Introduction
Back in the 80’s I noticed a book in a Christian bookstore on aerobics. Judging by the cover, which featured a very attractive blonde sylph in a leotard, the book was targeting Christian women who wanted to keep in good shape and it was called... wait for it, ‘Slim for Him.’ The book deserved to flop massively on the basis of the cheesy title alone, but in actual fact keeping our bodies fit is (if you’ll forgive the pun) a theme that runs through the New Testament. Here’s the thing: just as my body needs a balanced diet, adequate rest, sufficient sleep and regular exercise, my soul needs to feed healthily, to be renewed and to work out as well. What are the kind of fitness exercises that get you in good shape spiritually? It’s what we’ve been looking at over the next few weeks in this run up to Easter we call Lent.
Today, the theme is fasting so let me share with you one of my favourite limericks on that very subject. It goes like this.
There was a young nun from Siberia
Who, of fasting, grew wearier and wearier.
Till one day with a yell, she burst from her cell,
And devoured the Mother Superior.
The Physical Effects of Fasting
In keeping with the experience of my poor, famished nun, I want to say straight away that fasting, in itself, is not particularly popular because it is not all that enjoyable. When I fast, I am not in the habit of shouting out as I wake up; “Oh praise the Lord, I’m not going to eat anything today. Therefore my stomach will rumble uncomfortably and before lunchtime my breath will smell like a dog’s. Halleluiah!” I’ve never been led to fast more than two days at a time, but I’m reliably told that the first 48 hours are usually the most difficult.
Speaking personally, it’s not all that bad in my experience. When I do fast it’s usually to seek specific guidance, or to pray for a situation that requires a miracle and also at times of spiritual frustration and desert when I need to break through to a fresh experience of God. I don’t find the physical aspect of it especially uncomfortable. It’s different for others. Apart from getting hungry; your body starts to rid itself of toxins which is why you get bad breath and you feel physically weak, even slightly dizzy. On top of that you can get mild headaches - especially if you usually drink a lot of caffeine. I’m told, however, that once you get to day 6 or 7, your mind is alert, your concentration is sharp, you have hardly any hunger pangs, you feel strong spiritually and good physically.
Different Types of Fasting
Some people observe a complete fast by refusing all food and all drink for a certain time – perhaps a day or often much longer. Jesus’ 40 day fast in the desert was of this nature. Others fast by forgoing just one meal. Still others do a partial fast, either by allowing themselves liquids, or by dramatically simplifying their diet to something as basic as a slice of bread and a cup of water. Another kind of fasting would be to forgo watching TV or to abstain from the internet or, for married couples, to pray together instead of having sex; Paul talks about that in 1 Corinthians 7 and he basically says, make sure you both agree about it and don’t let it go on too long. Still others talk about a green fast – where you, for a period of time, go without some conveniences in order to be carbon neutral during that time. There are all sorts of ways you can fast and I want to say that green fasts and TV fasts are valid, but I see fasting primarily as a voluntary abstention, from food and drink, for the express purpose of seeking God and to bring focus and intensity in prayer.
But Why Are We Even Talking About Fasting?
But someone here might ask, “Why are we even talking about fasting? Isn’t this legalistic? Or the stuff of fanatics? What about grace? Isn’t this salvation by works? Doesn’t the Bible warn against this kind of thing?”
And there are indeed some passages which seem to strongly question the value of fasting. Listen to this, for example from Matthew 9.14-17. “Then John’s disciples came and asked Jesus, ‘How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?’ Jesus answered, ‘How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them?’”
This shows that the people who followed Jesus around evidently never fasted at all. Apart from his 40 day fast, at the beginning of his ministry, there is no evidence that Jesus ever repeated it afterwards. That was unusual in those days. In fact it was unique. So John the Baptist’s followers ask him one day, “How come we have to go hungry twice a week? How come your lot have it easy?” And Jesus replies in effect, “Well it wouldn’t be right would it? Would you go round looking miserable at a wedding? This is a time to celebrate not to mourn.” And then he says this: “The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away; then you will fast.”
What is he saying? Some people think he’s talking about the short period of grief between his death and resurrection. Jesus will be taken away and all those who believed in him will be devastated by their affliction. They will mourn and wail - and fasting in that society was a normal expression of funereal sorrow. But when Jesus rises from the dead the fasting will end and it will be back to situation normal.
But I don’t think Jesus was talking about a brief fast after his death and there are two reasons for that. Firstly, every other time the New Testament portrays Jesus as a bridegroom it is in the context of his return in glory. Jesus is talking about his absence from us now in 2010; while he is seated in glory until he comes again, and he is saying that this is a time when fasting is appropriate. The second reason I don’t think Jesus was talking about his death here is that fasting was clearly the normal experience of the Christians in the earliest churches. Acts 13.2-3, for example, says that while the Christians at Antioch “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.’ So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.”
Therefore, for these two reasons, Jesus must have meant that fasting would be a normal experience for those who follow him - until he comes again and we sit down together at the heavenly wedding feast.
All right, but doesn’t the New Testament also warn against being excessively religious? Yes, it does. For example, 1 Timothy 4.1-5 says, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons... They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.” It’s because of Scriptures like that that we need some straight talk about what fasting is not.
What Fasting Is Not
I remember a pastor from Saint-Louis, Missouri called John Lanferman talking once about a fast he decided to do. He was gripped by holy frustration. He wanted to see more commitment, more power, more conversions and more growth. So he decided that God really ought to send a revival in his church. That would sort things out nicely. So he began to pray and nothing much happened. So he said to himself, “We’ve got to get serious about this” so he started fasting.
And one day in a moment of reckless zeal he said to God, “Right Lord, this is it! I’m going to go on a fast and not a crumb will pass my lips until you send an awesome revival.” A few days passed - and do you know what? No matter how hard he looked, there was no sign of revival anywhere to be seen. But no matter, he kept going, fervently praying and fasting for a new move of God to break out. A week passed, and then two weeks. Three. Nothing happened. After about three and a half weeks of serious self-denial and passionate crying out to God, absolutely zilch had changed in his church. Then John Lanferman said, “Lord, I’m starting to get a little hungry now. Are you really gonna let me die?” And in the deafening silence from heaven Lanferman felt God was saying, “Uh huh.” Then he realised the first thing that fasting isn’t; fasting isn’t a hunger strike. You can’t twist God’s arm by fasting. You can’t cajole him into getting what you want by throwing your toys out of the pram and refusing to eat. A starvation protest is not a fast.
The second thing fasting isn’t is a diet in disguise. When you need to shed a few kilos it can be tempting to spiritualise it a bit by stirring a prayer or two in with the Weight Watchers celery soup. That’s not fasting either. A diet is a diet and the object of a diet is weight loss. Fasting is fasting and the goal of fasting is to seek God’s face. In Matthew 6.16 Jesus’ problem with the Pharisees is that they were being two faced. Going down a size, looking great in a bikini again or shedding that beer gut is a legitimate reason to diet, but it is not an adequate motivation for a fast!
Thirdly, fasting is not a shortcut to spiritual greatness either. You cannot grow in maturity or the knowledge of God simply by living in austerity and abstinence. Paul talks about this in Colossians 2.23 when he writes about fussy ascetics who go round making up churchy rules to live by; don’t handle, don’t touch, don’t taste. And he says, “Such regulations have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.”
Fasting is not, in itself, spiritually effective at all. It impresses people! Jesus says as much in v16: “When you fast, do not look sombre as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.” Here’s what Jesus is saying; if your goal is to show others what you are doing and win their admiration and enjoy their praise, people will possibly think highly of you. But that’s all. And human applause is as worthless as fool’s gold. God does not look down on those who forgo their lunch and say, “Ooh, he’s fasting now, I see. Pretty impressive…!”
That’s the point of the Isaiah reading. Churchy religion and pious devotion, whilst overlooking basic fairness and making money on powerless people, stinks. Isaiah says that God takes no notice of that sort of fasting whatsoever.
“Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and 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 with shelter when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”
What Fasting Is
That’s what fasting isn’t. Now look at v18. “But when you fast… your Father, who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
In other words, Jesus says, “Do it to be seen by God. Not to be noticed by men or women. Do I really have a passion for God himself, or – deep down – do I crave human admiration more? Some people feel good about giving, praying, going to church, reading the Bible and doing acts of kindness if they know people are watching! It indulges our ego if we know that others will see our good works or find out about them and think well of us. But no! Fast to be seen by God, “and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
What’s the reward? Quicker answers to prayer? Not necessarily. So what is the reward Jesus talks about here that is gained through fasting and prayer? Well, think back to those times in your life when you’ve been in love. Think of that special one who made your heart beat faster, and with whom you could spend hours talking about nothing without getting bored. The one you daydream about, the one whose name you doodle on the edge of the page when you’re supposed to be taking notes in class. And imagine this special person lives far away and you have to communicate by letter. And let us say that one day a letter arrives in that familiar envelope with your name written in that unique handwriting. It arrives at lunch time and instead of sitting down to eat with your mates in the canteen, you go and sit alone under a tree to open and read the love letter you just received. The sweet yearning for your loved one, the joy that bubbles up, the love you feel, when you read and reread, and reread that letter – is it any sacrifice to have missed lunch? No. That is your reward. It’s the cherishing of a loved one who is better than any worldly comfort.
That’s what biblical fasting is. It is the savouring and enjoyment of God’s holy presence as being more satisfying, more delightful, and more rewarding than any earthly thing. It is to say, “Lord, you are my portion.” It is an expression of hunger and longing and yearning for God and for God’s glory. Nothing else will do! In the Song of Solomon, it’s when the beloved says to the lover, “Your love is better than wine.” In the psalms it’s when David says “Just one day in your house, even just to hold the door open for others, is better than a thousand anywhere else.”
Lord, the pursuit of your righteousness and the splendour of your presence and the supremacy of your glory are better, much better, than any luxury. As Paul says in Philippians 3.8, “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” Fasting eloquently adorns that truth. And if we don’t ever feel that way, if we never really hunger and thirst for God, maybe our love for the world is spoiling our appetite.
American pastor John Piper, in his book on fasting, puts it this way: “If you don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great. God did not create you for this. There is an appetite for God. And it can be awakened. I invite you to turn from the dulling effects of food and the dangers of idolatry and to say with some simple fast: This much, O God, I want you.”
Here’s another thing that fasting is; it is an assault on sin in our lives. In my own experience, when I am seeking God’s face through prayer and fasting, I find that the pull of temptation and the appeal of sin are noticeably weaker. I don’t know if that is a common experience but I suspect that it is. Monks who take vows of celibacy sometimes say that fasting is a powerful weapon against lust. Jesus’ 40 day fast in the desert was a deliberate strategy to emerge victorious from the onslaught of testing he would face from Satan at the end of that time. That’s why the Spirit sent him into the wilderness; he was training for battle. Fasting makes you physically weaker but spiritually more robust.
Ending
So, as I close, let me ask some questions.
Does the world, and all its glitz, deeply satisfy your soul? Do you consider everything rubbish compared to the great prize of gaining Christ? Is the incomparable love of Christ for your soul better than wine? Do you hunger and long and yearn for God more than food? Is one day in God’s courts better by far than a thousand anywhere else?
Preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 28th February 2010
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