Scripture: Matthew 6:16-18
There’s a widespread and potentially life-saving medical procedure that is routinely administered to adults—by gastroenterologists—after we turn 50. I will say no more about it, except that, yes, I had it done a few years ago, and that the procedure involves fasting… for about 24 hours. For some part of the time I was allowed eat Jell-O—of certain colors—and I could drink broth and clear liquids.
But like I say, I had to fast for at least 24 hours in advance. And the procedure was scheduled for a Monday morning. So I woke up Sunday, before church, with this one thought: “Don’t you dare eat one of those Munchkins that you purchase at Dunkin’ Donuts for the 8:30 service!”
And so I refrained from eating the Munchkins. I refrained from eating anything… Except… It happened to be Communion Sunday… And I forgot about Monday morning’s procedure when I partook of the Lord’s Supper.
What do I do now?
Fortunately, I happen to have a brother-in-law who’s a gastroenterologist on the south side of Atlanta. So I messaged him. “Bryan, I ate this tiny piece of bread. Am I O.K. for the procedure I have tomorrow?”
And he assured me that I was!
But the last thing I wanted to do was go to all this trouble of fasting for 24 hours only to find out that I would have to turn around and do it again!
Because fasting, as most of us know, is no fun at all, and we usually only do it on an as-needed basis. Most of us don’t volunteer to fast. Even most Christians don’t fast!
New Testament scholar R.T. France, in his commentary on today’s scripture, wonders why that should be the case. After all, he writes, “As with almsgiving and prayer,
it is assumed [by Jesus himself] that disciples will fast; the issue is not whether to do it, but how. In a culture where few now give serious attention to fasting as a religious discipline (as opposed to token acts like giving up chocolates in Lent) this assumption causes surprise. In the New Testament as a whole there is little explicit instruction on fasting; it is simply mentioned occasionally… as something Christians sometimes did. 1
Dr. France is saying, in other words, that the New Testament takes for granted that Christians will fast, at least sometimes. We modern-day Christians, by contrast, often debate whether we should do it at all. Why the disconnect?
I don’t know, but this was true even in John Wesley’s day.
Wesley, after all, fasted for 24 hours twice a week for most of his adult life. Until he reached his sixties or seventies, after which he switched to once a week. Fasting was literally one of of the “methods”—one of the spiritual disciplines—for which we “Method”-ists got our name! Methodists are Christians who certainly should fast!
When I was ordained a Methodist minister in 2010, the bishop asked me—and asked my fellow ordinands—if we would teach and preach fasting to our people. This was one of the so-called “historic questions” that John Wesley asked his Methodist preachers. There was only one “acceptable” answer, by the way: “Yes, we will preach and teach on the subject of fasting.”
So here we are… And my three points are quotes from today’s scripture: Number One: “And When You Fast.” Number Two: “That Their Fasting May Be Seen by Others.” And Number Three: “And Your Father… Will Reward You.”
But first, Point Number One… “And when you fast”…
Here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to talk about the argument against fasting that Christians often employ. And then I hope to why that argument doesn’t hold water.
More than a few Christians who oppose fasting say that Jesus’ words in verses 16 to 18 no longer apply to us Christians. Why? Because of something that happens later in Matthew’s gospel, in chapter 9. Some disciples of John the Baptist want to know why Jesus and his disciples weren’t fasting alongside John’s disciples and the Pharisees. Matthew 9:15: “And Jesus said to them, ‘Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.’” 2
Are we present-day Christians living in a time in which the “bridegroom,” Jesus, has been taken away from us? No! Not even close! Jesus is with us. Always. He promises to be with us in Spirit. “Where two or three are gathered in his name, he is with us.” Matthew 18:20. Or remember Jesus’ parting words in Matthew: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” He’s with all of us believers through the Holy Spirit, which has been poured out into our hearts.
By contrast, these opponents of fasting say, in Matthew 9, Jesus is prophesying about his death… and that time between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Many of Jesus disciples would certainly fast then… as a sign of grief when Jesus died. But now… Now Christ is with us in and through the Holy Spirit, so we don’t fast.
Again, that’s the argument against fasting. Is it a good one? Before you decide, let me give you a counterargument.
The Sermon on the Mount is aimed squarely at people who are already disciples of Jesus Christ. Jesus is not preaching primarily to scribes and Pharisees, his opponents—even though some of them overheard the sermon. So these first four words of verse 16, “And when you fast… [dot, dot, dot],” are spoken to disciples of Jesus Christ. The “you” there is “you who are my disciples.”
Since that’s the case, let’s follow the logic of these Christians who say we should no longer fast. They would have us believe that when Jesus preached these three verses of today’s scripture, he was only speaking to that small handful of disciples who hadn’t abandoned Jesus during that 36-hour period in between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Right?
Because remember: Jesus’ disciples weren’t fasting when Jesus was with them during his public ministry—as we learned in chapter 9. And therefore they wouldn’t have been fasting after the resurrection, when the resurrected Christ was with them for 40 days. And after Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on them, Jesus continued to be with them. And of course, as I’ve already shown, he’s been with his disciples ever since.
Therefore, according to these opponents of fasting, when Jesus says, in verse 16, “And when you fast,” he was talking only about a tiny, 36-hour window between Good Friday and Easter.
Does that seem… plausible?
No… When Jesus says, “And when you fast,” to his disciples, he’s taking for granted that this practice is something that his disciples would continue to do until he returns in the Second Coming.
Secondly, what about Matthew chapter 4? Listen to Verses 1 and 2 of that chapter: “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.” For context, in chapter 3, Jesus has just been baptized with the Spirit after John baptized him with water. Jesus already possessed the Spirit in the same way that we disciples, post-Pentecost, possess the Spirit. And yet, God knew that his fully human, incarnate Son needed this time of fasting to help prepare him spiritually for the next three, or three-and-a-half, years of his public ministry—up to and including his death on the cross.
If Jesus—who was already filled with the Holy Spirit at this point, just like us present-day disciples… if Jesus needed whatever benefits fasting bestows on us, why on earth wouldn’t we present-day disciples also need these benefits?
As Jesus says elsewhere, a servant is not greater than his master. 3 If Jesus benefitted from fasting in his ministry, why wouldn’t we in ours? And all of us, by the way, are ministers.
As if that weren’t enough, we have two examples of fasting from the Book of Acts. In chapter 13, the church at Antioch—Paul’s home church—was fasting. Listen to what Luke writes (and recall that at this point the apostle Paul was still called “Saul”)… Luke writes:
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.4
This is a description of Paul and Barnabas being commissioned by the church to go on their first missionary journey. The church was fasting when the Holy Spirit spoke to them. They fasted, and they heard the voice of the Spirit tell them to send Paul and Barnabas on this journey. And even after they heard the Spirit speak to them, they fasted some more before laying hands on them and sending them off. Because they wanted to make sure they were hearing a word from the Lord.
What do you make of all this?
Suddenly that earlier argument against fasting seems kind of silly! Because what’s the difference between these Christians in Antioch and us Christians today? We are equally Christians living after the resurrection and after Pentecost. We all possess the Holy Spirit. Jesus is with us all. Yet… these Christians in Antioch—unlike most of us today—are fasting!
Do we need guidance from the Lord any less than these ancient Christians did? Do we need to hear a word from the Lord any less than they did?
In Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas were about to embark on nothing less than a world-changing mission. They would never have gone on this mission if the Holy Spirit hadn’t spoken to the people in this church. Therefore, is it a stretch to imagine that these Christians at Antioch may not have heard the Spirit speak to them at all apart from their fasting? Otherwise, why does Luke emphasize their fasting at all? Because Luke thinks it plays a role in hearing the Spirit speak to us!
Do you ever need guidance or direction from the Lord, but don’t receive it? Does our church ever need guidance or direction from the Lord, but don’t receive it?
I know how it goes in church… We tend to make important decisions according to our own wisdom and then pray that the Lord will bless the decision after the fact—or rescue us from a bad decision after the fact.
If we as individuals, or we as a church, are not getting the results we seek from prayer and from decisions we make, it’s worth asking: Do we fast?
I hope I’m not stepping on toes. Because it’s not me who’s doing the stepping. It’s the word of God stepping on our toes, mine included.
And even in the next chapter of Acts—in chapter 14, verse 23—we’re told the following: “Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church. With prayer and fasting, they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.”
So I hope I’ve made the case that we Christians ought to fast. That’s Point Number One: “And when you fast…”
Point Number Two… “that their fasting may be seen by others”…
Let’s look again at verse 16: “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others.” Instead in verses 17 and 18, Jesus says, “anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others…” Most of us today probably wouldn’t anoint our heads with oil—although we may use shiny pomades or waxes or gels in our hair today. But “anointing one’s head with oil” was something that a first-century Jewish man would do to look spiffy… to look well-groomed… to look “put together.” To apply Jesus’ words to us today, we do whatever twenty-first century men and women do to look completely normal, to look as if it’s business as usual, to blend in with the crowd, rather than to stand out in it—that’s what our Lord wants us to do when we’re fasting. So that no one will know we’re doing it…
But in his sermon on today’s text, pastor John Piper raises an interesting question I want us to consider: Exactly why would it be hypocritical to let other people know that we’re fasting—rather than covering up that fact? Why would Jesus encourage us Christians to hide the fact that we’re fasting? Doesn’t Jesus have it backwards when it comes to hypocrisy? After all, hiding the truth about something we’re doing is often what we consider hypocritical. Whereas being “open and honest” is usually the opposite of hypocrisy. Why is it different in this case?
Piper says that the difference comes down to this: Yes, these hypocrites are being open and transparent about what they’re doing: they’re telling the world that they’re fasting. By all means! What they’re hiding is their motivation. Piper says that the only thing that should motivate true fasting is what he calls a “heart-hunger for God.” A desire for God, for more of God, for pleasing God, for a closer relationship with God, for more of the treasure that we find in God, for glorifying God as we show him through our fast that we desire him more than we desire the things of this world—even something as basic and essential as food itself. That’s what fasting is supposed to be about.
But not to these hypocrites. What motivates them is not a heart for God, but a heart for “human admiration.” See, they’re keeping that motivation secret. Piper said, quote, “If they wanted to be really open, they would have to wear a sign [around] their necks that said, ‘The bottom line reward in my fasting is the praise of [people].’ Then they would not be hypocrites. They would instead be openly and transparently vain.” Unquote. 5
They’re hypocrites because what they pretend they want is God; what they really want is the praise, the admiration, the applause, the recognition of other people.
And guess what? Here’s the scary thing about this kind of hypocrisy—which applies to public charitable giving in verses 2 to 4—which we’ll look at next week—and to public prayer, which we looked at last week… But the scary thing about this kind of hypocrisy, according to Jesus, is that there really is a reward associated with it. And it’s an immediate reward. It pays off right away. Jesus says so in verse 16: “Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”
Now look… Times have changed. We live in a secular age. Fasting for religious reasons doesn’t necessarily impress people anymore… Although, although… I can’t prove this, but fasting for dietary reasons… that might impress people these days. You go out to lunch with friends. And one of them notices that somehow you’re able to resist eating this wonderful slice of pepperoni pizza. And this person says, “I’m sorry. I’m not eating today. You see, I’m doing this new program of intermittent fasting.” I don’t even know what that is, by the way, but it’s something many Americans are doing to lose weight. But if you have a friend who’s doing “intermittent fasting,” he or she might want to tell you about it because… why? Because they want you to be impressed. They want you to say or think, “You’re so disciplined! No wonder you’re losing weight. And here I am struggling to lose weight. I wish I could more like you!”
Even if—in this secular, non-church-going culture in which we live—what counts as “righteousness” has changed over the years, the truth is we love showing it off to others!
Have you heard that old joke? This made the rounds ten or twelve years ago when CrossFit became the latest thing. The joke goes like this: “A CrossFitter, a vegan, and a marathon runner walk into a bar. How do I know? Because they told everyone in the bar within 30 seconds.”
As I say, we love recognition of others. I do!
In my first job out of college, I worked in sales at AT&T. My mentor was a man named Alec, who achieved financial success at a level I only dreamed about. But Alec told me on more than one occasion, “I’m not in this for the money. I really, really want recognition. That’s my ‘love language.’”
I was tempted to say, “Then how about signing your commission checks over to me? Because I need money! That’s my ‘love language’!”
But you know what? Now that I’m only a few years older than Alec was back then, when he told me that, I completely understand his point: At my sinful worst, I often crave “recognition.” I crave glory—my own glory, not God’s! And I get so disappointed because I can never get enough of it to satisfy me.
Years ago, before he died—by suicide—actor Robin Williams gave an interview in which he was talking about the elusiveness of happiness…
Hold on… The elusiveness of happiness? What would Robin Williams know about that? I mean, here was a talented actor and comedian who won an Academy Award, multiple Golden Globes, Grammys, Emmys. He had a number one prime-time TV show. He starred in some of the most financially successful and critically acclaimed movies ever made. He lived in mansions. He dated supermodels. He was beloved by millions.
Yet listen to what Robin Williams said: No matter what dizzying heights of fame and fortune you achieve, he said, “You bottom out… People say, ‘You have an Academy Award.’ The Academy Award lasted about a week. Then one week later people are going, ‘Hey, Mork.’”
Many of us might be tempted to think that we could live off that kind of recognition… that kind of worldly success! We’d sure like to try! I mean, if you’re a Hollywood movie star, wouldn’t it be tempting to think you could live off the industry’s most prestigious honor: an Academy Award. Yet here, in Robin Williams, we have someone who won it, yet he says that it “lasted about a week”; it satisfied him for about a week. That Academy Award, which seemed like everything to him at one time, sustained him, nourished him, made him feel good about himself, for about a week. And then, he said, you bottom out…
So that’s the immediate reward that Jesus is talking about in verse 16! It’s real. It’s something. It feels good. It’s genuinely rewarding.
It’s all those things and more… Or at least one more thing: it doesn’t last. And you can never get enough of it.
And that’s Point Number Two: “that their fasting may be seen by others”…
Number Three: “your Father… will reward you”…
Remember Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well in John chapter 4? Jesus offers this woman what he calls “a spring of water welling up to eternal life,” and she receives this gift of eternal life. Meanwhile, his disciples have gone into town to fetch lunch for themselves and bring something back for Jesus.
After they return, however, they wonder why Jesus doesn’t even seem hungry anymore—even though it’s long past dinner time, and he hasn’t eaten yet: “But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’ … My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” 6
Let’s imagine that this spiritual “food” to which Jesus refers is food that Jesus really wants to eat. It’s more like steak, in other words than broccoli or Brussels sprouts. Assuming you’re not a vegetarian, who wouldn’t want steak to satisfy your hunger? Whatever your favorite food happens to be. That’s how satisfying this spiritual food is!
Imagine being so happy in our heavenly Father—so satisfied by him—that you can be completely satisfied in God even with a growling stomach!
If that food’s available, I want it. Don’t you?
The discipline of fasting helps us to desire that kind of spiritual food, and to find it, and to be sustained by it. So that even when our stomachs are growling, we are receiving this supernatural food from God.
This is the reward that comes from our Father when we fast correctly—at least part of the reward! Another part of the reward is that it helps us to “hear the voice of the Spirit,” as we saw in the Book of Act. Another part of the reward is that it sharpens and focuses our prayer lives, such that our Father will more often give us what we pray for.
If more powerful and effective prayers are on offer through fasting, why wouldn’t we want that?
Regardless of what the reward consists of, though… Jesus promises that our Father will reward us.
So, brothers and sisters, let’s hold our Lord to that promise… And let’s fast…
Some of you even feel guilty because you know you ought to fast, and spend extra time in prayer… but it just seems so hard… so daunting… Start by skipping one meal, perhaps lunch on a Wednesday… and devote that extra time that you’d spend eating to praying. A typical fast—the kind that Wesley practiced twice a week for most of his life—was 24 hours—which means skipping two meals: stop eating after supper one night… and resume eating the following night.
Drink water, by all means… but refrain from eating.
But I want us to have the faith to believe that the Lord will honor that… and the Spirit will do powerful things when God’s people fast and pray. That our Father will give us a great reward.
Let me leave you with some of John Wesley’s words, from his journal, about the time the King of England called for his nation to fast and pray… when the French were threatening to invade. On February 6, 1756, he wrote the following in his journal:
The fast day was a glorious day, such as London has scarce seen since the Restoration. Every church in the city was more than full, and a solemn seriousness sat on every face. Surely God heareth prayer, and there will yet be a lengthening of our tranquillity.
And reflecting on this same event 23 years later, he wrote:
[T]he fast day was observed on account of the threatened invasion by the French, which was averted. The danger was so great as to make all England tremble. But it came to nothing.
I want us to fast and pray like that… believing that God will do powerful things through it! Amen.