Sunday 04-08-19 Ascend part 15 little but plenty.
Matt 6:16-21 16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, 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 others 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. 19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matt 6:16-21 MsgB 16-18 “When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don’t make a production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity but it won’t make you a saint. If you ‘go into training’ inwardly, act normal outwardly. Shampoo and comb your hair, brush your teeth, wash your face. God doesn’t require attention-getting devices. He won’t overlook what you are doing; he’ll reward you well. 19-21 “Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.
It is one of the curious aspects of Christianity that we worship a saviour who’s chief outreach method was sharing meals with people, getting himself invited to meals with people and multiplying meals for people…and yet it seems that fasting is a no-brainer spiritual practice in the early Church.
Obviously, when Jesus speaks these words, the N.T. church does not technically exist yet, Acts 13-14 particularly seems to imply that it was an expected practice in the early church, particularly being co-mingled with prayer and at times of important decision. Just on that, if you are planning to come along and vote at the AGM on the 8th of September, might I encourage a time of fasting the day before? So what is it all about? Here is the launch point for our discussion this morning: of all the spiritual disciplines; Fasting is an act of anticipation.
- Why are people fasting? (context)
V16 When you fast, do not look sombre as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting.
We again see Jesus assuming that his original audience are already participating in the subject matter that he is addressing. It seems that fasting was very much a thing in the 1st century Jewish world. So, why are people doing it? Moreover, why are particularly the religious elites not only participating in it, but making a show of it?
Let me sidestep and take you back to Luke 2:36b-38 Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four.[e]She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. Fasting is an act of anticipation. They’re waiting for the messiah.
This only get’s more interesting and more significant as we move forward to Luke 5; 33 They (the teachers of the law) said to him (Jesus), “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”
Can you see the Irony here because it’s a thick as treacle? Part of the reason why fasting became so public was as a signpost to others to get on it to build the anticipation of the messiah and as an act of non-violent resistance to Roman rule. These teachers of the law in Luke 5 run into Jesus and having done the theological equation in their head and they’re basically freaking out, saying to Jesus; “if you and your disciples don’t join in the fasting, the messiah we’re anticipating won’t turn up!” In short; “dude, you’re mucking up the program!” Jesus’ answer is brilliant. 34 Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? He confirms that it is an act of anticipation (imagery of the bridegroom) and thus appropriate to John’s role as the forerunner to the messiah but then tells them within their own framework that he’s the one they’ve been anticipating. And they don’t see it.
Please don’t miss that because there is a further statement of Jesus in verse 35 that draws a line into the future But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.” I used to think that this was referring to the Easter narrative. But in John 21, before the risen Jesus appears to him, Peter says that he’s going fishing. Also, Luke 24:41 the risen Jesus asks the disciples if they have some food handy and they hand him something to eat. After the crucifixion, there is no mention of fasting in the New Testament until after the ascension of Christ.
So why would you fast after Jesus has risen and ascended? In other words, what is the bedrock of why we fast today? It’s this simple, they were anticipating the appearance of the messiah and appearance of the Kingdom of God, we are anticipating his coming again and the full realisation of his kingdom. Here’s why it matters: I mentioned at the beginning that fasting has dropped off the radar a bit in modern Christianity. Could it be because our anticipation of the second coming has dropped off a bit too?
- The ‘secret’ of Spiritual Disciplines. (is to do them in secret)
(v 17-18) But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others 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.
So Jesus, affirming and confirming the idea and practice of fasting itself, as usual goes where no one is expecting. He takes it from a public to a private act. In doing so, he adds to the expectation side of fasting the idea of dependence. The physical feeling of hunger that only we can feel in the middle of a fast confirms to us our complete reliance on God. But deeper still, the challenge to complete a fast in secret reveals back to our soul just how much we are relying on nourishment from God or from others. Living in a time and place of such abundance, I have found shockingly difficult to keep a fast secret for two reasons. Reason 1 is because there is an unspoken cultural need to explain why you might be refusing to partake in food or drink in a person’s presence. But reason 2 is because I tend to get really, I mean, really hangry. To the point where my wife begins to suspect I might be fasting anyway. Now feel free to giggle at this, but I honestly find myself quite troubled by how dependant my temperament is upon the feeling of a full belly.
Especially when Philippians 3:19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. If our soul is infected by an mindset of sin, we’ll struggle to fast in secret because somewhere deep down a voice will be saying; “If I’m going to put myself through such anguish, I want some notice, reward or even distracting experience now.” Are you looking for a way to find out where you’re really at in your relationship with Jesus? I haven’t found a better way to find out than the practice of denying yourself what you’d normally take for granted simply for the sake of worship…all in absolute secrecy. Friends, fasting walks hand in hand with prayer because it puts us in touch with the truth.
- The truth behind fasting. (Every yes implies a no.)
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Yes, ignore the title break in your bibles, this is directly linked to Jesus’ teaching on fasting. In fact it all comes under the general theme of investing in the heavens. The great truth that the Christian practice of fasting puts us in touch with and the summary of the above 3 verses is this: Every yes, implies a no. If you get nothing else from this morning and only remember this, I’ll be happy.
There is a great myth that I believe has shipwrecked the faith and life of more people than anything else. It is the false belief that the rich young ruler thought he could get away with in Mark 10, It lies at the very heart of the machine of capitalism. Here it is: you can have it all. It’s closest sibling: you can do it all. If nothing else spiritually kills you, this will. A grave sin or heresy will rock a church to its core, split it and deeply damage it. But this myth, fully believed will kill it. The stupidest thing I have ever done in my ministry life…is stand in conversations telling people how much we do at Waratah. How busy we are.
We must repent. Before it kills us, we must repent. The truth is, we cannot have it all. We cannot do it all. Every time we say yes to something we’re in that moment, saying no to something else. In other words; fasting makes you realise…..you’re always fasting from something. To say yes to distraction is to fast from prayer. To say yes to sin….is to reject relationship. To invest in ‘my best life now’, is rejecting the life God has for me. To say a blind yes to more activity is good way to avoid deep community. To focus on our own preferences is to reject those who don’t know Jesus. You, me, we cannot have it all.
I appreciate the wonderful ways folks contribute on rosters here at Waratah. But I would rather sing without microphones around a single acoustic guitar from old school songbooks, with a cold cup of self-serve tea on dirty carpet than minister to a church or burned out, unreleased people unable to connect with anyone else because they were too busy working for God to be with God. Even carols isn’t sacred!
We cannot have it all, but to tell you the truth, I feel nervous even saying these things because I know some of the stories of some sitting in this room and what they have had to give up, and continue to give up to simply follow Jesus and invest in his Kingdom and they should be standing here preaching to me.
- In the here and now:
So maybe for those folks especially, let me finish with a wonderful encouragement that we can all think on. Returning to that central truth of every yes, implies a no and combining it with the idea of fasting as an act of anticipation.
Every yes implies a no. Our salvation depends on it. We know that we can be saved because Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath on our behalf when he prayed that if possible, it might pass from him…..and God said no. But take this concept, rewind the tape further back in his life to Matthew 4, when Jesus is driven into the desert. What guarantee do we have that when we fast in expectation, God will manifest himself in some way? This: when Jesus fasted in the desert as the perfect representative of humanity…before he got anything from heaven….he got a battle with Satan and he won in our place.
Heaven is not some far off place in the future, the treasure is available to be ‘drawn down upon’ in the here and now.
Folks we’re not going to see people come to Jesus through clever plans and great strategies. Revival doesn’t come because God’s people engineer it. Unity doesn’t happen because mortals command it. These things and even greater do happen, and will happen even in our region when God’s people come together in prayer and fasting with an expectation and anticipation that just like at every other time of revival in human history, God will pour his Spirit his presence will be so manifest in the churches that folks won’t be able to keep away.
That’s what fasting is all about. Anticipation of God’s arrival, never devoid of prayer. You always in the end get what you want.