On Tuesday October 17th, Agasi Vartanyan emerged from his plastic cube on the banks of the Neva River, near St Petersburg, Russia. He was 23kg lighter than when he climbed in the cube 50 days earlier, when he was about to start his world record breaking attempt at the worlds longest fast, beating David Blaine by 6 days and Chinese Herbalist Chen Jianmin by 1 day. As he left his box, Vartanyan yelled at reporters because nobody seemed to care about his stunt.
“I feel offended because my efforts did not seem to attract much attention,” the 46 year old said. “Only local media wrote about it…”
Fasting has been in the news over recent years because of these record breaking attempts. People seem to fast for 3 reasons.
- To gain notoriety, and become famous or break a record.
- In order to convince someone to act in favour of the persons cause – prisoners etc.
- Because people are told to – Ramadan etc.
Many people think that Christianity is all about rules – breaking people’s fun.
So, Christianity - the “thou shalt not” religion? Surely when we come to thinking about fasting, that just proves the rule doesn’t it?
Well, before we dive in to the main course about fasting, lets taste the starter. Jesus, in Matthew 6 keeps speaking about reward.
Reward
His arguement goes something like this -
All that we do is seen by God. Everything. So when you pray, pray in secret, when you give, give in secret, when you fast, fast in secret. Why? Because when you do, God will reward you.
Christianity – the “thou shalt not” religion? No!
God is not about making us give up stuff. He wants to reward us with the best – with stuff that will last, in heaven. Later on Jesus tells us that treasure on earth degrades and is destroyed, but treasure in heaven lasts forever (see ‘The secret treasure’ on Dave’s site)
So what is this treasure, the reward Jesus speaks of?
It is heaven, of course – but there is more to say than that. Paul writing in 2 Timothy 4:8 speaks of the “crown of righteousness” which will be awarded to him. Elsewhere in 2 Corinthians, he speaks of the day when he will stand before Christ
“For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in our bodies.” (2 Corinthians 5:10)
He is not speaking of heaven – he has already told us he is confident that his future is in heaven. This is reward. Time and time again through the New Testament we are told that heaven is certain. Be we can also see hints that reward is real too – what it will be is still unclear but it clearly motivates Paul and is good, so what about us?
In contrast, Jesus points out in Matthew 6 that if you are rewarded now, that is all the reward you will get. Acclamation, notoriety, getting seen by others as holy and pious - that is all you get. No change, no receipt.
But if what you do is unseen by man, but seen by God, you are doing it for the right motives. And will be rewarded for wanting to please God not man.
So, what is fasting?
Fasting is a discipline, generally referring, in the Bible to going without food. There were a number of annual fasts in the Jewish religious calendar – the Day of Atonement and others that were added later in Israel’s history (after the exile). There were other occasional fasts, some of them corporate and others personal.
People in the OT fasted for a variety of different reasons - grief, repentance and penitence, a means of men humbling one-self, self-inflicted punishment for sin, seeking help and guidance from God.
One thing is for certain, fasting for the sake of it or for show, without a right attitude and heart is a waste of time.
Isaiah 58:1-4
“Tell my people Israel of their sins! Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to hear my laws. You would almost think this was a righteous nation that would never abandon its God. They love to make a show of coming to me and asking me to take action on their behalf. “We have fasted before you!’ they say. ‘Why aren’t you impressed? We have done much penance, and you don’t even notice it!’
“I will tell you why! It’s because you are living for yourselves even while you are fasting. You keep right on oppressing workers. What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarrelling? This kind of quarrelling will never get you anywhere with me.”
True fasting is all about giving God our hearts. Whether fasting in grief, repentance, seeking wisdom or whatever – the crucial thing is stopping to reorder and focus our priorities in line with God’s again.
Why is fasting a good thing to do?
As we have journeyed through Matthew 6 we have been thinking about the marks of Christian Spirituality - living a life that is a conversation with God, a life with God’s spirit at work in us so we learn to live ‘spiritally’ (no such word!) or “SPIRITUALLY” rather than just humanly. This is true Christian spirituality.
To do this we need to grasp and understand the secret of giving, of prayer and of forgiveness, but we also need to grasp the secret of fasting (Matthew 6:16-18) because it is one of the ways we remember and re-enact the truth – that our hearts now belong to God.
But so often our live get filled up with so much other stuff than our God that it is – at the least – easy to take your eye off the ball.
1. Fasting for the Rebel
Sometimes our lives fill up with things that are not good for us and not helpful for our spiritual health. There are times when we deliberately turn our backs on God and harden our hearts towards him. We know what He says is best for our lives. But we want to do our own thing. Know the feeling?
The problem is it feels like it creates a gap between us and God. Look at these striking verse from Joel 2:12-13
“That is why the Lord says, “Turn to me now, while there is time! Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Don’t tear your clothing in your grief; instead tear your hearts.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful. He is not easily angered. He is filled with kindness and is eager not to punish you.”
Joel speaks to a people facing exactly this problem – they are rebellious and have turned their backs on God. They’ve hardened their hearts to him. But God calls them back saying “give me your hearts”.
How? With fasting weeping and mourning.
Fasting is about giving our hearts back to God, when we have turned our backs on him. Removing those things that, for a time may impede us being able to think, focus, pray and know the intimacy of friendship and dependence upon our Father.
Ever watch Brat camp? 
A bunch of Psychologists and a camera crew take a bunch of rebellious teenagers who have been involved with crime, drugs and unruly behaviour and dump them in the middle of the US wilderness.
It is fascinating as you see them coping with the removal of all these distractions and as they begin to discover who they have been and how they have been behaving. They fast.
There are times when we need to do that spiritually, we need to go on ‘Brat Camp’ – in order to give our hearts back to God.
But that won’t be the case for all of us.
2. Fasting for the novice
It might actually be that you don’t think God has ever had your heart. This might be the first time you have ever considered whether you have a relationship with God or not. You may not know him as Father. Well, fasting is for you too, and might be the same as for anyone else reading this. Creating space in your life to consider who God is, what he has done for you, allowing Him to speak to you.
If that is you, can I recommend that you do that right now. Find a Bible, start to read it and ask God to speak to you, and to your heart.
I once heard a true story of an American student who went to study in Austria. He ended up with a bunch of Christian friends. As he observed them he felt increasingly confused and challenged him because he thought that his background, coming from the US made him a Christian – but these guys were different.
On one occasion, he asked one of them “what should I do to discover if this is true, if it is for me?” The Christian responded with an encouragement to try it – try and do what Christians do – pray, read you Bible, spend time with Christians.
So he did. He created space in his life. 2 weeks later he wrote a letter to this student which said – “I did what you said, and it has been amazing. It is as though God has lit a fire in my heart – and everytime I read my Bible or pray, it is like throwing on another log”
Try it yourself, create space in your life, reflect, read (Perhaps start with Mark or John’s gospel), pray and talk it through with a Christian friend. If you haven’t got one – e-mail me!
3. Fasting for the weary Christian
But my suspicion is that most of us, by virtue of the fact that we are reading this don’t really fit into the category of the rebel or the novice.
Well try this for size - creating space in your life for God, removing something in order that God can get at your heart again is important for the weary soul.
My wife and I have often remarked how good holidays are for us. Having time to invest in one another, build our friendship, enjoy one another’s company. It’s not that we turn our backs on one another during the business of life, its just that, at times life is busy, lots of people requiring or demanding attention, things to do. And often the relationship that doesn’t get invested in is the one nearest to you. My suspicion is that this is true of most relationship.
How often do we feel like the psalmist?
"How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty.
I long, yes I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord.
With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God.
A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else!
I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.
For the Lord God is our light and protector.
He gives us grace and glory.
No good thing will the Lord withhold from those who do what is right.
O Lord Almighty, happy are those who trust in you."(Psalm 84 :1-2, 10-12 NLT)
A song of someone who knows the joy of having a heart that belongs to God, a relationship with God that is fulfilling.
My guess is that everyone of us who call ourselves a Christian aspires to those yearnings too.
Perhaps what we need to do is create space in our lives to refocus our hearts on the goodness, joy and fulfilment of knowing God again. We need to hear what Joel says – “give me your hearts”, not because we have turned away, but because we are weary.
So how do we do that in the 21st Century?
How can we fast?
When considering the activity of fasting the Bible talks primarily about eating. When Jesus spoke, for many the day oriented around not so much the eating of food, but the preparation of food. It was a long job - time and mind consuming. To not eat meant freeing up much of the day for other things – investing in relationship with God, prayer etc. And there is value in the discipline itself – learning to go with out etc.
Fasting from food may be a good thing for us to do – but for most of us the day is not consumed with food preparation.
How about a more uncomfortable thought...
Paul, when writing to the Corinthians mentions another form of fasting – telling married couples not to deprive each other of sex.
“The only exception to this rule would be the agreement of the husband and wife to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time, so they can give themselves more completely to prayer.”(2 Corinthians 7:5)
As in our day, Corinth was a world obsessed with sex – thinking about it and talking about it. Some people seem to have decided to put it off the agenda – for a short time in order to focus on their relationship with God. Mmm. Interesting idea.
How do we create space?
Allow me to make a few suggestions – adjust to fit!
Don’t watch TV for a while.
When you get up, or are in the car, leave the radio off and use the silence.
Have a week with no newspapers or magazines.
The question is really - what is your time filled with? Because it is these things that there might be real value in giving up for a time – and the discipline of doing it would be good for us too!
And when you have created space, treat is as -
- Space to think
- Space to pray
- Space to read and listen to what God is saying.
- Space to dedicate yourself to him again
- Space to decide how you need to follow him again.
Try it and maybe the fire in your heart might be turned up a notch or two.