John Gunter: And I had a couple people ask me if I was gonna say anything about it, so may the fourth be with you as well. I am enough of a nerd to be thinking about that, but didn't know if you all would be. Thank you, Tammy, for setting that up. Today, we're gonna ruin your lunch, that's what we're gonna do. It was requested for me to talk a little bit about fasting, that's that's something we don't often talk about.
Our our I guess, in churches of Christ, most of us grew up with the idea of, you know, we're looking for commands in the New Testament. Right? That sound familiar to you? And in the New Testament, we're never specifically commanded to fast. Now, what I think you'll see today is is there's a lot of things that point to, yeah, we should probably fast.
And so, we're gonna talk about that, and and so, what I wanna start out with is just what what is the reason for a fast. Right? Because you can be thinking about fasting right now, you can be thinking about fasting for health reasons. Right? A big couple of keywords on street now is intermittent fasting, right?
You take a certain amount of time, I'm going to stop eating at 6PM, and I'm not going to eat again until 10AM. And so, I'm going to have a large section of my day where I don't eat, and that is for my physical health. And of course, there are a lot of physical benefits from for fasting and things like that. But when we talk about fasting, as a Christian, we're talking about fasting in a spiritual sense. Now, we are we are fasting from physical things, but we are fasting for a spiritual purpose.
And so, that's the difference here, is is what we are focused on, what we are trying to do this for. Because fasting for health brings health benefits. Fasting for spiritual things brings spiritual benefits. Right? And so, that's why we wanna start out there.
So, we start in the Old Testament to kind of look at, alright, well, what are some of the examples of fasting in the Old Testament? So, we start right now with David, and and so what we'll see, I think, throughout these is you see fasting kind of as a response to grief, repentance, or even an urgent need. We talked about that this morning. Sometimes when we have something go on that's major in our lives, you may not even feel like eating. You ever been there?
And all of sudden, it doesn't feel like I planned a fast, but it's almost your body's response to what's going on. Right? So, I think you'll see some of that in here, that it's not always, I'm gonna on Tuesday, I'm gonna fast for this amount of time. Sometimes, it is absolutely a response to what is going on. You ever hit your knees, I didn't plan to pray, but right now, I need to pray.
Right? In the moment, it needs to happen. And so, some of that is what you'll see here. So, we start in second Samuel with David. Okay?
David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. Now, this is when his child was dying. You remember the David and Bathsheba account. And so, he sought God on behalf of the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. You can kinda picture what's going on there, can't you?
Ever had a sick kid? Yeah. Even if you didn't have one pass away, just one being being sick, and when you're a new parent, it doesn't take much, does it? Right? They could tell me a thousand times that that tube they were gonna put in Evan's ear was not a big deal and not a big procedure, but until I went through it and understood it, that was a big deal to me.
Right? Everything's routine until it happens to you. Right? K? So, we we see David as a response to what his child is going through, he fasted, and he says, he went in and lay all night on the ground, and the elders of his house stood beside him to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them.
Man, that is just a state of grief and mourning almost, and wanting God to intervene. Right? And and you have people there to encourage and help him, and he he's just he's just so devastated by what's going on. That that's that's his response. And he says, on the seventh day, the child died, and the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead.
They said, behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. He was such in in such grief. Right? How can how then can we say to him, the child is dead, he may do himself some harm? So, that's how much David was in mourning and grief and just crying out to God over this.
That he fasted, again, not in some sense of I'm gonna fast from this time to this time, but just what I'm going through, the response needed to be in that moment, I'm not gonna eat, I'm not I'm just going to be here crying out to God. We see kind of a different kind in Esther, and of course, the story of Esther here is we've just had the decree, basically, that all the Jews, because they don't fit in with the right story here, they have their own ways of doing things, they've just manipulated the king into putting out a decree for all of them to be killed. And so, the claim is, okay, well, Esther, you need to do something about this. And and here's the statement here in verse 16, go gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf. That's what Esther is saying.
Alright? Well, if I have to talk to the king, you need to fast on my behalf. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then, I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish. So, you can read that as if perish, I perish as if she doesn't care, I think she cares a lot.
But she has decided in her mind, this is what needs to happen. And so, do you see what happens there? She asks for people to fast on her behalf. Have you done that recently? What do you think the response would be?
I'm going to ask all of you to fast on my behalf today for lunch and dinner. What's your first thought? Yeah. Some of you are already laughing, aren't you? Yeah.
Already got the place, some of you already said, you're going to Iguana Joe's, whatever, we're gone. Right? But but think about the community that builds, that we love each other enough that I say, man, I am going through this. Would you fast and go to God on my behalf? That's a different level, isn't it?
Because sometimes what we do is we come and we like to think, again, that we are taking things seriously, and we are all in this, and then something in scripture reminds us that we're not. That maybe we're not as serious as we we claim to be, or even want to be, you know, we want people to see us as a serious Christian. Okay? Well, we can do this for each other, can't we? Because the ask is, would you fast and do this, go before she doesn't say go before God, but I think that's the implication within Esther.
Esther is one of those books that doesn't say anything about God or prayer, but every time you see fasting, that kind of goes with it, so that's the closest thing you get in Esther to this going before God. So, hold a fast on my behalf, do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, I and my young women will also fast as you do. So, I'm not just asking you to do something for me, I'm asking you to do something that I also am going to do. It sounds like, alright, I'm going distance myself. No, it's nothing like that.
I'm also going to do this. We need all hands on deck. You might have heard it said, we're gonna storm the throne of God with the prayers. Right? We're gonna put that before God, I will also fast as you do, then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.
She is facing what she thinks could be death. And this is important, because if she doesn't face death, what everyone else is facing is death, her Jewish people. And so, says, let's fast and bring this before God for this prayer of deliverance. We also see this in the account of Jonah. Remember, Jonah is told by God to go to Nineveh, that Nineveh was a place that needed repentance, and Jonah was all for it.
Right? He's like, yeah, I love those people. Let's go. No. Not at all.
He didn't want anything to do with it, but he did. He finally, through his his trials, time and a fish and all the things, he ends up in Nineveh, and he preaches what God has told him to do. Now, in what we have recorded, it almost sounds like Jonah is checked out, and he doesn't care, and hey, I'd I'd love to tell you all you're gonna burn. But here's the response. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes, and he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock taste anything.
Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil ways and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish. When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
And so, what we see here in Nineveh is a response of repentance. That, alright, well, I am going to we see, you know, Jonah has just preached and said, you are wrong, you've got two choices. Right? Jonah, get out of here, I know I'm right, see you. Or, man, you've got a point.
We've strayed from God and we need to change. And the decree from the king comes down, let not man or beast try explaining that to your donkey, right? I'm sorry. This is from the king, sorry about that. But that's what he said, okay, everyone focus yourselves, you're not worrying about anything else, right?
Fast, hopefully, God will see this. Right? We're repenting, turn from all those things you're doing. Alright? Turn back to God and hopefully He'll change, and God's response is, because of the way they repented, he changes from what he had planned.
We see this in Exodus 34 with Moses. So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights, he neither ate bread nor drank water, he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the 10 commandments. Now, why in the world did Moses fast as he received the 10 commandments? So, what is fasting? Well, fasting, think, as you're you're seeing so far, fasting is a time to devote myself, to point myself completely to God.
Well, where was Moses at this point? He was with God. Alright, I'm going to fast, I'm going to give myself to you. God has taken care of everything, and that's part of what fasting is. How many of you, every time you say, I'm going go on a diet, your next thought is, Boy, what can I eat right now?
Because I just got hungry. It doesn't matter if what prompted the diet was that huge meal I just ate, I'm feeling miserable. You think, Woah, man, I need to get something else. Right? Ice cream really sounds good, that was really salty.
Right? Yeah. Okay, well, is alright, I'm gonna step out of that and and depend completely on God for all of my needs, because we are so accustomed to, I'm gonna take care of me, right? I'm I'm an American, I'm a Texan, I'm not. Evan is, I'm not.
He was born across the border in Texarkana. I'm an Arkansan, but lived in Texas a while now. But, we're we're so accustomed to taking care of things ourselves, right? That's what we do. If you don't do that, you're seen as lazy.
Right? And really not good for anything. But, this is not that, it's not that you have no desire to work or anything, this is, I have a desire to have complete dependence on God to grow closer to Him. And so, we see this with Moses as he's fasting before receiving the law. We also see this in the book of Daniel.
Then I turned my face to the Lord, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. You see how prayer goes hand in hand with fasting all of the time. It's not fasting for fasting's sake, it's fasting to draw closer to God. I'm fasting to focus on Him, to depend on Him, and I'm going to Him in prayer constantly, removing all of those outside things that often draw our attention and all of our desires, God, I want to depend on you, and that's what it's for. Every one of these instances we just read shows someone's dependence on God in all the different circumstances.
Did you see that? Whether it needs repentance, or I'm preparing for something, or I'm just in grief. God, I wanna depend on you. And so, we see in the life of Jesus in Matthew four, that Jesus begins his ministry, or as just as he comes out of the water of baptism, he's gonna go into ministry. We see it in Matthew verse or chapter four verse one, then Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
That's what he was going for, and it says, and after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. So, Jesus is about to face this humongous temptation. Now, we can get into wish it it told us, you know, Jesus knew what was coming or anything like that, but I I and I think that's probably part of this, that there was a reason he knew something was coming to prepare him for ministry. And so, as he goes to face this thing, his response is fasting. And what part of this fasting does the temptation come?
Tell me, church. At the beginning, the middle, at the end. How many of you are in in your right state when you're real hungry? Blood sugar's dipped, I missed that last meal, it's 03:00, I hadn't had lunch yet, and that that granola bar is wearing thin. Right?
You're at your weakest physically, but if you have fasted for a spiritual purpose of drawing close to God, if you have drawn if you think about it this way, yes, I am famished in that I haven't had food, but if all if you think about it, all I have done for the last forty days is focus myself on God, now where are you? Can you deal with that spiritual battle? Yes, you can. Because I have focused on God, I have given my my time, my life, my energy to Him. We see this in Acts 13 with the early church leaders.
It says, while they were worshiping the the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work which I have called them. Then, after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. Alright. Remember, we we still haven't come to a command to fast yet, have we? But we sure see some some things here, some examples of, okay, well, this is what they did.
Alright. Well, they were worshiping and fasting. Alright. We'll set apart Barnabas and Saul. Okay, we'll do that.
Then after fasting and praying, they laid on their hand they laid their hands on him. So, they knew that Saul and Barnabas were gonna go into a work, and so their response for that is, we are going to fast, we are going to focus on God, we are going to pray to Him that this is successful, and we're going to lay our hands on Him and then send them off. You see that? We haven't done a lot of that, have we? We can do a lot more, can't we?
Sometimes it feels like, oh, I don't I don't know, that feels that feels too intimate. Well, no. If we are a community, if we are parts of the body of Christ, right, we are together in this. And so, we can come together. We're we we feel so individualistic.
How many of you have ever said or ever thought, you know, I'm not I'm not gonna ask them to pray for me, you know, I don't want them to worry about me. Yeah. Or or you have a thought that, oh, God's too busy with all these other serious things, I'm not gonna put that before him. Yeah. Well, that just all that does, and I'll be honest with you, and I'm sure I've done that, I know my mom my mom's a praying person, but she does that, I don't want them to worry.
You know, she'll tell us at the last minute, like, I'm your kid, tell me. But look, this all that does is seek it kind of divides us in a way, because now I don't know what you're going through, and I can't pray for you, I can't fast for you. Okay? So so actually giving that up to God, sharing that with people, seeing something like this, maybe maybe you have something coming up big in your life, and I want all hands on deck storming the throne of God, don't you? Yeah, this is what we want as a church, this is what we believe to be right, and we're to fast, we're going give up something in our life.
It doesn't always have to be food, right? You can fast from other things, things that are taking your focus, but I'm going to depend on God, I'm going to pray to Him during this time and be able to do this. So, fasting as a means to seek God's guidance, that's what you see here, to overcome temptation, and even to prepare for ministry. Do you fast, do you pray in preparation for things? It can make me sick when I know I'm facing something and I don't want to eat, but to do that, that I'm going to intentionally seek God's will and depend on Him.
I think we can do much more of that. Alright. It says, And when they had appointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they have believed. Again, preparation for a job that's going to be done. Acts fourteen twenty three.
Alright. Let's talk about reasons for fasting. Number one, to search for God's presence and guidance. Alright? We may be good about praying for those things, right?
How many of you feel like your calendar is so busy, sometimes our prayers are rushed? Yeah. Absolutely. That is a consequence of where we live, how we live, the time we live in. Right?
K? I need to dedicate things more to God. I need to take a minute and just breathe. I had a class in college the first time. I gotta specify that.
I thought I was done with college after that, went back again, I'm just a glutton for punishment. But the first time, I was in a music class of all things, and they talked about the benefit you get from just meditating, or just taking time to sit and breathe. Now, it wasn't a Christian slant on that, I think Christians can sit and breathe and pray. Sit and breathe and give the time to God, and guess what, I don't have to be in control of this, I can give it to you, you're going to handle it better than I will, but often we feel like we're controlling everything and we've got to do that. And so, alright, I want to search for God's presence and guidance.
God, I want you to intervene in this. Number two, to show humility and repentance. I don't think we think about this a lot, the pride it takes to feel like I'm in control and God isn't, that's the way we I think we kind of operate in our lives. We may not say that, that's how we operate. I've got this.
Alright. Well, takes humility. Alright? I'm going to fast to show I'm not in control. I'm always thinking about that next meal.
God, I'm going to allow this time not to think about food, but I'm going to give this to you. Okay? And repentance, of course, as we read earlier about accounts like that, I need to repent of this, and I wanna give it just like we may pray in a hurried thing, we give so little time to spiritual matters sometimes, do we really repent in this way? To make it a big thing enough to, okay, well, I'll remember this next time, it'll be a big big deal. Right?
I remember I fasted and I prayed about this. Or do we just rush through, oh God, I'm sorry about that. Next thing, next agenda item. Alright. Number three, we also fast for deliverance or protection in times of crisis.
How many of you have ever prayed, God, if you'll just get me out of this, I will give up? Yeah. I won't ask how many of you actually gave that thing up. I've talked about before, talked about in class this morning, one of the ladies in my church growing up, I can't even remember what it was about, but she prayed to God, and she was going through something in her life, and she said she would give up coffee. And she did.
And that blew my mind. First of all, thought, well, coffee is terrible, so that's nothing. You know? I was a kid, you know? I hadn't grown up yet and gotten a taste of it.
Actually, creamer is fantastic, coffee is okay. But she did that, right? And so, we know we go to God in those times, right? But, alright, I'm gonna focus my life, not just a quick prayer, God, will you help me in this really quickly, Alright. We're gonna set aside a time, I'm gonna fast and focus.
Right? Dependence on Him. Number four, we could fast for worship or drawing close to God. You hear me pray over and over, we wanna draw close to God and closer to each other. Well, I'm gonna do you want to do that or is it just a cool thing to say?
Does it sound nice or do you actually desire that? Right? Okay. Well, I'm gonna take time, I'm gonna block out part of my day or week, and I'm God, I want to draw close to you. You can do both of these things at the same time.
I wanna draw close to you, and God, I wanna worship your name. As we did this morning, I'll be singing some of those songs for the next few days, won't you? Well, take a few time take some time at lunch and start there, right? Block out a little part of your day that I'm going to worship, I'm going to draw close to you, and actually make the effort. Let's face it, sometimes we're all talk, aren't we?
You actually want to do it, or you want to talk about it. Okay? Number five, to prepare for ministry. I think you could take this in a number of ways, whether it's something big in ministry, or that God, I just want to be involved more. How can I help?
How can I use my talents? Because sometimes we think, well, everybody else is better suited for that than me. No. How about you pray? How about you fast?
God, I know you can use me. Again, not dependence on self, but dependence on God. Because we can take ourselves out and list all the reasons why I'm not the best person to be up here doing this, right? And then I don't do it. Or, I can say, I know I'm not the best, but with God, I think He can use me.
Yeah. And we live in a time where you guys can walk out of this sermon today, get on a podcast, and listen to the best communicators in the world, and that's terrifying. Unless, I know God can use me, and God can use me to reach people that those people can't reach. Right? They don't have a charming Arkansas drawl like I do.
Right? Alright. Last one here, to overcome temptation and align with God's will. Again, that thing I know I struggle with, how many times I'll repent of it, God, please forgive me of this, and it's on to the next thing. What if we gave it the proper weight?
What if we said, maybe you know you're going into this. Maybe the place you work is a big temptation. The way you speak, how you talk to other people, maybe you started out the job and you spoke like them, and you know, that's not right. Every time I go in there, now, am I different? You know, you can pray and you can fast about that.
And guess what, I bet that feels a little different once you have spent time fasting and focusing and walking into that situation rather than, Oh God, please forgive me of that, I shouldn't have said that word, the end. Right? Next agenda item. Okay? Give it the proper way to overcome temptation and align with God's will.
God, I I want to know you more, I want to walk the path you want me to walk, and so we spend the time in it. Alright. Why should we fast today? We shouldn't. Right?
You're you're over this? You're onto lunch? Alright. Why should we fast today? Alright.
To focus our hearts on God. Right? Focus our hearts on God. There's so many things, and we know this. I've got a soccer game today that's rescheduled not normally on Sunday, I've got that going on.
You know, what am I going to do in my life? I've got laundry, I just put in the washer before I left, hopefully, it still smells good when I get home, all those things. Right? How many things do you have right now? Tons of them, it's a weekend.
But, I want to focus my heart on God. Number two, for spiritual growth, we don't think about this enough, I think. There are things that you can do in your life, there are ways that you can align yourself with God to draw closer to Him. Alright? I want spiritual growth.
I'm gonna fast for that and ask God to give me that. Also, in decision making. I've got a decision to make. Taking a new job is one of the worst ones in the world. Okay?
Ethan's already been through kind of the same thing with colleges. Right? That is a huge decision. Where am I going to live in the world? Right?
Alright. Well, I want to bring that, not just for myself or or make the decision by myself, I wanna bring that before the king. How many of you, you know right now if you have a big decision to make, you've got a few people you're calling. Cause they'll help guide you, they'll bring you along. Okay?
Well, yes, we should do that. And you also ought to pray about it. You also ought to fast about it. Okay? Also, intercession that God, I want you to do something in this world.
When we talked about going through the book of Luke, we begin there in the story of Jesus and him coming into earth. Remember, the people there were waiting on God to do something. These These pesky Romans are ruling the place. We look around, it's not the way I want it to be, God do something. Now, you can look at your life, I'm sure, in a different kind of way and say, God, I need you to do something here.
God, I need you to intercede for this. And so, we we pray and we fast for things just like this. Now, I wanna show you just a couple more scriptures here, and we'll we'll be done. Notice the I've I've done all the hard work for you in bold and yellow. Jesus talking to his disciples and and everyone listening to the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew six verse 16, he says, what does he say there church?
And when you fast, needed to capitalize that as well, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites for they disfigure their faces and their fasting that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. So, if you choose today to fast, don't go with all these other folks to Iguana Joe's and just look like, Joe's the wrong day for this. I wanna make sure everyone knows I am miserable. Right?
And Jesus is saying, there are people out there that do that, but He says, and when you fast, alright, in parenthesis and italics, because you should, right? When when you fast, don't do this. Okay? They have received their word, but does it say there? But When you fast Yeah, I don't like that either.
Anoint your head and wash your face, so clean up, look like you're okay, don't look, you know, like a ghost. There may be a temptation to, I'm gonna fast, so, you know, I'm not doing anything, the hair is everywhere, I've already had my haircut, Scott, so I don't have to worry about that. But, that's the temptation. I'm just gonna I I I'm gonna I know I'm gonna feel terrible, I'm not gonna eat, so I'm just gonna not give any effort. He says, no, anoint your head, wash your face that your fasting may not be seen by others, nobody else needs to know about that.
But it may not be seen by others, but your father who is in secret, and your father who is in secret will reward you. Okay? So this is not about others, this is about going to God. Now again, because of what we read earlier, that doesn't mean that we don't ask each other to pray for each other, and fast for each other, and all of those things. But, if the goal is that, you know, I'm gonna tell you I fast so that you have a better opinion of me, that's the wrong heart.
Right? Oh, my preacher, he fasts. Y'all say that in H E B next time we come, Here's my preacher, he's a fasting preacher. And I go, That guy? I only see one guy there, I don't think he does it.
No? No? Well, you don't do that, right? This is between you and God. Now, we come alongside each other, and we can do that as a group, as a community, and we can do that together with the right heart.
Not that we're trying to make each other look better, or you you think I'm better, or whatever, but we're doing this for God. And in Matthew nine fourteen and fifteen, then the disciples of John came to him saying, why do we and Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? And when 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, what is it church? Boy, I don't like that either.
I know. Grit your teeth this morning and read it. What Jesus is saying is, I am with them right now, they don't need to fast because God is with them. There's a time when Jesus said, I'm going to leave and they're going to need to fast, to focus on God, to draw close to him for repentance or intercession or spiritual growth, when we stray away from the path, when we do all of these things, we should do that. We should fast to draw closer to God, should we not, church?
That's our desire, I hope it is anyway. If I desire to grow close to God, then it's not just lip service, but something I actually want to do. And so, if you never fast, how will you know what it's like to hunger for God in this way? We think about the hunger in terms of food and physical feeling, but how is it to hunger for God and desire him? And so that's what fasting is all about.
Not about us and looking better in front of folks, but hungering for God. And so, next week, what we're gonna talk about is the second part of this, we're gonna focus on prayer. What can I do? How can I go about life to include prayer more in my life? And then, alright, pray without ceasing.
What do you mean by that? And so prayer goes right along with this, my focus on God. So this morning, I'm just gonna ask you a question, is your focus truly on God? Are you so inundated with so many things in the world that it's all a blur? So if you need the prayers of this church, we'd love to pray with you.
Would you come as we stand in service today?