WHENEVER YOU
FAST: Hotan de nesteuete (2PPAS) (Mt
9:14,15;
2 Samuel 12:16,21;
Nehemiah 1:4;
Esther 4:16;
Psalms 35:13;
69:10;
109:24;
Daniel 9:3;
Luke 2:37;
Acts 10:30;
13:2,3;
14:23;
1 Corinthians 7:5;
2 Corinthians 6:5;
11:27)
Recommended resource available
free online - Dr John Piper's entire book (Pdf) -
A Hunger for God - Desiring
God Through Fasting and Prayer
Whenever - Notice Jesus does
not say "if" you fast but "when" you fast. The implication is not subtle
is it? Have you ever fasted? Jesus takes for granted that his
disciples will observe the custom of fasting. Clearly, Jesus assumed
that fasting was good and that it would be done by His disciples. Jesus
mentioned this discipline later in Matthew 9:15 declaring
The days will come when the
bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
So Jesus is not teaching on whether
we should fast or not. He is assuming we will fast and teaching us how
to do it and, especially, how not to do it.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote
that...
Jesus takes it for granted that
his disciples will observe the pious custom of fasting. Strict exercise
of self-control is an essential feature of the Christian’s life. Such
customs have only one purpose—to make the disciples more ready and
cheerful to accomplish those things which God would have done...When the
flesh is satisfied it is hard to pray with cheerfulness or to devote
oneself to a life of service which calls for much self-renunciation...
We have to practice strictest daily discipline; only so can the flesh
learn the painful lesson that it has no rights of its own. (The Cost of
Discipleship)
J C Ryle explains that...
Fasting, or occasional
abstinence from food in order to bring the body into subjection to the
spirit, is a practice frequently mentioned in the Bible, generally in
connection with prayer. David fasted when his child was sick (2 Samuel
12:16); Daniel fasted when he sought special light from God (Daniel
9:3); Paul and Barnabas fasted when they appointed elders (Acts 14:23);
Esther fasted before going in to Ahasuerus (Esther 4:16). It is a
subject about which we find no direct command in the New Testament. It
seems to be left to everyone’s discretion, whether he will fast or not.
In this absence of direct command we may see great wisdom. Many a poor
man never has enough to eat, and it would be an insult to tell him to
fast: many sick people can hardly be kept well with the closest
attention to diet, and could not fast without bringing on illness. It is
a matter in which each person must be persuaded in their own mind, and
not rashly condemn others who do not agree. One thing only must never be
forgotten: those who fast should do it quietly, secretly and without
ostentation. Let them not “show men they are fasting.” Let them not
fast to man, but to God.
Fast (3522)
(nesteuo from ne- = not + esthío = to eat)
means to abstain from food. Fasting consisted of abstinence from food to
express dependence on God and submission to His will.
Fasting is a valid discipline
and one which Jesus did not annul. The only fast God commanded was once per year on the Day of Atonement.
The Jewish religious teachers had added two fasts to be performed each Monday and
Thursday, a practice which was observed ritualistically by the
"pious" Pharisees.
Phil Newton writes that...
Fasting has been practiced by
many different religions for centuries. It is personal self-discipline
in which a person denies himself a normal need in order to learn to
restrain his passions and desires, and to express his devotion. Often
God’s people have fasted in order to express humility before the Lord,
and to show an earnest desire for the Lord to work in a particular way.
Most commonly, fasting involves denying oneself a meal or meals in order
to give oneself to the purpose of seeking God’s face. But fasting is
never to be used for drawing attention to one’s spirituality or
devotion... The gloomy, sullen looks on their faces give the pretentious
fasters a ready audience. The language suggests an almost unrecognizable
look, as they leave their hair disheveled, neglect bathing, and maybe
even accentuate a strange pallor to the skin.
In our day it seems the most common thing is for people to announce that
they are fasting or to tell about their fast. I received a booklet from
a Baptist pastor several years ago telling about his 40-day fast, and
how that became the key to his spiritual growth and his church’s growth.
Then he outlined in true-Baptist program fashion how to institute such a
fast in one’s own life. But Jesus tells us... Let this be between you
and the Lord. The Lord sees in secret and rewards accordingly.
(Sermon)
What principles for fasting are
given in Matthew
6:16-18? Don't fast like a hypocrite, putting on a gloomy face to
impress men - that's your entire reward! When you fast take care of your
appearance so men don't know you are fasting - then your Father will repay
you. Notice that Jesus says "when you fast" not "if you fast" indicating
it is expected by our Lord. However, He does not command fasting. Thus
fasting is a choice we each must make. It is a voluntary spiritual
discipline.
Fasting is a Christian’s
voluntary, non-coerced abstinence from food or water for spiritual
purposes.
Fasting by a
non-Christian has no eternal value since the discipline’s motives and
purposes are to be God-centered.
Fasting runs counter to
America's self-indulgent, "me, my, mine" mindset, and thus it is
not surprising that many Christians have not given serious consideration
to the discipline of fasting. The act of fasting directly opposes the
desires of our fallen flesh, which are continually appealed to by the
world and the tempter. Of course, there are some people who cannot and
should not fast because of medical reasons. However, for the majority of
Christians, it be prudent to consider engaging in the practice of
fasting, as saints have done throughout the Old Testament and in the
early church (cf Acts 13:2-3, 14:23).
Fasting is not to impress
God and earn His acceptance, our acceptance having been made full and
complete on the basis of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Fasting does not earn God’s favor! Like alms and prayer, fasting
is to be done as an act of devotion to God and not to win the approval
of anyone else.
Fasting, as with the
spiritual disciplines of giving and praying, is directed toward our
Father and is not done for the adulation of men. When we fast, we
must not do anything that will draw attention to our appearance, our
hungry state or our dedication to God. Fasting is between the saint and
his God.
Fasting is mentioned in
Scripture more than several other important doctrines including such
teachings as baptism (about 77 times for fasting, 75 for baptism). Most
believers have been baptized but how many have fasted?
Fasting in Scripture is
almost always associated with prayer. Some feel that fasting
helps one focus our prayers of intercession and supplication. We should
not however assume that fasting is like a "spiritual hunger strike" that
in any way compels or manipulates God. Clearly, if we petition for
something out of God’s will, fasting does not incline Him produce an
affirmative response. In short, fasting does not change God’s
hearing so much as it changes our praying.
Fasting for God's
guidance is clearly seen in Scripture (see Judges 20, Acts 14:23),
but fasting does not ensure certainty that we will receive clear
guidance. On the other hand, fasting rightly motivated does make us more
receptive to our Father Who seeks to guide us.
Fasting is often a
manifestation of grief or mourning, as when King Saul was killed by
the Philistines resulting in the men of Jabesh Gilead fasting seven days
(cf 1Sa 31:13)
Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote
that...
Fasting, if we conceive of it truly,
must not...be confined to the question of food and drink; fasting should
really be made to include abstinence from anything which is legitimate
in and of itself for the sake of some special spiritual purpose. There
are many bodily functions which are right and normal and perfectly
legitimate, but which for special peculiar reasons in certain
circumstances should be con-trolled. That is fasting.
(Lloyd-Jones,
D. M. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount)
David R Smith adds that...
A selfish person is unable to enjoy
the gospel; a Christian is someone who has begun to deny himself, and is
in the continuous process of denying himself. Jesus said “If any man
will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and
follow Me.” Self-denial is not limited to one particular kind of
giving; it embraces all personal disciplines. Fasting is only one
discipline; nevertheless, it is self-denial. This does not mean that to
fast is to embrace legalism; it is gospel liberty which encourages us to
deny ourselves...
Nobody can maintain a desired state
of mind whilst his bodily condition is not in accordance with it. If a
man is anxious to devote himself to spiritual things, for a time, he is
obliged to ensure that his body is in similar environment, or else he
may not succeed. He cannot be reverent in the midst of his own physical
irreverence. Fasting ensures the correct environment for sorrowful and
serious considerations. Asterius wrote, in the 4th Century, that one
role of fasting is to ensure that the stomach does not make the body
boil like a kettle, to the hindering of the soul...
Fasting does not create faith, for
faith grows in us as we hear, and read, and dwell upon, God’s Word; it
is a work of the Holy Spirit to bring faith to God’s people. However,
fasting has the capacity to encourage faith in the one who is involved
in this discipline. It seems as though the neglect of self feeds the
faith which God has implanted in the hearts of born-again believers.
This doesn’t mean that those who eat the least have the most faith; such
a view is not only untrue, it is extremist. It is simply that regular
self-denial has its benefits, and one of these is seen in a personal
increase in faith. (Fasting: A Neglected Discipline. Christian
Literature Crusade, 1954)
Fasting in the Old
Testament was commonly associated with seeking of God's deliverance
and/or protection (cf 2Chronicles 30:3-4, Ezra 8:21-23). Queen
Esther called for a "cooperative fast" from the Jews of Susa as she
prepared for an uninvited and therefore potentially dangerous entrance
into the presence of King Xerxes. In this hour of great need, Queen
Esther requested Mordecai to...
Go, assemble all the Jews who are
found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink
for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast
in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not
according to the law; and if I perish, I perish. So Mordecai went away
and did just as Esther had commanded him. (Esther 4:16-17)
Fasting can be associated
with confession and repentance. In 1 Samuel 7 we read a study of
national revival (read the entire chapter) in which God raised up
Samuel, who called the people to repentance, confession, and cleansing.
Intercession was made through the blood of a lamb, and there was victory
over the Philistines. Fasting was a component of this
"revival"...
And they (the Israelites) gathered to
Mizpah, and drew water
and poured it out before the LORD (this was a sacrificial act in the
arid land of Israel, symbolic of their repentant hearts as described in
1Sa 7:3-4 where Samuel called them to return to the LORD and they
responded by removing their idols and serving Jehovah), and fasted
on that day, and said there, "We have sinned against the LORD."
And Samuel judged the sons of Israel at Mizpah. (1Samuel 7:6)
The prophet Joel in light of
impending judgment (The
Day of the Lord) asked
"Who can endure it?" and then provided the "way of escape"...
"Yet even now," declares the LORD,
"Return to Me with all your
heart, and with
fasting, weeping, and mourning; and rend your
heart
and not your garments." Now return to the LORD your God, for He is
gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness,
and relenting of evil. (Joel 2:12-13)
Here God Himself
associates fasting
with a changed change (repentance) and a return to Him. This passage
also warns that fasting without a changed heart is a meaningless
dead work. Beloved, is God
calling you to deal with a specific sin in your hardened heart, so that
you might return to Him in brokenness and repentance with fasting,
weeping and mourning?
Jesus promised that blessed are those mourn over their sins for they
shall be comforted (see
Matthew 5:4)
Don't try to substitute a spiritual discipline such as fasting, for God'
clear call to confess and forsake that sin which so easily entangles you
(cf Proverbs 28:13). It is a perversion of fasting from food or drink
when we refuse God's "chosen fast" (cf Isaiah 58:3-12, especially verses
6-7) to cease feeding a sin we want to continue feeding.
Fasting, rightly motivated,
is a physical expression of humility before God, just as kneeling
or prostrating yourself in prayer can reflect humility before Him. For
example first Kings records that one of the most wicked men in Israel's
history, King Ahab, eventually humbled himself before God and
demonstrated it by fasting...
And it came about when Ahab heard
these words, that he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and fasted,
and he lay in sackcloth and went about despondently. Then the word of
the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, "Do you see how Ahab has
humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I
will not bring the evil in his days, but I will bring the evil upon his
house in his son's days." (1Kings 21:27-29)
David, a man after God's Own
heart, illustrates the relationship between prayer, fasting and humility
recording that...
as for me, when they (David's
enemies!) were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my
soul with fasting; and my prayer kept returning to my bosom.
(Psalm 35:13)
Fasting is not always
associated with humility, as illustrated by the
self-righteous Pharisee who boasted...
'I fast twice a week; I pay
tithes of all that I get.' (Luke 18:12)
The Jews of Jesus' day had a
teaching that Moses went up on Mount Sinai to receive the Law on a
Thursday, and returned with it on a Monday. Consequently, the Pharisees
considered fasting on those two days was considered a special
mark of holiness.
Fasting can be the work of
God in a place that has experienced tragedy, disappointment, or apparent
defeat as seen with Nehemiah when he heard that despite the return of
many Jewish exiles to Jerusalem, the city still had no wall...
Now it came about when I heard these
words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was
fasting and praying before the God of heaven. (Nehemiah
1:4)
Nehemiah had a deep sense of
Jerusalem’s significance to God and was greatly distressed that affairs
there had not advanced the cause and glory of God. Note that Nehemiah's
focus was toward the God of heaven and for the glory of God.
When I fast is that my focus and
my goal?
Fasting can be an act of sheer devotion to God as we see with the godly
prophetess Anna, Luke recording that...
there was a prophetess, Anna the
daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years,
having lived with a husband seven years after her marriage, and then as
a widow to the age of eighty-four. And she never left the temple,
serving night and day with fastings and prayers. (Luke 2:36-37)
Anna is one of those people that I
cannot wait to meet. Luke gives details of her life which suggest that for well over
half a century she was at the Temple serving God with “fastings and
prayers.” Clearly for Anna, her fasting as an incredible expression of
worship to her Lord. Here we see fasting can be an expression of finding
one's greatest pleasure and enjoyment in God.
May you and I dear reader yearn
for times when God causes us like Anna to crave the spiritual banquet of
His presence more than any physical, temporal and earthly meal. Remember
that Jesus promises that our Father in heaven will reward us when He
sees a rightly motivated, pure in heart fast for His eyes only.
><> ><> ><>
There are a number of
books available on this discipline but many are less than
spiritually sound and border on the mystical. In his
Preface to
A Hunger for God
(I highly
recommend this excellent resource which is generously made
available at no charge online) Dr John Piper gives
believers wise counsel regarding the spiritual discipline
of fasting writing...
Beware of books on
fasting. The Bible is very careful to warn us about people
who “advocate abstaining from foods, which God created to
be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the
truth” (1 Timothy 4:1-3). The apostle Paul asks with
dismay, “Why .. . do you submit yourself to decrees, such
as ‘Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch’?”
(Colossians 2:20-21). He is jealous for the full enjoyment
of Christian liberty. Like a great declaration of freedom
over every book on fasting flies the banner, “Food will
not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do
not eat, nor the better if we do eat” (1 Corinthians 8:8).
There once were two men. One said, “I fast twice a week”;
the other said, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Only one
went down to his house justified (Luke 18:12-14).
The discipline of
self-denial is fraught with dangers— perhaps only
surpassed by the dangers of indulgence. These also we are
warned about: “All things are lawful for me, but I will
not be mastered by anything” (1 Corinthians 6:12). What
masters us has become our god; and Paul warns us about
those “whose god is their appetite” (see note
Philippians 3:19).
Appetite dictates the direction of their lives. The
stomach is sovereign. This has a religious expression and
an irreligious one. Religiously “persons . . . turn the
grace of our God into licentiousness” (Jude 4) and tout
the slogan, “Food is for the stomach and the stomach is
for food” (1 Corinthians 6:13). Irreligiously, with no
pretext of pardoning grace, persons simply yield to “the
desires for other things [that] enter in and choke the
word” (Mark 4:19).
“Desires for other
things”—there’s the enemy. And the only weapon that will
triumph is a deeper hunger for God. The weakness of our
hunger for God is not because he is unsavory, but because
we keep ourselves stuffed with “other things.” Perhaps,
then, the denial of our stomach’s appetite for food might
express, or even increase, our soul’s appetite for God.
(Piper, John. available in Pdf online -
A Hunger for God)
DO NOT
PUT ON
A GLOOMY FACE AS THE HYPOCRITES DO, FOR THEY NEGLECT THEIR APPEARANCE SO
THAT THEY WILL BE NOTICED BY MEN WHEN THEY ARE FASTING: me ginesthe
(2PPMM) hos hoi hupokritai skuthropoi, aphanizousin (3PPAI) gar ta
prosopa auton hopos phanosin (3PAPS) tois anthropois nesteuontes;
(PAPMPN)
(Mt
6:2,5;
1 Kings 21:27;
Isaiah 58:3-5;
Zechariah 7:3-5;
Malachi 3:14;
Mark 2:18;
Luke 18:12)
Do not put on
a gloomy face - Young's
rendering is more literal "be
ye not as the hypocrites, of sour countenances". The
present imperative
is a command that is coupled with a negative particle (Greek = "me")
which calls for them to stop this practice.
Gloomy (4659)
(skuthropos from skuthros = sullen, grim + ops =
countenance) means to look sad, somber, downcast or gloomy.
Spurgeon writes that...
I heard persons speak of certain
emaciated ecclesiastics as being such wonderfully holy men. “How they
must have fasted! They look like it. You can see it in their faces.”
Probably produced by a fault in their digestion much more likely, than
by anything else and if not — if we are to suppose that the spareness of
a man a person is to be the token of his holiness — then the living
skeleton was a saint to perfection. But we are not beguiled by such
follies as these. The Christian man fasts but he takes care that no one
shall know it. He wears no ring or token even when his heart is heavy.
Full often he puts on a cheerful air, lest by any means he should
communicate unnecessary sorrow to others, and he will be cheerful and
happy, apparently, in the midst of company, to prevent their being sad,
for it is enough for him to be sad himself, and sad before his Father’s
face.
---
Do not imagine that the
appearance of sadness indicates sanctity—it often means hypocrisy. To
conceal one’s own griefs for the sake of cheering others implies a
self-denying sympathy which is the highest kind of Christianity.
Noticed by men - This is
the reward the hypocrites desire. If we are honest, we will all agree
that it is in a sense "rewarding" when others compliment us on our
spiritual discipline, zeal, or devotion?
How you fast depends on whom you
want to impress. If your fast is for your spiritual benefit and God’s
glory, no one else needs to applaud your commitment.
Harry Ironside reminds us that
our Lord Jesus...
was guileless in all His ways,
and He calls for absolute honesty in the behavior of His disciples. Let
him who is abstaining from food or other things in order to have more
time with God, cultivate a cheerful manner as becomes one who enjoys
communion with the Father.
Piper adds that...
Few things feel more
gratifying to the heart of fallen man than being made much of for our
accomplishments, especially our moral and religious accomplishments...
All of this we are prone to do because of our seemingly insatiable
appetite for the praise of men. We want to be made much of. We want
people to like us and admire us and speak well of us. It is a deadly
drive. Jesus warned us, “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and
whoever humbles himself shall be exalted” (Matthew 23:12). (Ibid)
TRULY I SAY TO
YOU, THEY HAVE THEIR REWARD IN FULL:
amen lego (1SPAI) humin apechousin (3PPAI) ton misthon auton
Reward in full - Jesus is
saying that that if you love to be "rewarded" with praise and
admiration from people, you will receive that "reward" but nothing more.
