Ash Wednesday vs What Jesus Taught About Fasting

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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.

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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. Several subjects we're going to cover.

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 on the subject and this is one of the benefits of going chapter by chapter verse by verse through the scripture where if the 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 it's in the

Bible you're you're in sackcloth and ashes right so people would fast and they would 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 that's really the 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 if you want 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 and in these ways your mind seems more clear but that's what happens when you fast.

I would say this that there is no commandment that Christ you know 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 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 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 6 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 noting 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 and remember we're talking about the the

Pharisees and religious leaders when they pray they would do it in public so everyone saw them. The clothing they would wear they 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 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 going to 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? Is 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 1st Timothy chapter 6. 1st

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 Coronet Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message or you'd like more information about the ministry visit our website

MorrisCoronetChurch .com and we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.