that healing is available through the power of Christ.
5. It reminds us to live in moderation. We are to be disciplined at all times and fast at some times. Fasting reminds us of this, that no physical things should control us.

6. It brings us back into focus. One of the proven physical benefits of fasting is a renewed clarity of mind. But it goes deeper than that. Fasting will renew our focus and realign our priorities. It will get our hearts back into prayer.

7. It helps us to identify with and care for the hungry. In the passage we read earlier, Isaiah 58, God is angered that His people are fasting, acting spiritually great, while not helping the poor. God says,

Isaiah 58:6 "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Fasting helps us feel their pain. We also can use the money for the food we pass up to ease their pain.

8. It allows us to see God move. God has willed to work through fasting and prayer. We will see Him, as He wills, respond and work in our lives and in the lives of others.

What about the how question? What should our approach to fasting be? We see at least three types of fasts in Scripture. First, in Matthew 4, it says Jesus, after “fasting forty days and forty nights,” was “hungry.” Then Satan challenged Him to turn stones into bread. He tempted Him with food, not water. This is the normal way of fasting in the Bible—abstaining from food, sometimes for an extended period of time, while drinking water.

Sometimes we also see absolute fasts. In Acts 9:9, it says Paul was blind for three days, following his conversion, and “neither ate nor drank.” In Esther 4, when the Jewish people were threatened, and the new queen was preparing to plead before the king on behalf of her people, she commanded the Jews, in verse 16, to “not eat or drink for three days, night or day.”

Scripture also mentions partial fasts. For example, in Daniel 10:2-3, it reads, “In those days, I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks.” It’s possible the Pharisees got the idea of not anointing themselves with oil from this passage. Regardless, Daniel just did without meat and wine. This is a partial fast.

The Bible also speaks of fasts from other things— like marital relations. 1 Corinthians 7:5 states, “Do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.” This devotion to prayer is likely, as the King James translates it, fasting. Fasting from sex was for the purpose of fasting from food. I take that to mean that depriving oneself from food is a higher thing than depriving oneself from sexual relations or other things. Man can live without sex, but he can’t live without food. Nothing like eating and drinking illustrates our need for God; nothing like fasting reminds us of our superior need for Him.

So fasting really necessitates forsaking food. Some would want to fast from TV or the elevator or whatever. Those might teach us to rely more on God, but never in the same way that food can. We can’t live without food.

We also can’t forget, regarding the how question, that we fast with much struggle and difficulty. I remember people honestly whining about getting headaches or getting grouchy. That’s the point, folks. Our bodies need food. They get sick without it. They bring out the bad stuff on the inside. Going without food reminds us how much we need God. It is an exercise of self-discipline. Expect to feel terrible when you go without food. Our sin numbs us from seeing that we’re really terrible without God. Fasting helps us to break through that sin.

To summarize, who: Christian believers are expected to fast. What: Fasting is abstaining from food to express a longing for the great bridegroom. When: This interval before the consummation, when penitence and prayer should be expressed, is the time for it. Where: Public or private realms are appropriate, provided the believer does it for God’s glory. Why: Ultimately God’s glory is the reason we fast, as we express our humble need for Him. We seek the Father as our great reward. How: Primarily fasting is abstaining from food, not water. It is a struggle as our bodies remind us of exactly how much our souls need God.

Brothers and sisters, my desire is that Grace Church would be a place where people fast—where we express our great need for God individually and as a church. This Wednesday would be a perfect place to begin as we start our second “Grace Group” and move into a new phase. Would you fast with me?

The Pharisees fasted. But they did it to be seen and rewarded by men. Jesus tells us to fast, but to do it to be seen and rewarded by God. We need Him, the great Reward. Nothing reminds us more of this than fasting. He is the “bread of life.” He is the “living water.” Everything about fasting screams that we should see ourselves as small and God as big. But our sin is great. We need God to change our hearts so that we see our great need for Him and the great hunger we should have for Him. We need grace to save and transform sinners like us.

In this past week’s Columbia Tribune, there was this sickening story about a Columbia woman named Sarah Herman who faked having terminal stomach cancer to pilfer her friends out of money. She claimed that she didn’t have money to go to the Mayo Clinic and get the treatment she needed. Her friends started the S.O.S campaign, which stood for “Save Our Sarah.” They had a benefit concert at the Blue Note that raised $1800.

But, one day some friends tried to send flowers to the Mayo Clinic, and they hadn’t heard of her. Her friends grew suspicious when they saw no symptoms. Her friends confronted her about it, and she claimed she had been cured. Friends didn’t buy the story and neither did the police. She finally confessed to duping them and faking cancer. Now she faces criminal charges and as much as seven years in jail.

Brothers and sisters, these were the tactics of the Pharisees—acting on the outside something that wasn’t on the inside, for their personal gain. Maybe the masses were fooled. But God wasn’t fooled. He sees the heart. He rewards the sincere. He judges the hypocrites. Let us pray that God will make us people, whether in giving, praying, or fasting, or any other Christian deeds, who honor Him, and not self.