Discipleship Through Fasting | Matthew 6:16–18; Isaiah 58

You're listening to the Bridgetown Church Podcast with

Pastor Casey Kendall, where our vision is Jesus, our mission is

people, and our cause is love. Thanks for tuning in.

Let's dive in. Good morning Bridgetown Church,

happy Valentine's Day weekend. This morning we're going to be

in the book of Matthew, chapter 6 and verse 16, and then I'm

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

going to have you hold your place in another portion of

Scripture, Isaiah chapter 58, and I'll cue you when when we're

Isaiah 58 · chapter mention

going to go to both of those. OK, given that it's Valentine's

Day weekend, some of you need to hear this.

This weekend, you're not alone. Jesus loves you today more than

anybody ever will or ever could. He loves you today.

You'll never be alone when you're with Jesus.

So Matthew chapter 6, verse 16, I'll be reading out of the ESV

Matthew 6:16

translation. This is the word of the Lord

Jesus speaking, he says, and when you fast, do not look

gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that

they're fasting may be seen by others.

Truly I say to you, they have received their reward.

Verse 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your

face, that you're 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. This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God for his word. Let's pray.

Father, thank you for this body. Thank you for this church that

you've established. Thank you for the kingship of

Jesus. I pray that you'd speak to me

and through me to your people. We love your Son Jesus, and we

pray that this morning we would be spiritually shaped and

conformed into his image. Whatever you have to speak to

each and every person here. Would you, would you speak to

them, Father? But we are not make us so.

We have not give us, but we know not teach us.

In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

For you movie buffs out there, one of the most common

storytelling methods today in filmmaking is the montage.

You know what I'm talking about, right?

That's the training footage of the montage.

It's Disney and Marvel Comics secret formula.

You know what happens in the montage?

It's that moment where your protagonist, your hero of the

story, they have an awakening. Think about Spider Man, Toby

Maguire. Oh my gosh, I could shoot webs.

There's this moment of realization where the hero of

the story realizes they have these new found powers and

abilities. And the what what the filmmaker

does to signify the passage of time and all the training and

effort that this hero is putting into mastering this new found

ability is they've thrown the montage often incorporated by

cheesy music. This is a modern contemporary

filmmaking strategy. Here's a couple examples.

Luke Skywalker. Luke Skywalker learning the way

of the Force while doing backflips with Master Yoda.

What about Rocky? Rocky Balboa running around the

streets of fairly shadow boxing to a horn section?

That's like legendary, right? What about The Karate Kid waxing

on, waxing off, doing chores to beat those losers at Cobra Kai?

Right. Even Neo AKA Mr. Anderson in the

Matrix, learning jiu jitsu and how to stop bullets just by

bending reality. And all these examples, as silly

as they are, you have this main protagonist who understands

there's something more about my life than what I can perceive.

They have these newfound powers and abilities that they need to

train, that they need to master in order to achieve their full

potential. Have you guys ever wondered as a

Christian what your full potential is?

As in, who are you called to become?

What is the goal of all of this? What is the goal of the church

gathering the Bible, reading, the Scripture, memorization, the

praying together, the weeping together?

What's the goal of all of this? Well, Scripture has something to

say about that. Paul the apostle in in the

letter to Titus chapter 2, verse 11.

Titus 2:11

Paul says this. Listen up, for the grace of God

has appeared, bringing salvation to all people, training us to

renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self

controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age.

Waiting for our blessed hope. The appearing of the glory of

our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us

to redeem us from all lawlessness, and to purify for

himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for

good works. Notice two things about this

text that Paul talks about. He says first that the grace of

God trains us for godliness, trains us for godliness.

You can think right now we're in the Winter Olympics season.

You look at all these athletes at the pinnacle, at the height

of their respected craft. They didn't get there by

accident. They didn't get there by luck.

Maybe the curling teams did, but every other sport, these

athletes, they haven't achieved the highest levels of their

sport. They're just sitting around or

pure luck. What they've done is they've

trained hard at their craft and developed discipline.

I've read interviews, I've read excerpts about these athletes

that said, yeah, I had to miss my sister's wedding just to

train. I had to miss the birth of my

baby just to train because it meant something to them.

There's a saying in the athletic world that perfect practice

leads to perfect performance, that the time you put in

practice, the time you put in training, pays off when the

performance is actually called for.

My friends, it is much the same with disciples of Jesus.

We are called to train ourselves for righteousness.

The second thing to notice about Paul's letter to Timothy in this

portion of Scripture, he says that this training culminates in

a transformation, the goal of Christianity.

What is the full potential of the Christian here?

It is to become the people of God who are righteous and do

what is righteous. Paul says that Jesus redeemed a

people for his own possession. You belong to him so that you

are zealous for good works. What he wanted, what God wanted

from the beginning of time, the plan was a royal family, you

that belongs to King Jesus, renewed in his image, who thinks

like him, who acts like him, who loves like him.

That's the full potential of the Christian.

This training should culminate in transformation.

Christianity is about transformation, to be

transformed into Christ's likeness church as a redeemed

and a renewed image bearer. Theologically, the term, you may

have heard of it before. Theologically, the term is

called sanctification. We are called to be sanctified,

and all that term means is to be set apart, to be consecrated.

So what a Christian is when Christ redeems you, when he

calls you, makes you his own possession, that means you no

longer belong to the world, but you belong to him.

You're set apart for my service. You're now a member of my

family. The contemporary term for

sanctification within the last 50 to 75 years or so is

spiritual formation. Spiritual formation, It's a

contemporary term for an ancient practice.

The spirit is still the same spiritual formation.

Church is about becoming, becoming.

You and I are called to become somebody.

You see, humanity, if you think about it, your life, you're not

just physical. Humanity is composed of both

body and spirit, and both make one completed whole.

You cannot have one without the other.

Humanity is both body and spirit.

So for the question, both body and spirit must be mastered.

They must be disciplined for the sake of King Jesus.

So what spiritual formation is in the life of a believer?

It's becoming like Christ, both in body and spirit, where we

think like Jesus and live like Jesus.

Theologian and pastor John MacArthur used to say this, that

Christianity is simply becoming who you already are, becoming

who you already are. Christ looks at you and says,

righteous you. And I say not so Lord, I know

what I've done. He goes, I know, but you have my

righteousness and I'm training you.

I'm shaping you. I'm transforming you to agree

with that one day to be righteous.

Now this transformation that we're talking about, spiritual

transformation, it's brought about through the regular and

rhythmic practice of what we call spiritual discipline,

spiritual discipline. Now what are spiritual

disciplines? You may have heard that term

before these spiritual disciplines, the rhythmic bodily

practices in the life of the disciple of Jesus done in

submission to the Holy Spirit that train us for holiness.

There's a bunch of them listed throughout scripture.

Here's a couple examples. Memorization of scripture,

silence, solitude, church community, living in community.

These are all examples of spiritual disciplines that help

the disciple of Jesus become like Christ, to be a transformed

person. Now these spiritual disciplines,

just like those Olympic athletes, my friends, the hard

part about these spiritual disciplines is that is that they

require intentionality. They require the will, the

desire to want to be different, the desire to value our

spiritual life. You think about Matthew Chapter

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

7 when Jesus is giving his overview of what praying's like.

Remember he goes through somebody at the door and he says

pray like this. First ask, then seek, then

knock. What he's trying to do, and his

overview of prayer is show us that consistency and continuing

and willingness is the key to prayer.

If you ask and nobody opens, then seek.

If you seek and you cannot find, then kick the door down, knock

it, knock it. The idea in this spiritual

discipline of praying is to be consistent, relentless praying

in faith. These spiritual disciplines will

lead to that spiritual transformation that that Christ

has called us to, to partake in that person that Christ has

called us to become. Now make no mistake, my friends,

being spiritually disciplined, partaking in prayer, community,

group, multiply groups, silence and solitude, doing all these

things does not merit your salvation, does not earn your

salvation, OK? What these spiritual disciplines

do in the life of a believer is they add depth to your faith.

They don't merit your faith. They add depth to your faith.

And what I want you to do from here on out, the rest of our

sermon, I want you to think about your faith in the analogy

of a garden, a garden that God has planted.

Your faith is the garden bed, the soil in which these

spiritual disciplines are planted in.

They do not replace the soil, but they grow.

They thrive in the soil of faith.

Spiritual disciplines do not merit or earn salvation.

Rather, believers already have that through Christ right now.

If you believe, if you have faith in the finished work of

Jesus, the gospel, you are his. But when we're talking about

depth, about this transformation, becoming

spiritual disciplines is like the seed, the water, the

fertilizer that will help your garden grow.

And so, so many Christians either they, they burn out, they

start really well, they burn out and they they leave, they quit.

People have a joyless faith. They, the worries of the day get

to them. We were constantly asking, how

can I deepen my relationship with Jesus?

How can I deepen it? How can I enjoy it?

How can I experience a deeper fellowship with Jesus?

My friends? The answer is spiritual

disciplines. Just as feeding and watering the

flowers in the garden will produce vibrant blooms, the

regular practice of these spiritual disciplines will bring

a vibrant vitality to your faith.

The depth that you desire is unlocked through the practice,

the rhythmic practice, the regular practice of spiritual

disciplines. So in Matthew chapter 6, our

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

text before us, Jesus after his beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5,

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

he gives us 3 core spiritual disciplines for you guys to go

home and study for your homework.

They're all connected, sandwiched together.

There's a formula that runs throughout Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

These are the three core disciplines that Jesus speaks

about. The first is giving, giving, The

second is praying, and then the third, the topic of our sermon

today is fasting, giving, praying, fasting.

We'll hit this a little bit later, but the formula for all

three of these in Matthew chapter 6 always starts with

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

this. Jesus says when you do these

things, not if, when you see he just got out off the topic of

being a city on a hill, a light in a dark place, the Beatitudes.

And then he transitions to the Matthew chapter 6 disciples,

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

those those people who follow me do these things for me.

When he do these things, when you gave, when you pray, when

you fast. So today we're going to be

talking about fasting. Why is sermon on fasting, Chris?

Well, one practically next week is Sikh week 7, seven days of

fasting. And I want to prepare the

church. You guys have a week, a week to

think about what to fast. I'm hoping that after our sermon

here today that you'll be willing to participate in the

church body with the church body and fasting.

What I want to do is clear up some confusion about fasting

because if you're honest like me, most of us aren't doing it.

Most of us aren't doing it. Most of us are like what in the

world is fasting? Is it just to lose some weight?

Has it just a detox? What is fasting biblically?

My hope is that this corporate fast that we're heading into

next week will kick start your own personal rhythm of fasting.

That's the desire that it wouldn't just be a week of

fasting, but that this would be the training wheels for you.

That one day we take those training wheels off and you

pedal into the sunset fasting the rest of your life.

That's what we want for you. We want spiritual discipline.

We want spiritual transformation.

We want you to enjoy the depth of your faith.

So today we're going to talk about fasting.

Now, what is fasting upfront? The biblical term in the Hebrew

for fasting means to abstain, to abstain from something.

It's most frequently associated with eating food.

The reason being the context of Scripture.

It's a Agricultural Society, right?

Food, wine and drink. Those are the most precious

things to these people back then.

Food, wine, drink and land. So when God tells Israel to

abstain from something, he uses this word Psalm, the word in

Hebrew most frequently used to to abstain from eating food.

But believer, I want you to understand something Now.

Food is just the starting point. Fasting can and should expand

beyond food. It should.

Now many of us don't know what to make about fasting.

It seems strange or mystical, like really one of those like

things that super Christians do. But not regular normal people,

right? It can be a taboo topic church

wide. I think specifically in the West

where we are the western end of Protestantism and the other

branches of Christianity, the Eastern Orthodox Catholicism.

They regularly fast. They have a big one upcoming,

it's called Lent, the days leading up to Easter.

Some of us have bad or ineffective experiences with

fasting. Maybe you tried it and it didn't

work like I tried fasting. It didn't work like it just

didn't. Well, bro, what?

What'd you what'd you fast for? Well, I really wanted a

girlfriend. I was how was it?

How was that can help you pursue righteousness.

Well, I really wanted this job and God didn't answer it.

Some of us have misconceptions about what fasting is.

Maybe we haven't had a biblical perspective on fasting and I

want to clear that up today biblically.

OK, so First things first, the biblical overview.

Let's get the elephant in the room out of the way ready.

There is actually no specific command or set formula for

fasting in Scripture. You will not find it.

There's one exception, the Day of Atonement in the Old

Testament, Leviticus chapter 16 or 17.

Leviticus 16 · chapter mention

Yahweh in prescribing the Day of Atonement, what Israel is to do

as they approach the Tabernacle, the tent where the glory of God

dwells, He says on that day, you're going to set it apart as

sacred. How are we going to set it apart

as sacred? None of you are going to partake

in eating. None of you are going to partake

in intimacy. You're going to be, you're going

to abstain from all these things.

You're going to set it apart as sacred.

That's the only command in the Old Testament.

Yeah. Here's the interesting thing.

Ready. Interesting thing.

Scripture records consistently the people of God regularly

participating in fasting, extending beyond the Day of

Atonement. Right now our church is going

through second Samuel, the story of King David.

King David, this dude after man, this man after God's own heart,

he regularly fasts, like all the time.

Hey, I need some help. I need some wisdom from God.

Bring the ephod here. I just need to, I just need to

spend time with him. He regularly fasts.

So while we do not have a specific command on how to fast,

what the formula is for fasting, we do have frequent patterns of

fasting all throughout the scriptures.

So three big ideas to remember about these patterns.

One, fasting is practiced hand in hand with prayer.

Hand in hand with prayer. People in Scripture do not fast

merely to detox, merely to lose weight.

It's not merely the abstaining from something, but it's the

it's also the engaging in something.

You're fasting from something, particularly food to feast on

something else. What is that thing that we're

feasting on? So fasting is practiced hand in

hand with prayer. Secondly, fasting was a

consistent spiritual discipline practice by the people of God.

The people of God did it in the Old Testament and the New

Testament, especially the early church.

We found documents, books from the early church period.

We're talking AD 100 to 200, books like the the the dead, OK,

which are liturgical, which show the, the, the people of the

church how to effectively host a church gathering.

Guess what part of it is fasting?

They they would fast twice a week.

Those who wanted to be baptized into the church.

I believe in Jesus now. Part of the rites of baptism

back then was fast before the baptism.

Fasting was a consistent spiritual discipline in the life

of the people of God. Lastly and most important,

fasting was a consistent spiritual discipline practice by

our Lord Jesus Himself, the Lord Jesus Himself.

Often you'd find in the gospel narrative, Jesus will go away by

himself to pray. You remember John chapter 4,

John 4 · chapter mention

Jesus with the woman at the well, He spent hours with her

under the blazing hot sun, right?

He never actually drinks any of the water in the well.

He just uses it as like a plot device to talk about something

deeper, right? He's probably hungry.

His disciples see that they say, has anybody got the master

something to eat? What did he say?

I have food to eat that you don't know of.

Don't worry about me. I, I, I don't need to eat right

now as the Master does. So the disciples should too.

So three things. Fasting is practice hand in hand

with prayer. It's a consistent practice of

the people of God, and it's a consistent practice of the Lord

Jesus himself. So here's where we're going for

the rest of our sermon. Here's the road map. 1.

We're going to talk about these patterns of fasting in the Old

Testament. We're going to give a proper

definition, a working definition of what fasting is so you can go

home with it. And then we're going to talk

about motives for fasting and the posture of fasting.

So our first point, patterns of fasting.

Here's the first pattern in Scripture.

Fasting and mourning. Not where the sun rises,

Mourning, but mourning. Like you're crying.

You're grieving. Fasting and mourning.

This is the most prevalent use of fasting in all of the

scriptures. Mourning, grieving.

Sometimes it's even associated with repentance.

This is where somebody fasts. They refuse to eat, they abstain

from food because they're mourning.

They're grieving. They're cut to the core.

They're wearing their sorrow in their body.

Some of us here don't think that's that's OK to cry.

The Old Testament, these people that understand humanity is more

than the body, it is also spiritual.

Both are connected. When somebody's sad, when

somebody's mourning, when somebody's grief, they wear it.

They fast and I refuse to eat. I'm hurting.

This is where the the the term sackcloth and ashes comes from.

They're repenting with ashes on their head and sackcloth.

You think about a funeral, a funeral today.

What's the proper attire for a funeral?

It's black. Black.

Why? Because this is a it's a hurtful

moment and I'm grieving and I'm wearing it in my body.

What's happened? I feel it in my body when I lose

somebody. Second Samuel, chapter 1.

2 Samuel 1 · chapter mention

David, you guys just went over this sermon a couple months ago.

Probably David and his men. They fast in mourning for Saul

and Jonathan. Remember, Saul and Jonathan are

killed in battle. What is David's response?

He doesn't even eat. He can't.

He's hurt, he's fasting. While they mourn the death of

his king and his beloved friend Jonathan, it's often tied to

repentance as well. First Samuel, Chapter 7.

1 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

We went over this last year. First Samuel Chapter 7 Israel as

1 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

a whole, they fast. What, because God condemns them

because they asked for a king Saul in the 1st place.

God sends sends Samuel to accuse Israel.

You've committed infidelity on me.

You want an earthly king, you've rejected me is those responses.

Oh Dang it, they fast. They refuse to eat because I'm

sorry. Fasting and Mourning pattern #2

Fasting and petition Fasting competition.

This is probably the most popularized association between

fasting and praying. Fasting competition.

This is where fasting is treated as instrumental, as a means of

getting God's ear. It's a supplement to prayer and

tended to illicit God's help. God, would you look at my

current circumstance? I can't eat, I can't sleep.

I, I, I need you. You're fasting in hopes of

eliciting God's help to see you and your estate, praying that he

would move in your life. You think of Esther chapter 4

Esther 4 · chapter mention

right before she needs to go into the king, into the King's

chambers to ask him to sign an edict to save her people from

extermination. Before she enters the palace,

she tells cousin Mordecai, tell Israel to hold a fast for me, to

petition for me for protection because I'm about to go into a

danger zone. Second Samuel chapter 12, I

2 Samuel 12 · chapter mention

don't want to give any spoilers, so I won't say what happens.

The second Samuel, chapter 12, you'll find David, he's going to

2 Samuel 12 · chapter mention

fast, he's going to plead, he's going to petition, he's going to

ask that God would save somebody near and dear to him who's sick.

And here's the worst part Ready. It doesn't happen.

Believer, Are you OK with when you fast, when you pray?

God really does answer your prayers, but are you OK when He

doesn't answer the way that you think you should?

That's spiritual discipline pattern #3 fasting and response.

Fasting and response. And this is probably the most

underrated association with fasting.

It's a physical response to God divinely moving in your life.

It's like where God does something remarkable, like

something amazing, and you're like, I don't know how to

process this. So you stop eating.

You're feeling it in your body. Here's some examples.

Exodus chapter 34. Moses on the top of Mount Sinai,

Exodus 34 · chapter mention

God has just appeared before him.

Moses, his face is shining. He saw the glory of the Lord.

The Lord declared his goodness before him.

Moses, his response? He doesn't eat for 40 days.

It's almost like, what did I just partake in?

Oh my gosh. He's processing what happened to

him. Daniel, Daniel Chapter 9, after

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

he gets his visions of the future, these terrifying insane

visions, it says he was so strict and I can't eat.

God has moved divinely in their lives and it's like they're

responding like what do I do my friends, when it is clearly

evident that God is moving in your life.

The only proper response is worship.

Worship all of you worships, not just the spirit, the body as

well. What fasting is, my friends,

putting these three patterns together, a working definition.

Here's what here we go. Here's my definition of it.

Fasting is the intentional communion with God where we

abstain from physical, bodily comforts and devote ourselves to

prayer for the purpose of increasing the vitality of our

spiritual life. Say that again, Fasting is the

intentional communion with God where we abstain from physical

bodily comforts and devote ourselves to prayer for the

purpose of increasing the vitality of our spiritual life.

Doctor Tim Mackey of the Bible project succinctly puts it like

this. What is fasting?

Fasting is praying with your whole body, praying with your

whole body because you're a whole person.

You see the, the, the problem today is some most of us try to

live in categories of I have a spiritual life, then I have a

physical life. So on Sundays I help my

spiritual life, but every other day of the week it's about me

and and my my physical life. That's not true for the disciple

of Christ. Both body and spirit weight make

one completed whole. You must master both.

So what fasting is? It's praying with the whole

body. So coupled with prayer, we fast

to mourn with, seek out and respond to God.

So we physically submit ourselves in humility before the

Holy Spirit to acknowledge our total reliance on Him, this

posture of humility that we'll talk about in a little bit.

So when we fast, we abstain from regular body comforts like food

and remember that our life is more than just physical, it is

also spiritual and it is sacred. Your life is sacred, sacred

territory as a Christian. Why?

Because the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, dwells within

you. You are now the temple.

Remember last time I talked here, I gave a sermon on bearing

the name of Jesus, the name of God.

How Jesus says, see this temple, tear it down and in three days

I'll build it up again. He's talking about the temple of

his body. And then John chapter 17, he's

John 17 · chapter mention

praised to the Father. He says I give them my name,

that believe in me. They now bear my name.

What that means is you are now the temple.

You are now the temple where that spirit dwells.

You are sacred. What fascinating is it's

devoting the moment as sacred and resets our priorities.

Research our priorities. Do you guys remember you couples

out there? Married couples?

Do you remember your first month together?

You were inseparable. You were inseparable.

It was the no, you hang up. No, you hang up.

No. OK, let's do it together.

OK, 1/2 He didn't do it. You hang up now, probably unlike

you're 15, you're like, please hang up, please hang up, you

know, but you remember what it was like in that moment, in

those first in that blossom of true love.

You guys are inseparable. Nothing would get in the way of

you being with your girl or you being with your guy.

That's it. That's what fasting is, this

inseparable moment where I'm choosing to be with him rather

than bodily pleasures. I could eat.

I could eat a double, double right now.

There's nothing against it. It's a good thing to eat.

It's a good thing to feast. But you know, right now I just

really want to spend some time with God where everything else

fades away. That's fasting.

It's like 2 young lovers in love.

So moving on, now that we know what fasting is, how we defined

it, let's talk about the motives of fasting.

And this is a biggie. Go ahead and turn the chapter

Isaiah chapter 58 for me. Isaiah 58, I'm going to be

Isaiah 58 · chapter mention

reading out of the NIV translation just because I like

the flavor of it. I like the emphasis.

So IJ Isaiah chapter 58, verse one, we'll go through verse 10

Isaiah 58 · chapter mention

as well. I'll tell us when to stop.

OK, This is the word of the Lord.

It says shout it aloud. Do not hold back.

Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their

rebellion, and to the descendants of Jacob their sin.

For day after day they seek me out.

They seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that

does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its

God. They asked me for just decisions

and seem eager for God to come near them.

So what's happening here? God sent his prophet Isaiah to

contend with his people Israel for their sin.

They had broken covenant with Him and rebelled against him,

but acted as if nothing is wrong now.

The audacity of Israel, God's chosen people, their nerve to

ask God to provide for them and care for them, all while

disobeying His law. This is why God Yahweh is so

upset with him. He's contending with them, so he

sends his messenger Isaiah to judge them.

Their relationship with Yahweh at the time became just empty

ritual. And what were they doing?

Well, here's what they are doing.

Ready verse 3, Israel responds to God and says, why have we

fasted? They say, and you haven't seen

it. Why have we humbled ourselves?

And you have not noticed Israel's response to God's

judgement by accusing him of being unjust and ignoring our

fasting. They say, well, you, God,

Yahweh, look, we're doing all the assignments, we're checking

all the boxes. I'm, I've been fasting and

you're not providing, you're the problem.

You, you are unjust. You don't, you're not living up

to your word. You've broken covenant with me.

Israel points to the their spiritual disciplines, their

works, their performance as the mechanism that elicits God's

favor. And it became just empty ritual.

My friends, it is never appropriate to point to our

performance as the basis of our righteousness.

Your righteousness cannot be merited or earned.

It can only be gifted. It's a gift.

God is never in anyone's debt. He's never in my debt.

He's never in your debt. Your salvation is his gift to

you. Just because He loves you today

you are in debt to Him. Grace abounding, mercy

abounding. That's his gift to you.

So here's God's response to Israel's contention.

Continuing on verse 3, God says, yeah, on the day of your

fasting, you do as you please and you exploit all your

workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling

and strife and in striking each other with wicked fists.

You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be

heard on high. Is this the kind of fast that

I've chosen? Only a day for people to humble

themselves? Is it only for bowing 1's head

like a Reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?

Is that what you call a fast? One day acceptable to the Lord?

Stop there. God exposes Israel's false

fasting, their empty practice. It doesn't produce righteousness

and it doesn't dispense grace to others.

Israel had fooled themselves into thinking that a spiritual

discipline, one day of ritual fasting, would make up for a

lifetime of disobedience. So what are we to say about

this? Well, let's look at some motives

of false fasting. Looking at Israel's example,

here's some motives of false fasting.

For those of us that say, well, I tried fasting, it didn't

really work, make sure you're not on this list.

Number one first motive of false fasting is it self-centered.

Verse 3 on the day you're fasting, you do as you please.

I tried fasting for and it didn't work.

Fasting that understand this my friends, fasting does not move

the hand of God or bend his divine will to our desires.

Rather, what fasting does is it moves us into a position of

humility and conforms our will to his.

Where my desires are yours. See, fasting is not a megaphone,

my friends, where I'm screaming louder so God can hear me.

You think if God is sovereign, if he knows all things, He knows

what you need before you even ask it.

So why do you need a fast, right?

It's not about getting him to hear you because he could hear

you. He can hear faith the size of a

mustard seed. He says I can hear you.

Fasting doesn't bend His will to mine.

It bends my will to His where I want His wants, I want His

desires. Again, that spiritual

transformation. It's a hearing aid that tunes my

ears to hear His will for my life rather than the other way

around. The second motive of false

fasting. It oppresses others.

It oppresses others. The third, it produces arguments

and quarreling. Their fasting is producing

arguments and quarreling. Here's a question When you fast

food, when you go without eating, are you harsh with

people around you? Are you grumpy?

Is it like a Snickers commercial?

You're not you. When you're hungry, you're

grumpy. We like to Casey mentioned this

a couple sermons ago, but we like to talk.

We like to say don't talk to me until I've had my coffee.

You don't understand. I just didn't have my coffee.

No, you just might be a prickly person.

You probably want to change that.

Fasting that produces arguments and quarreling is no fasting at

all. It's supposed to dispense grace

to others. It's not about you.

So here's what effective fasting is.

Here's what true fasting looks like.

God continues on in verse 6 He says, is this not the fasting

that I have chosen to loose the chains of injustice and to untie

the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break

every yoke? Is it not to share your food

with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer the shelter?

When you see the naked, to clothe them and not to turn away

from your own flesh and blood. Then your light will break forth

like the dawn and your healing will quickly appear.

Then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the

Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call and the Lord

will answer. You will cry for help and he

will say, here am I. God tells Israel what true

fasting is composed of. It produces righteousness and

God's pleased with it. True fasting is motivated by

serving and providing for other people wanting to play a part in

God's plan of redemption and will for my life.

Wanting to provide for other people.

You think about it, if you're properly fasting, you're fasting

food for yourself. So I'm not going to go buy that

$10 Mcdouble meal or whatever from McDonald's.

I'm going to fast my lunch. What that means is you have 10

extra dollars to go bust somebody, right?

You think less about yourself and more about those around you.

You provide food, clothing and shelter to strangers because I'm

fasting for myself. But that doesn't mean I'm

fasting from serving you. I'm actually have more time to

serve you. Jesus, when the multitudes are

crashing around him, the disciples tell him, Lord, send

them away. It's late, let's go get some

sleep. Send them away.

Tell them to go get some food. What is his response?

No, you guys feed them. I am tired, but you.

Let's feed them, denying myself, providing for others.

And here's the reward of that fasting righteousness, that

transformation. We're talking about grace, joy,

adapt to your faith. It also, it says here, enables

you to resist sin. If you can discipline your body

through not eating, when it craves sugar, when it craves

protein, if you can discipline your body and say I know I crave

that right now, but Nope, you're not going to get it.

That makes it easier to withstand sin, to withstand some

temptation. It lifts the yoke.

Isaiah says the yoke of oppression on you, the

temptations that you struggle with.

So those of you struggle with temptation right now, consider

fasting. Consider fasting.

It's a whole body experience that helps you break that yoke

of oppression. Lastly, God will respond to your

prayers with this type of fasting and you will be

satisfied with His answer because your will is His will.

You're bent to His will. The last thing we'll talk about

is the posture of fasting. Go back to Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

Without opening scripture that we talked about.

This is Jesus speaking now as He carries this fasting tradition,

this fasting rhythm into the New Testament.

Jesus shows us what true fasting looks like and it's devotion to

God and He gives us some outline principles for what fasting

should look like in the lives of his disciples.

Are you ready? Here's what fasting should look

like in a Christian. It should look like nothing.

Here's what it should look like, look like nothing.

It shouldn't look like you're doing it at all.

It should be a regular rhythmic practice in our lives.

And it shouldn't be about us where we say, Oh, I can't, I

can't stand today. I'm, I don't have a lot of

energy because you know, I'm, I'm fasting, fasting.

I'm specifically praying for this new job that lined up and

fasting for it. God says don't do that.

Jesus says don't do that. So first thing he starts off

with when you fast, it's not if, it's when.

Again, fasting is an assumed spiritual discipline in Jesus

and his disciples. He was a faithful Jew who had a

rhythm of fasting. He read the Old Testament.

He knew all about it. That appointed to him.

You think about 40 days in the wilderness after his baptism.

Jesus fast for 40 days as he's tempted by Satan.

What does he respond to Satan with?

Man will not live by bread alone, but by every word that

comes from the mouth of God. Do you know what he's doing

there? He's giving a statement about

what it means to be truly human. You're more than physical,

you're also spiritual. You're not going to live by

physical things alone. You must be spiritually

disciplined. Secondly, do not look gloomy

like the hypocrites for they love to disfigure their faces

for attention. When you fast.

Don't do it for attention. It should look like same old

you. So go put some makeup on, go do

your hair, get out of your sweats.

Men shower, right? Avoid the praise of man, because

that's a trap, my friends. Jesus had a habit.

He says. I avoid all praise of man

because I know what's in the heart of man.

One day you'll love me, one day you'll hate me.

Avoid the praise of man. Doing things just to look holy.

Jesus says. I assure you, if that's your

goal, you'll probably get it. You'll get an attaboy.

Oh my gosh, He's so holy. Look at that.

He's like been fasting for like a week.

Oh my gosh, I wish I could do that.

Jesus says that's the extent of your reward as a ceiling is just

that random person that you'll never meet again that thinks

you're cool instead disciples. He says when you fast do it in

secret between you and the Lord, because then your reward is

deeper than the attaboys. Then the Oh my gosh, they're

nice. It's the righteousness, it's the

gift of God. It's communion, it's

transformation, it's treasure in heaven.

That's what true fasting is motivated by.

I've talked about this before, looking at your faith like a

treasure chest that like I talked about earlier, God has

gifted you this gift of grace. You have this treasure chest.

It's yours. It's up to you and me if we want

to open it or not and to see how rich we are.

When you are partaking of the spiritual disciplines, you are

opening that treasure chest of faith and you are seeing all the

grace that God has bestowed upon you.

You're blessed. Oh my gosh, she loves me this

much. Oh my gosh, grace abounding.

It's inexhaustible. That's what spiritual

disciplines allow you to do. Open that treasure chest to

explore the depths of the love that God has for you.

So as we end, I'll invite the worship team back up.

Let's review. Here's some meditations for you.

What is fasting? Remember, it's the intentional

communion with God where we abstain from physical, bodily

comforts and devote ourselves to prayer for the purpose of

increasing our spiritual life. Christian, some of you feel like

God has been ignoring you lately, like he's absent, like

you've been praying. But it seems like your prayers

are hitting the ceiling. They're not going beyond that.

I want you to know that maybe, if you think about it, maybe he

has been moving in your life. Could it be that you and I are

just far too preoccupied with worldly things to hear?

Could it be that we're far too preoccupied with physical things

to experience what He's trying to do in our lives?

Fasting is a chance to pause your routine, to clear that

garden that you had, that garden of faith, to clear it of weeds.

That way you can see the vibrant blooms in your garden that God

has already planted there. Now fasting, admittedly, it's

very hard. It's very hard.

Why? Because it's anti me and it's so

countercultural. Our bodies consistently, they

crave more. We're very blessed to be in the

country that we're in, to have the jobs that we have, to be

where we live. We're very blessed in comparison

to the rest of the world. We struggle with the concept of

giving things up because for us, it's always more and more and

more and more and more. It's hard, but let me maybe give

you an example that you've been doing fasting.

You just didn't know it. Men, you know how to fast.

When the game is on, nobody can bother you.

When you sneak away to play nine holes, you're in your sacred

space. It's a break from your daily

routine. Women, you also know how to fast

when you leave the kids at home with dad for yourself, care,

shopping and spa day. You need it, right to reset

these sacred moments, these reset moments.

That's the spirit of fasting. That's what fasting does in the

life of a believer. It becomes a sacred moment

between you and God where you pray with him, where you commune

with him, and it allows you to reset and to prioritize things

that are most important in your life.

The question is, do you value your spiritual life as

extraordinary? Are you willing to put in the

effort to fast physical comforts and invest the time in a

training your spiritual life? Are you willing to put in the

work now? Practical applications.

Here's some different types of fasting for you to consider for

next week. I want you to spend this

upcoming week thinking about this message.

Go listen to the podcast, go over your notes.

Go read the scripture, please. Here's some practical

applications to think about fasting for next week.

Fasting. Remember, this is an umbrella

term. It starts at food, but it

includes so much more. Whatever bodily, physical

comfort brings you joy in your daily routine, consider fasting.

Fasting it, breaking from it. You can fast from food, from

drink, from hobbies, entertainment.

These things aren't bad in themselves.

These are good things. But too much of a good thing can

become a God thing, right? And it can take your heart and

choke out your joy, your experience of Jesus. 1st

Corinthians 7 Paul even commends married couples fast from sex,

fast from intimacy to devote yourselves to prayer.

Intimacy with your spouse is a great thing.

God blesses it. But there's times Paul says

where both man and wife they should devote themselves to

prayer. Maybe consider fasting that this

is what we're talking about the it's an umbrella catch all term.

There is no formula for fasting. There are patterns and I hope

that you understand those patterns after this message.

There's no time frame either. It's a personal choice between

you and the Lord. It could be partial, could be

total. You can skip one meal.

We can skip a day. Up to you and the Lord.

Whatever it takes to foster your communion with God, do prayer

and train for spiritual formation, do it the last fast.

As we enter into a time of communion, the last fast that

Jesus partakes in before he goes to the cross is the upper room

with his boys. Luke chapter 22.

Luke 22 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 22. Jesus says he's preparing for

Luke 22 · chapter mention

the fast over feast, the last night of his life here on earth

before he's crucified. He tells his boys, I have

earnestly desired to eat this Passover meal with you since

3:00 or so years ago when I called you to myself.

I've been waiting for this meal. So Jesus takes the bread, he

blesses it, He breaks it, but he doesn't eat of it.

He passes it to his boys. Jesus then takes the cup of

wine. He pours a cup for them, but he

doesn't drink of it. He passes it to his boys.

And his command is take, eat, drink.

This is my body broken for you. This is my blood poured out for

you. I will not eat or drink of it

until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom.

And what is he cry on the cross right before he says it is

finished? I thirst.

I told you boys at that moment they would have remembered.

He, he said he wouldn't drink. Why does he have to say I thirst

because I told him I won't eat and drink till it's done.

The ceremony's done, atonement has been made, the Kingdom has

come. When Jesus was crucified, it was

not a murder. It was the coronation of a king.

The Kingdom has come and he's signifying by drinking, breaking

the fast. The kingdom's here and it's now

yours. That's what communion

represents. As we move into a time of

worship, as I call you guys up to partake of the cup and the

bread, we remember the broken body of Jesus on our behalf.

His shed blood on our behalf. Why does he do this?

To redeem and renew you and I sinners, and make us his royal

family, his sons and daughters. You see, here's the gospel

message. Jesus lives the perfect life

that you and I should have lived and then dies the death that I

deserve, like he did everything I've ever done.

And three days later, after he's crucified on the cross, he rises

again from the dead. And he says, young man, young

woman, old man, old woman, I've beaten your sin for you.

Come to me. Come experience me.

I want you. I want you to be that

transformed person from my possession.

We hope you enjoyed this message and we'd love for you to join us

in person every Sunday at 10:30 AM.

For more information and updates, visit

wearebridgetown.com. Thanks for tuning in and we'll

see you next week.