Well, we're looking at fasting today, and that
means we've had to cancel morning tea. Sorry
about that. I'm only joking if you are worried.
That's okay. But one of the things I love about
Northern Hope and a lot of the churches I've
worked in over the years is that they practice
expository preaching. What is expository preaching,
you ask? Thanks for asking. Expository preaching
is where you work through a book of the Bible
bit by bit, chunk by chunk. And, you know, we
still do topical preaching sometimes and then
we repent quickly and go back to expository preaching.
But what I love about it is that it forces you
to look at your blind spots. It forces you to
talk on things that you'd never think to talk
on and not just follow your hobby horses. And
that's what we're doing today. We're looking
at fasting. I never would have thought to preach
on fasting, but it's... been a really eye -opening
thing to look at this week so let's pray let's
ask god for help as we dig into his word now
heavenly father we thank you that you're a speaking
god we thank you that you love us that you care
for us and we ask father that you would help
us to listen carefully to what you were saying
to us today and we ask this in jesus name amen
Well, it's amazing what we can do in our modern
age on a Friday night. Have you ever thought
about how good a Friday night's in our day and
age? You can sit on the couch, a very comfy couch
hopefully, and stream thousands of TV shows all
to your TV. Now, there's still nothing on, but
you can sit there and you can stream thousands
of TV shows to your TV. It's amazing. And let's
say you're there and you're watching, you know,
your favourite TV show and you're hungry. What
can you do? Well, you Uber eat some food to your
door, can't you? And not just, you know, like
toast. You can get almost anything, can't you?
You can get the most amazing cuisine brought
to your door. Ding dong, they drop it off. It's
pretty awesome. And then as you're sitting there
and you're eating your Uber Eats and you're watching
your favourite TV show, you're thinking, oh man,
you know, there's that thing I wanted to buy.
Maybe there's a few Christmas presents you want
to do. So you do your Christmas shopping while
you're watching the show and eating your food.
You're scrolling away on Amazon trying to work
out what presents to get for people. We live
in a day and an age where the world is our oyster.
Everything is at our fingertips, isn't it? And
yet there's a dark side to all of this. So often
all these conveniences and novelties that come
from modern technology, we use them to anaesthetise
and numb ourselves from real life. We overdo
using them to avoid the hard things in our life
and escape reality. And sadly we also use them...
to give ourselves quick and easy delight when
there's a better delight out there that we often
neglect to look for. We've become accustomed
to distraction and instant gratification rather
than feasting on God and the riches of his grace.
Now, if that's you, no judgment. I struggle with
this too. But that is where the spiritual discipline
of fasting can be a great help to us yet it's
been a neglected discipline in the church circles
i've been for years and years and years i don't
know if it's the same for you i've never heard
a sermon on fasting before i had to dig through
my library and i found like one book on fasting
and i went there you go so today i want to ask
what is fasting what benefits what traps are
there with fasting We're going to do something
a little different to what we've been doing.
We're going to do a bit of an overview of what
fasting is because it's a bit of a neglected
discipline. And then we're going to come back
to Matthew 6 and look at that passage to sort
of finish it off, where Jesus is teaching us
about righteousness and how he's warning about
false righteousness there. And as we've been
seeing each week, the main thing in that passage
is this, who you are in secret is who you really
are, isn't it? Who you are in secret is who you
really are. And we will look at that, but let's
start with this overview first. And there's three
things today we need to see about fasting. Firstly,
fasting grows our hunger for God. Secondly, fasting
means denying yourself. And thirdly, fasting
must not be a performance. fasting grows our
hunger for god fasting means denying yourself
and fasting must not be a performance now as
i said i've been trying to dig into this topic
of fasting all week so to save you an hour and
a half sermon i've cut lots out but i'd encourage
you join a bible study get into it where you
can ask more questions and throw things around
that's a really important thing to do but let's
Start with the first thing. What's the purpose?
What's the aim, the goal of fasting? And it's
this. Fasting grows our hunger for God. Fasting
grows our hunger for God. There's lots of benefits
to fasting. It helps with self -discipline. It
frees our resources up so that we can give them
away to others. But the big one in the Bible,
the one that I think overarches everything and
keeps coming up again and again, is fasting is
humbling hunger. It's humbling hunger. Remember
Nineveh repenting. They fasted, didn't they?
They were humbling themselves before God. David
and Ezra were mourning sins, their own sin or
the sin of Israel. They were humbling themselves
and having a hunger for God. The early church
commissioning their leaders. They were fasting
and they were going, we're going to humble ourselves
before God by fasting and express our hunger
for God as we do it. That's why we should fast.
It weans us off our distractions in this world.
It helps us face our own frailty and weaknesses.
And it refocuses us on God and how he is better
than anything else we have in this life. I mean,
in verse 18 of Matthew 6, Jesus says the Father
will reward you if you're fasting in secret.
So there's a spiritual benefit. to fasting now
it's not asceticism you know god's not a sadist
he's not there in heaven sitting on the edge
of his throne going yes i want to see my people
suffer our pain doesn't please him he's not more
likely to answer your prayer if you've been fasting
he's a good father he wants to do what's best
for us but sometimes Giving up things to refocus
on God is what's best for us. The benefit of
fasting is that giving things up can expand our
appetite for God. One thing Laura and I have
loved to do, we've done it once before and then
we did it when we got to Cairns, is Brazilian
barbecue. Have you done Brazilian barbecue? I
think it's called Bushfire. There's a great little
place on the Esplanade. They do Brazilian barbecue.
Brazilian barbecue is an all -you -can -eat thing.
They bring out meat to the table and they shave
it off onto your plate in front of you. It's
really, really good. And we've done it twice.
It's been very special. But what do you do when
you do Brazilian barbecue or any all -you -can
-eat? You know the strategy, right? If you don't
come in with a strategy, you're cooked. You've
got to go in and starve yourself all day, don't
you? Because you want to get your money's worth.
Now, if I ate something earlier, if we're on
the way to Brazilian barbecue and I had a quick
sneaky maccas, what a terrible idea. No room
for the better food that we're about to feast
on. I want to make sure when I'm going to Brazilian
barbecue, I have capacity to eat my weight in
meat, okay? What happens after we won't talk
about, but you know. Now, there's a sense in
which we do the same with God, don't we? We want
to make room to enjoy feasting on God. That's
why Christians fast. It's trying to free up space
so that we can enjoy more of him. And so if you're
a Christian, I want you to remember those times
where you've been hungry for God. Times where
you had great, rich joy from feasting on him.
And I bet you can sit here and say, that was
deeper, that was more satisfying than anything
else. But what if that was just the tip of the
iceberg? What if there's so much more to God
that you still haven't feasted on? But to get
there, we have to stop filling up on other things,
don't we? Don't you want that again? Well, maybe
you're due for a fast. Maybe you're here and
you're not yet a Christian. And what I'm saying
sounds amazing. Wouldn't it be worth having something
that satisfying, that rich, that wonderful? Maybe
you need to stop filling up on junk. Maybe you
need to come and find out more about how great
God is. But how? What's it look like for Christians
to fast? And that's the second thing we're seeing
today. Fasting means denying yourself. Fasting
means denying yourself. In verse 17, Jesus assumes
his disciples will fast. So it's not commanded.
But it's assumed. It's not if you fast, but when
you fast. Jesus is saying this is a great tool
to use for your spiritual life. And primarily
it's about giving up food. And, you know, when
you think about it, like in the ancient world,
they didn't go to Coles and pick up a loaf of
bread. Like, making food was a big deal. It took
a fair bit of time and effort, didn't it? So
it's about giving up the time and the effort
and the actual process of eating. so that we
can focus on god now some of us here shouldn't
do that if you're got health issues or you're
pregnant or something like that uh that's not
for you and that's okay it's a tool remember
maybe you know that's not the tool you need to
use right now but also i want to say it's not
limited to food we find the same principle about
fasting in 1 corinthians 7 Where Paul tells married
couples that they should give up sexual relations
for a limited time so they can go focus on prayer,
but then that they should come back together.
It's the same idea. It's giving something up
so that you can refocus on God. It's denying
yourself so you can focus on God. I mean, Jesus
gave up sleep to pray, didn't he? He'd pray into
the night in desolate places. I mean, fasting,
when people have done it throughout the Bible,
that's often accompanied with sackcloth and ashes.
They're trying to remind themselves of what they're
feeling. They're denying comforts to kind of
get themselves in the right headspace. Fasting
is giving things up so we devote that extra space
to God. And it's worth the cost. I was at the
airport the other day for the Southern Cross
Diocese Conference. and they've become really
strict with carry -on weight. I don't know if
you've experienced that at the airport, but I
had my little backpack there and they got everyone
to line up and they're weighing everyone's carry
-on to make sure that it didn't go over the seven
kilo limit. Now I want you to imagine that you've
gone to Brisbane. Say you've gone to Brisbane
on a trip. to buy a signed footy boot from Buddy
Franklin or whoever your favourite footy player
is. If it's not footy, just find the substitute
for you. And you've gone to Brisbane, you won
at auction, you went, I've got the footy boot,
I'm going to put it in my office, it's going
to look great. But you get to the airport and
they weigh your bag and your bag is overweight.
What do you do? You toss out the lesser things.
to make room for the footy boot don't you you
go i'm going to get rid of the lesser thing you
know that that shirt oh that that's a bit ratty
anyway and oh even that nice one i don't i was
here for the footy boot that's what it's valuable
it's precious that's the thing that's going to
make it with me on the plane and so you dump
all your clothes uh so that you can go on the
plane with what's valuable well fasting is briefly
doing that in our lives There is a cost. It will
cost. But it's worth it because you're getting
something so much better in God. What did Jesus
say when he fasted? Man does not live on bread
alone, but on every word that comes from the
mouth of God. We don't live just on the things
of this world. And so it's often worth asking,
what do we need to go without? So that we can
focus again on God. For some of us it might be
a week without social media. You get up early
not to scroll Facebook but to get into the word
and prayer. For some of us it might be going
a week without the grog so that we can be more
sober minded. I don't know what it is for you.
I'm sure you could work it out. But the key is
to ask yourself. What distracts me and numbs
me so that I don't seek God? What thing will,
if removed, give me much needed space to pursue
God? That's probably a good place to start. What
would that be for you? But there is a pitfall,
there is a trap we need to be aware of, and that's
the third thing we're going to see today. Fasting
must not be a performance. Fasting must not be
a performance. And that's what God was telling
us in Isaiah 58. What was going on in Isaiah
58? You might have been sitting there and you're
going, they're fasting, but then they're punching
each other. Is it that they're hangry? No. What's
going on is that Judah were play acting. They
felt pious by their fasting. But God's saying
that's not reality. You're not actually righteous
because you won't fast from sin. I mean, there's
something big about fasting we need to land,
isn't it? That the real fast that matters to
God is not that we fast from food or other things,
as good as a tool that that can be, but the thing
that matters to him is that we fast from sin.
And the hypocrites in Jesus' day? Well, they
sought to look pious, didn't they? But their
fasting was all an act. Come with me to verses
16 to 18 in Matthew 6. Jesus says there, when
you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites
do, for they disfigure their faces to show others
they are fasting. Look at me, look at me, I'm
fasting. They make it as obvious, as clear as
day, that they are fasting. Truly, I tell you,
they have received their reward in full. People
are looking at them going, well, you're devoted,
you fast. That's the reward. But when you fast,
put oil on your head and wash your face so that
it will not be obvious to others that you are
fasting. So Jesus is saying, in our context,
it would be like... scrub up wash your face put
on some deodorant put on some makeup whatever
it is to look nice don't make it obvious that
you're fasting 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
saying this is something we need to keep hidden
it's something private It doesn't mean we can't
do corporate fasting just like we can do corporate
prayer. But we don't want to be going around
showing off that we're fasting, showing off that
we're denying ourselves so that other people
will think more highly of us. Let's not rock
up to church deliberately unkempt because, hey,
I didn't have any time for self -care today.
I spent five hours in prayer and giving up TV
or whatever. It would be like when you're out
in the yard. And you're cleaning up the yard
and you've done a good job and then you decide,
oh, I'm not dirty enough. No one's going to appreciate
what I've done. And you rub dirt all over you
and like, you know, that's what this is about.
This is going, I just want everyone to see how
amazing I am. Seeking that sort of attention
is not what God wants us to do. He wants us to
be hungry for him. Not hungry for human applause.
So Jesus is saying, don't make your fasting visible.
If you do, it's corrupting you and it's of no
benefit to you. I'm getting old. Nearly 40. Sad
things happen when you're nearly 40. These are
sad Weet -Bix, as I call them. These are special
Weet -Bix. They're cholesterol lowering. My dad
put me on them. 9 % clinically proven to lower
your cholesterol. That's right. That's right.
It's natural. It's actually got a natural compound.
Anyway. But you have to, like, if you're interested,
go to the Coles, and they're not in the normal
level where Weet -Bix are. You have to look up
for the sad Weet -Bix. And I call them sad Weet
-Bix at home because they really do taste like
cardboard. But... I've been back on them to try
and get my cholesterol down. I stomach it. Here's
how I stomach them. I drown them in toffee yogurt.
It was a much nicer way to eat them, with a bit
of fruit and toffee yogurt. Yeah, and upon reflection,
I went, I think I've corrupted any benefit here
that I was getting. Back to bacon and eggs, I
think, but yeah. But it's the same when we make
our fasting visible. It's like we've gone and
taken something really good and we've poured
toffee yogurt all over it. It's become fake and
empty. See, fasting is a good tool. It can bring
spiritual benefit. But Jesus is saying, don't
corrupt it by showing off your fasting to everyone.
Whether it's subtly making your self -denial
visible. Whether it's telling people that you
are, oh, you know what, I'm giving up for Lent,
you know. Most importantly, though, don't fool
yourself by cherishing sin. That's what Jesus
is saying. Fasting from sin is more important
than no food. or screens fasting from hypocrisy
is more important than anything imagine a guy
at church named jeff i hope there's no one here
named jeff who's super disciplined he loves his
rituals he comes to church every sunday he fasts
he gets up he reads the bible he prays but imagine
if jeff is a bully at work And stingy with his
family. He's not generous to anyone. No matter
how disciplined Jeff is, he's wearing a mask.
He's hiding the corrupt reality of where his
heart is at. Even if he's blind to it himself.
But God sees. Others might look at Jeff and be
impressed, but God is not. And it's the same
for all of us. It doesn't matter how disciplined
we are if our hearts are loving sin, pride and
hypocrisy. So let's sum up. We started by asking,
what are the benefits of fasting? How do you
fast? What are the dangers, the pitfalls, the
traps of fasting? And we saw three things today.
Fasting grows our hunger for God. Fasting means
denying yourself, and fasting must not be a performance.
But if I'm honest, on my own, I fail miserably
at all three of these things. I don't think I'm
the only one. Because I know I'm not as hungry
for God as I should be. It's just easy to fill
up on other things, isn't it? Denying myself?
Well, I keep thinking to myself, can I have my
cake and eat it too? Can I feast on God without
self -denial? I want to do that. And when I do
get it right, it's so quick to corrupt it and
become visible about it or try and paper over
sin in my life with some good self -discipline.
We fail each one. But thankfully, Jesus did all
of these things perfectly. He loved God more
than anything. He had the greatest hunger for
God any man has ever had. He went for a 40 -day
fast. Not saying you should do that, but, you
know, that's what Jesus did. He denied himself
in the greatest possible way. He died on the
cross, drinking the cup of God's wrath down to
the dregs so that there was nothing left for
us to drink, so that we escape God's judgment
for all the times we sin, we're... where we're
idolatrous, where we're worldly. Jesus drank
all of that onto himself. And his self -denial
was perfect and real. He didn't fake it. He didn't
show off. It was genuine, Godward and real. And
Jesus did that for us. He fasted from sin his
whole life so that he could bear my failures.
He died so that we could get his eternal reward
from the Father. He gave us his spirit to transform
our hearts so that we would be hungry for God.
We don't fast to save ourselves. We fast because
we want to worship the one who saved us. That's
what drives we're all Christians. But it's easy
to look the part when your heart is not right.
Or to even fool yourself when your heart is not
right. See, some of us here might be the Sunday
Christian. We have self -denial for a day. We
look the part on a Sunday. But we're filled with
other things during the week. Some of us are
the religious hypocrite. We look the part because
we're just trying to impress others. But we're
ignoring God and the reality's not there. Some
of us are the sin hiders. We paper over our sin
by spiritual disciplines, self -denial, doing
the right rituals. But we need to ask, where
are our hearts really at? What are you doing
on a Friday night? Is that a little window into
where your heart's at? Maybe another free time.
I don't know. Look at your week. What's really
going on in your life? Because as we've seen
over the last three weeks, who you are in secret
is who you really are. Now, we all struggle with
these things. I want to close with two questions
to help us. Ask yourself, what do you need to
starve in your heart? What do you need to starve
in your heart so that you can feast again more
on God? Is it sin? Is it distractions? Is it
hypocrisy? Is it guilt? Is it shame? I don't
know what it is for you, but what do you need
to starve in your heart so that you can feast
more on God and his grace? And secondly, who
can you be raw and real with about where you're
at? Who can you just quietly talk to and if you're
struggling, say, hey, I'm struggling. Who can
you just be real with about where your heart's
at? Jesus is saying, let's do these things in
secret. Let's have a good relationship with God
in secret. But he's not saying, let's do it alone.
We want to be a body of Christ that loves and
supports each other in fighting sin and hypocrisy.
That's how we be a church that isn't fake, but
is truly righteous. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
we trust in your grace. When we fail, we remember
the cross. When we're self -indulgent, we thank
you for Jesus' sacrifice. Please, Father, help
us to cherish your love, your mercy, your grace.
And, Father, would it move us, would it drive
us to fast from the things of this world and
to focus more on you, to feast on you, to hunger
for you, to enjoy all that you have given us?
and to enjoy you most of all please father where
we need that reset help us to do it help us to
be wise about what we need to reset on and help
us not to be fake but real in knowing and loving
you and we ask this in jesus name amen