FAST & THE FURIOUS
A STUDY ON THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT: PART XXII (FASTING)
INTRO: In 2001, there was a movie made about an undercover cop that infiltrates the hidden underworld of street racing in Hollywood. It was the first movie to feature major Asian automotive imports, and in the end, the top officer lets the bad guy (played by Vin Diesel) to get a way.
TRANSITION: Though none of us will ever street race in Hollywood (you better not), it is important to note that in many ways our lives race much like the hot rods seen in this movie. And that is why we need to…Fast. So let’s take a look at something that is rarely discussed among youth groups.
BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 6:16-18
6:16 “When you fast, do not look sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unattractive so that people will see them fasting. I tell you the truth, they have their reward. 6:17 When you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 6:18 so that it will not be obvious to others when you are fasting, but only to your Father who is in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
1. WE FASTING TO SHOW OUR DEPENDENCE ON GOD
BIBLE VERSE: Acts 13:2-3
13:2 While they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 13:3 Then, after they had fasted and prayed and placed their hands on them, they sent them off.
There is something powerful about putting our hands on someone, something powerful about praying blessings over people. But ultimately when we pray over someone with hands and send them out, we are giving God our 100% dependence.
FASTING HAS SOME SYMBOLS TO IT:
Bowing one’s head: A sign of humility
Putting on sackcloth/sitting in ashes: A sign sacrifice
But, though these things and others are used to show God we are in submission to Him, fasting is still a heart issue.
MASSAGE PARLORS:
Our country pays people thousands of dollars for massages. Has anybody ever had a massage (give some time for answers)? It seems like a great way to relieve stress, and who can complain about having every muscle worked over, nice. But, if whatever is on the inside isn’t fixed, the massage really doesn’t do anything for stress, because the stress will still be there when the massage is over (despite the heavy cost).
“People will pay to fix their stress, but do nothing different to prevent it.”
SADLY, I’M NOT SURE MANY OF US FAST:
I put this post online at facebook. Now I know, not everyone of my friends are Christians, and fewer than that probably saw it. Here is what my 904 friends potentially saw:
“Christians: does anyone have a story I can use for a Bible Study about a time you fasted and God answered your amazing prayer request. Thanks gang.”
Honestly, I thought I would get about 10 answers back right away, a couple of them not exactly what I was looking for, but then use the most extreme one. But after 3 days and 3 posts, only 1 response had come in. Then it dawned on me…maybe people just aren’t fasting.
HOW TO FAST (VERY, VERY BASIC):
1. Decide to Fast.
2. Decide How Long to Fast.
3. When a Meal Comes Up: Read Bible Instead of Eat.
4. When Hunger Arises: Pray Until it Goes Away.
5. Repeat.
I could go into a tons more details here, but even as Jesus was sending the 12 off, he gave them minimum instruction, so here is the minimum for you. Take a meal or a full day this week or next, and try it. Just see how close you grow to the Lord.
2. WE FASTING TO DEMONSTRATE REPENTENCE FROM SIN
BIBLE VERSE: 1 Kings 21:20-29
21:20 When Elijah arrived, Ahab said to him, “So, you have found me, my enemy!” Elijah replied, “I have found you, because you are committed to doing evil in the sight of the LORD. 21:21 The LORD says, ‘Look, I am ready to bring disaster on you. I will destroy you and cut off every last male belonging to Ahab in Israel, including even the weak and incapacitated. 21:22 I will make your dynasty like those of Jeroboam son of Nebat and Baasha son of Ahijah because you angered me and made Israel sin.’ 37 21:23 The LORD says this about Jezebel, ‘Dogs will devour Jezebel by the outer wall of Jezreel.’ 21:24 As for Ahab’s family, dogs will eat the ones who die in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat the ones who die in the country.” 21:25 (There had never been anyone like Ahab, who was firmly committed to doing evil in the sight of the LORD, urged on by his wife Jezebel. 21:26 He was so wicked he worshiped the disgusting idols, just like the Amorites whom the LORD had driven out from before the Israelites.)
NOW LOOK AT AHAB’S RESPONSE….
21:27 When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. He slept in sackcloth and walked around dejected. 21:28 The LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, 21:29 “Have you noticed how Ahab shows remorse before me? Because he shows remorse before me, I will not bring disaster on his dynasty during his lifetime, but during the reign of his son.”
*If Ahab, one of the most evil rulers of Israel history (and that’s saying something) repents and fasts, and God finds remorse on him, God can find remorse and forgiveness for any of us!
FOLLOWING IS A GREAT STORY ABOUT REPENTENCE:
AL JOHNSON: Confessed to a Bank Robbery
“Not too many years ago newspapers carried the story of Al Johnson, a Kansas man who came to faith in Jesus Christ. What made his story remarkable was not his conversion, but the fact that as a result of his newfound faith in Christ, he confessed to a bank robbery he had participated in when he was nineteen years old. Because the statute of limitations on the case had run out, Johnson could not be prosecuted for the offense. Still, he believed his relationship with Christ demanded a confession. And he even voluntarily repaid his share of the stolen money! “
3. WE FAST TO RECEIVE GOD’S DIRECTION
“Tom I Have Decided…” I hear this once in a while when people are making major spiritual decisions, like whether or not to decide to leave the church. To me, that is a big, big decision (after all it is the decision to divorce yourself from your God ordained body of believers, though there are times, seldom is this done right). And after I am told this, I respond in an honest fashion, “Have you prayed and fasted about this?” And then they look at me like a raccoon looking at truck headlights (sort of like saying, how do you dare question my decision). But seriously, how could a decision this important be made without fasting?
Ezra’s Pilgrimmage: The prophet Ezra was making a return with many descendents through a tough place, sort of like traveling through what you and I would call the wrong part of town. Only at this time, Ezra was traveling through it for days, had no defenses, would be completely victimized if an attack were made, and had no police back up (not to mention a car that could just drive to a safe spot). He thought about asking the King for a police force, but then would lose the King’s belief that God would provide them with a safe passage. After how, how can tell the King, “God is going to protect us on our journey, can I have 500 officers to assist?” What to do?
BIBLE VERSE: Ezra 8:21-23
8:21 I called for a fast there by the Ahava Canal, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and seek from him a safe journey for us, our children, and all our property. 8:22 I was embarrassed to request soldiers and horsemen from the king to protect us from the enemy along the way, because we had said to the king, “The good hand of our God is on everyone who is seeking him, but his great anger is against everyone who forsakes him.” 8:23 So we fasted and prayed to our God about this, and he answered us.
FOLLOWING IS A GREAT STORY ABOUT A MAJOR CHANGE OF DIRECTION:
Courage to Begin Again
“Frederick Charrington was a member of the wealthy family in England which owned the Charrington Brewery. His personal fortune, derived solely from his brewing enterprise, exceeded $66 million.
One night, Charrington was walking along a London street with a few friends. Suddenly the door of a pub flew open just a few steps ahead of the group, and a man staggered out into the street with a woman clinging desperately to him. The man, obviously very drunk, was swearing at the woman and trying to push her away. The woman was gaunt and clad in rags. She sobbed and pleaded with the drunken man, who was her husband.
“Please, dear, please!” she cried as Charrington and his friends watched. “The children haven’t eaten in two days! And I’ve not eaten in a week! For the love of God, please come home! Or if you must stay, just give me a few coins so I can buy the children some…”
Her pleas were brutally cut off as her husband struck her a savage blow. She collapsed to the stone pavement like a rag doll. The man stood over her with his fists clenched, poised as if to strike her again. Charrington leaped forward and grasped him. The man struggled, swearing violently, but Charrington pinned the man’s arms securely behind his back. Charrington’s companions rushed to the woman’s side and began ministering to her wounds. A short time later a policeman led the drunken man away and the woman was taken to a nearby hospital.
As Charrington brushed himself off, he noticed a lighted sign in the window of the pub: “Drink Chrarrington Ale.” The multi-millionaire brewer was suddenly shaken to the core of his being. He realized that his confrontation with the violent husband would not have happened if the man’s brain had not been awash with the Charrington family’s product. “When I saw that sign,” he later wrote, “I was stricken just as surely as Paul on the Damascus Road. Here was the source of my family wealth, and it was producing untold human misery before my own eyes. Then and there I pledged to God that not another penny of that money should come to me.”
History records that Frederick Charrington became one of the most well-known temperance activists in England. He renounced his share of the family fortune and devoted the rest of his life to the ministry of freeing men and women from the curse of alcoholism.”
4. WE FAST FOR DELIVERANCE IN A TIME OF CRISIS
BIBLE VERSE: Jonah 3:3-10
3:3 So Jonah went immediately to Nineveh, as the LORD had said. (Now Nineveh was an enormous city – it required three days to walk through it!) 3:4 When Jonah began to enter the city one day’s walk, he announced, “At the end of forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!”
3:5 The people of Nineveh believed in God, and they declared a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 3:6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat on ashes. 3:7 He issued a proclamation and said, “In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles: No human or animal, cattle or sheep, is to taste anything; they must not eat and they must not drink water. 3:8 Every person and animal must put on sackcloth and must cry earnestly to God, and everyone must turn from their evil way of living and from the violence that they do. 3:9 Who knows? Perhaps God might be willing to change his mind and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we might not die.” 3:10 When God saw their actions – they turned from their evil way of living! – God relented concerning the judgment he had threatened them with and he did not destroy them.
Biblical Note: “Three Day Walk:” There are some discrepancies about what people think it means by a 3 day walk. Some use to think it took a three day walk around it, but the excavation of Nineveh doesn’t back that up, besides walking around something doesn’t necessarily bump you into people. Some feel that it means a 3 day walk from the far outskirts on one side to the other. If a single day walk were a measurement of distance, it would be covered in 20 miles. Regardless of the exact meaning, Ninevah was huge in her time.
Biblical Note: “Who Knows?” “The king expresses his uncertainty whether Jonah’s message constituted a conditional announcement or an unconditional decree.”
Biblical Example of God Giving People Time to Repent: Jeremiah 18: “Jeremiah 18 emphasizes that God sometimes gives people an opportunity to repent when they hear an announcement of judgment. However, as Amos and Isaiah learned, if a people refused to repent over a period of time, the patience of God could be exhausted. The offer of repentance in a conditional announcement of judgment can be withdrawn and in its place an unconditional decree of judgment issued. In many cases it is difficult to determine on the front end whether or not a prophetic message of coming judgment is conditional or unconditional, thus explaining the king’s uncertainty.”
TO FAST TO AVOID AN UNCOMING CRISIS, MEANS WE MUST ALSO REPENT:
CLOSING EXAMPLE!
Joined Face To Face With A Dead Body
“The Romans sometimes compelled a captive to be joined face-to-face with a dead body, and to bear it about until the horrible effluvia destroyed the life of the living victim. Virgil describes this cruel punishment: ‘The living and the dead at his command were coupled face to face, and hand to hand; Till choked with stench, in loathed embraces tied, The lingering wretches pined away and died.’” It was said, that at some point, the dying and the dead could not even be told apart except for the breathing of one still living.
What’s the Point? The point is when we are not in Christ, we are as tied to the dead as the punished criminal in Roman days.
Without Christ, we are shackled to a dead corpse—our sinfulness. Only repentance frees us from certain death, for life and death cannot coexist indefinitely.
Sources:
Bible.org. Jonah 3:3, sermon point #6.
Bible.org. Jonah 3:9, sermon point #19.
Davidson, Dennis. True Fasting. First Baptist Bluegrass; Tennessee, September 2008.
Davis, Ron Lee. Courage to Begin Again, (Harvest House, Eugene, OR; 1978), pp. 81-82
Jacques, Don. The Hidden Power of Prayer and Fasting. Christ the King Community Church, Washington, November 2005.
Lee, Paul. Tan’s Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations.
Today in the Word, April, 1989, p. 13
NAME: __________________________
FAST & THE FURIOUS
A STUDY ON THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT: PART XXII (FASTING)
BIBLE VERSE: Matthew 6:16-18
6:16 “When you fast, do not look sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unattractive so that people will see them fasting. I tell you the truth, they have their reward. 6:17 When ________________ ______________, put oil on your head and wash your face, 6:18 so that it will not be obvious to others when you are fasting, but only to your Father who is in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will ______________________ you.
1. WE FASTING TO SHOW OUR ____________________________ ON GOD
BIBLE VERSE: Acts 13:2-3
Fasting Symbols: _________________________________________
Massages: _________________________________________
Sad Fast Facts: _________________________________________
HOW TO FAST:
1. __________________________________________________________________________
2. __________________________________________________________________________
3. __________________________________________________________________________
4. __________________________________________________________________________
5. __________________________________________________________________________
2. WE FASTING TO DEMONSTRATE _____________________________ FROM SIN
BIBLE VERSE: 1 Kings 21:20-29
Al Johnson Story: _______________________________________________________________
3. WE FAST TO RECEIVE GOD’S _____________________________________
“Tom I Have Decided:” _____________________________________________
Ezra’s Pilgrimmage: _____________________________________________
BIBLE VERSE: Ezra 8:21-23
Frederick Charrington: _________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________
4. WE FAST FOR _________________________ IN A TIME OF ______________________________
BIBLE VERSE: Jonah 3:3-10
Three Day Walk:
Who Knows:
Jeremiah 18:
JOINED: ________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________