Ash Wednesday vs What Jesus Taught About Fasting

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. How many of you have heard a sermon on the subject of fasting? Who's heard a sermon on fasting?

How many of you want to hear a sermon on fasting? Let's turn once again to Matthew chapter 6. So I've titled the message Fasting and Putting God First. There are several subjects we're going to cover.

Jesus Teaches Fasting in Secret

Let's begin by reading Matthew 6, 16 through 18. Jesus says, Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites with a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear to be fasting to men.

Surely I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place.

And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. So talking about fasting, what does that mean? I think we know, right? Fasting means you're not eating or you're not drinking. The first meal of the day is called breakfast.

So break, you're breaking your fast. The idea is, at least in time past, you haven't eaten since the previous evening at dinner. So you wake up and you break your fast. But when most people talk about fasting today, or when people do fast today, usually it's because they have a surgery procedure, maybe a blood test or something.

So people will fast for those reasons. But the context here refers to abstaining as a religious exercise from food and or drink, either entirely if the fast lasted a single day or from only certain things if the fast continued for many days.

So either no food and or drink for an entire day or several days you would give up something. So this is fasting. I think we all understand that. It's a religious exercise. It's a spiritual discipline.

And a lot of people don't do it because churches rarely preach on the subject. And this is one of the benefits of going chapter by chapter, verse by verse through the scripture, where if a pastor wasn't inclined to preach on the subject, well, here we are.

We're coming to it in the text. So I had said that prayer and fasting were often connected. People would either fast because they were sad,.

They were mourning.

You've heard of the expression, it's in the Bible, you're in sackcloth and ashes. So people would fast and they would wear something and they would put ash over their head and it was a sign that they were in mourning, they had suffered loss.

Other times people would fast to draw closer to God. And that's really the focus this morning. So why fast? Why do you need to fast to draw closer to God? And I wouldn't say that you have to, but it is one way people do that.

You've probably noticed this. After you eat, how do you feel after you eat? Oftentimes you feel a little tired. And if you eat too much, you feel a little sluggish, right? This is all pretty common. When we indulge, really our senses oftentimes become a little dull.

So the idea is if you want to give God maximum attention, it's helpful to fast. I'm sure there's a reason why your body reacts in these ways and your mind seems more clear, but that's what happens when you fast.

Now, I would say this, that there is no commandment that thou shalt fast or so often, so many times a month or something like that. It is not a commandment. That's probably why a lot of people don't do it because it isn't a commandment.

However, Jesus says, we read this, when you fast, right? So what's the implication? That he understands his disciples will from time to time, they will fast. Just a few examples of fasting in the Bible in Acts chapters 13 and 14, the believers fasted before they made important decisions.

Jesus fasted in the wilderness 40 days and 40 nights before he began his public ministry. So fasting is a good spiritual exercise to devote a time away from the normal things of life and to focus solely upon the Lord.

Might I suggest a type of fast that some of us could use a fast from television?

Amen?

Can I get an amen on that?

I know some of you don't want to do that, but it would be beneficial. So point of bringing that up, it's not just fasting from food. It's fasting from your smartphone. It's fasting from television. You could give up something and focus solely upon the Lord.

Beneficial thing. So this passage in Matthew chapter six, it ends by Jesus telling his disciples to seek first the kingdom of God. This is what we want to do, right? Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

So fasting can help us to do that. I pulled this article offline. I just want to read some of this. I think it'll be helpful. Fasting is a way to demonstrate to God and to ourselves that we are serious about our relationship with him.

Fasting helps us gain a new perspective and a renewed reliance upon God. Anything given up temporarily in order to focus all our attention on God can be considered a fast. Fasting should be limited to a set time, especially when fasting from food.

Extended periods of time without eating can be harmful to the body. Fasting is not intended to punish the flesh, but to redirect attention to the Lord. Fasting should not be, and this is what some people think of when they think of fasting, their mind automatically goes here, but fasting should not be considered a dieting method.

The purpose of a biblical fast is not to lose weight, but rather to gain deeper fellowship with God. Anyone can fast, but some may not be able to fast from food, diabetics, for example, but everyone can temporarily give up something in order to draw closer to God.

So I would just ask you to maybe consider a few things. Is there something tomorrow, this week, at some point, is there something I could fast from to focus more on the Lord? And that's something that's between you and God.

But it's just helpful, taking our eyes off the things of this world to put our attention on Christ. It should be noted that fasting is not a way to get God to do what we want. That's not the purpose. Fasting does not change God.

Fasting changes who?

Us.

Also, fasting is not a way to appear more spiritual than others. Fasting is to be done in a spirit of humility and a joyful attitude. Now, that's important to the context of our passage, that fasting is not a way to show everybody,.

Hey, look at me.

Remember, we were talking about the Pharisees and religious leaders, when they pray, they would do it in public so everyone saw them. The clothing they would wear, they would wear certain things to get attention.

That's not what fasting is about. If you were fasting, people wouldn't even know it, right? So when you fast, don't be like who? Jesus says, yeah, don't be like the Pharisees. Don't be like the hypocrites.

Look at verse 16. Christ says, moreover, when you fast, do not be like them. Do not be like the hypocrites with a sad countenance for they disfigure their faces so that they may appear to men to be fasting.

Assuredly, I say to you, they have their rewards. What does that mean, disfigure their faces? Well, one thing that comes to mind is when people, I think some people do, they put a look on their face so they just, so when you see them, someone's gonna ask, hey, what's going on?

How are you doing? And they intentionally maybe put on a face to let everyone know how sad they are. But here's another thing they would do. They would actually smear ash over their head, on their face, so that when people saw them, they would know, hey, this person is in a fast.

And Jesus says, do this? No, he says, don't do that. Jesus identifies the people who would do that, put ash on their face, disfigure their face. He identifies them as hypocrites. He says, they're only doing it for show.

They're doing it for show so they have their reward. What's their reward? The praises of men. Look how spiritual this person is. After all, they're fasting. So instead of doing that, Jesus tells his followers in verse 17, but you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face.

Don't let anyone know. This way, your father who sees in secret will reward you openly. Now let's, because this whole sermon isn't on the subject of fasting, we're gonna move on to the next thing. But let's, before we do that, let's make application.

Does anyone do this today? Does anyone fast and take ash or put something on their face to make it obvious, evident to everyone that, hey, I'm fasting? Well, some of you may know where I'm going with this.

Within Roman Catholicism, you have, we've talked about this before, you have what is called Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras. And this is typically when people indulge themselves because the next day is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the season of Lent.

What do people do during Lent? Yeah, they give up something. They fast, they fast for the Lord. So the idea is to get all the excess out of your system on Mardi Gras so that on Ash Wednesday, you can begin your fast.

And how do they mark this fast? Why do they call it Ash Wednesday? Well, they take the palm branches from Palm Sunday the year before, they take the ash and they smear it on the person's forehead. They smear it on their face to let everyone know, I am fasting for Lent.

You realize that's the exact opposite of what Jesus Christ said to do. And I don't say that to be critical, it's just another reminder that tradition is a weird thing. Churches and professing Christians can do things and they think they're doing the right thing, but they didn't get it from the Bible.

This is a tradition and they're actually contradicting the teachings of Christ. So don't do it that way. If you fast, are you gonna tell everyone? You know, walk around with a kind of a puss on your face?

No, if you fast, don't tell anyone. This is between you and God. Okay, so now Jesus in the next few verses, 19 through 21, this is titled, lay up treasures in heaven. Jesus says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.

But lay up for yourselves treasures where? In heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So we can think about this.

Is my treasure here on earth? And we all have things that we care about. But do you really love those things more than you love God? Or do you love God as your treasure in heaven? Where is your heart?

Is it with the Lord or is it with stuff? I mean, this is something that can affect just about anyone, probably does. So just as the purpose of fasting is to take your eyes off the things of the world to focus more on God, the thing that most commonly distracts people from God is materialism.

You know, money, the things of the world. Jesus uses the word treasures. And really that doesn't necessarily refer to gold and silver and precious stones. Treasure can refer to basically anything that you treasure.

In the ancient world, they treasured clothing and property and well, it's pretty similar today, right? These are the things that people really care about. Let's turn to 1 Timothy chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6.

But treasures, money, the comfort of life, all the creature comforts, there's nothing necessarily wrong with some of these things, but it can really control a person. It can draw us away from God. Putting money above God.

What's the word for that? When you put something above God. Yeah, idolatry. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, morriscornickchurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.