Matthew 6:1; 16-18 — Series on the Mount #22

Good evening, before we get started with the message, let me remind you that we will share in Communion tonight, and as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 11:28, each person should examine himself or herself before eating the bread or drinking from the cup, so as to not take communion in an unworthy manner.

All that said, no one around you knows where your heart is tonight. You may be tracking well, or you may have some un-confessed sin that is owning you right now. I would just ask that you give anything back over to God and surrender again to Him tonight before we take communion, Amen?

Now lets get to our message.

Please turn in you Bibles to Matthew 6:1.

1"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

Now, if you remember, a couple weeks ago, we we started here and talked about three areas that Jesus talked about: Giving to the needy; prayer; and Fasting. And on the first night we talked about how or Lord, used these three areas as examples of where we can do good things in the eyes of the world, we can even do things that are important values in the Scriptures, but if they are done to make us look good, and not done to glorify God, then He says, it's worthless.

Tonight, we are going to look at fasting. And remember that, to the Jewish people that Jesus was addressing this was standard operating procedure. And, too the early churches that carried the faith early on through the centuries after Jesus ascended into Heaven, this was a S.O.P.

Now today, you still see a lot of Christians who give to the needy, and we're going to address that next week.

And, you always hear Christ followers talking about prayer, and we discussed that a couple of weeks back.

But fasting? This is an area that many in the church, myself included, seem to set aside.
So we're going to dig in tonight, and see what Jesus has to say about it, before we do, let's pray...

Ok, now let's read starting at Matthew 6:16, and we'll go through verse 18.

16 "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, 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 men 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.

Before we go any further, let's define fasting. In Greek, it is na-stee-you-o. It means “to abstain as a religious exercise from food and drink: either entirely, if the fast lasted but a single day, or from customary and choice nourishment, if it continued several days.”

I have seen some who abstain from everything but water for several days, up to 14 days. Others are sun up to sun down fasters for a day or more.

The point is that we give up something that satisfies a need of our flesh, in order to focus our hearts and minds on our Lord for several different reasons, and we'll tackle some of those reasons a little later.

Moving on. I know we've been talking about this for quite a while now, and I don't want to insult your intelligence, but again, No matter what you are doing, do not do it to puff yourself up. It is not service to God, if your motivation is to build your ego.

Jesus makes it clear, if that is why you do any religious activity, then that applause from the crowd, is all you can expect to get from it.

Now we can see in a parallel to that principle another danger.

Let me explain, there are areas of our life where we get so focused on the imagined short term, immediate benefit, that we loose sight of our eternal rewards.

In fact, I would say that most of the time that we sin it is because we are looking for immediate satisfaction, even though that satisfaction never lives up to our expectations and never lasts. And it usually ends in guilt, heartache, or relational damage.

Look at the adulterer, who gives up on the beautiful gift of a marriage that ends well at the end of a long life. He gives it away for the immediate desire to chase the new girl at work. Or she gives it up for that old boyfriend who has come back into her life.

Or look at the addict, or the alcoholic who has begun to see the light of a life lived without enslavement to chemicals. He or she trades that new life in for “one more” and it leads to regret, betrayal and at times, I've seen it lead to death.

And you look at the couple trying hard to get out of debt, a financial strain that causes stress on their relationship, stops them from being able to make choices about careers, or even their mission in the church, and really just keeps them down. So they begin to make progress, they start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But then there's that temptation for that television, or the car breaks down again and they rationalize an excuse to buy new instead of just paying for the repairs and then the cycle of debt starts all over again.

It's the same in nearly any area of sin that you look at.

And this does not conform to God's perfect will for our lives, but if this is what we choose, if we choose – over and over again to turn to the immediate instead of to the eternal, then God will turn us over to it.

We see this in Romans 1:20-25, turn with me there. And in this context, we see God's reaction, when we turn to things other than Him for satisfaction. Here specifically, Paul talks about honoring things He created, more than glorifying the Creator of all Things!

20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

And we see this in other people all the time, right? We look into the train wreck of someone else's life (think of your favorite celebrity or unfortunate relative here) and we say, “What were they thinking? Didn't they realize what they were walking into?”

But Jesus says this is a potential trap for anyone, to make something or someone more important in our lives than our Father in Heaven.

And He says here it's not always something that is obviously bad, many times we take something good and make it ultimate, and that is just as sinful as shooting heroine with a prostitute.

So with that in mind,

16 "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting.

(UNPACK - if a person looks bad then it can make everyone wonder what's up and bring the focus away from God.)

I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face

(UNPACK - this hearkens back to a passage in Ecclesiastes 9:7-9 that talks about being ready to enjoy life with the ones you love. So in other words, don't play up the fact that you are hungry, instead reflect joy in the world {or at least comfort}. He'll continue that concept here in verse 18 ),

18 so that it will not be obvious to men 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.

Now, lets dig in a little deeper, because there have been a lot of times when I've had to check my prayer life to snuff out any impurity, and there have been times when I have caught myself getting a little proud of my giving to charity or church. But I've never seen a time when this has been a problem when I fast.

Why is that, you ask.
Because I'm so holy. And I've got this all figured out.

I'm kidding.

No, it's because this, fasting, is a discipline that I am still trying to submit to in my walk with God.

Honestly, I am just not very good at fasting. And I doubt I'm alone, so lets look at why we fast and a couple of suggestions about how to live it out.

I say suggestions, because this is not commanded in the New Testament, we do not have a day of atonement that we are required to fast on like the nation of Israel was commanded to do.

The Day of Atonement pointed to the final, once and for all sacrifice for our sins that happened on Calvary.

So the ceremonies from the old Testament ended with Jesus' ultimate sacrifice. So, I'm not going to tell you that you have to fast during lent, or for the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve or every fifth Tuesday. Here's what I will tell you.

Fasting is a way of restoring and building our individual fellowship with God, it is a way of focusing ourselves in meditation and becoming more receptive to direction from the Holy Spirit...

And, even though it is not commanded for the Christ follower, it is assumed that we would do this as a part of our walk in Faith.
Again, in the sermon on the Mount Jesus says, “When you fast.”

And in Matthew 9, John the Baptist's disciples wanted to know why everyone was fasting except for Jesus and His crew.

Now, Jesus didn't say, “Fasting? What are you talking about? That's Old Testament stuff. We don't need to fast, little buddy.”

No! He told them in Matthew 9:15, “...The bride groom is with them, but there will be a day when the bridegroom (that's Jesus) will be taken away from them, (when Jesus ascended into Heaven) and after He is gone, then they will fast.”

And then, in later parts of the New Testament we see that fleshed out.
In Acts 13:3, the church at Antioch received direction from the Holy Spirit after fasting and prayer.

In Acts 14:23, we see that elders were appointed for various churches through fasting and prayer.

In 1 Corinthians 7:5, we see a fasting, not from food, but from sex, for a time, so that the husband and wife can refocus their prayer lives.

And, in the Old Testament, we see that fasting not only came at times of repentance or in times when decisions needed to be made, but also times of mourning, like In 2 Samuel 1:12, when David and the men with him mourned over the death of Saul and Jonathan.

And in Psalms 35:13, where David fasted and prayed for intercession for others who are sick.

And in Ezra 10:6, when Ezra fasted in a time of mourning over the sins of the Jews in exile.

And in Nehemiah 1:4, when Nehemiah fasted in mourning for the broken down wall around Jerusalem.

So fasting served a purpose in many different life situations. And we can see that today.

Today, when you get a bad report from the doctor, or when you lose a loved one, or you are made aware of a moral failure in the church, or you witness a church split, or you have sin in your life that you cannot seem to find victory in, or you seem to be having trouble connecting with God in prayer because of the many, many, many distractions in life – in any and all of those situations, the answer for you may be to fast.

What has been true in my life and what I have seen in the lives of others and in the Scriptures, is that GOD honors fasting when it is done with the right heart.

And when I have done it, here's what I've found, it has brought me closer to Him in a more tangible way than when I only prayed.

Now, there are several reasons that I can see.

First off, I am easily distracted. I am one who, like I said a few weeks ago, my brain jumps from one thing to another and I will find myself thinking about the car needing an oil change, instead of conversing with God.

For some reason though, when I am fasting, when my body is hungry, my mind seems to focus easier on the present moment.

Also, fasting provides an excellent opportunity to stay in a more continual time of prayer.

And this is where I think the Pharisees missed the boat. Instead of making pained faces and telling people about it when they felt weak or hungry, the hunger pains should instead have been used as prompts for prayer.

See, you may be like me. When I am hungry, fasting or not, I am constantly thinking about that hunger. So those prompts come to us over and over and with each prompt we can be reminded to go to God.

And depending on why we are fasting it can be a prompt to go to Him with gratitude, or to go to Him in prayer for an unbelieving friend or family member, or to go to Him to ask for wisdom or guidance in a major decision, or to go to him for the willingness to submit to His will, which may be going against everything we've thought or lived for up to that point.

Whatever your reason for fasting, each hunger pain each dizzy spell, can be a prompt for prayer. And the more we pray the more we cut through the surface elements and we dig down to the heart of the matter.

This works, this is designed by a God who loves us and wants us to come to Him in an honest level of submission.

Now, let me address one thing that I think may have gotten a bit distorted in the church recently.

We, or at least I, am quick to look for the path of least resistance. I gravitate toward the easier, softer way of doing things. So I heard pastors say that really, food isn't necessarily the issue. And that we can fast from anything that distracts us.

I am by no means discrediting that. But I would say that the two things that Scriptures seem to talk about when there is a time of abstaining is food and sex.
So, I am not going to be the pastor that says, keep the chicken wings, give up your iPod for a week, or keep the foot long meatball sub, but stop watching television for a month.

It is my experience that giving up other things can be very beneficial, but nothing brings me back to fellowship with God quicker or more substantially than fasting from food. So that's what I suggest.

The truth is, when I stopped watching television for a month, I figured out that I didn't need a fast, I just needed to cut my cable off.

For you it may not be vegging out in front of a TV., for you it might be shopping trips that don't fulfill a specific need, you know. For you it might be endless hours on face book, or playing video games.

Nothing sinful, just a lot of time diverted from YOUR Kingdom mission.

There's some things you don't need to fast from, you just need to get rid of them, Pray that God would make you aware of what those things might be in your life.

And we will close soon, but let me give this helpful advice. If you are not used to fasting, if this is not a normal part of your faith walk YET, then I would advise not to go overboard right out of the gate.

Again, I suggest a fast from food, but you may need to start by just skipping a meal, then two, then fasting from sun up to sun down, then a couple days, then a week.
I am a bit impulsive, so I have a habit of going farther than I should. Don't be like me. Take it slow, take it with the right heart, take the steps in faith, but also with wisdom, if you are diabetic or hypoglycemic or whatever, if you have a health condition, talk with a doctor first, you may need to fast from food, but still have juice or something, whatever they advise.

And however fasting takes shape in your walk with God, remember the admonition from the Sermon on the Mount and don't do it for others to see, do it in private as much as possible.

Now, if you've been fasting today, this may be the best time to break the fast. Tonight we will end in a time of Communion.

This is a time for all of us who are Christ followers to share in a ceremony instituted by our Lord before He was betrayed.

He told His disciples that the bread was to represent His body, which would soon be broken for them (us).

Then He took the wine and said it represented the blood that would be spilled for us.

And He told them, “Every time you do this, do it in remembrance of me.”

And that's is what we are going to do tonight.

If you are not a Christ follower, if you have not yet given your life over to Him, we want to welcome you to the Church in the Grass, but we would ask that you refrain from taking the bread or the cup. Scripturally, this is a time of fellowship to be shared by believers.

That said, we do practice open communion, meaning that no mater what denomination you are a part of, whether you are from the Christian Church, the United Methodist, Baptist, what ever, so long as you follow Christ, you are welcome to partake.
But before we do, let's pray...