Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore

An Introduction to Biblical Fasting

Perhaps we are coming to a subject, to a passage that not many of us have considered integral to living our Christian life. Perhaps we have neglected a blessing here. And perhaps we are somewhat skeptical of this matter. Let us break down our skepticism and lay our hearts open. Let us be given the willpower to enter into this means of blessing which you have ordained and appointed in your Word. Speak to us through your Holy Scripture and apply it to our hearts by your Holy Spirit, and receive all the praise and all the glory as you do so. For we ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

We are studying the words of one in whom all the fullness of the Godhead truly dwells. So let us open our hearts and ears and listen to his words. His words are a means of life and blessing, flowing into our lives. In our lives, which are so often filled with vanity, only he and his words can provide the fullness of God.

We are studying the Sermon on the Mount and have delved deeply into the Lord’s Prayer; we have, in a sense, taken a bath and come out. By studying the whole book of Matthew, we need to see where we are. Now we need to look at the big picture again. Matthew presents Jesus as the King. He comes to the public stage with a heavenly announcement: the King is standing on the mountain and announcing the standards of his kingdom. The Lord is talking to the people of his day whose religion is superficial and distorted, and far from the kingdom of God. Their daily lives are very worldly, and the reason for that is their hypocritical spiritual practices. They look godly on the outside but are very worldly on the inside. The reason their lives are not right is that their theology is not right; they have the wrong idea about the law and sin.

So, Jesus first teaches the foundational theology of his kingdom. The King starts off by painting a picture of a true kingdom child by giving eight characters of a child of the kingdom. Then, as they realize they do not possess any of these and that this is far from them, he uses the law to show their sin and bring them to that first stage on the heavenly ladder: being poor in spirit. He shows their wrong and superficial understanding of the Law. He shows what true murder, adultery, lying, and loving your neighbor are. After pointing out the errors in their theology, in chapter 6, he points out the problem in their religious practices. They are doing all the good and right things—they go to church, pray, give tithes, read the Bible, and even engage in charity—but they are very far from God and his kingdom. God is not real to them. Why? Because God is not just concerned with whether we do the right things, but that we do them with the right motives. They are doing these things with one motive, for which God cannot give any reward.

He picks three areas of their religious practices and highlights the problem with all of them: they are all done with hypocrisy. Millions will be in the church and very far from God because of hypocrisy. What is hypocrisy? Verse 1 says it is doing things in church to be seen by people. He talks about hypocritical giving.

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:1-4)

Next, he talks about prayer. Why is prayer not effective? Because prayer is not to be seen by people.

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6)

Next, while praying, we should not use vain words, as most prayers are vain words. So how should we pray? He taught us six beautiful petitions. How much was in that!

“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.” (Matthew 6:7)

Now he picks up the third thing where they displayed their hypocrisy: fasting.

“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. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 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.” (Matthew 6:16-18)

Now, this is a subject we have never seen, and we have a lot of confusion about it. Our wonderful Lord so amazingly times everything. I believe that when we finish this great prayer, climbing this mountain and coming out of that prayer, we will see the reality of our lives. We are so low, dry, and barren, and this prayer is so tall. We thirst for God’s name to be glorified, his kingdom to come, and his will to be done. But our prayer life and spiritual state are so low. We wonder why and how all this will happen. He next beautifully shows us an important means God uses to bless us, which is fasting.

Fasting is not a subject that you hear much about in evangelical churches or in Protestant churches of any sort these days. This, obviously, like the other two, is a corrective to hypocritical fasting. The Pharisees, the scribes, and the Jews were involved in many fasts; it was a very common part of their religious system. But it needed a corrective. It needed to be set right. Before, however, we can understand the corrective, we must understand what fasting is all about. Jesus simply assumes in saying, “when you fast,” that we have knowledge of the occasions for fasting. But fasting in our society, within the church of Jesus Christ, is a little-understood factor of religious or spiritual experience. So, let’s approach our study of this text this morning by backing up from the text to give you a frame of reference relative to fasting.

Let us look at an introduction to several things about fasting. We will answer several questions.

1. How does the world see fasting?
2. What does the Bible say about fasting?
3. Should we fast or not? Is there a command?
4. Why is there less fasting in Protestant churches? Why do we hear less about it today?
5. What is the purpose of fasting?

We all like food, and I like it too. I especially love food from weddings. God in a wonderful way permits that. God has not only created and provided an infinite variety of tastes and such an infinite capacity on the part of the tongue to enjoy those tastes. Our tongue can taste everything in the world. God wanted us to have the fullness of enjoying all there is to enjoy in eating. In Genesis 1:29, it says, “And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you.” It’s all here for us. And after the flood, God said, “Every moving thing that liveth shall be food for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.” All things from the vegetables and the fruits to the meats and nuts, everything that God has provided in this world to make eating an enjoyable thing. He could have given us just one thing to eat to survive; anything, only bitter gourd or only lemons. But God gave us the wonder of taste so that life would be richer and more blessed just in eating. So it’s a good gift from God just in its sustenance value.

We need to be thankful to God, and that is why in the Lord’s Prayer, we pray, “Give us our daily bread.” It is simply the constant recognition that the source of all our sustenance is God Himself, who grants to us the food that we eat. And that’s why 1 Timothy says what it says in Chapter 4, and it’s a wonderful verse. 1 Timothy 4, verse 3 says, “Forbidding to marry,” talking about the teachers and so forth. It says, “advocating abstaining from foods which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving by them who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving.” Now I just want to say that to you to let you know that it’s okay to eat and it’s okay to enjoy eating. But that being as it may, at the same time, fasting is also an important means for us. It is even good for our health. If you look at some expert health advice and read the medical research, they tell you the great benefits of fasting.

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Worldly vs. Biblical Fasting

Let us look at what the world says about fasting. Medically, there are many fasting benefits. Many books have been written on this. A book titled “Benefits of Fasting” guarantees medical benefits. Now, just listen to this. “Weight loss,” that’s the first thing it guarantees. Then it says fasting makes you feel better physically and mentally, makes you look and feel younger, and saves money. Obviously, if you don’t eat food, you’re going to save money. It provides a good rest for a 24-hour working digestive system, improves metabolism, leads to good digestion, and keeps a lot of fat from sticking to your body. It has very healthy effects on your body, fully cleans out the body, lowers your blood pressure, lowers your cholesterol level, relieves tension, improves sleep, and sharpens your senses. It keeps you from becoming sluggish, quickens your mental processes, boosts your self-esteem, helps you gain self-control, and allows you to share with those who are hungry. Very importantly, it can even bring spiritual revelations; things you did not realize or understand with a full, sluggish stomach will be revealed by fasting.

Now listen, that’s an amazing thing if it can give you all that. Everything from dropping some pounds to getting spiritual revelations through fasting. There are millions of people who give testimony after testimony of how they said they got all these things from fasting. They do it just for physical fitness.

In Eastern traditions, monks, mystics, and yogis were very, very involved in embracing fasting. Yogis were very committed to fasting as a source of receiving mystical revelations. The disciples of Buddha fast. Frankly, Buddha doesn’t look like he ever got anywhere near a fast, but his disciples fast and they believed that you induce a vision when you fast. There are many, many people in the history of the world who have given themselves to fasting and have said they have gotten many benefits from it.

But let me say this, people: be that as it may, what is physical is not spiritual. The Bible never presents any place in the entire Scripture where fasting is done for physical reasons. Never. Though there are so many benefits, the Bible never deals with fasting on a physical level. Fasting in order to get the body beautiful or for fitness is not the issue. And frankly, that’s why people fast in our society, mostly for physical reasons. This verse says there are no spiritual rewards for that.

This is not a biblical approach to fasting. Fasting is not to give you a beautiful body or make you look slim. It’s not about not getting fat or not eating properly. If so, go walking, go to the gym. If you’re too lazy to do all that, you fast because you think it will keep you from gaining weight. To starve and not gain weight. Fasting for that reason, and overdoing it, may be sinful. If you are not eating a good diet regularly for the sake of not gaining weight, that’s not spiritual. God may punish you. Especially girls who are not eating, like birds, can have major health problems after marriage, and even their children may die. Now, fasting as a way to reduce your gluttony is okay. But that is not the biblical definition of fasting.

Many people fast for many reasons. You know, there are even people who fast in anticipation of being gluttons. Have you ever done that? I have. “Boy, I know that tomorrow I’m going over to that big wedding in the palace grounds. They’ve got great stuff, so I’m not eating today from morning.” That is not a spiritual fast. Preparation for gluttony is the same as gluttony. There are people who go on hunger strikes to gain political power or attract attention for a good cause. That is not wrong, but biblical fasting is different. So the world sees many benefits in fasting.

If you are on some kind of a fast for physical reasons, don’t think you have the right to feel spiritual. It has no spiritual value at all. Fasting, in and of itself, is unknown in Scripture as an end in itself. All of the benefits of fasting in the Scripture are indirect, not direct. We need to know the difference between biblical and worldly fasting and not confuse both.

Fasting is never isolated to create some virtue in and of itself. You don’t just say, “Well, I’m going to be spiritual, so I will not eat.” You are no more spiritual because you don’t eat than because you do eat. “The kingdom of God,” says Romans 14, “is not food and drink.” That is not the issue. That is not the substance of spirituality. Some reject fasting as not needed, with great indifference. Others have very superstitious beliefs about fasting. So on the one hand, you have the superstitious approach, and on the other, you have indifference. Both are not right. We will have to find the biblical balance.

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What the Bible Says about Fasting

So, what does the Bible teach about fasting? Throughout the Bible, fasting is abstaining from food for spiritual reasons. Note: spiritual reasons. It is directly opposite to any physical or political reasons. It always centers on spiritual purposes. Fasting in the Bible involves abstaining from all solid or liquid food, but not from water. When Jesus fasted for 40 days, it says he ate nothing, and Satan tempted him to eat, but he would have drunk water. Sometimes there is a partial fast, a restricted diet, not a total fast. Daniel for three weeks was on that fast in Daniel 10:3, maybe because of his government tasks. There is also an absolute fast, where both food and water are not taken. It appears to be a desperate measure to meet a dire emergency. Upon learning that execution awaited her people and herself, Esther instructs Mordecai in Esther 4:16. Paul engaged in a three-day absolute fast after he met Christ in Acts 9:9. This is an extraordinary exception and should never be tried for more than three days.

There are many individual fasts in the Bible. Let us see some examples to get an idea of the Old Testament. There is always a reason to fast; it’s not just fasting for the sake of fasting, thinking it will give some merit. The first reason we see people fast in the Bible is that sorrow is a cause for fasting. When the plague hit, the people of God, in Joel 1:14, were to “consecrate a fast.” In Nehemiah Chapter 1, verse 4, when Nehemiah heard the word that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down, his heart was broken. “And it came to pass when I heard these words,” he says, “I sat down and I wept and I mourned for days and I fasted and I prayed before the God of heaven.” When David’s child by Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, was struck with a terrible and fatal disease, the Bible says in 2 Samuel 12, “David therefore besought God for the child and David fasted and lay all night upon the earth.”

Fasts were called during a national emergency. Next, we see during dangerous times, people fasted for protection. In 2 Chronicles Chapter 20, verses 3 and 4, the large combined army of the Ammonites and the Moabites came against Jehoshaphat, and they knew that from a human viewpoint, they couldn’t win. The Israelites couldn’t win. And out of sheer fear, they went without food as they cried out to God that God would deliver them. I remember Esther, the lovely Jewess who had reached a place of favor with the king Ahasuerus. And then she found out that Haman had developed a plot to slaughter all the Jews. And so she said, in effect, to tell her people, “I will go to him and I will put my life on the line and if I perish, I perish.” But she would go on behalf of her people, and the people were afraid and the Bible says they fasted.

In Ezra, there is a most beautiful indication of a fast. Ezra is about to lead the people out of the Babylonian captivity. And as he approaches the journey, he has a most interesting approach. This is something. In Ezra 8:21, he says, “I proclaim a fast there at the river of Ahava.” They were leaving Babylon. “And we stopped and we had a fast.” Why? To seek of him “a right way for us.” They didn’t know the right way to get from Babylon to Jerusalem. They were carrying a mass of people and didn’t know the right path. And “for our little ones,” that their children could cross that desert safely. “And for all our substance,” why? Because there were brigands, highwaymen, robbers, thieves, wild nomads, and enemies who hated Israel. And so they were fearful. They were fearful for the right path and they were afraid of crossing that desert with their little children and with all the substance that they had. So they fasted and sought God’s direction and help.

Another reason for a fast is confessing sin. On the Day of Atonement, according to Leviticus 23, the reason they were to fast was to confess their sin. They were to fast in humiliation and confession. You know, I think in all of our lives there have been times like this. We have sinned against the Lord and have been so deeply troubled by our sin, so overwrought by our sin, so disturbed by what it’s done in our hearts that we cannot eat. We cannot think of food but rather pour out our hearts to God.

I think about David. David sinned such a great sin, such a heinous thing. And then when he had not confessed his sin but still held it in, it says that his life juices dried up. He was aching from head to toe. He was sick. He could not eat. He could not sleep. He could not exist. And then he says, “when I confessed my sin, it was as if all that flood went out from me and I was whole again.” There have been those times in our lives when our hearts have been overwrought with our sinfulness and we have done something that defiles God, and we come before God and are pleading for that cleansing.

There were many times when God’s people confessed sin, and fasting was part of it, because they didn’t stop to eat. Food was the furthest thing from their minds. What they hungered for was the joining together of a severed fellowship with God. David said, “I humbled my soul with fasting.” The people at Nineveh repented of sin at Jonah’s preaching, and they fasted while they confessed. Daniel prayed to God, and he confessed the sins of his people and fasted. Listen, it’s amazing. Daniel actually became so absorbed with the sins of others that he fasted. Amazing compassion.

Saul of Tarsus was smitten on the Damascus Road, fell to the dirt, and rose from that place. The Bible says that in confessing his sin and turning to the Lord, he fasted for three days. He shuddered at the enormity of his sin of killing so many true Christians, having no food or drink, as it says in Acts 9:9. Samuel went to the people in 1 Samuel Chapter 7 and says, “You have strayed away to Baal. Confess your sin of idolatry,” and they fasted. Even Ahab, that evil man, that evil king, was finally confronted with judgment. And he was told that the judgment of God was against him for his abominable activities in following idols. And it came to pass, 1 Kings 21:27 says, when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes. He put sackcloth on his flesh. He fasted and he lay in sackcloth and he went softly.

An amazing effect! When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his body. He fasted, lay in sackcloth, and walked around humbly. He was not a man of pride, but very proud and arrogant. He had a walking style that demanded everyone bow to him. He became very gentle and lost his proud demeanor. He was not throwing his weight around but was quietly and gently walking around. He was a crushed, broken man who had lost all sense of needing physical food, but he fasted in contrition. And do you know that God actually rewarded that man for true repentance, even though he had lived a vile, wretched life? The next verse tells us that God was gracious. “Do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; I will bring it on his house in his son’s days” (1 Kings 21:29).

What an amazing effect fasting had on this evil man. Transgression is a cause for fasting. The distress is so deep, the anxiety so far down in the human spirit, that fasting is not forced. It flows out of a need to focus on a right relationship with God. The physical vanishes.

Some examples of individual fasts are mentioned. There are also public and national fasts. Fasting is always within a context and for a reason. This is basically outlined in the only fast ever commanded in the entire Bible. There is only one. Only one time did God ever command a fast. It is the only compulsory fast from one end of Scripture to the other, just one. And it was a general public national fast. In Leviticus 16, God said that on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, that one day a year when sacrifices of the nation are given for the sins of the people for the year past, you will fast from sunrise to sunset. That is the only fast ever given as compulsory by God in the entire Scripture. That’s it.

But notice, it is a fast connected with a deep mournful spirit in confessing sin. Now that should give you a hint of what fasting is all about. It is never isolated from something else. It is inextricably connected to a great sense of spiritual reason and anxiety. It is a time, in that case, of confession of sin and seeking forgiveness at the hand of God. In fact, the Jews went so far as to say on the Day of Atonement, it is forbidden, says the Talmud, to eat, to drink, to bathe, to anoint oneself, to wear sandals, or to engage in marital relations. Even the little children on the Day of Atonement couldn’t eat. And that is hard on little children, but they had to learn that it was a prescribed fast, and they had to learn it when they were young so they would maintain it when they became older.

The Old Testament is filled with fasts. There are just a lot of fasts. Sometimes by the nation, sometimes by a small group of people, and sometimes by one individual, but the Old Testament is full of them, so this was a part of their society. This was a part of their life. But when you come to Jesus’s time, this thing had gone beyond its bounds. Apart from these occasional fasts, there were also regular fasts that developed. In Zechariah 8:19, regular fasts were held. It was a good way to grow. But it became a ritual by the time of the Pharisees. Like everything else, such as prayer and giving, it became a drama and was abused. It became a hypocritical, self-righteous demonstration in front of men. They put on this tremendous pretense, made themselves look as wretched, miserable, and dismal as they could, and paraded around letting everybody know they were fasting so that they would think they were super spiritual.

Should we fast or not? Is there a command?

There is only one command in the entire Bible. One Old Testament text, on the Day of Atonement, which was fulfilled by Christ. Beyond that, the Bible never commands a fast. The New Testament never commands us to fast. So should we fast? There is no command. What do you think?

I think we should. I think we should fast and have that as a spiritual practice, and this will be a great spiritual help to us. Some of my Reformed brothers may fall off their chairs, saying, “What is this new teaching? Is he trying to make us Roman Catholic or Pentecostal? What an unbiblical teaching.” No, if you want to see the truth, listen to the several reasons why I think we should fast. Let your conscience decide.

It is true that in the New Testament, there is no law to fast, and we have freedom in the New Testament by Christ’s sacrifice. But our freedom in the New Testament is not a license; it means an opportunity. Since there are no laws, we are free to fast on any day. So fasting then was a personal, voluntary act. The Lord expects us to fast.

Reasons to Fast

1. The example of Jesus. Look at the context of our text. In his great sermon, Jesus Christ very briefly selects three aspects of a devotional life: praying, giving, and fasting. Jesus puts fasting as one of the important devotional practices. In verse 16, he says, “when you fast,” assuming his disciples will fast, and therefore, he gives instructions on how to fast. It is a clear assumption that fasting is part of Christian devotional life. We have no reason to exclude fasting just as we do not exclude praying and giving. It may not be a command, but we see it is an implied assumption that Christ’s disciples will fast.

2. The words of Jesus. Note Matthew 9:14-15. John the Baptist’s disciples come and ask, “We and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast.” This is an important statement about whether Christians should fast or not. In Jesus’s coming, the kingdom of God has come among them, and the bridegroom is in their midst, so it was a time for feasting, not fasting. But there will come a time for the disciples to fast when the bridegroom is not there. Note verse 15. The most natural explanation is that the disciples will fast in the present church age when Jesus Christ is in heaven. This is the time when he has ascended to heaven and will return. We are living, are we not, in the period when the bridegroom has been taken from us? The marriage supper of the Lamb will occur when we are joined with Christ, but until that time, our Lord says, there will be fasting. Why? Because there will be spiritual struggle and anxiety. And so, I believe in Matthew 9, Jesus is simply saying there are going to be times of fasting. We see that exactly happening as the apostles and early church fast. Acts 13:2 gives an example.

3. The example of the saints. There are 40 references in the Old Testament and 30 in the New Testament. All the people of God, to a greater or lesser degree, practiced fasting with prayer in every group. If you want to know the list, let me just give you a few: Moses, Samuel, Hannah, Saul, Jonathan, David, Elijah, Jehoshaphat, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Daniel, John the Baptist, Anna, the prophets and teachers at Antioch, the apostle Paul, and most significantly, our own Lord Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. That is a list of some pretty important folks, a substantial list of spiritual people who fasted. If you go through church history, you will find that the Wesleys, the Whitefields, the Calvins, and the Luthers have fasted. Jonathan Edwards and David Brainerd, the Puritans, and all the great saints who did great things for God, fasted. So what does that tell me? It tells me that if I am a Christian who does not fast, I am a strange Christian. I may be missing a very important means in my Christian life.

The Problem with Fasting in the Protestant Church

Why is there less fasting in Protestant churches? We hear less about it today. Why have we not heard much about it so far? I think there are many reasons.

1. A reaction against abuse. I think it is a reaction in some Reformed and Baptist circles against the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church and other churches. Those who saw a false use of fast days, ceremonies, and rituals reacted against it. One important ritual in Roman Catholicism is the fast days, like the 40-day fast of Lent. People like Luther in the Roman Catholic Church fasted so much that they felt they were piling up merit and righteousness before God. The more fasting, the more pleasing to God. It was seen as a way to purchase the grace of God. They, instead of seeing it as a means, saw it as a righteous act. Reformers saw this and preached against this ritualism. It was a pendulum swinging from one extreme to another. The extreme view was that since fasting is not directly commanded in the Bible, we will not fast. It is a problem of overreaction, throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

2. Prejudice. If you take a book and a pencil and study the concordance, you will see that fasting is not something that the Roman Catholics or Pentecostals discovered, or monks. It came from the Bible. People swing to extremes because of prejudice, which is very dangerous and prevents us from coming to the knowledge of the truth. We should not refuse to investigate. Many go wrong because they have a tendency to look at verses that align with their taste, their denomination, tradition, and the example of their teachers, while they ignore other truths and teachings. That is why there are so many divisions in Christianity. Some emphasize one thing, and some emphasize another. The beauty of expository preaching is that we see the whole counsel of God, and all that God says we learn systematically, which is a big antidote against prejudice and an escape from the prejudice of men that hinders them from arriving at the truth.

Take fasting, for example. If you open the Word of God with an open mind, you will see that all the great men of God in the Old Testament fasted in times of crisis. The whole nation would fast in times of national crisis when God’s name was dishonored, the church was not growing, the kingdom was not progressing, souls were not being saved, and holiness was not up to par. They would all pray and fast and seek God. Our Lord often fasted, even for 40 days. You find the apostles fasting and the early church fasting. You move down the line, and you see the Roman Catholic Church abusing this, and then you see the great saints, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Brainerd, Jonathan Edwards, and Wesley—all of these men fasted. All of them knew the blessing of fasting. If fasting is not a real part of a spiritual discipline for me at some point, I am a very strange Christian compared to the great saints of God.

3. The age we live in. Another reason is the age we live in. People are not only ignorant, but they are more lovers of pleasure than lovers of God. We are not passionate about walking with God. If God’s name is not glorified, if souls go to hell, if the kingdom is not progressing, that is not a great burden for me. My stomach is full, everything is good with me, I have good health. I am happy; let God’s name and kingdom go anywhere and do whatever. My stomach, my health, my comfort are all okay. There is no longing for intimate communion with God. We live in a time when all Christians are feasting instead of fasting, and we think that is normal. We read in Philippians that there will be people whose god is their belly. We live in the most luxurious, convenient, rich, and overstuffed age. We have so many options and are so fattened. We eat three meals at once. We think we will starve and die if we do not eat unlimited meals. Everything is luxury and richness, and we are lazy and have a machine for everything. We are all affected by it. The gospel calls for self-denial, hardship, sharing, and discipline, but our age calls us to ease, laziness, and gluttony. All of us are affected by it. When we read church history, it pricks our conscience to see how much they lived for and did for God. How powerful their prayer lives were. How devotedly they lived. John Wesley would not give up two days of the week for anything. He would not appoint anyone a Methodist pastor who does not fast two days a week. We do not know that kind of discipline. It is hard to see people fasting and seeking God. We may be losing so much of God’s blessing.

What is the purpose of fasting?

This is very important. Jesus did not condemn the Pharisees’ fasting. The very first statement Jesus made about fasting dealt with the motive. Why do we fast? That is all the difference it makes between Roman Catholicism and many other groups’ fasting and why biblical people fast. We may call this biblical Reformed fasting.

To use divine good things for our own selfish motives is always a sign of false religion. It is easy to take something like fasting and try to use it to get God to do what we want. We should never abuse this like other religions. Fasting is a spiritual exercise. It is never for merit or righteousness; it is not bribing God. “If I fast for two days, I will get a two-day blessing. If I fast for one week, I will get a one-week blessing.” That is Roman Catholicism. You do not fast to earn righteousness. But fasting is a means that God has ordained for God’s blessing. Blessing is God’s gift and grace, not our earning. Prayer and fasting are means to a blessing. This is a very important principle. Fasting has always been exposed to abuse. When spiritual life waned, fasting was abused. Isaiah 58 explains what the fast God intends is, not merely a mechanical thing to gain some merit from God. The Pharisees fasted twice a week. “Okay, fasting is a spiritual exercise; it is a blessing, so I will make it a rule. I can fast for 21 days and then 40 days, and I will be a big saint.” This is done just to impress men. It became a rule not to eat certain things. There is no blessing in this. There is always a strong tendency to abuse this. Be careful. There must be a reason for fasting.

The Right Biblical Purpose for Fasting

Fasting must always center on God. It must be God-initiated and God-ordained, and for God’s glory. The whole purpose should surround God. That is what you find in all biblical fasting. In Luke 2:37, Anna was worshiping and fasting. The apostles in Antioch were fasting and worshiping in Acts 13:2. Fasting should be for God’s glory, his kingdom, and his will. Fasting should be for seeking God. We should hunger more for God than for physical food. We want to grow in God and walk with God.

In Zechariah 7:5, God rebukes them, saying, “‘When you fasted and mourned, did you at all fast unto me?'” If our fasting is not unto God, we are fasting for the wrong reason. Physical benefits, growth in prayer, spiritual insights—these are all secondary. Our first motive should be for God’s glory. Wesley said, “First, let fasting be done unto the Lord with our eye solely fixed on Him. Let our intention herein be this, and this alone, to glorify our Father who is in heaven.” Once we know that the primary purpose is fixed, then the secondary benefits are indeed very true. There are many spiritual benefits.

1. It is a spiritual examination. Fasting reveals things that control us. This is a wonderful benefit to a true disciple. We cover up what is inside us with food and other good things, but in fasting, these things surface, and we know our true heart. In fasting, our true spiritual self surfaces, and we can see ourselves clearly in a mirror. That is why gluttony can actually deceive us about our spiritual state. Anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, jealousy, lust, and fear—if they are within us, they will surface during fasting. It shows us our hearts. This is very important knowledge to humble ourselves, and this knowledge will help us seek healing from Jesus Christ.
2. It teaches us that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Food does not sustain us; God sustains us. We will feed on Christ’s fullness and be strengthened in our souls. In John 4:32 and 34, Jesus Christ himself was nourished by the power of God and the life of God.
3. Fasting helps us keep our balance in life. How easily we allow non-essentials to take precedence in our lives. How quickly we crave things we do not need until we are enslaved by them. These desires, lusts, and human cravings are like rivers that overflow their banks. Fasting helps keep them in proper balance. “I beat my body and bring it into subjection” (1 Corinthians 9:27). A saint said that fasting ensures the body does not boil like a vessel with desires, and lusts that wage war against the soul are controlled.
4. Fasting teaches us good spiritual graces, humility, and poverty of spirit (Psalm 35:13).
5. It strengthens your prayer life. There are many other benefits that people have written about on fasting, but most importantly, if your prayer life is dull and fruitless, a very good way to strengthen it is fasting. It leads to increased effectiveness in prayer. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man…” Fasting can be a good means for an effectual prayer.
6. It brings guidance. It provides good guidance in decision-making, increased commitment, and discernment of God’s truth.
7. It has a promised reward. More so, God promises a reward for those who fast properly (Matthew 6:18). His reward includes all this and much more.
8. It is a tool for the church. As a church, fasting can be a wonderful and powerful experience, provided people are prepared and are of one mind about it. For serious problems in churches—no progress in gospel work, no growth in the church, dryness, fruitlessness—unified prayer and fasting can yield great results.
9. A call to action. We have some important meetings coming up in April. Why do we not fast on Good Friday until the afternoon for the pastors’ meeting and the gospel meeting? May this be the beginning of our fasting exercise.

Fasting holds an important place in spiritual discipline. You know one reason why we do not fast: it is selfishness. We do not have a compassionate heart and are not affected by the kingdom and the souls of others around us. We have become desensitized to the needs of the souls around us. We should be like Jesus, who saw the multitudes and had compassion, who wept at Lazarus’s grave, like Paul and others who wept for the world’s condition. We have to pray for a compassionate heart that will make us care so much about the sorrowful things in our lives and the lives of others, about the need for the divine deliverance that only God can bring, about sin in our lives and the sins of others. The lamentation, no matter whether it is in your case or the case of somebody else, will drive you to the point of concern, the point of compassion where it will cause you to focus away from the things of the world, even as routine as eating.

Help us, Lord, to be compassionate. Help us not to be desensitized. Help us not to be so preoccupied with creature comforts to which we can so easily retreat that the real world never touches us. Give us the heart of Christ, who could know every suffering that ever occurred in all of human history and yet weep over one. Help us, Lord, to know what it is to be so engulfed in spiritual communion that we lose a sense of even the basics like food and drink. Help us to know that experience of being so consumed that those things are the furthest from our minds. Help us to be so much Your people called into Your presence that all else fades, but concentration on Your word and You. Thank You, Lord, for speaking to us this morning, and we praise You for the clarity of Your word. Help us to be obedient to it. In Christ’s name, Amen.