11th February 2007 Fasting

What have we learned? Context…

Before we start I want you to pair up with a child or young person and tell them what you learned about last week when Ruth talked about Salt and Light. Children and young people you have to listen, because I’m going to be asking you what the adults learnt.

Ok, so we’ve had a bit about how we have to be salt and light where we are, through our actions and attitudes. We skip forward a bit in Jesus’ sermon and we find him telling us to do things in secret, a bit of a contradiction perhaps?

All around Jesus ears would have been pricking up. For years the ‘normal’ people had been subjected to the teachers of the Law making a song and dance about what they were doing to please God. These ‘acts’ included giving to the needy, praying and fasting. Today, we are going to focus on the act of fasting.

What is true fasting?

Before we even delve into it, first I think we should look at how we spend our time. I want you to think for a moment… in the last week, which is 168 hours, how much time have you…

… been at work/school? 40 hours/30hours
… been asleep? 49 hours
… spent eating? 17.5 hours
… spent in front of the TV? 14 hours
… spent on the phone?
… spent doing house work?
… spent on yourself?

Now for a tough question, how long have you spent giving to the needy, praying and fasting? How long have you spent worrying?

Ponder that thought for a bit, we will be heading back there soon.

Compare your times to the time that Jesus and his disciples spent doing things like watching the TV… or the time they spent on the phone. As Christians in the 21st century we face a lot more distractions than the people who were sitting around Jesus as he spoke about these things.

Consequently fasting is something that falls to the bottom of the pile when we talk about priorities and spiritual disciplines. The thought of giving up something barely crosses our minds when we think of getting closer to God. In a few weeks we’ll be in Lent, current Christian culture has developed the idea of ‘I’m going to take something up for Lent, not give something up’. That’s brilliant, but can I ask, what exactly have you gained? Have we missed the point of Lent when we say that? Yes, Jesus did take something up, a fight with the devil!

Often what we don’t realise is that fasting and praying come hand in hand throughout the Bible. The Old Testament tells us the most stories about fasting and praying. We have Daniel, Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego, Esther and Moses (the first recorded fast in the Bible). In the New Testament we have Jesus, Paul, and Barnabas. These people, who are our history, fasted and prayed as part of life. For them it was not something to be ‘acted’ out, like the Pharisees, but it was there in order to make decisions and to have the time to pray about life.

Earlier I asked you how long you spent eating; shout some numbers at me…
Ok. During Biblical times eating took up a large amount of the day. When I say eating, I mean preparing as well, has any body’s time gone up a significant amount? Hold on actually, I mean cleaning away as well. Ok so even in modern day Britain where we suffer at the hands of microwave meals and Pot Noodle, eating can take up a huge amount of time. In Jesus time you couldn’t just go out and ‘do lunch’ there was a massive amount of preparation. No Supermarkets, no restaurants. If you gave up eating it would definitely be a significant chunk of your day.

Ok, so how many hours do you think you spend in front of the Telly, that’s including when it’s on in the background, while you are pottering etc. The average Britain will watch 23 hours of TV a week, that’s nearly a whole day! To be honest I could quite happily spend 6 hours in front of the TV in an evening, though that is excessive! Its quarter of my day, just imagine what would happen if I gave up TV for Lent and focussed on my relationship with God.

What is our true motivation?

Jesus is talking about loving God and wanting to be in relationship with him through giving, praying and fasting and NOT wanting anything back from it. The secret part was aimed at the Pharisees who make a song and dance about these things are abusing their generosity, their God given ability to talk and their discipline to abstain from eating.

Paul and Barnabas were praying in Acts in order to choose leaders for the churches. In the Message it says ‘Their prayers were intensified by fasting’. They were praying with a good and positive motivation, not one of ‘look at me, look what I’m doing’, but coming humbly to God to ask His advice. They entrusted the leaders they picked with their lives!

This weekend we have mirrored the Jewish tradition of taking part in a public fast. Everyone took part and we’ve been raising money too. I would have to say I’m very proud of them all, however ‘fasting’ isn’t a race. Like anything that Jesus asks us to do, we do it at our pace, within our capabilities.

Most importantly when we fast, we need to replace what we WERE doing with God. There is no use in fasting, if you spend that time filling it with other things.