Hope Church LV Sermons
The Real Thing :: authentic fasting
As a church family, we are studying straight through the sermon on the mount that is found in the Gospel of Matthew, chapters 5, 6, and 7. And currently we are in a series within that study called the real thing. And what you just saw is where we've been in the first five weeks of this series. And this morning we're in part six and we are bringing this series, the real thing, to a close. And here's what's going on as we study in Matthew, chapter 6. Jesus is sitting, teaching His disciples. And He's talking to His disciples about what authentic faith looks like. And He is sharing some challenging principles. And the way that He is showing them what authentic faith looks like, He is contrasting the real thing with what it looks like to wear a mask and to put on a show. And to do this, He gives three outward expressions of righteousness. And He shows us what those look like when they're real and what it looks like when it's fake. A couple there on the video, one week we talked about the area of giving. And Jesus painted a picture for us of what authentic giving really looks like. And a few weeks later we looked at authentic praying and how we are to truly approach God in prayer. And in those weeks we looked at the famous section of Scripture called the Lord's Prayer. And this morning we come to our third and final example from Jesus where He is teaching us what the real thing looks like. And that is the area of fasting. So if you have your copy of God's Word, would you turn to Matthew, chapter 6. And I want to read for us verses 16, 17, and 18. And if you forgot your Bible this morning or maybe you don't have one, we're going to put these verses up on the screen so that you can follow along with us as we read the Scriptures together. Verse 16 of Matthew chapter 6 says this, "Whenever you fast 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. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full, but you as my disciples when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your father who is in secret, and your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you." Now this morning as we unpack this text, I want to ask three very, very simple questions that will hopefully give us a glimpse into the heart of Jesus when he shared this message with his disciples. And here's the first question this morning, what is fasting? I think for a lot of us, we've not really been taught or clearly understand the biblical meaning of what it looks like to fast. As I thought this week, I cannot remember a sermon throughout my spiritual journey that was shared in a context like this that's centered around the topic of fasting. Now I'm sure they're out there, but I've just never been exposed to one, maybe that's true for you as well, that maybe you've never really heard anyone clearly explain what fasting is all about. But nonetheless, Jesus begins verse 16 with three very important words. He says, "Whenever you fast." He doesn't say, "If you fast," he says, "when you fast." Jesus is talking with his disciples with an understanding that fasting is a regular part of their walk with him. Now there's something different about fasting from giving and praying. You see, giving and praying in the New Testament are clearly commanded. We have clear indication from the Scriptures that we are to give back a certain percentage to God of what he's given to us. We are clearly instructed in the New Testament to pray continually and be in communication with God. But when it comes to the area of fasting, Scripture does not say to fast once a day or once a week or once a month, but I can assure you, as you walk with God, He will lead you to a time of fasting. And I want to give you a definition this morning that is oversimplified and very much a working definition, but hopefully will help us get our mind around this principle of fasting. And here's the definition for us this morning. Is the denial of a physical gratification for a certain spiritual purpose? When we say fasting this morning, here's what we're indicating, a denial of a certain physical gratification for a certain spiritual meaning or a certain spiritual purpose. When God leads us to fast, here's an essence what's happening. He is leading us to step away most typically from food and spend the time we would normally be eating, spend that time pursuing and seeking Him in those moments. And this practice of fasting is something that has been consistent throughout history in the life of believers. It's not something that just caught on in the past hundred years, or that's a new age movement. This has consistently happened in the life of those who follow God. And in every instance, when a person is called to fast, there is always a spiritual purpose in mind. For example, Jesus, before He began His public preaching ministry, spent 40 days and 40 nights fasting. There is always a spiritual purpose. It's not just for a diet. It's not just because we don't feel like eating that day. There must always be a purpose, a spiritual meaning behind our fasting. And in every instance in the New Testament, we see fasting, it is always linked to prayer. You could say it like this. It is possible to pray without fasting, but it is impossible to fast without praying. And for us this morning, fasting is the denial of a certain physical gratification for a certain spiritual purpose. Tony Evans said it like this in his book, Speaking Out on Fasting, the idea is to devote the time we would ordinarily spend on these activities, whether that be eating, or time on the computer, or other things that we may be doing, devote those things to prayer and waiting before the Lord. Fasting calls us to renounce the natural to invoke the supernatural. That's the bottom line for us as we talk about fasting this morning. That's what it is. Here's the second big question from this text. How do I know if I'm wearing a mask? How do we know that as we fast, if right now currently we are wearing a mask? Well look at the next part of verse 16, Jesus says, "Whenever you fast, 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. Truly I say to you that they have their reward in full." I got to be honest with you. As I read that this week, I really wrestled with something. Those are the exact same principles that Jesus shares in Matthew 6, verses 1, 2, and 5. I wrestled with Jesus, why in 16 short verses are you saying the same thing four different times? And I want to spend some time here in just a moment, but here's the big reason. Because Jesus knew in every single distortion of giving, praying, or fasting, the root problem is the same, our flesh. No matter how many times we hear it, or how much we talk about it, we all have this natural tendency to lean on our flesh. And so in this text, Jesus, once again, even when it comes to the area of fasting, wants to share with us the exact same principles as to why we would put on a mask. So I want to share two traits from verse 16 that will show us if we're wearing a mask. And here's the first one. Wearing a mask is completely motivated by self. Wearing a mask is completely motivated by self. Jesus here references the hypocrites, those who were wearing a mask. And for those Jewish leaders, everything that they were doing was centered around what they wanted, what they felt, they had no desire at all to please God. And Jesus gives a specific practice that they would do every time they would fast. He says, don't put on a gloomy face. Here's what would happen. The Pharisees would have the times during the week when they would fast. And before they would go out in public, here's what they would do. They would find some clothing that was either torn or sometimes even soiled, and they would put it on. And then they would really, really mess up their hair and they would get some dirt and ashes and they would wipe it all over their skin. And then they would get some form of makeup and wipe it on their face so that they looked pale and sick. And then they would go out into the marketplace for people to see them. There was nothing spiritual about it. There was nothing God focused about it. They were using a spiritual practice simply to feed their flesh. And for us this morning, that's a trait of wearing a mask. If what you're doing is totally motivated by your flesh and by yourself and initiated by you, then more than likely you are wearing a mask. And for these Pharisees, their heart was rotten. And it was cold to the things of God and all they were craving was what their flesh wanted. John MacArthur says this about those Pharisees, "When the heart is not right, fasting is a sham and a mockery, those whom Jesus condemned for fasting in order to be seen by men were pretentiously self-righteous, everything they did centered around themselves. God had no place in their motives or their thinking and he had no part in their reward." Whether it be their choice to fast, the costume they put on, or what was going on in their heart and mind as they walked out in the public market, everything was selfish. You could say it this way, the Pharisees were saying something with their fasting that they were not saying with their heart. And Jesus says that is wearing a mask. They used a spiritual practice to simply feed their flesh. That's one trait of what it looks like to wear a mask as we fast. Here's the second trait. The goal of wearing a mask is to impress others. The goal, the whole motive, the whole driving force in wearing a mask is to impress the people around us. The same principle Jesus talked about with giving and with praying, he says again here when it comes to fasting. He says the reason they put on this gloomy face is because they want to go out and they want to be noticed, they want to be approved, they want to be adored by the people around them. And here's what would happen. The Pharisees would fast twice a week on the second day and on the fifth day. And they had a lot of different reasons that were really bogus of why that was. But here is the strange coincidence that not only were they fasting on the second and fifth day, but the second and fifth day also happened to be the major shopping days in the Jewish market, meaning that they had the largest audience of any other time in the week when they fasted on the second day and the fifth day. And you can just imagine them putting on all the costume and walking out into the crowds waiting and hoping someone would come up and ask what's wrong with you, what's going on with you, can I help you in any way and their reply would always be, no, I'm just fasting. Now don't tell anybody, it's just between me and God, but I'm fasting. That was their motive. That was their entire goal. Now as they walked around the marketplace, a lot of people couldn't see past the mask. They couldn't see to what was really inside of the heart of these Pharisees and these hypocrites. But God did. And God saw past the fluff and he saw to what was written on their heart as they walked among the people. And I was thinking this week, if we could see past the fluff of even the Pharisees and we could really see what was written on the banner of their heart as they fasted. What would it say? What would be written on their heart, what would be their heart cry as they walked and fasted on the second day of the week and the fifth day of the week? And here's what I really believe that it would say. Now nobody saw this, but this is what was written on the heart of the Pharisees as they walked around that market fasting. Their whole motive, their whole goal was to impress the people who saw them, to impress the people around them. And it worked. When people saw the Pharisees in the marketplace, they thought, man, they are so spiritual. They've got it figured out. That's what the real thing looks like. And Jesus here says, not at all. And here's the challenging part. Did you come in this morning with a sign hanging on your heart? And maybe it didn't say fasting. Maybe it said giving. And if we could really see past all the masks and the fluff in your life and we saw what was written on the banner of your heart, it would say, my goal in giving today is to impress you. Or maybe it's not giving, maybe it's singing. Now for some of us, that's impossible. But others of us just spent a large portion of the service singing as loud as we can, hoping that somebody would hear us because the banner of our heart this morning says, my goal in singing is to impress you. For some of us, mainly one of us, it could be preaching. And we battle as we teach week after week here. Our goal is to empty out our egos and really walk up on this platform, not with a desire to impress you. But I'll be honest with you, sometimes that happens. And a lot of you come up after the service and say, man, great job, pastor. And there's a little part of me that's like, yeah, I'm just being honest with you. For others of us, it doesn't say preaching. For others of us, it's just our conversations. And our goal in the conversations that we have all over this campus is to impress the people who are listening. And you say the right words and you're expressing the right things, but really the whole motive in you sharing that specific story, are you sharing that specific principle is because you want to impress the person that is listening. And if we could see past the mask this morning and see what is written on the banner of your heart, that's what it would say. Because the whole goal of wearing a mask is to impress the people around us. It's challenging. But here's the reality this morning that it is impossible out of one side of our mouth to say, Jesus, you are everything, your kingdom come, your will be done. And out of the next breath, say, I want to impress people. We can't live on both sides. We must make the decision that either pursuing Jesus will be everything or impressing people will be everything. Jesus says you can't have both sides. But I want you to hear me this morning. If your physical outward expressions of righteousness are done primarily with other people in mind or in conjunction with when other people see you, you are wearing a mask. We all struggle with it. We all battle with it. Because inwardly, here's what I want to think. I want to think that my flesh is getting better and better and better and that I can really trust my flesh. Here's the reality. It's not. My flesh and your flesh, it's as bad as it's ever been. We cannot trust it. When shall we be convinced that our flesh is so utterly bad that it is beyond all recovery? In this reality, it's why Jesus says the same thing four different times in 16 verses. Because he knows our tendency that just about the time we really begin to give authentically, we start to think, I can do this, I got it, and we begin to fall back on the crutch of self. Let me give you a lot of application, I want to read it to you. As a Jesus follower, I must beware of my natural tendency to appear spiritual on the outside and operate from my flesh on the inside, read it again. As a Jesus follower, we must beware, we must be on guard, we must be alert of our natural tendency to appear to be spiritual on the outside. But on the inside, we are completely operating out of our flesh. It is so easy, but it is so dangerous. I believe that is the essence of what Jesus wants us to understand, and if you're here this morning and you would say, that's me, nobody knows it, nobody is aware, I want you to hear me, God is not being honored about what's happening. God is not receiving glory from your life, if everything about you is just the appearance, and God's not going to use what you're doing for his glory. And the feeling that you and I get in those moments when someone walks up and says, man, you're spiritual, man, you've got it together, whatever we feel in that moment, here's what Jesus says, that's your reward, and that's it. I hope you enjoy the feeling. Because that moment when people applaud us and we're like, that moment, that's our reward, that's it. Because the whole goal of wearing a mask is to impress other people. And those are two traits for us as we fast that we can look to. And so this morning and whatever that looks like in your journey, are you motivated by yourself, by your flesh, and is your whole motive, your whole goal to impress other people? Because those are two very clear traits Jesus gives us in this text. Here's our third question this morning. What does the real thing look like? When it comes to fasting, what does the real thing look like? Well, Jesus tells us in verse 17 and 18, he says, but you, meaning his disciples, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face. So that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your father who is in secret. And your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Very quickly, two traits about the real thing, two traits about authentic fasting. First of all, authentic fasting increases my pursuit of Christ. Authentic fasting increases my pursuit of Christ. You see, for the hypocrites, their whole motivation was themselves. And them getting the attention and them being looked at. But when it comes to authentic fasting, that changes. The whole focus of authentic fasting is to pursue Christ and his will and his direction. And in verse 17 and 18, Jesus says, anoint your head with oil, wash your face. Here's what that means. Look natural. Do everything you can not to attract attention. Do everything you can just to look the way you always look and act the way you always act and say what you always say, just be natural. And when that's our heart motive, we can know that we are truly being led by God to fast because we're more concerned with what he desires than specifically what we desire. And authentic fasting is we have those time periods where God leads us to fast. It should only increase our pursuit of Christ. Last summer we were studying through the book of Philippians and we were specifically in Philippians chapter three. And the apostle Paul is really sharing his testimony. He's sharing his story. And one of the things he says in that chapter, he says, I want to know Christ. And we pulled a principle, a life-changing reality out of that chapter that I want to show you this morning. And we said it every week during that series, some of you may remember it, some not. So here's the life-changing reality. Knowing Jesus is the ultimate pursuit of my life. For Paul, the one thing that everything else fell under was his pursuit of Christ. And we learned last year that knowing Jesus, knowing Christ is to be the ultimate pursuit of our lives. Paul says, I want to know him. I want an experiential knowledge of Christ. And as we come this morning to look at fasting, this principle is very important. Here's what I wrote in my notes. We are always to be pursuing Jesus. But there will be periods of time when God will lead us to deny some form of physical gratification in order to seek a certain area. And fasting simply increases the pursuit that is already taking place. That's what fasting is. It increases our pursuit of Christ, not people's attention, not ourselves, but him and we seek him in a deeper way. Now God may lead you to fast about a lot of different things. Potentially he may lead you to fast about a certain physical or emotional need. He may lead you to fast about a difficult circumstance or a broken relationship that you desire to see restored. He may lead you to fast about a challenge you're having right now in the ministry that is giving you. Or he may lead you to fast when you need specific direction in a certain decision. But regardless of what you're fasting about, that time period of fasting should only increase your pursuit of him and seeking his will in his direction. Because authentic fasting does not feed our flesh. It deepens our intimate love relationship with God. That's very important. That's the first trait here Jesus gives us about authentic fasting. Here's the second one. Not only is authentic fasting increasing our pursuit of Christ, but authentic fasting is rewarded by the Father. Authentic fasting is rewarded by God. He tells his disciples, "Listen, it's not important to be noticed by people. You want God to see what you're doing because God will reward you." He assures us here and the list is very long of what those rewards could look like. I can't give you a specific list this morning of how God might reward you as you fast and you seek after him and pray. It could be that he demonstrates his power in your life in an unbelievable way. It may be that some person you've been praying for for a long time comes to know him as Savior. It may be some form of healing. It may be that he speaks into your life and gives you specific direction about something you've been wrestling with. The list goes on and on and on and on. But one biblical reference I'll give you this morning, Isaiah 58 is probably the most famous text of Scripture centered around fasting. It would be a good thing for maybe you to read in your small group and kind of work through, but in that section of Scripture, God gives us through Isaiah. For fifteen examples of how God rewards the fast, how God will reward his people when they fast in a way that he desires for them to. And here's the common denominator in Isaiah 58 and the common denominator today if God's going to reward us as we fast. One word, humility. You see, God is attracted to weakness. He's attracted to humility. He's attracted to brokenness. And it is impossible for you and I to walk through a time where we fast in an authentic way and not be broken and humble before a God who has no needs, who is holy, who is great, who is perfect, looking at us, who is broken and no good and helpless. It is impossible to fast in an authentic way and not possess the characteristic of humility. But when we do, God assures us that he sees it and he'll reward us and he will pour out his favor and his blessing and his life on us and use us as a vessel that he presses himself out through. Those are two traits of the real thing. Very quickly. Very quickly. I want to give you three common mistakes and then we're finished, I promise, that people often make when it comes to the area of fasting. They're not going to be on the screen. I just want to share them with you this morning. Very quickly, three common mistakes people make in the area of fasting. First of all, we assume that fasting is only for certain Jesus followers. A common mistake that a lot of people make is that we assume, well, fasting's for the pastors or fasting's for the missionaries. We think that sometimes, but here's the reality. Fasting is something that God has given to every one of his children as a way for them to pursue him and seek his will in a very, very special way. And I assure you, if you walk with God long enough, if you walk with God intimately enough, he will lead you to a season where you fast. Now here's the sad reality. For a lot of people, they'll never walk that close with God to where they can hear him say, "I want you to fast about this certain area," and that's the truth. But biblically, we understand that fasting is something God has given to everyone of his children as a means to pursue him in an intimate way by denying their physical gratification. Here's the second common mistake that a lot of people make. We assume, this is huge, we assume that our spiritual activity is more important than our spiritual intimacy. We assume that our spiritual activity is more important than our spiritual intimacy. Here's what we think sometimes. God, you can use my activity for you more than you can use my stillness before you. Most of us would say, "I'm too busy to spend an extra hour in my day simply seeking after God and fasting." Because we've convinced ourselves that the things that we're doing around the world for God are more important than our spiritual intimacy with him. Here's what I believe with all my heart. That more fruit takes place for the sake of the kingdom of God in an hour of authentic fasting and prayer than in 100 sermons. But there's got to be a mind change for us. You can't think, "Oh God, if I'm doing this for you, then you can really use that." But if I'm just alone spending time before you seeking you as I fast and pray, "Well, God, you probably can't really use that." The Bible says different. The Bible says that our spiritual intimacy is the platform by which God will accomplish spiritual activity. But a lot of people make mistakes when they think about fasting and say, "I'm too busy. I'm always in a hurry. I don't have time." It's wrong. Your intimate love relationship with God is the most important single thing about your life. Here's the third common mistake and then we're finished. We often approach fasting as a last resort. We often approach fasting as a last resort. Well, I'll talk to my small group and then I'll get online and watch a sermon and then I'll talk to my pastor. And if none of those things work, well, then maybe I'll fast. That's not biblical. The Bible teaches us that fasting is supposed to be a part of our ongoing love relationship with God. It's not all the time, but there will be moments when God calls us as His people to set aside a physical gratification and spend the time we would normally spend eating or on the computer or watching television or hanging out with that certain person. And instead of doing those things, we are to be alone with our Heavenly Father, praying and fasting before Him. Not a last resort as a regular part of the relationship. You may be here this morning and this is all new news to you. You've never really thought about the idea of fasting or what that even looks like. And if you're here today and maybe you feel God's leading you to fast and be for a relationship or a big decision or for more spiritual intimacy, I don't know a couple of things, I just want to tell you. Don't be extreme. It's very easy to come to a weekend and we hear a sermon about it and we say, "I'm going to fast for 40 days and 49th." Not a good idea. There are times when God will lead us to fast, I know for me personally, maybe for a meal, maybe it's for a day, maybe it's for a week, but don't be extreme. Because then when we're extreme, guess what happens? It's really all about us anyway. And we're doing it so that we can be in our little huddle and say, "Guys, I want you to pray for me. I'm actually fasting for six months." And that's the motive. Don't be extreme in your fasting. And secondly, if you've never fasted before, you may need to talk to a doctor. And that's not, you know, that's not to be overly spiritual, it's just true. If you've never walked out before, I have no idea what your health condition is, but it may be wise if you sense God leading you to fast, you may need to talk to your doctor about that. And that's just good wisdom. Jesus has invited us into so much more than wearing one of these. He has. And whether it be giving or praying or fasting or anything else, what Jesus offers us in the form of life is bigger than wearing a mask. He invites us into the real thing. And as we finish this series, let me ask you the question. When it comes to your giving, are you wearing a mask? Or is it real? When it comes to the way that you pray, is it real? Are you wearing a mask? And when it comes to fasting, is it authentic? Is it for him or is it for you? Let's pray this morning. As you sit there, you're just thinking about your own personal walk with Jesus. How is God speaking to you this morning? How is God stirring in your heart? If you're here today and you don't have a relationship with God, and as you sit there, you're thinking, "Man, I don't have a clue. I don't understand pursuing Christ's intimacy. I don't understand any of that." Here's the good news. God passionately loves you, and he desires a relationship with you. And there's a huge problem with that because we have something called sin that separates us from knowing Jesus. But God and his love send his son to be sacrificed on the cross to wipe away the problem of sin. And here's what he tells us. If we'll confess that we've all messed up, we've all made mistakes. We have this flesh that is just evil, and we'll trust Christ to give us life and save us. The Bible says that he will. And he'll rescue us from death and give us abundant life. And we've got some pastors and prayer volunteers around the room, and they would love to talk to you this morning about a relationship with God, and just a moment when we stand and just have a song that is a way of response to the Word this morning, would you just go to one of them and just say, "I need to be saved," and they would love to talk to you about a relationship with God. For others of us, we're going to have some time this morning where we're just listening. And I want to challenge you in whatever way God has spoken into your life this morning, would you just be obedient to that? Maybe there's some things you need to change. Maybe there's some people you need to talk to so that they can help you from this trap of wearing a mask, or maybe you just need to pray for God this week to flood you with the authentic life that is found in this Son Jesus. So Lord, as we have a time just to respond, and we sing this song that it's really all about you, and we say we're sorry for what we've made it out to be, Lord, would you just hear us, would you speak to us and would you change us in your name I pray.