Sermon for Sunday, April 6th, 2025 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC)
Old Testament Reading:
[Isa 58:1-14 ESV] 1 “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. 3 ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. 4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD? 6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. 11 And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in. 13 “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; 14 then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
New Testament Reading:
[Act 14:19-23 ESV] 19 But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 20 But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. 21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. 23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Gospel Reading:
[Mar 2:18-22 ESV] 18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins–and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”
Sermon Text:
[Mat 6:16-18 ESV] 16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Introduction
You’ve probably heard some variation of this joke:
How do you know if someone is a vegan? They will tell you.
You can replace “vegan” with various other attributes and hobbies, and the joke works the same.
It works well with the exercise routine I used to do. If you know anything about Crossfit, you’ll know that the people who do it are very proud of telling you that they do Crossfit.
How do you know if someone does Crossfit? They will tell you.
Well, it sometimes seems like that with many fad diets.
How do you know if someone is on the Carnivore diet? They’ll tell you.
How do you know if someone is on the Paleo diet? They’ll tell you.
Etc. Etc.
Well, now we come to fasting. And that is in a sense a diet, though it is primarily a spiritual exercise. And when it comes to fasting, Jesus tells us the opposite: “don’t tell anyone that you’re fasting.”
We are not supposed to tell anyone or make a scene of our following God. Neither in prayer (which we saw in the last passage) nor in fasting which is our current subject matter.
That is the central thread, the main focus, of these three verses: fast in secret. That is also the title of the sermon this morning: Fast in Secret.
This continues Jesus’s sermon on the mount where he criticizes the hypocritical and sinful practices of the Pharisees. THEY fast for the praise of man, not for the glory of God. The Pharisees want to be seen. We should have nothing to do with that.
We are to “fast in secret.”
And, in our passage, the emphasis is on “in secret.”
But in the church of our day, perhaps an emphasis needs to be put on “fast.”
Is fasting no longer practiced among Christians? If the Pharisees erred on fasting wrongly, the church today is more likely to err by not even considering the spiritual practice of fasting.
Of course, I’ve heard of people, even churches, attempting 30 hour fasts. On the one hand, doing so in an announced way could be seen as contrary to the spirit of these verses. Though on the other hand we are to do all things to the glory of God and so an announced fast is appropriate at times.
And recently, I have been hearing a lot about “intermittent fasting” and people rave about it as a diet.
But, do we know what BIBLICAL fasting is?
I believe there is much to learn.
So I want to look today at the subject of fasting in light of various Scriptural passages on the subject.
Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology gives us a definition of fasting:
Fasting is abstinence from food and/or drink as an element of private or public religious devotion.
That is a good definition of fasting. And it is generally the case that fasting is from food and/or drink. But in 1 Corinthians Paul also speaks of married couples fasting from relations for a time to focus on prayer. Regardless of what we’re fasting from, the purpose is to be spiritual; it is to lead us to prayer or focus on the Lord.
The dictionary continues with a valuable explanation: “fasting is nowhere commanded in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) and, in fact, is never attested earlier than the time of the judges of Israel (Judges 20:26). The fact that Jesus and the disciples sanction it by the own example (Matthew4:2, Acts 13:2-3). however, is sufficient justification for its practice in biblical times and, in fact, in modern times as well.
I can’t address every aspect of fasting in one sermon. So I’ll narrow it down to a few points.
1) Fasting may be public or private.
2) Answering the question “Why do we fast?”
3) Answering the question “Is fasting necessary.”
4) and then some practical notes on fasting.
I. Fasting may be public or private.
There are a variety of references in the Bible to fasting.
In some of these we find a public CALL to fasting in which everyone was to fast together.
[2Ch 20:3 ESV] 3 Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
[Jer 36:9 ESV] 9 In the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast before the LORD.
[Ezr 8:21 ESV] 21 Then I [Ezra] proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods.
So these public fasts are proclaimed by a leader, either the king or the priest. And there’s one that God calls for directly:
[Zec 8:19 ESV] 19 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: The fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth and the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Judah seasons of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace.
In other cases we find that fasting is done privately.
[Neh 1:4 ESV] 4 As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
[Psa 35:13 ESV] 13 But I [David], when they were sick– I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest.
So there are occasions when public fasting is call for, and there are occasions when individual private fasting is most appropriate.
And Jesus’s teaching that we should “fast in secret” applies in both cases. It may be easier to fast in secret when it is a private fast, for when there is a public fast called for everyone knows about it. But even during a public fast (say the church or the denomination calls for a day of fasting), we should do so humbly and without broadcasting our “holiness” in telling others that we are fasting.
So those are two types of fasting: public and private.
But why are we to fast?
II. Why do we fast?
In the Bible we find there is fasting
A) because of sin
B) because of God’s imminent judgment.
C) because of special occasions
and ultimately and in each case
D) for drawing us near to God in prayer.
A. Fasting because of sin.
These sins may be public or private sins.
There are cases where people fast when THEY have sinned:
In Psalm 69, for example, David, after admitting his sin (verse 5: O God, you know my folly, the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you) he then says (verse 10) “I wept and humbled my soul with fasting.”
And there are cases where collective fasts are made because of other’s sin.
In 1st Samuel, after the Ark of the Covenant is returned to Israel, we find that,
[1Sa 7:6 ESV] 6 they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the LORD and fasted on that day and said there, “We have sinned against the LORD.”
This is obviously to admit our sin before the Lord; to recognize it on a higher level. Not just a single moment of recognition, but throughout a day of fasting. Or perhaps longer.
B. Fasting because of God’s coming judgment.
Similarly, there is fasting in the Bible because of God’s coming judgment.
When Jonah went to Nineveh and cried out saying “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown” because of their sin, we read that:
[Jon 3:5 ESV] 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
And when, in the book of Esther, the Jews got word of the King’s decree to kill all the Jews, we find [Esther 4:3] that “there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weep and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.”
And when David sinned with Bathsheba and a son was born and then became sick, we find in 2 Samuel 12:16 “David sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.”
And when enemies of Israel came to attack the nation and destruction was at the doorstep, kings like Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20:2 “proclaimed a fast throughout Judah.”
So fasting is most appropriate in such extreme circumstances.
This doesn’t mean that we can’t fast on “normal” occasions.
Just as you can pray on a “good” day, so you can fast on a “good” day. We don’t go to the Lord only in desperate times, but pray without ceasing.
So fasting may be because of sin and/or coming judgment.
But it may also be on special occasions; even good occasions.
C. Fasting on special occasions.
One of these occasions is the ordination of a new minister. That is not too frequent of an occurrence. I’ve only been to a couple ordinations that I can think of. I was, quite naturally, at my own ordination in North Carolina some years ago. And then Elder Adrian and I went to Grand Island once for the ordination of Rev. David Chi, the excellent associate pastor at that church.
Well there is fasting for an ordination in Acts 13:
[Act 13:1-3 ESV] 1 Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
I looked in our Confession of Faith as well, and there is one reference to fasting. In chapter 21, part 5 of the Westminster Confession of Faith it explains what are “ordinary” part of worship: preaching, prayer, singing psalms, and administration of the sacraments. And then it lists other elements that may rightly arise on “special occasions” and included there is “solemn fastings.”
A church might rightly call for a fast before making a big decisions, or when there is an especially great need in their community. It really could be a wonderful way to draw the community together in the Lord for a special purpose.
D. Fasting to lead to prayer.
But, in any case, and in every case, the bigger purpose of fasting is to draw us in prayer to God.
Fasting usually goes with prayer.
You don’t fast alone. You fast and pray.
Fasting is a way of intensifying prayer.
Your hunger pains give you a reminder of the specific things for which you are fasting and praying.
Every time you have a craving you can turn that into an occasion to remember the Lord.
So its not about dieting.
It is about a spiritual diet of focused prayer.
We find Jesus fasting during his forty days and fight nights in the wilderness. The text in Matthew and Luke doesn’t mention specifically, but who can doubt that Jesus prayed during that period. That’s what you do in solitude. He didn’t carry a library or a radio with him. He was in the desert fasting, and praying.
So Jesus gives an example of fasting. We know that in itself fasting can’t be a sinful thing since Jesus is without sin.
Then we find the apostle also fasting. Providing another example for us.
And this is explicitly fasting and prayer together.
When Saul/Paul and Barnabas are sent off to their mission work, we read:
[Act 13:3 ESV] 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
And the during their work, they then fasting and prayed when setting apart others to the work of the church.
[Act 14:23 ESV] 23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
So we have examples of fasting, and usually they come with prayer.
III. Is fasting necessary?
But, one is likely to ask, “is fasting necessary?”
The word “necessary” often causes trouble in theology.
I think the best response often is to ask the questioner a question in return: “necessary FOR WHAT?”
Like so much else in the Christian life, fasting is BENEFICIAL and Godly and good, but its not absolute necessary. That is, it is not necessary FOR salvation. I usually say the thief on the cross died without any good works following the Faith his was given in those last moments. He didn’t have the occasion to fast (even if he wasn’t involuntarily fasting when a prisoner on the cross). Yet Jesus said to him “Today, you will be with me in paradise.”
But this question of necessity isn’t the right question for a Christian.
A Christian should ask “how can I fast?” “how can this bring glory to God and draw me closer to him?”
And that is where Jesus is pointing in his message: fast from the heart, not for outward performance. Fast to draw closer to God, not to look good in the sight of man.
Ultimately Jesus says “Whenever” you fast, indicating that it is naturally for the Christian to do so. It is not an if, but a when. This isn’t to make a law out of it, but to understand that fasting is a good thing; even a means of grace whereby we are drawn closer to the Lord.
But the frequency of your fasting though is left up to Christian liberty. You get to choose.
IV. Practical notes on fasting.
This then gets us to the last section of the sermon. Some practical notes.
Fasting is to be done without intentional harm to yourself. Be wise about fasting.
If you have a health condition that doesn’t allow you to fast from food, if you are pregnant, or if you are working a job where you need food for energy to keep you going, perhaps there is another way that you can practice a spiritual disciple to draw closer to God. Perhaps that is just eating simpler food. Or refraining from media, or going away to a quiet place for a time.
Conclusion
I pray that you will study Biblical fasting. That you will consider the practice, and humbly use it to draw closer to God with a clear mind, and I pray that you will be greatly blessed I that.
Let us focus on the Lord, as we go to prayer.