Sermon preached by Dr. John A. Huffman, Jr.
November 23, 2008
Copyright © 2008, John A. Huffman, Jr.
All rights reserved.

"And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you." (Matthew 6:16-18)

"What the Bible Has to Say About Fasting" has to be one of the strangest topics for a sermon, especially on this Sunday before Thanksgiving, a holiday that is noted for feasting.

The reason I've chosen to address this topic is that some of you have heard that your staff and elders, as of the October meeting of Session, have made a covenant to fast each week from Wednesday evening through Friday morning until the end of the year, as we pray for the spiritual and financial life of St. Andrew's, our denomination, our country and world.

What has happened in our larger culture and the economic meltdown has seriously impacted us here at St. Andrew's, as we are down over 20 percent in our anticipated receipts. We have now spent our cash reserves, have put a hold on our fourth quarter mission disbursements and had to borrow some cash from our dedicated accounts.

Yesterday, the budgeting team met for six hours to ascertain how we can move into 2009 with a zero-based budget that takes seriously the visioning process of the past year and a half and scenarios of a best-scene, worst-scene and middle-scene possibilities of financial income considering the present economic environment. We have already reduced our $7.4 million 2008 budget by $600,000 with $400,000 of it coming from specific budget cuts and the additional coming from discretionary spending cutbacks by Program Staff.

We are praying that we yet will have a miracle that will enable us to end this year in the black with all world mission commitments met in full. At the same time, we must face the same fiscal realities that every ministry I know of is facing, in most situations at even a greater extent than ours.

But now I want you to take a deep breath, because I'm done talking about money. Instead, I'm talking about fasting, a topic which can and should be periodically addressed as one of the biblical disciplines.

But, just as important, and even more so than any financial need, is our call to be the church God wants us to be in these troubled times. My prayer, our prayer, is that years from now, when the present crisis is long passed, we will look back on this as one of the times of greatest ministry for Christ in the history of St. Andrew's. Ministry involves finances, but the best ministry goes far beyond budget realities. It involves people caring for people in the name of Jesus Christ. What an opportunity this is to minister to each other and to reach out into the community as a missional church to others, no matter what the financial circumstances are.

And the spiritual disciplines with fasting can be a bridge to deeper and greater ministry.

Have you ever looked enviously at another person whose prayer life seems more effective than yours? Somehow, they seem better able to accomplish things for God.

That's the way the disciples felt.

One day a man fell to the ground before Jesus, begging him to have mercy on his son. This boy was most likely an epileptic. The father pled his case, telling how the frequent seizures threatened his boy's safety. Often he would fall into open fires, water cisterns or pools. Imagine how frightened you would be for your own child who could be seriously burned or drowned. The father looked at Jesus, saying, "'Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; he often falls into the fire and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him'" (Matthew 17:15-16). Jesus, after lamenting our human tendency toward faithlessness, healed the young man, casting out that demonic force that provoked such a debilitating illness.

As you can imagine, this created a great problem for the disciples. Waiting until the crowd left, they addressed Jesus privately, asking, "'Why could we not cast it out?'" (Matthew 17:19). Jesus fingered their and our perennial problem, stating it so succinctly, "'Because of your little faith'" (Matthew 17:20). Then, Jesus went on, urging his disciples to really believe God to do the impossible. Then he made a statement included in many of the ancient New Testament manuscripts, "'But this kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting'" (Matthew 17:21).

This phrase has baffled many persons. Even its right to be in the New Testament Canon is questioned. Some believe that Jesus never said it. They say that a later editor included it to authenticate an earlier church practice.

One fact is certain. Jesus was calling his disciples to total faith in the sovereign God. This trust is not an every-day garden variety kind of faith. It is one that depends on God in an absolute sense for every life contingency. There are crises in life for which our daily devotional routine does not equip us. There is something more. There is that need for a belt-tightening, temporary, extreme discipline, which throws Satan into disarray, bringing that extra divine power to our spiritual existence. Some of our demons never come out "'. . . except by prayer and fasting.'"

So today, we look at the discipline called fasting.

It is a practice feared by many. The last thing you and I want to become are hollow-eyed fanatics, people who have that strange, wide-eyed look. I wouldn't be surprised but what there are some of us here this morning for whom the idea of fasting for spiritual purposes is an unthinkable as shaving one's head. Fasting is one of the most feared and misunderstood of all the spiritual disciplines. How many people do you know who, on some kind of a regular basis, practice fasting? How many sermons have you heard on the topic? Are you aware that it's mentioned in the Bible more times than something as important as baptism? I'm told that fasting is mentioned 77 times, whereas baptism is mentioned 75 times.

Jesus only recommended disciplines which He himself had practiced. You know of those 40 days and nights in which he battled temptation. He fasted, setting an example for you and me.

This Old and New Testament practice has fallen into disuse. If I could go back to the churches I have previously served, among the many changes in emphasis I would make would be a new stress on fasting. Too few sermons are preached on this topic. Too little is practiced by believers. A friend of mine stated how it has only been within the last several years that she has even heard the term mentioned as a viable practice for contemporary followers of Jesus. She has been active in churches all her life. Only now is she being confronted with a special texture to faith which comes only through prayer and fasting.

Fasting can be defined biblically as a voluntary abstinence from food for one or more meals. In addition to not eating, the person fasting combines a special attention to scriptural meditation and prayer. Under most circumstances, biblical fasting gears itself to some particular spiritual objective. It does not usually happen in a vacuum. The believer becomes concerned for specific needs. The faster is willing to shut one's self off from outside physical interferences so as to concentrate to the greatest degree possible on the Lord.

Fasting is not a magical activity. It is not our human way of manipulating God to do our will. In reality, it is our way of opening ourselves to be used by the Lord. It must be seen in the context of total stewardship.

It is not the physical abuse of your God-given body. Asceticism has no more place in the life of the Christian than what we could call at the other extreme a full-blown hedonism. Your body is good. Food is good. Sex is good. God is the Creator of every good and perfect gift. One of His basic provisions is food. Before fasting, one must check one's nutritional habits. It is appropriate to have proper medical counsel before fasting. If you have physical ailments such as kidney or liver disease, which might be exacerbated by this practice, you should refrain from it. There may be some other physical discipline that would be a better substitute. However, from a medical standpoint, fasting is good for you. One doctor surprised me by saying that the average person can survive a four-to-six week fast, as long as they consume a significant amount of water. I have a friend who, with some degree of frequency, practiced 40-day fasts.

As a footnote, let me say a word about the fact that a Christian is to enjoy the body God has given. Unfortunately, we come across as negative people. A sermon like this could confuse some. Take our human sexuality. Because the Bible says that human genital sexual expression is to be abstained from before marriage and to be exclusively between a man and a woman in marriage, we can be perceived as negative on the topic of sex. The son of a friend of mine, Ed Young, Jr., is a pastor in Texas. Perhaps you've seen interviews with him and his wife on television this week or read about him in the newspapers. Last Sunday, he called on all the couples in his megachurch congregation to commit themselves to have sex with each other once a day every day for the next seven days. A CNN reporter was interviewing them, asking why he should challenge his congregation to such an activity. His response was that we need to make a statement to the world that God created sex, and it's beautiful when it's used the right way. And he wanted to challenge the couples in his church to not take each other for granted and minimize the importance of sexual expression. I myself would like to encourage you along similar lines. However, I noted it was Ed Young, Jr., not Ed Young, Sr., who recommended seven days in a row. As much as we can celebrate the fact that our sexuality survives well into our elderly years, once a day for seven days might be a bit much for some of us.

In a similar way, the Bible speaks positively of feasting. Although it discourages gluttony, it encourages, with great enthusiasm, celebrative occasions with food being central to those occasions. Our Session is acknowledging that reality by choosing a different day this week to do our fasting other than Thursday, which is Thanksgiving Day, and also a different day the week of Christmas, since Christmas this year falls on Thursday.

At the same time, any careful reading of the Scriptures demands that we consider fasting. Encased in our American affluence, it is all the more imperative that we give serious attention to this spiritual discipline.

Donald S. Whitney, in a study book titled Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, writes:

A biblical definition of fasting is a Christian's voluntary abstinence from food for spiritual purposes. It is Christian, for fasting by a nonChristian obtains no eternal value because the Discipline's motives and purposes are to be God-centered. It is voluntary in that fasting is not to be coerced. Fasting is more than just the ultimate crash diet for the body; it is abstinence from food for spiritual purposes.

There is a broader view of fasting that is often overlooked. This is the approach Richard Foster takes when he defines fasting as "the voluntary denial of a normal function for the sake of intense spiritual activity." So then, fasting does not always deal with abstinence from food. Sometimes we may need to fast from involvement with other people, or from the media, from the telephone, from talking, from sleep, etc., in order to become more absorbed in a time of spiritual activity.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones concurs with this wider definition of fasting.

To make the matter complete, we would add that fasting, if we conceive of it truly, must not only be confined to the question of food and drink; fasting should really be made to include abstinence from anything which is legitimate in and of itself for the sake of some special spiritual purpose. There are many bodily functions which are right and normal and perfectly legitimate, but which for special peculiar reasons in certain circumstances should be controlled. That is fasting. There, I suggest, is a kind of general definition of what is meant by fasting.

Today, although we are dealing with fasting particularly in terms of abstinence from food, keep this broader perspective in the back of your mind. You may be asking, "What does fasting accomplish?"

Basically, fasting serves as a reminder. It reminds us of several important facts.

One, it reminds us of how fortunate we are.

You and I can sit through meal after meal, giving very little thought to the privilege which is ours. Fasting makes us aware of this privilege. How many meals I've eaten after giving perfunctory thanks to the Lord. I don't always appreciate the food I have.

Some years ago, I responded to an invitation to participate in a special day of National Prayer and Fasting. Weeks earlier, I had agreed to give the invocation and benediction at a banquet. Fortunately, I was seated at the far end of the head table. No one sat to my right or across from me, so I didn't have to do too much explaining. The only real problem was what it did to me. The menu of the evening was a filet mignon. It was the finest looking steak I have ever seen. I have eaten many a steak before and since. For some reason, I don't remember the characteristics of many of them. I will never forget that steak, which was briefly set in front of me on that day of fasting. The picture of that steak is etched indelibly in my memory. Not having eaten for 24 hours and still having 12 more to go, I suddenly began to appreciate the hundreds and thousands of meals I had taken for granted.

Two, fasting is a reminder of how others feel who don't have food.

What do you say to a hungry world? I know no one in Newport Beach who is starving. I know some persons of modest means. I even know some who we might call poor. But their poverty is nothing compared to the poverty of those in other parts of the world. Tens of millions are starving. These are our human brothers and sisters. We are not called to starve. We are called, though, to identify with them in their need. We are to be touched by the feelings that they have. I have great appreciation for our denomination in its call for us to observe a day of fasting each week to identify with those suffering from world hunger. This periodic discipline of fasting helps us to, at least momentarily, identify with them, as we send our financial support to those agencies such as World Vision, which channel help.

Three, fasting reminds us of how dependent we are on others.

How easy it is to be proud. How easy it is to have confidence in ourselves, in our own capacity to produce the income we need to eat well, to live well. How easy it is to see ourselves in isolation from others. We are not islands. We dare not be loners. The very food we eat depends on other people. Eating is a communal function, which we so often take for granted. I am dependent on the farmer who raises the food. I am dependent on the entrepreneur who conveys it to the marketplace. I am dependent on the one who prepares it. Other than this, I am dependent on the God who brought the whole process into being. There is no room for pride. You and I did not create the soil, the nutrients, the sun and the rain. You and I did not create the taste buds, teeth, digestive tract, the body's miraculous capacities to absorb nutrition and throw off waste. There is no room for pride. Fasting reminds us to be humble and to be dependent. It reminds us of how important it is to take care of our environment, so quality life can continue to be sustained. It helps us retreat from others long enough to remember others and our dependence on them.

Four, fasting is a reminder of how our minds can be cleared of the clutter that blocks our direct access to the Lord.

It is a sensitizing experience. If you have never fasted, you may not understand what happens to you. On those occasions in the past when I fasted, I found that, in the first few hours of a fast, I found myself fighting my physical appetite. Instead of lessening my interest in food, it intensified my interest. All I could think about was food. Then, usually sometime in mid-day, after missing breakfast and lunch, I would get to that transition point where food was no longer so important. I would begin to transcend the physical to a heightened state of spiritual and intellectual sensitivity. Frankly, I find it hard to be truly spiritual when I'm sated with rich foods. In this most recent time of fasting, 36 hours for each of the last five weeks, I've had a very different experience. It may be my age, but I've actually given very little thought to food. There's no longer that constant obsession until I break through the mid-day barrier. This time, it's been a somewhat looked-forward-to discipline that almost instantly clears the mind, giving a heightened awareness of the presence of God as well as a deeper appreciation for His involvement in the life of our congregation, my own personal family and every person in this entire world.

There is a place for this special discipline, as long as we do not swing into the perversion of asceticism. Jesus both fasted and feasted. Many a biblical reference records those happy moments when Jesus broke bread with a group of friends. He enjoyed a good party. He also took time to fast.

Remember though, we are not here to eulogize fasting in its biblical context. The virtue is not the fasting itself but the time, the attention, the sensitivity that it provides, freeing us to an intensity of prayer, study of the Word, meditation and identification with those not so blessed, which would otherwise be impossible.

I've already mentioned when fasting in its biblical context is most often practiced when one is focusing on a particular spiritual objective.

In what specific circumstances is fasting most helpful?

The Bible mentions three.

First, fasting is enormously helpful when you are confronting a time of personal crisis. You need help as an individual.

There are many biblical illustrations of this.

King David is a classic example of fasting as part of repentance. He had defiled God's standard. Sin is spiritual rebellion. Spiritual rebellion leads to immoral acts. The lust of the eye led to adultery. Adultery's coverup led to murder. The king rationalized. He pushed his sin out of his mind until ultimately confronted by the Prophet Nathan. As trembling an experience as it must have been, fortified by God's Spirit, Nathan stepped into the king's presence. He pointed out his disobedience. What singled David out as a man of God was his willingness to confront his wrongdoing. He describes how he "humbled" his soul with fasting. Read Psalm 69 in its entirety. Picture the anguished king who humbles himself before God, who repents, who yearns for God's forgiveness. Fasting is part of this cry to help in time of great need.

Not only did David fast in time of sin. He also fasted in time of pending tragedy. Second Samuel 12 not only describes David's confrontation with Nathan. It also describes how a word came that the little child born to Bathsheba became sick. David fasted. He went in and lay all night upon the ground, interceding for the dying child. It is interesting to note that God did not heal the baby. The baby died. Some would assume that if we go that extra mile to fast and pray, God, in some supernatural way, will honor that and give us in exchange what we want. How contrary this is to the biblical notion of fasting and prayer. You and I have to be ready for God's answer to our prayers and to trust Him to know what is best. Fasting and prayer is not our human manipulation of the Lord. It is our desire to be truly used by Him. When David heard that the child was dead, he got up, he took a bath, he put on fresh clothing, and he went into the house of the Lord to worship. The servants asked him why he fasted and wept for the child while it was alive but when the child died he rose and ate food. David responded:

He said, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, 'Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me, and the child may live.' But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me." (2 Samuel 12:22-23)

Fasting and prayer equips us for the will of God, even when that will is not our will.

We see the temptation of Jesus. What a discipline it involved. He was equipped by His fasting for His public ministry. He could have been tempted in Nazareth as He went around the daily routine. He saw the need for an even stricter discipline. He was led by the Spirit to that period in which He agonized with clarity of mind, a discipline of life, with the same kinds of temptations you and I face.

With what joy I look back to those times when I needed personal guidance. Important decisions were at hand. I will never forget those months of decision when Anne and I were considering the call here to St. Andrew's. How we agonized in prayer and fasting. We were joined in this by our parents. What support there was to know loved ones were sharing in the struggle.

A dear friend has shared his spiritual wrestling. Plagued with a marriage that had gone bad, he was separated from his wife. How painful this was for him as a respected Christian leader. Those of us who knew him best saw little possibility for reconciliation. The final divorce hearing was only days away when he entered into an intense time of fasting and prayer. In this particular situation, in a miraculous way, God's healing came. The divorce was canceled. The two were reunited. His wife finally had come to the place that she was willing to go with him to therapy and get help for both of them. Spiritual, emotional and marital healing has taken place. This was 32 years ago. I talked to my friend just the other day. They are still together and prospering in their marriage. These things come "only by prayer and fasting."

Second, fasting is appropriate when there is an urgent need in the church.

Remember how the leaders at Antioch gathered, seeking God's will? Acts 13 records how they worshiped the Lord and fasted. What was the result? The Holy Spirit spoke to them, giving them guidance. As a result of this time of prayer and fasting, the Holy Spirit came to those church leaders. Luke writes:

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." Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. (Acts 13:2-3)

That marks the beginning of the whole world-mission movement. We are here today because the believers at Antioch fasted and prayed almost two thousand years ago. They never could have dreamed the impact they would have by letting go of Paul and Barnabas on that first missionary journey that catapulted the message of Jesus Christ into the Gentile world, making us the beneficiaries today.

Great forward progress of the Kingdom of God does not come through times of casual prayer. The Church is mobilized by deep, agonizing prayer, marked by that physical discipline of fasting. Did you note in these verses that the Church at Antioch fasted when they were listening for God's will? Then, once again, they fasted when they heard it. Not only is the discipline necessary in getting our orders. It is also necessary in finding the strength to carry out those orders.

We see this again in Acts 14:23 when the early Church chose its elders only after a time of prayer and fasting. Imagine what that would do in our denomination, Presbyterian Church (USA), if we chose our elders only after a period of fasting and prayer. Imagine the spiritual vitality which would be unleashed. How Satan has muted our witness by allowing us to choose leadership on the world's terms, not God's terms.

There have been occasions in the past when I have entered into a covenant relationship with persons in which we have pledged not only to pray for each other on a daily basis but to set aside one day a month for fasting and prayer. In one set of circumstances, we as a group were scattered all over the United States. We wouldn't be meeting together for another year. However, on a regular monthly basis, we entered into those daily prayers and that monthly day of prayer and fasting. God worked in our lives and in the life of our denomination in some powerful ways.

We can have the best organizations in the world. We can apply pressure at every point. That's not what produces spiritual revival. What produces miracles in local congregations and throughout the community of Christ's larger Church is a fresh touch of the Spirit of God as we literally agonize in prayer and fasting, yearning for a special anointing of God's Holy Spirit upon His Church.

Third, fasting was carried out both in the Old and New Testament at points of national emergency.

Time and time again we observe this in the Old Testament. The Prophet Joel recorded God's message to a rebellious nation. He wrote:

"Yet even now," says the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing." (Joel 2:12-13)

Then the Prophet Joel went on to urge the people to return to the Lord. He reminded them that God is gracious. God is merciful. God is slow to anger. God is abounding in steadfast love. Joel cried out:

Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sanctify a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
gather the people.

Sanctify the congregation;
assemble the aged;
gather the children, even infants at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her canopy.

Between the vestibule and the altar
let the priests, the minsters of the Lord, weep.
Let them say, "Spare your people, O Lord,
and do not make your heritage a mockery,
a byword among the nations.

Why should it be said among the peoples,
'Where is their God?'" (Joel 2:15-17)

Do you catch the urgency?

Even the pagan city of Nineveh responded to Jonah's call to repentance by fasting. The Bible records, "And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth" (Jonah 3:5). God's heart was touched. His judgment was spared.

Can you think of any better way to handle the financial needs of our nation and world? We've just come to the end of a divisive election campaign. As proud as I am of the positive aspects of our nation's history, we are a nation in moral and spiritual decline. Greed has been at the core of our financial collapse. There is a need for God's people, you and me, to humble ourselves, to seek God's face in the anguish of prayer and fasting. We need to pray for our nation at this time of great social, political and spiritual upheaval. We need to be in prayer for an orderly transition of power and for our present president and his colleagues, as they finish up their terms of service, and for our new president and his emerging team as they assume responsibility that, in these critical weeks of transition, the right decisions be made in a collaborative way.

If God has touched your heart today, and you're prepared to enter into this special discipline, let me conclude with several reminders.

Remember, this is not a public event.

Jesus warned against making a public display of fasting. Some of the Jewish leaders played games in front of people. They tried to impress others. Jesus spoke so clearly to this in Matthew 6:16-18, saying:

"And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

Remember, this is not a legalistic activity.

There is nothing redemptive about the act of fasting itself. It is the physical, spiritual, mental and psychological clarity which it brings to the much higher activity of seeking God's help.

Remember, this is not that self-centered preoccupation with one's own personal problems.

It is set within the community of faith. It links us together in our common bond in Christ.

So, this is the discipline of fasting. The Bible has so much more to say about it than I've been able to address in this short time. You may want to make your own study of this topic. You may want to practice this specific discipline, joining with your elders and staff in these weeks until the end of the year, Wednesday evening through Friday morning, or some other comparable period of time. What you do with this biblical teaching is between you and the Lord. I urge you to take this biblical teaching seriously, on occasion practicing fasting and discovering, in the process, God's special help at those critical points in your life and the lives of others.