WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.679 We're going to read together from Mark chapter 6, verses 16 to 18, and then from Mark chapter 2, verses 18 to 20. 00:00:08.679 --> 00:00:09.640 Jesus says, 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:35.320 In Mark chapter 2, verses 18 to 20, 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:04.019 This is God's holy word. 00:01:04.439 --> 00:01:06.140 We're working our way through the Sermon on the Mount. 00:01:06.299 --> 00:01:12.140 Last week we finished up looking at the Lord's Prayer, and so we carry on towards the end of Matthew chapter 6. 00:01:12.700 --> 00:01:17.280 And when Matthew wrote these words after Jesus had taught them, 00:01:17.960 --> 00:01:25.760 I don't think he would have ever guessed that fasting would be cool today for a completely different reason than the spiritual life. 00:01:25.939 --> 00:01:29.439 So today people love fasting, and they love intermittent fasting. 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:31.200 And all sorts of types of fasting. 00:01:31.859 --> 00:01:37.679 But we do it today, many people do it for fighting disease, and weight loss, and all sorts of good things. 00:01:37.739 --> 00:01:38.780 And it is pretty effective. 00:01:39.420 --> 00:01:44.019 But in the Bible, fasting is not there for physical health. 00:01:44.359 --> 00:01:45.459 It's there for spiritual health. 00:01:46.099 --> 00:01:50.879 And so fasting is an important practice that we see in the Old Testament and the New Testament. 00:01:51.060 --> 00:01:52.099 A religious practice. 00:01:52.840 --> 00:01:56.359 But here when you look closely at what Jesus teaches about fasting, 00:01:56.359 --> 00:02:00.459 we see, first, the heart of fasting. 00:02:01.219 --> 00:02:03.379 Secondly, the nature of fasting. 00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:09.479 And then finally, an answer to the question, how can you take a step towards it, especially if you've never fasted before? 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:14.659 So first, let's think about the heart of fasting that Jesus points us to here. 00:02:14.659 --> 00:02:23.859 We learn here in Matthew chapter 6, Jesus says that there are hypocrites who are making their faces look gloomy, 00:02:24.439 --> 00:02:28.759 disfiguring themselves so that their fasting could be seen by others in public. 00:02:29.099 --> 00:02:36.400 So who are these people that are making their faces look gloomy so that they can be seen by other people on days that they're fasting? 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:37.780 Well, it's probably the Pharisees. 00:02:38.539 --> 00:02:48.140 And here we're having just a brief reference by Jesus, a bit veiled to this battle that takes place all throughout Jesus' ministry. 00:02:48.680 --> 00:02:51.740 And the battle is between Jesus and tradition. 00:02:52.540 --> 00:02:55.759 Jesus and religious tradition in particular. 00:02:55.759 --> 00:03:04.299 And so we read also from Mark chapter 2 where the Pharisees come up to Jesus because his disciples never fast. 00:03:05.159 --> 00:03:13.780 And they say, why is it that John the Baptist's disciples fast and we fast, but you, Jesus, none of your followers, you don't fast. 00:03:14.620 --> 00:03:22.739 And Jesus says, can the people that come to a wedding feast, can they fast when the bridegroom, when the groom is there with them? 00:03:23.219 --> 00:03:23.799 That's the question. 00:03:23.800 --> 00:03:26.780 Just after that, they come back to him. 00:03:27.340 --> 00:03:33.920 His disciples are walking through the grain fields on the Sabbath day and they're picking ears of grain to eat, to grind in their fingers and eat. 00:03:34.360 --> 00:03:40.660 And the Pharisees say, how in the world can your disciples pick grain on the Sabbath day, a day of rest? 00:03:40.720 --> 00:03:41.560 Can they do this work? 00:03:42.280 --> 00:03:49.939 And you see that over and over again there's this battle taking place in the Gospels between Jesus and religion, Jesus and tradition, 00:03:49.939 --> 00:03:54.680 Jesus and the religious practices that were normal in the first century. 00:03:54.680 --> 00:04:07.480 Now, it's been about 75 years since religion and the practices of religion were something that could get you social capital in this culture. 00:04:08.480 --> 00:04:13.800 When religion really mattered for your standing in society, probably at least about 75 years since then. 00:04:13.800 --> 00:04:25.100 And just before that, in the 19th century and into the early 20th century, public leaders, philosophers, sociologists said that religion was going to die out. 00:04:25.220 --> 00:04:32.480 So we would eventually reach a time in the 20th century and especially in the 21st century where we lived in a religion-less society. 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:39.360 So people like Karl Marx and Freud and Nietzsche all said we're moving towards a religion-less society. 00:04:39.560 --> 00:04:41.140 That never happened, right? 00:04:41.180 --> 00:04:44.520 So we have many, many religious people still in our society. 00:04:44.900 --> 00:04:53.560 But today we're in a strange time where religion and religious practice will not get you any public capital, social capital, right? 00:04:53.720 --> 00:04:56.360 It doesn't really help you in your job, in your career. 00:04:56.520 --> 00:05:00.460 It doesn't help you advance in any obvious way in society. 00:05:00.459 --> 00:05:04.719 And at the same time, people are less hostile to religion than 20 years ago. 00:05:05.699 --> 00:05:07.859 So people are more interested in religion. 00:05:07.979 --> 00:05:08.639 They're curious. 00:05:09.019 --> 00:05:10.319 There's a resurgence of interest. 00:05:10.459 --> 00:05:17.539 We've felt that even here at St. Columbus with more and more people coming to explore the faith, religion, religious practice, 00:05:17.620 --> 00:05:19.599 and what people do at church and all these sorts of things, right? 00:05:20.579 --> 00:05:26.639 The thesis, the thesis I have for you tonight, if a sermon needs a thesis, maybe not, is this. 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:29.319 We don't need a return to religion. 00:05:29.319 --> 00:05:32.879 When you read the Gospels carefully, you see we don't need a return to religion. 00:05:33.420 --> 00:05:33.819 Why? 00:05:33.939 --> 00:05:36.300 Because Jesus Christ came to go to battle with religion. 00:05:37.339 --> 00:05:38.939 He came to go to battle against religion. 00:05:39.379 --> 00:05:43.839 We don't need a turn to what we might call mere religion, but true religion. 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:51.819 We need a return, a revival, a reawakening, a renewal of gospel religion, not mere religious practices. 00:05:52.139 --> 00:05:54.839 And that's exactly what Jesus is drawing out here in this passage. 00:05:54.939 --> 00:05:55.659 What is mere religion? 00:05:55.740 --> 00:05:57.079 We learn about it here. 00:05:57.079 --> 00:06:02.359 We could call it false religion, mere religion, mere tradition. 00:06:02.699 --> 00:06:09.839 And it's doing publicly respectable works of faith in order to be seen by other people. 00:06:10.899 --> 00:06:13.319 So mere religion is reputation management. 00:06:13.319 --> 00:06:21.060 It's doing public practices of faith in order to be seen by other people and known as a good, decent religious person. 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:25.139 And underneath it is a work of self-justification. 00:06:25.819 --> 00:06:32.439 So underneath mere religion, traditional religion, the formalism of religious practices is on the one hand pride, 00:06:32.439 --> 00:06:36.399 the deep desire to be known as a good person. 00:06:36.740 --> 00:06:43.899 On the other hand, it's an insecurity, a fear that says, if anybody finds out the truth about me, 00:06:43.980 --> 00:06:48.519 if I was ever really known for who I was, I'd be exposed, I'd be ruined, right? 00:06:48.519 --> 00:06:52.519 And so mere religion, religious practices are pretense. 00:06:52.639 --> 00:07:00.319 It's a pretense based in pride, driven by insecurity to publicly manage your reputation through being known as a good person, 00:07:00.579 --> 00:07:02.299 through the lens of religious practices. 00:07:02.539 --> 00:07:07.740 Now, in this passage, there's a fasting culture that's being referred to. 00:07:07.740 --> 00:07:14.759 And it's this, in the first century, according to the way Judaism had developed in the time between the Old Testament and the New Testament, 00:07:15.259 --> 00:07:17.780 people would fast on Mondays and Thursdays. 00:07:17.840 --> 00:07:20.639 The Pharisees fasted every Monday and every Thursday. 00:07:20.920 --> 00:07:23.879 And that's probably what Jesus is talking about here, when you fast. 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:27.800 So fasts are happening every single week on Mondays and Thursdays. 00:07:27.980 --> 00:07:33.199 And this is part of the three religious pillars that were normal in the first century. 00:07:33.319 --> 00:07:34.800 Jesus has been talking about them. 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:37.860 And Ryan and Lewis both looked at different ones with us. 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:42.100 He says, when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites, like the Pharisees. 00:07:42.439 --> 00:07:45.420 He says, when you give to the needy, don't be like the Pharisees. 00:07:45.480 --> 00:07:46.420 When you fast. 00:07:46.500 --> 00:07:48.680 So he's talking about these three different pillars. 00:07:48.900 --> 00:07:52.340 Prayer, giving to the needy, almsgiving, and fasting. 00:07:53.280 --> 00:07:58.240 And Jesus here is coming and not being down on the three religious practices. 00:07:58.400 --> 00:07:58.939 No, not at all. 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:01.259 Instead, he's talking about the motivation of the heart here. 00:08:01.259 --> 00:08:08.939 And he's trying to really uncover what's going on in the who we are directing these practices towards when we do them. 00:08:09.779 --> 00:08:15.159 So here the problem is that the Pharisees, when they fast, they're literally trying to change their appearance. 00:08:15.899 --> 00:08:18.860 So in the first century, there are no showers. 00:08:19.599 --> 00:08:19.719 Okay? 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:22.899 There are no, there's hardly baths for that matter. 00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:24.039 You can go wash in the river. 00:08:24.219 --> 00:08:24.800 That's about it. 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:33.200 And so what the normal practice every day was is you wake up and you, if you have money, you anoint your hair with oil. 00:08:34.299 --> 00:08:36.840 And so anointment was a daily practice, but it wasn't religious. 00:08:37.100 --> 00:08:43.419 It was, you put grease in your hair, oil in your hair to push it back, but to keep it moderately clean to some degree. 00:08:43.899 --> 00:08:45.759 And you would regularly wash your face. 00:08:45.860 --> 00:08:48.620 And so here he's saying that they don't anoint their heads. 00:08:48.700 --> 00:08:49.820 They don't wash their faces. 00:08:49.820 --> 00:08:53.280 You can see that this is what Jesus is talking about in verse 17. 00:08:53.460 --> 00:08:55.580 When you fast, you do anoint your head with oil. 00:08:55.980 --> 00:08:57.060 You do wash your face. 00:08:57.400 --> 00:08:58.360 In other words, be normal. 00:08:59.260 --> 00:09:01.080 Wake up every day, he's saying. 00:09:01.180 --> 00:09:03.500 You know, take a shower in the modern terms. 00:09:03.580 --> 00:09:04.260 He's saying be normal. 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:12.120 In other words, what he's saying is that the Pharisees were, in order to look great, trying to look as dirty as possible. 00:09:12.900 --> 00:09:13.020 Right? 00:09:13.020 --> 00:09:19.160 In order to look great in the eyes of other people, trying to make their appearance look as dirty as practically possible. 00:09:19.159 --> 00:09:24.899 So they were coming around the city in Jerusalem with very messy hair, without any oil in their hair. 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:29.299 They were going with very dirty faces because they wanted everybody to know, today is my fast day. 00:09:29.819 --> 00:09:30.600 I'm fasting today. 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:34.959 And they wanted to see on the outside how starved they were on the inside. 00:09:35.219 --> 00:09:35.339 Right? 00:09:35.439 --> 00:09:38.139 So they're experiencing a physical. 00:09:38.839 --> 00:09:44.879 They're, in other words, altering their physical appearance in order to be seen by other people to secure their reputation. 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:52.500 Now, the irony of this is that in the Old Testament, there is only one prescribed fast day. 00:09:53.259 --> 00:09:55.939 So the Pharisees are fasting 104 times a year. 00:09:56.899 --> 00:10:01.519 The Old Testament has one day of prescribed fasting for the community of faith. 00:10:01.620 --> 00:10:04.580 And that's in preparation for the Day of Atonement. 00:10:04.679 --> 00:10:05.259 And that's it. 00:10:05.259 --> 00:10:11.600 And so they want to look terrible 104 days out of the year in order to be seen as great people. 00:10:11.980 --> 00:10:14.039 In order to secure their reputation. 00:10:14.559 --> 00:10:15.259 Now, what do we learn? 00:10:15.379 --> 00:10:15.980 Here's what we learn. 00:10:17.539 --> 00:10:26.279 Mere religion, religious practice, mere religion, false religion, is directed at other people, not God. 00:10:26.279 --> 00:10:30.480 And let me say it a little more strongly. 00:10:32.059 --> 00:10:38.659 Mere religion is using God to accrue power by way of performance. 00:10:39.720 --> 00:10:46.500 Mere religion uses God to pursue power by way of public performance. 00:10:47.919 --> 00:10:49.120 It's reputation management. 00:10:49.319 --> 00:10:50.360 It's there to be seen by others. 00:10:50.360 --> 00:10:55.120 And Jesus, all throughout the Gospels, he goes to battle and he says to them, you know, you tithe. 00:10:55.399 --> 00:10:58.180 You tithe cumin and dill. 00:10:58.519 --> 00:11:02.220 And you go in the three pillars of the practices, right? 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:04.240 And you go to the temple. 00:11:04.800 --> 00:11:05.620 Let me say it like this. 00:11:05.800 --> 00:11:12.680 You could make very visible and very public most religious practices, right? 00:11:12.740 --> 00:11:16.779 So the Pharisees could go to the temple on the right day and they could do their almsgiving. 00:11:17.100 --> 00:11:17.879 And what did you do? 00:11:17.879 --> 00:11:23.000 You had to go to a public space where there were bags and buckets and you had to drop your coins in. 00:11:23.419 --> 00:11:26.659 And everybody would hear the clank of the coins hit the bottom of that bucket. 00:11:27.259 --> 00:11:31.860 And we even know that sometimes, you know, you'd sort of throw them in so that it would really make a loud noise. 00:11:32.220 --> 00:11:32.740 You could do that. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:34.779 Or you could go and pray in public. 00:11:35.259 --> 00:11:40.059 And so they would go to the temple and they would pray out loud as eloquent as possible to be heard by others. 00:11:40.139 --> 00:11:42.399 But when it comes to fasting, how do you make that visible? 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:50.620 If your goal is to be seen by other people, if it's to accrue power by using God for your own personal gain, how do you make that visible? 00:11:50.759 --> 00:11:52.100 You've got to disfigure yourself. 00:11:52.620 --> 00:11:53.679 You've got to look a certain way. 00:11:53.720 --> 00:11:54.740 You've got to change your appearance. 00:11:55.819 --> 00:11:57.600 And Jesus goes to battle with that. 00:11:57.639 --> 00:11:58.259 And what does he tell us? 00:11:58.259 --> 00:12:01.919 He tells us, religion is about me. 00:12:03.100 --> 00:12:04.419 The gospel is about Jesus. 00:12:04.419 --> 00:12:11.579 Religion believes that appearing as a good person is the key. 00:12:12.419 --> 00:12:16.079 The gospel says that being honest about who you really are is the key. 00:12:17.219 --> 00:12:20.759 Being open about your struggles and your sins, that's the key. 00:12:20.759 --> 00:12:32.019 So you can buy other people's opinion of you if you're really careful and you really play good tricks. 00:12:32.019 --> 00:12:40.120 You can do certain religious practices to buy, purchase other people's opinion about you. 00:12:40.299 --> 00:12:42.539 That you're a good person, you're a great person, you're a decent person. 00:12:43.139 --> 00:12:45.399 You can never buy God's opinion. 00:12:46.360 --> 00:12:47.620 You can never purchase it. 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:53.199 And the gospel comes and says you don't need to because he purchased you. 00:12:54.019 --> 00:12:58.919 You don't need to ever try reputation management before the Lord because he bought you. 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:00.179 You don't have to buy his opinion. 00:13:00.279 --> 00:13:01.279 You don't have to buy his value. 00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:09.839 You don't have to buy his love because his love has already been set upon you when you come to him in Christ, through Christ, by the love of the cross. 00:13:11.199 --> 00:13:15.120 The gospel, when you experience it, it produces true religion. 00:13:16.019 --> 00:13:18.019 So let me just move on and say this. 00:13:19.839 --> 00:13:24.319 How do you evaluate your own religious practices? 00:13:25.059 --> 00:13:27.220 So Jesus is not down on the religious practices. 00:13:27.879 --> 00:13:28.819 Here we are tonight. 00:13:28.820 --> 00:13:32.060 You're here practicing religion. 00:13:32.920 --> 00:13:34.200 Meaning that you've come to worship. 00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:34.900 You've shown up. 00:13:34.980 --> 00:13:36.780 You've probably read the Bible passage. 00:13:36.920 --> 00:13:37.879 You've sung some of the songs. 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:39.040 You've sung psalms. 00:13:39.320 --> 00:13:41.500 This week you'll go and you'll practice religion. 00:13:41.620 --> 00:13:42.220 You'll pray. 00:13:42.680 --> 00:13:43.620 You'll open the scriptures. 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:44.780 You'll do all sorts of things. 00:13:44.840 --> 00:13:50.000 How do you protect yourself from religious practice becoming mere religion, false religion? 00:13:50.000 --> 00:14:01.659 And I think the simple question to ask yourself tonight is, do I come in any sense, in the slightest sense, because I'm hungry for more of God? 00:14:03.240 --> 00:14:03.860 Do I come? 00:14:04.419 --> 00:14:05.019 Very simple. 00:14:05.080 --> 00:14:06.379 Do I come for reputation management? 00:14:06.379 --> 00:14:11.360 Or do I come because I'm actually hungry to get more of God in my life? 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:13.080 I want to meet with him. 00:14:13.159 --> 00:14:14.080 I want to know more of him. 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:21.639 Even if I'm struggling to want to know God, do I come acknowledging that struggle, honest about that struggle? 00:14:21.639 --> 00:14:27.679 A person who's experiencing the gospel comes in honesty and says, Lord, I'm not hungry for you tonight. 00:14:29.159 --> 00:14:36.139 But I come here practicing religion just so that I can get a taste, a glimpse of the desire of what it would be like to want more of you. 00:14:37.340 --> 00:14:37.960 How do you protect? 00:14:38.500 --> 00:14:39.980 Let me give you three things you can do. 00:14:40.139 --> 00:14:42.000 Number one, very simple. 00:14:42.500 --> 00:14:47.059 Wake up every day and take one minute, two minutes, five minutes. 00:14:47.639 --> 00:14:50.139 Very simple practice to first confess your sins. 00:14:51.639 --> 00:14:57.779 Number two, turn and meditate on the gospel, on Jesus Christ himself and his love for you. 00:14:59.080 --> 00:15:04.799 And three, say, Lord, help me, give me the desires I need to have for you today. 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:08.039 Three simple practices, five minutes every morning. 00:15:08.220 --> 00:15:14.759 Lord, I need to confess my sins, look straight at Jesus, preach the gospel to myself, and depend on him in prayer. 00:15:15.419 --> 00:15:20.319 Every single day, and it'll help protect you from turning the gospel into mere religion. 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:23.100 Now, here's a way, here's a quote. 00:15:23.620 --> 00:15:32.320 Jack Miller, one of the late pastors in the U.S., he says that you know that you've got the gospel life in you, not mere religion, when you can say something like this. 00:15:32.379 --> 00:15:33.160 Can you say this tonight? 00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:35.200 He says, cheer up. 00:15:36.360 --> 00:15:38.540 You are far worse than you've ever imagined. 00:15:40.180 --> 00:15:40.960 And cheer up. 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:44.560 God's grace is far greater than you've ever imagined. 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:46.400 So cheer up. 00:15:46.840 --> 00:15:49.160 The spirit is at work today in your weakness. 00:15:50.180 --> 00:15:57.120 And if you can say that about yourself, you know that you've got the gospel at your heart, at your core, not mere religion, not mere religious practice. 00:15:57.220 --> 00:16:01.400 Now, secondly, we haven't said a word really about fasting yet. 00:16:01.399 --> 00:16:03.539 Okay, what is fasting? 00:16:04.340 --> 00:16:05.639 Secondly, what is it really? 00:16:06.620 --> 00:16:08.500 Why should we take up this practice of fasting? 00:16:09.480 --> 00:16:10.600 Fasting, what is it? 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:19.639 Okay, it is occasionally withholding from food or other pleasures and comforts in life in order to create a spiritual hunger for God. 00:16:19.639 --> 00:16:33.840 So in our 2025 practices, Christian habits at St. Columba's, one of the fasts that is recommended on our practices sheet that are right over here is to have a weekly fast from screens and social media. 00:16:34.419 --> 00:16:37.100 And so you can fast from food, you can fast from all sorts of other things. 00:16:37.419 --> 00:16:40.419 Obviously, in the first century, it's primarily fasting from food. 00:16:41.159 --> 00:16:46.299 But Mark 2, that other passage we read, is really helpful on what fasting is. 00:16:46.299 --> 00:16:52.319 Because in it, when the Pharisees come to Jesus in verse 19, and they say, why are your disciples not fasting? 00:16:52.979 --> 00:16:58.199 His answer, so insightful, he says, well, because you don't fast during a wedding. 00:16:59.259 --> 00:17:03.019 You don't fast when the groom is with the guests. 00:17:03.659 --> 00:17:05.839 Now, this worked in the first century. 00:17:05.960 --> 00:17:06.819 It still works today. 00:17:07.180 --> 00:17:10.019 So imagine that it's wedding week. 00:17:10.579 --> 00:17:12.940 Imagine that it's your wedding week, somebody's wedding week that you know. 00:17:12.940 --> 00:17:16.880 And it's, you know, the wedding's coming, it's the day before, it's two days before. 00:17:17.480 --> 00:17:23.779 And the groom gets the groomsman, the best man, the dad, and they all go out and they play golf. 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:25.000 Right? 00:17:25.080 --> 00:17:26.320 And they do whatever you like to do. 00:17:26.500 --> 00:17:27.600 They go play golf, they do whatever. 00:17:27.960 --> 00:17:29.480 They go to the steakhouse. 00:17:30.940 --> 00:17:33.259 And the waiter comes and says, what would you like? 00:17:33.299 --> 00:17:35.880 And the groom orders this feast, you know. 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:39.860 And his dad orders this feast, and all the guys order the feast. 00:17:39.900 --> 00:17:42.840 And it gets around to the best man, and the waiter says, what would you like? 00:17:42.860 --> 00:17:45.380 And he says, well, I'm actually fasting today. 00:17:45.860 --> 00:17:46.700 It's my fast day. 00:17:47.120 --> 00:17:47.300 Right? 00:17:47.760 --> 00:17:50.460 Now, I know that that illustration doesn't work for you if you're vegetarian. 00:17:50.680 --> 00:17:54.360 But imagine any, whatever food you want to put in that place. 00:17:55.200 --> 00:17:57.060 And the waiter comes and he says, are you going to eat? 00:17:57.320 --> 00:17:58.320 No, it's my fast day. 00:17:58.340 --> 00:17:58.740 It's Thursday. 00:17:58.960 --> 00:17:59.900 You know, it's my fast day. 00:17:59.900 --> 00:18:02.759 And what would the groom say? 00:18:02.820 --> 00:18:09.720 The groom would say, you don't fast when the groom is seated next to you preparing for the wedding feast itself. 00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:10.360 Right? 00:18:11.060 --> 00:18:12.519 In other words, what do we learn here? 00:18:12.560 --> 00:18:13.300 What is Jesus saying? 00:18:13.380 --> 00:18:18.320 He's saying that fasting exists because it's ordered unto feasting. 00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:23.700 Fasting exists to create hunger for the feast. 00:18:23.700 --> 00:18:30.759 And so the reason that the disciples did not fast when Jesus was with them is because the groom himself was present. 00:18:31.120 --> 00:18:32.960 So you don't fast on the day of the feast. 00:18:33.140 --> 00:18:33.319 Right? 00:18:33.860 --> 00:18:37.360 But you fast in order to create hunger for the feast. 00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:39.299 And what feast do we fast for? 00:18:39.740 --> 00:18:40.840 What is Jesus talking about? 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:46.279 In the feast that we fast for, to know about it, you've got to go all the way back to the beginning of the Bible, 00:18:46.700 --> 00:18:51.080 to Genesis chapter 3, when Adam and Eve were told to fast. 00:18:51.079 --> 00:18:55.679 So at the very beginning, one of the first stories in Scripture is that Adam was told, 00:18:56.220 --> 00:18:59.079 fast from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:01.779 Do not take the pleasures. 00:19:02.359 --> 00:19:04.480 Do not seek personal autonomy. 00:19:05.179 --> 00:19:11.639 Fast from this option in front of you in order that you would be hungry for the feast, the true feast. 00:19:11.699 --> 00:19:13.799 If you fast, Adam, you get the feast. 00:19:14.539 --> 00:19:15.539 And what was the feast? 00:19:15.639 --> 00:19:18.519 The feast was to get the fullness of the presence of God himself. 00:19:18.519 --> 00:19:20.299 It was to get God all the way. 00:19:21.059 --> 00:19:23.619 It was to have everything that we were made for. 00:19:24.839 --> 00:19:26.400 Fast, Adam, and you will have the feast. 00:19:26.500 --> 00:19:31.400 And we see in this passage, Matthew 6, he says the Pharisees, what are they doing? 00:19:31.500 --> 00:19:33.319 They're fasting in order to get their reward. 00:19:33.420 --> 00:19:34.960 They're fasting for their own feast. 00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:35.819 And what is their feast? 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:37.240 Their feast is reputation. 00:19:37.700 --> 00:19:40.920 Their feast is to be seen by other people and to be thought, man, that's a swell guy. 00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:41.960 That's their feast. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:44.039 But he says don't fast for that. 00:19:44.180 --> 00:19:45.099 Fast in private. 00:19:45.099 --> 00:19:47.719 That's what's the real feast. 00:19:47.799 --> 00:19:48.619 And what's the real feast? 00:19:48.699 --> 00:19:50.779 We learn about it in Genesis 2 and 3. 00:19:51.199 --> 00:19:54.959 It's the feast that you can fast unto today as a Christian. 00:19:55.339 --> 00:19:57.099 And it's the feast of the exact same thing. 00:19:57.480 --> 00:20:02.199 Emmanuel, God with us, getting the fullness of God's presence in your life. 00:20:02.699 --> 00:20:04.759 Seeing the face of Jesus Christ one day. 00:20:04.759 --> 00:20:06.599 It's coming to the feast itself. 00:20:06.919 --> 00:20:08.899 The beatific vision, as the theologians say. 00:20:08.980 --> 00:20:12.699 The vision of God coming to sit down in person with Jesus Christ. 00:20:12.700 --> 00:20:17.279 We fast today to make us hungry for what we were made for. 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:18.180 The feast. 00:20:18.740 --> 00:20:21.160 To see God, the living God, one day. 00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:27.880 So that means that in the Bible, Christian believers fast ever since Jesus has come to say, 00:20:28.180 --> 00:20:29.680 we're still waiting for the full feast. 00:20:30.860 --> 00:20:31.920 We're still hungry. 00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:38.400 And we all know how often we forget how we are ordered, made for that feast. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:46.080 And so fasting is there to create spiritual hunger through physical hunger to enliven us, to light a fire, 00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:48.360 to say, remember the true feast that you were made for. 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:54.320 In the Bible, the most common verb that's used alongside fasting in a number of places, 00:20:54.500 --> 00:20:57.140 especially the Old Testament, is the verb to afflict. 00:20:57.140 --> 00:21:02.500 So the verb that's often used is, I afflict myself in fasting. 00:21:03.120 --> 00:21:10.680 So in fasting, you afflict your body with hunger to heighten your spiritual sense, your spiritual lack. 00:21:11.800 --> 00:21:16.680 You afflict yourself so that you'll have a hunger or an awareness of your deepest needs. 00:21:16.680 --> 00:21:28.440 So there's a pain, there's a suffering that you can say, I fast because my soul is so often feasting on the wrong things. 00:21:29.060 --> 00:21:35.500 So if you look up and you find, man, my soul is feasting on all the wrong pleasures in this life. 00:21:36.080 --> 00:21:36.920 You need the fast. 00:21:37.500 --> 00:21:41.340 It's a spiritual practice that can realiven you, give you life, awaken you, 00:21:41.339 --> 00:21:47.439 bring you back to the knowledge, the longing, the deep desire for the true feast that stands in front of you. 00:21:48.619 --> 00:21:54.859 I mentioned earlier, the only prescribed fast in the whole Old Testament is Leviticus 16. 00:21:55.879 --> 00:21:59.559 So the Pharisees are fasting 104 times a year on average. 00:22:00.339 --> 00:22:05.579 And there's only one moment in the whole Old Testament that God requires a fast for God's people. 00:22:06.119 --> 00:22:09.980 And it was surrounding the Day of Atonement, preparing for the Day of Atonement. 00:22:09.980 --> 00:22:13.660 And you remember on the Day of Atonement, they would take two lambs, goats, 00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:17.900 and they would put their hands upon the two goats. 00:22:18.039 --> 00:22:23.039 And one, they would sacrifice as an offering in the place of sin to cleanse the temple. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:27.180 The other, the high priest would place his hand upon the goat, 00:22:27.519 --> 00:22:29.940 and he would send the goat out into the wilderness. 00:22:30.539 --> 00:22:30.819 Why? 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:32.019 Why? 00:22:32.620 --> 00:22:37.140 Because they were suggesting that we know the blood of bulls and goats 00:22:37.140 --> 00:22:40.740 is not covering what we need for the forgiveness of sins, right? 00:22:40.820 --> 00:22:43.300 And so they send this goat out into the wilderness to say, 00:22:43.460 --> 00:22:44.520 we are still waiting. 00:22:45.080 --> 00:22:45.620 We're waiting. 00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:48.860 In other words, every single year, that fast would come back around, 00:22:49.100 --> 00:22:51.960 and they would say, we're fasting once again, 00:22:52.080 --> 00:22:54.800 because we know the true feast has yet to come. 00:22:55.740 --> 00:22:58.540 And every single year, they would put their hands on that goat and say, 00:22:58.539 --> 00:23:03.019 send the goat representing my sins out into the wilderness to say, 00:23:03.159 --> 00:23:08.839 let that little thing wander until the true lamb of God would come 00:23:08.839 --> 00:23:10.180 to take away the sins of the world. 00:23:10.279 --> 00:23:13.180 They fast because they were waiting for the true feast. 00:23:13.259 --> 00:23:15.759 And when Jesus Christ came, he went to the cross. 00:23:16.139 --> 00:23:19.299 Boy, you can read Isaiah 53 in the light of fasting. 00:23:19.779 --> 00:23:21.819 You can read it in the light of Isaiah 58, 00:23:21.940 --> 00:23:23.759 the cross in the light of Isaiah 58, 00:23:23.759 --> 00:23:26.879 and realize that when Jesus Christ went to the cross, 00:23:27.039 --> 00:23:31.079 he fasted, he starved, like no one else ever has. 00:23:32.039 --> 00:23:32.960 He was starved. 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:38.140 Another way to say it, maybe to heighten our spiritual hunger tonight, 00:23:38.480 --> 00:23:43.039 is to say that because we feast on all the wrong things in this life, 00:23:43.099 --> 00:23:45.759 the idols we chase, we starved him. 00:23:47.079 --> 00:23:50.240 He went to the cross so hungry for God's presence, 00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:52.279 and he was forced to fast. 00:23:52.279 --> 00:23:54.139 He was forced to be starved to the uttermost, 00:23:54.599 --> 00:23:57.779 losing God's presence in that moment, 00:23:58.039 --> 00:24:01.240 his Father's presence, so that we could have the feast. 00:24:02.359 --> 00:24:06.759 And so tonight, if you come tonight as a Christian, 00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:08.940 and you say, 00:24:10.259 --> 00:24:16.740 I'm going through a season where I know I am not hungry for God. 00:24:16.740 --> 00:24:20.380 I don't long to be in God's presence. 00:24:20.599 --> 00:24:24.779 I don't have a hard turn toward the desire for the true feast. 00:24:25.660 --> 00:24:29.880 Fasting is a wonderful practice for you to think about this very week. 00:24:30.339 --> 00:24:31.359 So let me finish with this. 00:24:32.099 --> 00:24:35.099 How to do it, when to do it, when should you do it? 00:24:36.299 --> 00:24:37.920 And I'll just be very brief here. 00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:39.680 First, when should you do it? 00:24:40.180 --> 00:24:41.160 You don't have to. 00:24:41.380 --> 00:24:41.960 You don't have to. 00:24:41.960 --> 00:24:47.299 The beauty of the cross of Jesus Christ is that the only prescribed fast in the Old Testament 00:24:47.299 --> 00:24:51.900 is the Day of Atonement, but Jesus Christ has satisfied that he is the true lamb. 00:24:52.840 --> 00:24:56.880 And so fasting, there's no prescription over fasting in the New Covenant era, 00:24:57.079 --> 00:24:57.960 in the New Testament. 00:24:58.559 --> 00:24:59.360 So what do we learn here? 00:24:59.480 --> 00:25:01.500 Don't fast because you have to. 00:25:01.700 --> 00:25:03.120 Don't fast to be seen. 00:25:03.500 --> 00:25:04.900 Don't fast to be accepted. 00:25:04.900 --> 00:25:11.720 Fast only if you desire to become hungry and homesick for the true feast, the true life, 00:25:11.840 --> 00:25:14.180 the life of Jesus Christ, life of God himself. 00:25:14.580 --> 00:25:20.420 And so let me give you three or four situations that the Bible, I think, does direct us as 00:25:20.420 --> 00:25:21.680 wisdom towards fasting. 00:25:22.080 --> 00:25:28.560 So number one, I think the Bible directs us to fast to strengthen or recover our prayer 00:25:28.560 --> 00:25:29.040 lives. 00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:37.099 So John Calvin writes this, whenever prayer concerning a great matter is before us, it 00:25:37.099 --> 00:25:38.799 would be expedient to fast. 00:25:39.539 --> 00:25:44.740 Donald Whitney writes, fasting sharpens the edge of our intercessions and deepens the passions 00:25:44.740 --> 00:25:45.720 of prayer. 00:25:46.639 --> 00:25:51.980 A writer named Wallace says, fasting while praying gives heaven notice that you are truly in earnest. 00:25:51.980 --> 00:25:59.539 Fasting is one of the primary God-given means for intensifying your prayer life. 00:26:00.839 --> 00:26:05.539 So one of the reasons you might feel prompted by the Holy Spirit right now to fast in your 00:26:05.539 --> 00:26:09.319 life is if you're really struggling with prayerlessness. 00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:13.279 So if you're in a place right now where you're not praying and you're a Christian and you say, 00:26:13.400 --> 00:26:15.880 boy, I want to be a person of prayer, but I'm not. 00:26:16.579 --> 00:26:19.539 Fasting is an intensification of your prayer life. 00:26:19.880 --> 00:26:20.640 It's a recovery. 00:26:20.640 --> 00:26:26.220 So what you do is you fast from food or some other comfort in life and you replace that 00:26:26.220 --> 00:26:27.960 time with a season of prayer. 00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:33.160 And that spiritual hunger that you experience, sorry, that physical hunger you experience is 00:26:33.160 --> 00:26:37.340 there to intensify your prayer life and heighten your spiritual hunger for God as you pray. 00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:45.220 Ezra in the Old Testament, he was about to embark on a big trip from Babylon to Jerusalem. 00:26:45.220 --> 00:26:49.100 And it was full of dangers and perils and toils and snares. 00:26:49.100 --> 00:26:52.360 And he took time before he left and embarked on that trip. 00:26:52.500 --> 00:26:57.600 And the Bible tells us that he fasted and he prayed for a season just to prepare. 00:26:57.599 --> 00:27:02.579 So maybe to accompany your prayer life, you've got a big decision. 00:27:03.779 --> 00:27:06.599 Maybe you've got a big issue in your life right now. 00:27:07.139 --> 00:27:13.459 Maybe you are greatly burdened with something, a conversation that you're about to need to have with somebody. 00:27:14.599 --> 00:27:18.740 To speak the truth in love, fasting and prayer go together. 00:27:18.740 --> 00:27:25.660 Fasting, one writer puts it, lets heaven know that you are serious about your prayers. 00:27:26.079 --> 00:27:29.940 Secondly, fasting in the Bible is also there to act out repentance. 00:27:30.660 --> 00:27:34.200 So we see this Joel chapter 2 verse 12 makes this really clear. 00:27:34.660 --> 00:27:40.620 God says, return to me with all your heart and return to me in fasting and prayer. 00:27:40.619 --> 00:27:50.239 Okay, so another reason you might think about fasting is if you are walking through a season where you're really struggling with a particular sin issue. 00:27:50.739 --> 00:27:53.319 And you've not been able to defeat it and beat it. 00:27:53.459 --> 00:27:56.079 And you want to say to God, I repent. 00:27:56.619 --> 00:27:58.679 And I want to intensify that repentance. 00:27:59.479 --> 00:28:01.759 Fasting is an accompaniment to repentance. 00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:04.399 It's an act of repentance. 00:28:04.919 --> 00:28:06.939 It's an act where you say, Lord, I'm struggling. 00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:08.419 I'm far from you. 00:28:08.420 --> 00:28:14.300 And so in the act of self-deprivation, of hunger, you say, I have such a great need. 00:28:14.420 --> 00:28:22.240 I'm so hungry for recovery, for repentance, for you to teach me how to truly repent from the sin that I'm struggling with. 00:28:22.300 --> 00:28:24.860 Number three, to grieve. 00:28:25.019 --> 00:28:31.060 So we see all across the Bible, one of the uses of fasting is to grieve and to express sorrow. 00:28:31.059 --> 00:28:41.119 So to express longing and waiting for hope to go before God with lament because of tragedy and calamity. 00:28:42.159 --> 00:28:49.059 So 1 Samuel 31, 13, David hears of his dear friend Jonathan's death and he fasts. 00:28:49.059 --> 00:28:55.679 And you can think of all sorts of moments in the Old Testament where the response to great tragedy was to fast. 00:28:55.680 --> 00:29:03.100 And so one of the uses of fasting in the Bible and in the Christian life is in the midst of grief and tragedy and calamity. 00:29:03.279 --> 00:29:09.740 And so it's there, you feel the hunger pains, to sharpen your sense of the brokenness of this world. 00:29:11.039 --> 00:29:14.840 The hunger pain is there to tell you this world is not what it should be. 00:29:14.839 --> 00:29:24.419 And Lord, I long for a day when I can feast in a land with Christ where there is no death, disease, disaster, and turmoil any longer. 00:29:25.419 --> 00:29:27.539 So fasting is ordered to grief. 00:29:27.699 --> 00:29:31.179 And then lastly, one that's not very often recognized. 00:29:32.199 --> 00:29:39.859 In Isaiah 58, God commands that the people of Israel fast, but first he condemns them for their fasting. 00:29:39.859 --> 00:29:46.479 He says, you fast, but you turn around and you do injustice to your workers. 00:29:46.979 --> 00:29:50.899 You fast and you pray, but you turn around and break the backs of the poor. 00:29:51.439 --> 00:29:55.019 You turn and fast and you have no regard for the fatherless or the widows. 00:29:55.699 --> 00:30:01.839 And then he turns and he says to them, fast instead so that you may meet the needs of others. 00:30:01.839 --> 00:30:09.399 And so in Isaiah 58, God connects fasting, fasting from food, fasting from something maybe you want in life, 00:30:09.399 --> 00:30:15.339 in order to use that time and the money you saved to meet the needs of other people. 00:30:16.459 --> 00:30:21.319 So fasting can also be used to say, I'm going to withdraw from lunch. 00:30:21.419 --> 00:30:25.759 I'm going to withdraw from dinner in order to actually go and serve somebody. 00:30:25.759 --> 00:30:28.119 And those two things come together. 00:30:28.279 --> 00:30:32.900 You heighten your spiritual senses in the midst of the hunger, and yet you use the work of your hands in love 00:30:32.900 --> 00:30:36.799 to grow in the spiritual life, to be the hands of Christ to somebody, 00:30:37.059 --> 00:30:39.519 the work of Christ to somebody in your life that has great needs. 00:30:39.599 --> 00:30:43.960 So Donald Whitney says, we must use fasting at times as ministry opportunity. 00:30:44.940 --> 00:30:48.819 And so he advises you can replace your meals with acts of love, with acts of service. 00:30:49.900 --> 00:30:50.660 Let me finish with this. 00:30:50.660 --> 00:30:54.359 This fasting is not for especially holy people. 00:30:55.759 --> 00:30:57.859 Fasting is not for the super Christian. 00:30:59.160 --> 00:31:05.720 Fasting is for the hurting Christian, the grieving Christian, the weary Christian, 00:31:06.160 --> 00:31:09.299 the Christian who cannot break a pattern of sin in their life, 00:31:09.779 --> 00:31:12.240 the Christian who's facing a tough decision. 00:31:13.680 --> 00:31:20.039 Fasting is for somebody who says, I am right now not experiencing hunger for the living God. 00:31:20.640 --> 00:31:25.059 And so fasting is ordered to recovering longing for the great feast. 00:31:25.759 --> 00:31:26.680 It's for everybody. 00:31:27.319 --> 00:31:29.680 It's when you say, I need spiritual surgery. 00:31:30.440 --> 00:31:32.460 I need spiritual hunger in my life that is not there. 00:31:32.599 --> 00:31:34.359 I need honesty. 00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:36.160 Fasting is for honest Christians. 00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:37.819 Honest Christians. 00:31:38.039 --> 00:31:39.779 So go and learn what this means. 00:31:39.940 --> 00:31:44.879 Go and, if wise, if you feel prompted by the Holy Spirit, take up the fast, 00:31:44.880 --> 00:31:51.620 and in the hunger pain say, Jesus Christ was starved for me so that I could be ordered to his great feast. 00:31:52.580 --> 00:31:53.160 Let us pray. 00:31:53.620 --> 00:31:56.420 Father, we ask that you would teach us how to fast, 00:31:57.060 --> 00:32:00.660 and that in fasting we would see that it is no mere religious practice, 00:32:00.660 --> 00:32:03.520 no way of achieving your love, 00:32:03.560 --> 00:32:07.060 but only something we do to respond to your beautiful love for us. 00:32:07.059 --> 00:32:11.379 And so I pray tonight that you would touch us with a hunger for God, 00:32:11.500 --> 00:32:16.919 that you would, Lord, teach us what it means to long for Emmanuel, God with us, 00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:19.960 that we would want to see you at the great feast. 00:32:20.079 --> 00:32:21.819 And so that's our prayer tonight. 00:32:22.179 --> 00:32:24.480 Lord, give us the desires we do not have. 00:32:25.599 --> 00:32:28.599 Give us the desires to see your face, to feast with you, 00:32:28.799 --> 00:32:29.960 to live for you, 00:32:30.119 --> 00:32:33.259 to bear the name, as we read in the third commandment, 00:32:33.619 --> 00:32:35.000 Christian, to not be ashamed. 00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:37.420 So we're starved in all sorts of ways tonight. 00:32:37.539 --> 00:32:39.599 We need hunger for you, God. 00:32:39.700 --> 00:32:40.839 So fill us up with that. 00:32:40.940 --> 00:32:46.920 Fill us up with the food and the drink that only Jesus can give as we sing this closing hymn. 00:32:47.059 --> 00:32:48.119 And we pray this in Christ's name. 00:32:48.339 --> 00:32:48.539 Amen.