Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Milford

Matthew 6:5-18 [NLTse]

⁵ “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. ⁶ But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, Who sees everything, will reward you.

⁷ “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. ⁸ Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask Him! ⁹ Pray like this:

Our Father in Heaven, may Your name be kept holy. ¹⁰ May Your Kingdom come soon. May Your will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven. ¹¹ Give us today the food we need, ¹² and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. ¹³ And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.

¹⁴ “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

¹⁶ “And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get. ¹⁷ But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. ¹⁸ Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, Who knows what you do in private. And your Father, Who sees everything, will reward you.

Sermon

Last week I shared that the Holy Spirit has directed our elders to call us to fast together as a church. We will celebrate seven one-day fasts across the Wednesdays of Lent. So, beginning Ash Wednesday, February 18^th, we will meet every Wednesday evening at 6:30pm for a soup dinner together in Fellowship Hall. Following that meal we’ll move to the Sanctuary for a time of prayer and praise. And then our fasting will begin: Water only until dinnertime that Thursday night when we will break our fasts with dinner in our various homes.

As a part of reading through and meditating on Isaiah 58:1-14 last week I called us all to adopt one new practice across the weeks of Lent that would have us love God more and one new practice that would have us love those around us more. (And we talked about how that could require us giving up some things, too, so that we’d have the time to do these new things.)

Has anyone accepted the call? Anyone here committed to love God and those around us more across Lent in some ways you’d be willing to share with us?

…

This morning, in preparation for our fast, I’d like to talk about the practice of fasting, some of the dos and don’ts, to help us as we get ready to start.

To start, let’s look at these words from the Lord Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount where our role model for living by faith says, “When you fast…” Now, notice that He doesn’t say, “If you fast…” and that He doesn’t say, “This if how I fast, but, of course, you can stop doing this after I ascend to Heaven…” No, our Savior says, “When you fast…”

Then in Acts 13 we read how the prophets and teachers of the church in Antioch fasted and worshiped as a part of discerning whom the Lord was sending from them out into the mission field. So we know that Christians continued to fast as the church spread out from Jerusalem.

And we can read in The Didache – a Christian discipleship manual from the second century – how during the 100s AD believers fasted every Wednesday and Friday as a part of their life in Christ. So, fasting was a part of Jewish discipleship before Jesus and continued to be a part of Christian discipleship once Jesus had come.

So, because some of you may have heard different preachings or teachings that fasting is not a part of the Christian life today, we can plainly see that that’s not the case: Jesus taught His disciples how to fast; the apostles and early Christians fasted; and even into the first generations of Christians Jesus’ followers continued fasting.

Now, the elders have called us to a fairly simple fast. We will only be giving up two meals: Breakfast and lunch across the Thursdays of Lent (as well as any snacks, of course). In their place we will all be drinking water and taking the time we would have spent in food preparation and meal times praying, praising God, and reading the Word.

Consider praying outloud and in a kneeling position. Try spending some time spread out on your face before God, as well. These types of body positions may help us nurture more humble attitudes as we pray.

Now, it’s true that the elders have called us to this fast, but we still believe that the Holy Spirit has specific reasons for each of you to participate in it, too. So, in preparation for this fast, we want each of you to ask our Father in Heaven why He wants you to be fasting: What specific spiritual reasons and purposes does He have in His mind for you during this fast? Does the Lord want to break the power of anger in your life as the result of this fast? Or perhaps your spiritual need is to be freed from unforgiveness or worry, or perhaps there are other problems in your life that are overwhelming you, maybe even driving you to despair! Whatever the issues you are facing, ask the Lord to make them clear to you, and trust that He has called you to this fast as a part of breaking you from them.

As a part of all this, get a journal. Whether a wire-bound notebook or a three-ring binder, or, perhaps like me, you’ll use some sort of a journal or notebook app on your phone, tablet, or computer. Write there the reasons, as specific as you can be, as to why you believe God has called you to this fast. You can also include there any prayer requests that you want to keep asking our Father for across the fast. And you can write down your prayers there, and any devotional thoughts or spiritual insights the Lord may be teaching you. You’ll find keeping all these things in your journal helpful as the fast continues, but also in the future when you want to reflect back on what God taught and how He stretched you during this time.

If you have a medical condition or are on any medications, please talk with a doctor who is familiar with fasting before joining us. A two meal fast is not very challenging to our health or systems, but better safe than sorry.

Be prepared ahead of time that headaches and feeling irritable often accompany fasts, especially if you are a big coffee or caffeinated drink person. But don’t let that intimdate you, and don’t let your fasting be an excuse to give in to irritable attitudes or behaviors!

Of course, be prepared that even people with good intentions may try to keep you from fasting or may encourage you to break your fast early. Expect it, and be ready with a kind, yet firm, response.

With last week’s reading from Isaiah 58 in mind, remember that there are many benefits from fasting. 1) The Lord will set us free from slavery to self and our sinful nature, loosening the bonds of wickedness and undoing the bands of the yoke. 2) He will bring us freedom from oppression. 3) He will transform us into givers. 4) He will give us the desire and abilities to meet and minister to people’s needs. 5) He will allow us to see ourselves as we really are. 6) God will give us spiritual insight and influence. 7) Recovery and healing of various kinds may happen in our lives. Righteousness will precede us and God’s glory will be our protection and rear guard. 9) God will answer our prayers. 10) God will manifest His presence with us. 11) He will adjust our attitudes, 12) and continually guide us. 13) He will fulfill our desires in the midst of harsh and adverse situations. 14) He will give us strength and energy. 15) He will make us fruitful, 16) and like living water that never runs dry. 17) And He will give us more faith.

Don’t we all want to grow in these ways? And God wants us to grow in these ways. And His way includes prayer and fasting.

Review the benefits of a godly fast that we found last week going through Isaiah 58 (Ronnie Floyd’s list from pg. 212) in the hopes of inspiring some of the undecided in the congregation to join the fast…