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What About Fasting?
Mt. 6:16-21
Intro.
A. Jesus indicated that disciples would fast (Mt. 9:14,15) - some say when He was killed; others when He ascended (latter probable).
B. Three men recorded as fasting 40 days: Moses (the first record of fasting, Ex. 34:28); Elijah
(1 Kgs. 19:8), and Jesus (Mt. 4:2) - the three on Mt. of Transfiguration (Mt. 17:1-3). (Don’t try that - can only live 3 days without water; special Divine assistance in those cases.)
C. The Bible does say a great deal about fasting and we need to study that - but the bottom line is that this is an individual choice of abstaining from food for a period of time for a spiritual purpose. It is giving up the less good for the greater good.
1. Not starvation - because you have no food.
2. Not diet - simply to lose weight (that is a health benefit - not necessarily a spiritual benefit).
Body:
A. God’s provision of food:
1. To sustain life (Gen. 1:30; 9:3).
a. Some think eating meat began after the flood, others that it was renewed along with green herbs.
b. Gen. 1:29,30 does not necessarily imply that only herbs were eaten before the flood (carnivorous animals existed before man).
c. O.T. had clean and unclean (Lev. 11), the N.T. does not (1 Tim. 4:1-5).
d. Gluttony is wrong (Prov. 23:21 “For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty...”; some false teachers were described as “liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons” Tit. 1:12; 1 Cor. 6:12,13,19,20).
2. To enjoy (Eccl. 2:24,25: “There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw was from the hand of God. For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?” Acts 2:46: “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart.” )
3. To be eaten with thanksgiving (Mt. 6:11; 1 Tim. 4:3; Acts 27:35).
B. Types of fasting:
1. The normal fast - abstaining from food, but not water (Mt. 4:2); partial fast - restriction of diet (drinking juices but not eating food; Dan. 10:3 “I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three weeks were fulfilled.”); absolute fast - refrain from both food and water (Acts 9:9 “And he was three days without sight, and neither ate food nor drank.”)
2. Only fast commanded in O.T. is Day of Atonement: “It was observed on the tenth day of the seventh month by abstinence from daily labor, by a holy convocation, and by fasting. It was the only fast enjoined by the law. It was ‘the fast’ (Acts 27:9; Antiq. xiv,4,3" (Davis Dictionary).
3. Other fasting was voluntary:
a. Not purely physical benefit - different from weight-watchers. Voluntary fasting may contribute to conquering over eating (more on this later), but not the primary purpose.
b. Not a manipulative tool - twist God’s arm to get His approval (Acts 23:12-14 more than forty Jews bound themselves under an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. Jer. 14:12: “When they fast, I will not hear their cry...”)
c. Not a hypocritical religious exercise - (Mt. 6:16-18; Lk. 18:12 - “I fast twice a week...” The Talmud says the second and fifth days (Monday and Thursday) - according to Pharisees because Moses went up on Mt. Sinai to get the Law on the 5th. day and returned on the 2nd. Another possibility - those were market days - people came to town those days!
d. Ritualistic fasting - forty days of Lent, or any other stipulated days was never approved.
C. Time and Benefits of fasting:
1. Time of mourning:
a. Israel fasted when the Philistines killed Saul (1 Sam. 31:11-13).
b. David fasted seven days while child was sick (2 Sam. 12:15-23).
2. Time of repentance:
a. Ezra “ate no bread and drank no water, for he mourned because of the guilt of those from the captivity” (Ezra 10:6).
b. Jonah 3:5: “So the people of Nineveh believed God; proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.”
c. Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:9 “And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.”)
3. Spiritual preparation for important decision:
a. Before Barnabas and Paul were sent on journey (Acts 13:1-3).
b. When elders were appointed (Acts 14:23).
4. When you need to get control of self:
a. David said “I humbled myself with fasting” (Ps. 35:13).
b. Paul said: “I discipline my body and bring it into control...” (1 Cor. 9:27).
c. Present body a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1,2). Cannot give what you do not control.
d. A fruit of the spirit is “self-control” (Gal. 5:25). The body (flesh) is a wonderful servant; but a terrible master. “I can’t help it,” “I can’t stop it” - body not disciplined.
Concl.
A. Fasting is an individual matter - right, but can be abused. When face special obligations, may for a time limit the intake of food; may do so as aid to spiritual end (not an end in itself).
B. It is the foregoing of something good for something better. We are often too concerned about eating time (“whose god is their belly” Phil. 3:19), when spiritual needs should take precedence.
Mt. 6:16-21
Intro.
A. Jesus indicated that disciples would fast (Mt. 9:14,15) - some say when He was killed; others when He ascended (latter probable).
B. Three men recorded as fasting 40 days: Moses (the first record of fasting, Ex. 34:28); Elijah
(1 Kgs. 19:8), and Jesus (Mt. 4:2) - the three on Mt. of Transfiguration (Mt. 17:1-3). (Don’t try that - can only live 3 days without water; special Divine assistance in those cases.)
C. The Bible does say a great deal about fasting and we need to study that - but the bottom line is that this is an individual choice of abstaining from food for a period of time for a spiritual purpose. It is giving up the less good for the greater good.
1. Not starvation - because you have no food.
2. Not diet - simply to lose weight (that is a health benefit - not necessarily a spiritual benefit).
Body:
A. God’s provision of food:
1. To sustain life (Gen. 1:30; 9:3).
a. Some think eating meat began after the flood, others that it was renewed along with green herbs.
b. Gen. 1:29,30 does not necessarily imply that only herbs were eaten before the flood (carnivorous animals existed before man).
c. O.T. had clean and unclean (Lev. 11), the N.T. does not (1 Tim. 4:1-5).
d. Gluttony is wrong (Prov. 23:21 “For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty...”; some false teachers were described as “liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons” Tit. 1:12; 1 Cor. 6:12,13,19,20).
2. To enjoy (Eccl. 2:24,25: “There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw was from the hand of God. For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?” Acts 2:46: “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart.” )
3. To be eaten with thanksgiving (Mt. 6:11; 1 Tim. 4:3; Acts 27:35).
B. Types of fasting:
1. The normal fast - abstaining from food, but not water (Mt. 4:2); partial fast - restriction of diet (drinking juices but not eating food; Dan. 10:3 “I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three weeks were fulfilled.”); absolute fast - refrain from both food and water (Acts 9:9 “And he was three days without sight, and neither ate food nor drank.”)
2. Only fast commanded in O.T. is Day of Atonement: “It was observed on the tenth day of the seventh month by abstinence from daily labor, by a holy convocation, and by fasting. It was the only fast enjoined by the law. It was ‘the fast’ (Acts 27:9; Antiq. xiv,4,3" (Davis Dictionary).
3. Other fasting was voluntary:
a. Not purely physical benefit - different from weight-watchers. Voluntary fasting may contribute to conquering over eating (more on this later), but not the primary purpose.
b. Not a manipulative tool - twist God’s arm to get His approval (Acts 23:12-14 more than forty Jews bound themselves under an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. Jer. 14:12: “When they fast, I will not hear their cry...”)
c. Not a hypocritical religious exercise - (Mt. 6:16-18; Lk. 18:12 - “I fast twice a week...” The Talmud says the second and fifth days (Monday and Thursday) - according to Pharisees because Moses went up on Mt. Sinai to get the Law on the 5th. day and returned on the 2nd. Another possibility - those were market days - people came to town those days!
d. Ritualistic fasting - forty days of Lent, or any other stipulated days was never approved.
C. Time and Benefits of fasting:
1. Time of mourning:
a. Israel fasted when the Philistines killed Saul (1 Sam. 31:11-13).
b. David fasted seven days while child was sick (2 Sam. 12:15-23).
2. Time of repentance:
a. Ezra “ate no bread and drank no water, for he mourned because of the guilt of those from the captivity” (Ezra 10:6).
b. Jonah 3:5: “So the people of Nineveh believed God; proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.”
c. Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:9 “And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.”)
3. Spiritual preparation for important decision:
a. Before Barnabas and Paul were sent on journey (Acts 13:1-3).
b. When elders were appointed (Acts 14:23).
4. When you need to get control of self:
a. David said “I humbled myself with fasting” (Ps. 35:13).
b. Paul said: “I discipline my body and bring it into control...” (1 Cor. 9:27).
c. Present body a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1,2). Cannot give what you do not control.
d. A fruit of the spirit is “self-control” (Gal. 5:25). The body (flesh) is a wonderful servant; but a terrible master. “I can’t help it,” “I can’t stop it” - body not disciplined.
Concl.
A. Fasting is an individual matter - right, but can be abused. When face special obligations, may for a time limit the intake of food; may do so as aid to spiritual end (not an end in itself).
B. It is the foregoing of something good for something better. We are often too concerned about eating time (“whose god is their belly” Phil. 3:19), when spiritual needs should take precedence.