RHYTHMS: Fasting

Chris McCurley: Good morning. That's one of those songs, Austin, where I just, I stop singing and I just listen. I think God's okay with that. I know we are to sing and I do sing, but there are times that song is one of them where I just have to stop singing and listen to you sing it. It's so beautiful. Such a good sentiment. Thank you for being here. We're our series, we're kind of wrapping up this series. We've got one more lesson next week. We're talking about rhythms. How can we live our life in a God-shaped rhythm? All of our lives have a rhythm. Every one of you have a life that has a rhythm to it. It's just a matter of is that rhythm a God-shaped rhythm? Is God approving of the rhythm that you are living your life? Could we tweak it? Could we tailor it to some degree? And I think all of us could say yes, at least in some measure. You know, the animated film Over the Hedge is about a group of animals that decided to leave the woods and move into the suburbs. And once they arrived, one of the characters, a raccoon by the name of RJ, sees that people, human beings, love to eat. And therefore, if they hung around the hedges, they would be more than filled as well because of all the scraps that come off the table of these people that like to eat. And he shows his friends what he's talking about as they peer into the window of the home where they're all sitting around the table. And he points to the mouth of the people and he says, that's their pie hole. And he says that ⁓ the people themselves are known as couch potatoes. And he says, these people use their telephones to order food and they drive food and they take food and they deliver food. He said their whole life is all about food. Making the point that because their life is all about food, if they just hang around, they can have more than enough food as well. He even says that the table that they're sitting at, that's their altar where they worship food. And he points to a treadmill and he says, that's where they get rid of the guilt that they have so that they can eat more food. Probably a little bit of truth to that fiction, right? America spends $349 billion a year on fast food, and we're getting unhealthier as a society by the hour. But the scales don't tell the whole story. You could have a strong metabolism, you could diet and eat right and exercise. It's not just about overeating, it's any sort of unhealthy attachment to food. It's about holding a view of food that maybe overpowers your perception of God. Food is food. There's nothing inherently wrong with food. You need food in order to survive. You could probably chew on a root and get more health benefit than say eating a piece of chocolate cake. But who wants to do that, right? I mean, we don't just eat to survive. We eat because we love the taste of food. We want to have a party between our tongue and our tonsils, right? The problem is that when we look to food to do what only God can do, food is good. Eating is good. But every good gift comes from God, and it's easy to allow a gift to replace the giver. You might have remembered from our series on idolatry. said that idolatry is taking something good and making it. best. I mean, just think about our language. We say things like this. This cake is heavenly, right? We have angel food cake, nectar of the gods, death by chocolate. This pizza is to die for. This pie was a little slice of heaven. And we're joking, of course, when we make these statements. But it is a fact that when the going gets tough, the tough get chewing, don't A man by the name of Frank Farrell said this. A very large part of mankind's ills and of the world's misery is due to the rampant practice of trying to feed the soul with the body's food. So what's the solution? Right? We know the problem. What's the solution? If you're trying to treat a troubled soul like it's a growling stomach, what do you need to do? Maybe food is food for you. Maybe you don't have an unhealthy attachment to it either way. Maybe it's just food. Maybe you just eat for fuel and that's about it. You don't worry about your the taste or anything like that. You just eat to eat whether food is God or food is just food. We make a conscious decision to partake. And could there be benefit from not protecting? Could it be beneficial to abstain from eating? And many of us would say, well, no, I mean, that's weird, right? I mean, if you're hungry, you eat. It's just weird not to eat. Even if I could go without food, I'm eventually going to have to eat food again because you have to eat or you or you die, right? Plus, not eating is sort of extreme. But what if I told you that at our next fifth Sunday here at Walnut Street, we're going to have a church, not eat church. We're going to have a church fasting church. So we're going to come in, we're going to worship, we're going to go to Bible class. And then we're going to meet in the fellowship hall like we normally do for a meal. But instead of having a meal, we're just going to sit around and pray and read our Bible. How many people do you think would stay for that? Not many, probably right? I mean, it's just that would be weird, right? I mean, to not eat. Plus the fact that as a church family, we do that really well. We eat well. That is part of who we are is the fact that we get together, we fellowship and we eat. We're good at feasting. We're not real good at fasting. Why is that? Fasting is a biblical topic. And anytime we study a biblical topic, we need to know, obviously, what the Bible has to say about it. We need to discern what scripture has to say about any topic, especially one that we find in scripture. And the question that we're tempted to ask is, why did people in the Bible fast? But maybe the better question for us is, why don't we fast? Why do you think it is that we don't fast? Well, I'm going to offer up three reasons, and you could probably think of more, and you'll probably agree with these three. The first reason I think we don't fast is because we love food. Right? Again, it's just weird not to eat. We love food. We love to eat. And it's a major sacrifice to not eat. We need food to survive, but I doubt any of us eat just to stay alive. We eat because we like the taste. And that's perfectly reasonable. Adam and Eve were blessed with paradise. And in paradise, there were a myriad of foods that they could eat. Now they were told not to eat of this one tree, right? But they could eat from any other tree in the garden. And I don't believe that God expected them to eat just to survive. I believe he gave them everything in paradise, including the food for them to enjoy. He gave them 10,000 taste buds to savor. whatever it was that they ate. Ecclesiastes chapter nine and verse seven reads, eat your bread with joy. God could have given us a less than appetizing menu to choose from, maybe just a bitter root to provide us all the nutrients and health that we need, but he didn't. He provided us with a myriad of foods so that we could not only survive, but also to thrive in tasting. He lavished us with a tremendous array of eating options. Fasting is not saying I don't like food. It's saying I love food. I just don't love it more than God. Fasting says God is better. We're not slaves to our appetite. God is in control and I have a greater appetite for him. God has blessed me with food, but I'm never going to allow that blessing to overtake the blester. Second reason why I think we don't pass is because we don't see a practical purpose in. I mean, why do it? What's the practical purpose? What's the what's the benefit that comes? Not only do we like the taste of food, but food also brings comfort and we're addicted to comfort, right? Fasting helps us to break this addiction. If you had to choose between God and comfort, which would win? Fasting is a way of saying I choose God over comfort. Hebrew has two main words for fasting to zone and Taanit to zone literally means to cover one's mouth, which makes sense, right? Because that's what fasting is. you prevent things from going into your mouth. There are a lot of preachers that have given a lot of great sermons about fasting and they talked about fasting from social media or fasting from your phone and all that may be good and right. But understand the two words for fasting we find in Hebrew are all about food. That's it. It's fasting. It's abstaining from food. A third reason I think that so many don't fast is because We're not commanded to. Where is the direct command for us as people of God living in the 21st century to fast? Why do it if you're not commanded to? Well, I gotta say, I don't really like that mentality. I don't do it because I'm not commanded to. I don't really like that mentality. I think that's a you know, that's a mentality that breeds the idea of you know, what are the salvation issues? It's a it's a rules based mindset. I think this. Relationships are about what I can do to draw nearer or closer to the one that I adore. And certainly I think that is the case when it comes to our relationship with God. I'm not a big proponent of, what are the things that I have to do to get to heaven? Just give me the bare minimum of things. What do I have to do to get to heaven? That's not how relationships work. If there is something you can do that would benefit your relationship with God, then why not do it? You don't have to. I'm not telling you that you have to fast. I'm not telling you that you're going to go to hell if you don't fast, obviously, but this is not about a do I have to do this? It's better to ask the question what glorifies God. We often ask the question what sends me to hell? The better question is what glorifies God? What draws me nearer to him? And what draws me near to him is anything. that can benefit me spiritually, even though it may not be a direct command from scripture. Again, I'm not telling you have to fast. The Bible doesn't say that I have to. The absence of a rule, though, doesn't rule out a practice being beneficial. Let me say that again. The absence of a rule doesn't rule out a practice being beneficial. And here's the deal with biblical fasting. It's mentioned over 30 times in scripture. And so if we want to go by pure example, we have more than enough example for us to maybe at least try it. In fact, most Christians and most parts of the world for most of history have felt that fasting was a crucial part of discipleship. So let's shift from why we don't fast to maybe why we should or why it would be beneficial. Let's put it that way. And there's three big reasons to fast in my opinion. Virtually every example we find in the Bible can be placed into one of these three buckets. And here are the three reasons the Bible gives us to fast. A response to a life-changing moment, a response to sin, or a response to tragedy. Look with me at Luke chapter 4, beginning in verse 1. reads like this. being tempted by the devil and he ate nothing during those days and when they were ended he was hungry. So after Jesus is baptized the first thing he does is go into the wilderness and fast. Why would he do that? Why is that the natural reaction to being baptized and to have the Holy Spirit come upon him and to have God say this is my beloved son? and whom I'm well pleased. It was a life defining moment for Jesus and his response was too fast. The first thing that our Lord does after a life defining moment is to go be by himself and not eat. And that may seem a little strange to some. Why would he do this? Well, he's not the first one to do it after meeting with God at Mount Sinai and receiving the Ten Commandments. I want you to notice Exodus thirty four verse twenty eight. So he was there with the Lord, talking about Moses, he was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water, and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the 10 commandments. So a life-changing moment for Moses called for a fast. You might remember when Elijah, ⁓ he had this showdown with the prophets of Baal and the prophets of God, a showdown that God won handily. Remember, he came down and consumed the contents on the altar and he licked up the water in the trench. Everyone is amazed. And what does Elijah do? He goes into the desert and he fasts for 40 days. And so what do we learn from these events? If we only had these three moments in Scripture, what can we learn from them about fasting? What do we learn from Moses and Jesus and Elijah? Well, I think what stands out in all of these stories is that they were not results oriented. Neither Jesus nor Moses nor Elijah were seeking some sort of result. They were simply responding to a life changing moment. There's a woman who lived many years ago and I'll butcher her name, Eram Chanu Sharmilla. She engaged in a hunger strike that lasted 16 years. You might remember this woman. She protested against the armed forces, special powers act. She began her fast in the year 2000. It ended in the year 2016. She was kept alive by a tube that they forced food into her. That's how most people view fasting, at least in our world. You're doing it in order to protest. You're doing it in order to call attention to yourself, but to a bigger cause even you do it so that maybe you get some sort of result. And I'm not saying that's necessarily wrong. Certainly there is fasting that happens so that you hopefully get an outcome that you desire. But what you notice about Jesus, Moses and Elijah, these three examples is that these men fasted not to get a result, but as a response. God's going to do something and we're seeking a response from God. That's how we often view fasting. But here there was a sacred moment, a transformative life-changing experience, and the response was to fast. In Acts chapter 13, we see that Paul and Barnabas are at a defining moment in their lives and in their ministry. They're about to start a whole new journey, and before being sent off, notice what happens. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. You know, if you've ever had surgery, you probably had to fast before taking a general anesthesia for either a surgery outpatient procedure. Maybe it was, you know, at noon the day before you couldn't eat anything after that. If you've ever excuse my crudeness, but if you've ever had a colonoscopy, you know that the prep is worse than the procedure, right? You know, it's all that prep work. Kind of think of fasting from a standpoint of rebooting, clearing out your system. Some people do that today. They do a cleanser of fast in order to reset themselves physically. Maybe we do that to reset ourselves spiritually. It's a spiritual reboot. But why fasting? Why is it necessary? Can I just pray about it? Yeah. Pray engages the mind. That's a good thing. Can't I just study my Bible? Sure, and you should do that Bible study engages the mind as well. But what about my body? We talked about this in the past. Your body is spiritual as well. It's not a shell. It's not that that Tupperware that contains the true essence of who you are. Your body is spiritual as well. So while praying and study, engage the mind. Fasting is a way of engaging the body. You go back to Jesus's temptation. He was fasting. He was frail. the Bible, excuse me, the devil tries to tempt him by saying, turn these stones into bread. And how does Jesus respond? He says it is written, man shall not live by bread alone. Have you ever thought about seeing fasting as a way of showing your stomach whose boss? I've saying my appetite is not going to control me in this moment. That God is in control, that I'm dependent upon him. Fasting is a way of declaring your frailty as a human being, which I believe is what Jesus was doing, at least in part when he was tempted in the wilderness. There are moments in your life that serve as a wake up call and remind you that you are frail. They wake you up to the reality that you are weak and that you are nothing on your own. You truly have no control of your life. And fasting is a way to embody that frailty. What do you think about when you don't eat? You think about food, don't you? When you're starving, what's the number one thing on your mind? Food. And when you get to eat again, you're also reminded that you are dependent upon God. You depend on things outside of yourself to keep you alive. This is the part of the reason why you fast as a reminder that you are frail and that God is in control. So, how many of you are hungry? All this talk about food making you hungry. How many of you leaned over before we started and said, ⁓ where are we eating after church? Right. That's always on our minds. It's always what we're thinking about. All this talk may get your stomach riled up, but there is no question that food plays a dominant role in our lives. It's a monster that has to be fed. You don't believe me. Why does it growl? Right. What happens when you go too long without food? If you're like me, you get what we call hangry. And you know what hangry is, right? It's when you're angry and hungry at the same time, you're irritated that you're so hungry and you need something immediately or almost immediately to fill you. Remember several years ago, Snickers had these commercials where they would say, you're not you when you're hungry. You'd have this person acting like an entitled celebrity and they'd say, here have a Snickers. And they say, why? And they would eat it and they'd turn back to normal and they'd say, you're not you when you're hungry. And there's some truth to that fiction, right? You're not you when you're hungry or when you're hangry. Food plays such a dominant role in our lives. But as I said a moment ago, have you considered that perhaps fasting can show who is the dominant force in your life? You show your hunger who is boss. Giving up one of our most primal urges rather than giving into it can be a means of refocusing us spiritually. And in the biblical tradition, When a person came to the realization that they had messed up, a common response was to fast. When you wake up to the fact that you have messed up, you draw near to the one who provided you the wake up call. In Joel chapter two, starting in verse 12, it reads, yet even now declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning, and rend your hearts and not your garments. Most instances of fasting that you find in scripture boil down to a response to sin. I messed up. I repent. But I also fast. You see this protocol over and over. People tend to notice when you haven't had anything to eat. Maybe you're irritable. Maybe your blood sugar drops and you need something to eat. We were made to eat because not eating brings discomfort, even grief. And that's the connection here. Joel is using grief language. Render hearts and not just your garments. That's a reference to morning. Joel's point is that confession and repentance should bring pain and discomfort. There should be a time of mourning over breaking God's law and breaking God's heart. It's exactly what Jesus was talking about in the Sermon on the Mount when he said, blessed are those who mourn. for they shall be comforted. You should mourn over your spiritual condition if it's not right with God. Look at 1 Samuel chapter 7. calls out the people for their blatant idolatry. And then notice what happens. So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Astaroth and they served the Lord only. Then Samuel said, gather all Israel at Mizpah and I will pray to the Lord for you. So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord. and fasted on that day and said there, we have sinned against the Lord. It wasn't enough for Israel just to turn away from their idols. There was also repentance and fasting that would go along with their actions. More needed to happen and that more was for them to confess and to abstain from eating. Again, fasting is the embodiment of the grief one feels. for not only breaking God's law, but breaking God's heart. It's also a proper response to tragedy. We see this also many times in Scripture. There are things that happen to us that are so egregious that the natural response is to stop all normal operations. Something horrible happens to you or to someone you love. Tragedy strikes. And what do you do? You probably cry. You probably pray. You lose sleep. Maybe you even lose your appetite. You put your life on pause. You acknowledge your grief and you fast. Look at Psalm 35 with me. Verses 11 through 14 read, But I, when they were sick, I wore sackcloth. I afflicted myself with fasting. Did you catch that? David is crying out to God to rescue him from his enemies. Do something about my enemies, God. But when they were sick, I prayed for them. I fasted for them when they were sick. Isn't that crazy that David would do this? That he would ask to be rescued from his enemies. But when his enemies were sick, he prayed for them and he fasted for them. I don't know that I would do that, that I would even think to do that. But David shows us something incredible. Sometimes the grief is so great, whether it's for us or for someone else or maybe even somebody we don't necessarily care about. We don't wish anything ill upon them. And so we pray, we grieve and we fast. There's grief coupled with fasting. And by the way, David's request was not answered, at least not in the way that he desired. And that happens sometimes. And it goes back to being outcomes oriented. It's not always about getting the desired result. Most importantly, fasting is about responding to what's going on in my life. Responding to the tragedy. When Joseph died, his family fasted for seven days. The whole country fasted. This goes against the grain of how we deal with grief in our culture, doesn't it? Because when there is a funeral in our culture, What often happens is afterwards the family gets together and they have a meal, maybe even at the church. And I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with that. In fact, I think that's a great thing because many times there's family that come from all over that hadn't seen each other in a long time, and the funeral provides an opportunity for them to sit down to share a meal and just catch up with one another. I think that's a great thing, but it does show the dichotomy between biblical culture and our culture. Our first thought during grief is to come together for a meal. And their first thought was too fast. Matthew chapter 6, Jesus addresses fasting. Listen to what he says. And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces, that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. You know what Jesus says? And when you fast, he doesn't say if you fast. He assumed that they would carry on this practice. That even when he was gone, that they would continue to fast. And they did. Whatever the reason, whether it's a response to tragedy, a life-defining moment, or to sin, whatever the reason, whatever it is, it can either be godly or selfish. That's what Jesus says. It can be godly or selfish. You can do it for public display and public accolade, or you can do it for me. and for glorification of the Father. It's not about the practice. It's about the pursuit. What are you trying to get out of this? May not be the best question to ask. No, better to say, I want to draw near to God, and here's how I'm going to do it. One way that I'm going to do it. Anybody ever heard the song, Cats in the Cradle by Harry Chapin? Yeah, I think most of us are familiar with that song, at least most of us of a certain generation. Harry Chapin wrote a song that was very true to his life. I'm not going to sing it for you, but here's how it goes. My child arrived just the other day. He came to the world in the usual way, but there were planes to catch and bills to pay. He learned to walk while I was away and he was talking before I knew it. And as he grew, he say, I'm going to be like you, Dad. I know I'm going to be like you. Choruses and the cats in the cradle and the silver spoon. Little boy blue and the man in the moon. When you coming home dad? I don't know when, but we'll get together then. You know we'll have a good time then. My son turned 10 just the other day. He said thanks for the ball dad. Come on, let's play. Can you teach me to throw? I said not today. I got a lot to do. He said that's OK and he walked away but his smile never dimmed. It said I'm going to be like him. Yeah, you know I'm going to be like him. I've long since retired. My sons moved away. I called him up just the other day. said, I'd like to see you if you don't mind. He said, I'd love to dad if I could find the time. You see my new job's a hassle and the kids have the flu, but it's sure nice talking to you. It's been sure nice talking to you. And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me. He'd grown up just like me. My boy was just like me. Did you know that the melodrama of this song played out in Harry Chapin's life? His wife, who wrote the words to the song, asked him, when are you going to take a break and spend time with your kids and with your family? And Harry Chapin's response was, when summer's over, I will slow down and I will spend time with you all. And before summer ended, was killed in a car accident. You cannot read that postscript of Harry Chapin's life and it not remind you of the bigger picture, And all of these spiritual disciplines that we've been talking about, prayer, Bible study, fasting, whatever, all of them come down to one thing. And one thing only. Priority. Priority I can I can preach these things still a blue in the face, but it comes down to the Nike theology. Just do it right. At some point you have to do it. I can't make you do anything as a as your preacher. I set the climate for growth. I said the atmosphere for growth. I hope to give you some tools, but at the end of the day you've got to take it and run with it. It's up to you and I just ask that you consider the cost here. Do a cost benefit analysis. How important are these things to you? And consider the cost of putting them off while you pursue lesser things. Because listen, I can tell you straight from experience, that we all have an expiration date. You don't know when it's due. Kind of get busy living or get busy died, right? priority. Consider the cost. Let's break. Dear Heavenly Father. Thank you so much for your. Your love, your grace and your mercy. Thank you for not giving up on us. May we pursue you above anything and everything. May we not only put you first, but may you be the only one on the list. And may we allow our relationship with you to trickle down into everything else in our lives. We're so blessed to call you father. May we live the blessed life. by pursuing you first and foremost. love you and it's in your son's name we pray, amen. I love you all. We want to help you in any way that we can. If we can pray with you, we can study with you, if we can answer any questions you might have. If you're ready to put on Christ in baptism this morning and begin a daily walk with him, certainly we can take care of that. Austin's got a song. If you have a need, why don't you come as we stand as we sing.

Luke 4 · chapter mention Acts 13 · chapter mention 1 Samuel 7 · chapter mention Matthew 6 · chapter mention