Matthew 6:16-18

Speaker 2: Thank you so much for that song today. And Shannon and brother Clarence, thanks for leading for us this morning. You know, it's the most favorite thing that you get to do. I remember the first one was my first place that I served. I probably led singing maybe twice in the two years that we were there. And then we went up to Virginia Church. That was four or five times this big. And within two years, we found ourselves without a song leader. So low, man on the totem pole. Guess what? He gets to do the thing nobody else wants to do. But it's good experience, and it stretches us and we learn how to do things that we didn't think we could do. But I thought he did a good job, don't you? Yeah. But Clarence, you even got applause for how good you did when you let Brother Matt know when he comes back and he asks you how to go. They clapped for me.

Speaker 1: Okay?

Speaker 2: Yes. So for the map, Miss Leah are out of town with their family this weekend. The family reunion, I believe, in either Tennessee or Kentucky. So pray for them. I believe they're traveling back tonight because he said he's going to be at work tomorrow. So we'll see how that goes. But, you know, I mean, it's a pretty full vehicle. So just pray for sanity, protection and patience, strength, all those things. It's good to have so many of you here. It's morale day, week and you never know. Right. I saw somebody on Twitter very encouraging. They said, hey, I hope all you pastors have great messages prepared for all those empty seats. But look how many of you there are so good. So anyways, I'm glad you're here and looking forward to getting into this with you. If you have your Bibles turned to Magic Chapter number six, Magic Chapter six, and we're going to get versus 16 and 18. And as you find your place, if you wouldn't mind, join me in standing in honor of reading God's Word if you are physically able. Matthew Chapter six, verse number 16. Matthew six, verse 16. The Bible says, Moreover, when you fast be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, they for they disfigure their faces that they may appear under men to fast. Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward. But when the fastest anoint thine head and wash, they face that now appear not under men to fast, but until they father which is in secret, thy father, which see it in secret, shall reward the openly. Let's pray, Lord, I asked you to help us. Now, as we look into your word page, give me the words you had me to say. You know the folks that are here to listen. Why? To hear to their lives. Your Holy Spirit. Be at work here among us today. It's in Jesus name, I pray. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. So we've talked about in this first portion, in this first section of of chapter six, the three the three different expressions of our faith, outward signs that inwardly there's something going on. We talked about charitable giving. And if you remember when we talked about charitable giving, Jesus's big thrust was, hey, don't be a hypocrite. Don't do it just for men to see you. In fact, don't even let your your right hand know what your left hand is doing. Don't don't keep a ledger of all of the good that you've done. Just do it for the Lord and then leave it up to him. We then we talked about prayer and Jesus, his big thrust. When he came, the prayer was, don't be a hypocrite. Don't, don't stand in the street corners praying. Don't look for the most visible place in the synagogue to pray. Go and pray to the Lord in Seeker. And then wouldn't you know, we come to this part on fasting, Jesus big thrust is can you imagine this? Don't be a hypocrite. There are hypocrites when it comes to the Christian faith. I know that's a surprise to most of you. I mean, you you've just come to realize that everyone seems to be very genuine and authentic. No one no one leads a double life. I mean, the what you see at church is what you get. If you were to drop in on a Tuesday. But there are there are out there people who are hypocrites, even in this this this issue of fasting, which probably for most of us isn't exactly a real regular part of our expression of faith. Fasting has fallen into disuse among modern Christians, even such as ourselves. We probably give on a weekly basis. Amen. Okay. We probably pray on a daily basis. Okay. Yeah. I mean, bless this bunch as we munch on lunch. I guess that can count. How often do we fast? Is it even yearly? Do we even fast? Once a year. We give weekly. We pray daily. But when was the last time, you bastard! And Brother Bow, I'm not talking about intermittent fasting for health reasons. This is totally different. Jesus is speaking to his disciples about what the disciples life looks like. He assumes that fasting will be a part of their religious expression, just as you assume that charitable giving and prayer would be a part of their lives. Jesus assumes that His disciples would engage in regular fasting and like these other expressions, fasting had also corrupted by the hypocrites of their day, and possibly ours as well. Jesus sets the record straight on the matter in just a few sentences. Isn't it amazing how a preacher can take two or three sentences and turn it into 45 minutes of talking? Thanks. Well, I'll try to move quickly then. What's the first rule of fasting? First rule of fasting in verse 16 is Don't be a hypocrite. The religious landscape of Jesus day was overflowing with hypocrites. They gave to be seen. They prayed to be seen. They wanted other people to be impressed with their levels of spirituality. This is easy to accomplish when you think about it. If the thing that you want people to see is something that you're actively doing, you know, giving to someone involves action. I am going to take out my money purse and I'm going to pull coins out of the purse and I'm going to drop them loudly into your cup or into the offering or whatever the case may be. It's something you're doing. Prayer is the same way. I know we can pray in our heads, so please don't be sarcastic with me. But mostly, you know, when we think about prayer, we're thinking of something that we're doing. We're talking to the Lord. Maybe we're praying for a meal. Maybe we're praying in our Sunday school class. Maybe you get asked to pray in church and you're praying with your kids before bed. Regardless, it's something you do. It's something people can see. And so we can see how hypocrisy might creep in. But how can other people be properly impressed with your spirituality? When the religious expression that you're engaged in is something that you're not doing instead of something that you are doing, you see, all these other things are positive actions. Whereas fasting is a withholding from action, right? You are withholding from eating. You are abstaining from food. And so if praying and giving are things that we do, then fasting is something we choose not to do. The hypocrites of Jesus day had come up with a way to signal to others that they are indeed fasting because what good is a religious expression if other people can't see you? Jesus lets his audience know that God is not impressed by the show that these people put on when they're abstaining of something, abstaining from something supposedly for God. The Big Time Show. These hypocrites are the actors. It's fitting that Jesus would use the word hypocrites because the word hypocrite was actually born out of the actors in ancient Greece who would put on a performance and pretend to be someone that they are not. The actors that Jesus is calling out in verse number 16 even went so far as to put on makeup, so to disfigure their face, to change their appearance so that other people would think and know that something was going on. They would not only walk around with a look of pain, but they would apply this makeup so that they would look sickly. I actually sat in my office and considered whether or not I should maybe watch some makeup tutorials and bring some some makeup up here to the platform and disfigure my face in front of you and make it look like I'm really sick. Obviously, I decided not to do that for all of our benefit. But it's interesting how makeup can change someone's appearance, isn't it? We were in a Christmas play one time and I was Joseph and Alisha got to be Mary, you know, blond haired Mary. You know, we want to keep up with the, you know, the Catholic tradition, I guess. But anyways, and so we had to go through the makeup department and they were putting all this stuff on us. And by the time I got done the course, they glued a beard to my face and everything. I looked like a terrorist. I'm not trying to stereotype anything, but makeup can really change someone. And so whatever it is, maybe they'd highlight their cheekbones, you know, make it make it look like their cheeks were a little sunken in. Maybe they would even do like some people do. You've seen these infomercials for the tape. Instead of having to go get a a facelift, you just take that tape and you stretch it around to the back. And maybe somebody here has the tape. We can try it. Maybe not. Okay. They will put some eyeshadow around their eyes that maybe their eyes would look a little more sunken. And what they're trying to do is they're trying to tell us that word signal. They're trying to signal to others, look at me. Look what I'm I'm giving up food for God because I'm so godly and spiritual. And so all of this was in the hopes that someone would come up to them, maybe at the synagogue, maybe in the streets, and say, Oh, Bartholomew, you don't look well. Are you feeling okay? Bartholomew could say, yes. I'm fine. And just. That's. You know. Are you familiar with hunger pains? You know? Oh, oh, oh. Oh. So tired. Oh. What's wrong? I'm thirsty. Now, if you're lucky, that person would be very impressed with your display of spirituality. They might verbally applaud your dedication to the Lord. They'd say those words to your face. Bartholomew. Good on you. Good luck with your best. May God bless you. You're lucky they'll do that. Ideally, they're going to go home, think about you and say, Man, Bartholomew must have been fasting for, like, three or four days. He looked really rough. The things that man will do for God, I am just. He has gone up several ladder rungs in my mind as to my opinion of him. Well, the guy that Bartholomew, you know, next time there's a position open at the synagogue, I think we ought to put Bartholomew up for that position. But if you were really convincing, not only would they say it to your face, not only would they think it privately in their mind, but they might actually go around and tell other people and publicly talk about how spiritual and pious you were. Because this obviously is a motivation for fasting fast so that other people will think you are God. Now, as you probably have come to expect, Jesus says that the universe number 16 barely. I say unto you, they have their reward. Let's say you got the trifecta that you were aiming for. You got a verbal affirmation mentality. In their minds, they think higher of you. And then they go out and they talk kindly about you to other people. He says, If that's what you're shooting for and you get that, then that's your reward. You abstain from something so that men would think you are spiritual, and if that's why you did it, that is all that you will receive. An inverse number 17. Jesus, as we would expect, presents to His disciples a different approach to their religious expression. And I want you to notice in verse number 17 that there is still an emphasis in Jesus words on the external. External is a reflection oftentimes of what's going on inside. But I want you to notice it's very different here. Jesus's commendation or recommendation to his disciples about the external when they're going through a fast rather than make a show of deprivation. Jesus says that when the fastest anoint a head and wash my face, that thou appear not under men too fast. Jesus tells his disciples, If you're going too fast, if you're going to abstain from something because of your relationship with me, then just be normal about it. How many times have I said to this church, I just want to be normal? You know, I do. I just miss Yvonne and I were talking about, you know, homeschooling and growing up as a home schooler a lot of times just wasn't an option to be like all the other kids. You know, you go to work, they all go to school together. You don't. Then those of you that are homeschooled, you know, you got to answer all the questions, right? Why are you homeschool? Did you do something bad? Did you get expelled? Yeah. Look at me. Do I look like the kid that got expelled? If this was the nineties. Jesus, I hope this isn't disrespectful. He might have said something like this. Look, guys, if you're fast, just be cool about it. Don't act all weird. Just do what you normally do. Anoint your head and wash your face. Don't. Don't give me anything going on outside that would indicate that you're fasting. Anointing the head was like, fix your hair, put some dry shampoo in it, or whatever you need to do. Comb that, that, that mop. Make something of it. Just look presentable and wash your face. Please use some retinol cream or something, you know? Give some attention to your your appearance so that it doesn't look like you're sickly. It doesn't look like you're in pain. You just look like you're going about a normal day. Now, can I pause for a second? You guys know, I mean, number one, I'm Italian, so I live to eat. I don't eat to live. Okay. I love food. In fact, talking about food right now is making me hungry. We're not talking about going without food for weeks and weeks and weeks on end. The amount of people who can actually do like a 40 day fast and not die is small. That's not normal. It wasn't normal for them either. What we're talking about here is skipping food for a meal or a day. If I skip food for a day, you're probably not going to notice, right? Unless I tell you. Unless I'm walking around, Mopey. You're not even going to know. Because, you know, most of us have enough reserves stored up that no one's going to notice if we fast for a day, you know? Oh, you. So that's why they had to tell people. That's what Jesus is saying. Don't do don't tell everybody that you're abstaining from this because of your relationship with me. There are a variety of goals that we engage in through our religious expression. Why do we give? Why? Why do we give to others? Not just give to the church, but give charitably? And, you know, in all generations, Christians far out, give any other demographic. We are the most charitable people on the earth. You say that's really braggadocious. That's really bold for you to say. No, it's not. You go to your own study. You can look it up right now on your phone and you'll find that regular church attenders who claim to be Christians give more to charity than any other group. Why do we do that? Because we're concerned for others. We are we should be concerned about the condition of others. You know, abortion is a big subject in our world right now. And the the accusation is often made that the people who are against abortion don't care about that baby after it's born. Have you heard this? It's not true. Christians give more to pregnancy crisis centers than any other group. Christians by far are some of the most common ones to not only foster, but also adopt children. And so it's a it's a it's a false argument. It's not it's not reality. Christians, because of their faith, should have ingrained in them a natural concern for the further the condition of others. Charity has a goal of effecting others. The goal of prayer also in some ways is to effect God. We pray to the Lord. Remember, if we go back to the model prayer, the disciples prayer, it starts with God, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. We were addressing him first. It's not until later that we actually go to him and ask for things concerning ourselves, others, God. When it comes to fasting, the goal is to effect ourselves. I do believe that there's a bit of a misunderstanding when it comes to fasting. We see it in the hypocrites here, but we can also see it as a separate problem in ourselves. You see, the hypocrites fasted so that they could change men's opinion of them. They could change the way men viewed them. Sometimes. Today, I'm afraid we approach fasting as though we are trying to change God I fast so that God will give me what I want. Fasting, though, is a means by which we seek to be changed by God into what we should be so, so giving. We seek to change the situations of others. Praying in some respects is us trying to to affect God's relationship with us. But fasting is a religious expression, not where we're trying to change someone else, but we're trying to get God to change us. I need to change. And so I fast. I don't really feel like you're with me here. When we understand the purpose of fasting, we will be much more inclined to follow Jesus's directions. You see, he says, there is a reward for fasting. The way that we're supposed to says If you fast in secret and fast under thy father, which is in secret, thy father, which see it in secret, shall reward the openly. So if our fast is a secret that we keep between ourselves and God, Jesus saying that the rewards will be what is visible to others. Let me ask you, which would you rather people notice? The sacrifice or the rewards. When we think about an athlete, which do we focus on more? The daily sacrifice they make are the rewards they see when they hold up the trophy, when they receive the medal. The Cowboy fans that we don't get to see those rewards very often, but. A lot of times the sacrifices unseen, it's forgotten. But you don't get the rewards without the sacrifice. What kind of rewards are we looking at here? Well, let's think about what a fast is and what it is for. If we're going too fast, it means we're going to abstain from something, right? Most often this means abstaining from food. In the Old Testament, though, we see an interesting anecdote regarding fasting. The Hebrew language has a word for fasting from food, specifically from food. Is the word. I don't know how I really say it, but it looks like some swill. That is the Hebrew word for fasting, abstaining from food. The Old Testament doesn't use this word like ever. Fasting is in the Old Testament a lot, but instead the Old Testament uses the word anar and h, which means to deny yourself. You see, some is very specific fasting from food. Another means to deny yourself, which is much more broad, could refer to food. It could refer to some other things too. I thought that was interesting. It's interesting. Looking good. Denying ourselves is the essence of fasting. It's a decision to forgo our participation in something that is pleasurable. And this could certainly apply to food, but it could also apply to other things we enjoy. But why would we do this? What is the goal? Is the goal of fasting to convince God to give us what we want? Is fasting the currency that we must use for God's vending machine? Aladdin finds the lamp if he rubs it. The genie comes out and he gets three wishes. Sometimes you and I make God into this mystical genie. He's like a set of magic words. So as long as you check all the boxes, he will succumb to your will. And if I fast, if I abstain from food, then God will know that I'm really serious and he will do what I am wanting him to do. How discouraging is it when you have an urgent prayer request, an urgent need, something that you want and you want to see take place in your life. And so ye, ye ye you pray and fast that God would do it. And then He doesn't do it. What do you do then? I checked all the boxes. I didn't do what I was wanting him to do. If you're not careful, this could lead you to think God must not be who He said he was. In reality, the problem is not with God. The problem is with our understanding of our relationship with God. Remember, we said prayer is not trying to overcome God's hesitancy. And the same is true with fasting. We do not fast so that men would see us. Nor do we fast. So that God will be obligated to fulfill our will. Our religious expression is not for men to see us. Our religious service to God is not so that he will become indebted to us. I've sacrificed for him. He owes me. No, he doesn't. You could fast every every week for 24 hours. And that doesn't make God indebted to you. See, we're not trying to affect him when we fast. We are wanting him to affect us. Be fast or deny ourselves so that we might become more like Jesus. Flip over a few pages to Matthew 16. Matthew 16. Version River 24. Then said Jesus and his disciples. Seibel as a student follower and imitator of their master. He says, If any man will come after me, if you're going to follow me and imitate me, here's what you have to do. Let him denying himself. If that sounds familiar, doesn't it? And like the Hebrew word for fasting. Deny himself and take up his cross. And then what will you do? Follow him. See, self-denial promotes a God focused direction for our lives. You cannot wholly invest your life in fulfilling your own will into and think that by saying a few magic words, you're going to end up looking more like a disciple of Jesus. You can't do it. You can't choose everything the world has to offer over and over and over again and think that by fulfilling my will, I'm going to end up more like Jesus. There is an undeniable, inescapable fact that if we are going to follow here, we will need to necessarily deny ourselves. Somewhere along the way, all of Jesus disciples will have to deny themselves in order to truly follow him. We can't deny our appetite for food, for a meal, or even for a day. And how do we expect to deny the other appetites that are contrary to his will? Fasting helps us to do what Paul advocated for in first Corinthians 927, and that is to keep our bodies under subjection. So when we fast and as we redirect our focus from food or from some other item that we're going to abstain from or deny ourselves from, as we focus on the Lord and deny those things, we build spiritual muscles that God will then be able to use or an aid we'll use to enable us to say no to other appetites. See, we won't have to tell anyone that we've been fasting because the people closest to us will see the effects. They'll see the rewards. God will reward us openly by giving us the victory over the sins that have been plaguing us. Rather, people notice you for the process or for the results. Fasting is a process through which God changes us into a better example of his son. It's not a way for us to change him. It's a way for him to change us. This morning, I want to ask you this question. In what ways are you denying yourself? Philosophy of the world is if it feels good, do it. This isn't new. Paul talks about in one of his letters about a common phrase in his day, which said, Meat for the belly and the belly for meats. We're talking about some of Brother Bubba's barbecue. This. Absolutely. You know, I love meat, but the underlying philosophy there is God gave you a belly. It's a process food. So if your belly is asking for food, you ought to give it all the food that it wants. Uh. God made us male and female. He gave us different anatomy. He gave us different appetites related to our anatomy. Follow me. If your body has an urge, then you must fulfill it. You must gratify all of your appetites. I've got an ego, too. Someone insults or harms my ego. You know, my natural response is, let me get back at you. They're all. I mean, for the belly, belly for me, it's not going to deny what I naturally want to do because that would be harmful to my psyche. Cannot go through life expecting to follow the Lord. And at the same time, giving in to every appetite, every desire that pops up. In what ways are you denying yourself this morning? You may not be a regular food faster, but you should be a regular denier of self. You ain't regularly fast from food, but you should be a regular denier of self. Whether that means food, perhaps it means a hobby. Perhaps it means recreation. We deny ourselves and we take that time to focus on God. We position ourselves for change. Fasting isn't a result of how spiritual we are, but fasting is a sign of how much we need God. People don't have to look at you and say, Oh, they got fast a lot. You must be godly. Well, in fact, it's probably the other way around. That guy bests a lot. He must realize how wicked he is. He must realize. She must realize how much she needs the Lord's help. What appetites are you struggling with today? Could it be immoral viewing habits? Could it be the substances that you're putting in your body? Could it be a lack of concern about God and his word, his mission, his purpose for your life? We could spend a lot of time trying to treat the symptoms like we talked about in Sunday school. We need to go to the source, realize we all need him. There's any good that's going to come out of our lives. It's going to be because Jesus Christ performed it. Fasting may be underused today. Maybe this morning you've been challenged to think about reinserting it into your life, making it a part of your habits, your spiritual discipline that you would abstain, deny yourself certain things for the purpose of focusing on the Lord, allowing Him to change you. Let's pray to Heavenly Father. Thank you for this day. Thank you for the good attention of the people that are here. Lord, I ask that you would use your Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts this morning. God, that we would understand our need for you. The necessity of denying ourselves. Got it. There's someone here that's been confronted with the need for fasting in their life. As a spiritual expression of their need for you. Well, I pray that you would help them to be bold and. And convinced in their. In their minds and their hearts. Or that they would make a decision today to to insert this make this a part of their their their daily lives, their weekly lives of abstaining from the desires of the flesh to focus on you. God, I pray that you would change all of us to be more like your son. We would be disciples of him and follow him in our daily lives. It's in Jesus name. I asked these things he meant.

‍