SERMON: FASTING FROM THE HEART

Preached by Gregory W. Lee
25 February 2007

I. Introduction
-- turn in your Bibles to Luke 5

27. After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him,
28. and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
29. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.
30. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and `sinners'?"
31. Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
32. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
33. They said to him, "John's disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking."
34. Jesus answered, "Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?
35. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast."

-- as I'm sure you know, we have now passed from the season of Epiphany -- from the season in the church where we recognize the revealing of Christ to the world -- to the season of Lent -- that time where we spiritually prepare ourselves and reflect on the reason why Christ came to earth -- namely, to die on the cross as an atonement for our sins
-- during this 40-day period of Lent, the church has traditionally focused on the remembrance of our sins and entered a time of mourning and reflection so that we might rejoice all the more on Easter when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus
-- it was with that understanding that we joined together last Wednesday for our Ash Wednesday service -- to symbolically represent our humanity and our sinfulness before God and man through the ashes placed on our foreheads -- this is also the reason why the church typically takes up asceticism during the season of Lent -- why we traditionally practice fasting in some form -- it is a way to deny ourselves and to give up some pleasure -- whether it is eating or drinking or some other form of entertainment -- in order to draw closer to Christ
-- fasting and prayer can be powerful means for us to seek God and to draw closer to Him -- the late Bill Bright once wrote that fasting and prayer can be a "powerful means for causing the fire of God to fall again in a person's life" -- through fasting and prayer, we surrender our body, our soul, and our spirit to Jesus and reach the state where we can be fully aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives -- Dr. Bright taught that fasting and prayer was a means by which personal revival could be brought about

-- fasting is a gift from God -- but just like any gift we have received from the Father -- we tend to have the unique human ability to misunderstand and misapply it in our lives, thus turning something sacred and holy into something dutiful and mundane
-- let me give you an example -- God instituted the practice of sacrifice with the Israelites as a means by which they could worship Him and seek forgiveness from their sins -- however, over time, this spiritual act of worship turned into a work -- into a duty done because the law said do it
-- they forgot the heart of the matter -- the heart of worship -- it was never about the sacrifice itself -- it was about drawing near to God -- for that reason, the Psalmist writes in Psalm 51, " You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings" -- instead, what God was seeking -- the sacrifices He desired, were a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart
-- in other words, God was not seeking sacrifices -- He was seeking the heart of the person who was coming to Him in worship
-- in the same way, when we undergo the spiritual discipline of fasting, we must take care to not let it fall into a work -- into something that we have to do -- but let it remain a means by which our heart draws near to our God and Father -- denying ourselves and our body through fasting and using that time to draw closer to God helps us to renew and revive our bodies and our souls and our spirits and to draw near to Jesus -- but we must never forget that God doesn't desire our act of fasting -- He desires our hearts -- He desires us

II. Scripture Lesson -- Luke 5
-- in this passage from Luke, we see Jesus teaching with this understanding of fasting -- let's look at this together and see what we might learn about fasting from this passage
-- look back at verse 27
27. After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him,
28. and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
29. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.
-- this passage takes place right on the heels of a miraculous healing by Jesus -- as you remember, Jesus was teaching in a house one day when some men tried to carry their paralytic friend to Jesus to be healed -- since they couldn't get to Jesus through the door, they dug a hole in the roof and lowered their friend down to Jesus -- Jesus responded to the faith of those men by not only physically healing their friend, but by proclaiming, "your sins are forgiven" -- immediately, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to object, saying that Jesus was committing blasphemy because only God alone could forgive sin
-- when Jesus left the house where the healing had occurred, He passed by the tax collector's booth where Levi -- Matthew -- sat -- He called out to Levi, "Come, follow Me" -- and Levi immediately left His booth and started to follow Jesus
-- as is often the case when someone is saved and is brought into the presence of Jesus, Levi was overjoyed and immediately threw a great feast -- a banquet -- for all of his friends and for Jesus and His disciples
-- the Pharisees and the teachers of the law saw Jesus going in to eat with these men who they considered to be sinners and complained to His disciples -- look back at verse 30

30. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and `sinners'?"
31. Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
32. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

-- having already condemned Jesus for blasphemy in their hearts, the Pharisees were looking for confirmation that Jesus was not following God in His life -- when they saw Him eating with tax collectors and sinners, they claimed, "Aha, here is a clear example -- the law forbids us to eat with sinners"
-- do you see what is truly going on in this passage? -- the Pharisees were bound by the law -- they had forgotten the purpose -- the heart of the law -- and had instead turned it into a list of restrictions and regulations that they felt were going to make them holy in God's eyes -- so when they saw Jesus eating with the tax collectors and sinners, this confirmed for them that He could not be a man of God -- a true man of God would never associate with sinners
-- but Jesus rebuked them and revealed His ministry on earth that the Pharisees had been neglecting -- namely, to lead others to God -- to call sinners to repentance and to a right relationship with the Father -- we can't forget that the Jews were God's chosen people -- not chosen to be the only holy ones of God, but to the be the ones through which salvation for the entire world would come -- the Pharisees had forgotten that and were not offering God's grace to those they deemed "sinners"
-- having failed at trying to condemn Jesus for eating with sinners, the Pharisees then pulled their trump card and brought up the issue of fasting -- verse 33

33. They said to him, "John's disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking."

-- can't you just hear their arrogance and self-righteousness in this statement -- "If You and Your disciples were truly Godly, then you would fast and pray -- we do -- even John's disciples do -- why don't yours?"
-- and here we get to the heart of the matter -- listen carefully to Jesus' words in these next two verses

34. Jesus answered, "Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?
35. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast."

-- "they don't fast now, because I am with them"

-- what is the purpose of fasting? -- simply to deny ourselves food or some other pleasure for a period of time? -- no, of course not -- the reason we fast is to draw near to God -- to willingly put aside something in our lives so that we can use that time to seek the presence of Jesus -- as Jesus points out in these verses, the object of fasting -- in fact, the object of all of our spiritual disciplines and acts of worship -- is Jesus Himself
-- why do we pray? -- not to get things, but to spend time with Jesus
-- why do we take communion? -- not to participate in a religious observance, but to experience the grace of God that comes through Jesus' body and blood
-- why do we fast? -- not to just give up something for Lent because that's what Christians do, but to spend time seeking the presence of Jesus -- not just on Sundays -- but in our daily lives
-- the Pharisees fasted because the law said to fast -- Jesus says you should fast because you want to be in His presence
-- Jesus' disciples did not fast while He was on earth because He was already in their midst -- they had no need to seek His presence in this way -- He was with them -- however, Jesus said that later, when He had been taken up to Heaven -- that His disciples would then fast as a means by which they could draw closer to Him and be in an intimate relationship with Him once again

-- let me give you an illustration to help you see what Jesus is talking about in this passage -- shortly after Kim and I started dating, I discovered something about her -- she is a card person -- almost every day, she would leave a card or a short note under the windshield wiper of my truck at school that would say stuff like, "Hi -- hope you're having a good day -- I'll see you later tonight"
-- and I'd read those cards and notes and I'd look forward to seeing her later that day -- I didn't dwell on them, because she was there -- I knew I'd be seeing her in a few hours -- the cards and letters were not what was important -- what was important was spending time with her
-- but after we had dated for several months, we were separated for quite a while -- I was sent down to the island of Antigua to work on a project down there -- and we couldn't see each other or talk to each other like we had been doing
-- but Kim still sent cards and letters all the way down there -- and when they came in, I would pour over them -- I would read them and reread them -- she had poured out her life and love into those cards -- and when I read them, they helped me to remember her presence -- they helped me to draw close to her -- they helped me to maintain our relationship, even though we were miles and miles away
-- there was a vast difference between reading a card when I was in Athens where Kim was and between reading a card when I was in Antigua, separated from her and unable to spend time with her -- when she wasn't there, the act of reading and pouring over the cards became more important -- it was a way for us to remain connected

-- this is the purpose of fasting and prayer and this is what Jesus was trying to get the Pharisees to see -- you don't just fast and pray because you are commanded to do so -- this turns fasting and prayer into a duty -- into a work -- into something that you are required to do
-- no, you fast because you are separated from a loved One and you want to stay connected -- you want to draw near to His presence -- and so you deny yourself pleasurable things -- such as eating or drinking or something else -- so that you can spend that time communing with Jesus and drawing near to Him with your heart
-- the object of our fast is not the act itself -- but the God we are trying to reach

III. Closing
-- if you would, turn over to Isaiah 58 and we'll close there

3. `Why have we fasted,' they say, `and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.
4. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
6. "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?
7. 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 him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8. Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10. and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.

-- in this passage, God rebukes those who have turned fasting into a duty and a work -- those who are fasting simply because they think it will make them more holy or more righteous in God's eyes
-- Martin Luther once wrote about the problems of practicing fasting as a good work -- he said that it was pointless to approach fasting as if it were a "meritorious work before God" -- something that could "atone for our sins and obtain grace" -- something that would make us holy in God's eyes
-- approaching fasting like this, Luther wrote, made our fasting a stench and shameful act before God
-- in this passage, God reminds us that it is not the act of fasting that is important, but the heart of the people -- doing without food for a day or a week or even a month has no spiritual value at all, unless you are using this time of abstinence to draw nearer to God and to spread His love to those around you, even tax collectors and sinners
-- the purpose of fasting is not to impress Jesus, but to stay connected with Him

-- fasting and prayer can be important means of grace in our lives, but only if we approach it with the right understanding -- we shouldn't simply fast because we feel it is a requirement -- a duty -- or something we need to do to be holy
-- we should fast only when we sense the stirring of our spirit and desire a renewed closeness with Jesus -- fasting can lead you into a deeper experience with God -- it can help cleanse you from sin -- protect you from the weakness of the flesh -- and help you clearly discern the guidance of God -- but, it must be approached from the heart

-- as we enter this season of Lent -- the traditional time of fasting in the church -- I would invite you to examine your heart and your relationship with God -- if you feel you need to be closer to Him -- to revive and renew your heart with His presence -- then I would invite you to consider entering a time of fasting and prayer during this season -- maybe only one day over this 40-day period -- maybe one day a week until Easter -- maybe longer
-- if you do so, and if you enter this time with the right attitude and with a seeking heart -- then you will find yourself drawing closer to God and becoming more connected to Him in your life
-- Jesus expected us to occasionally fast in order to maintain our relationship with Him -- the important thing is to do it from the heart and not as a duty or an obligation
-- let us pray