Just for clarity-here is my sermon that lays out my plan for calling our church to fast-several people have asked questions-hopefully in this you will find answers-otherwise let me know-bless you as you consider going on this fasting adventure with us...
Food fight Deut.
9:9-18, Dani. 1:8-17 071926
It seems appropriate that upon finishing up my sermon series
on confession that I would begin another sermon series with a confession-this
way I practice what I preach. I have
known for years that my relationship with food borders on idolatry-and I often
cross that border. While food, I know, is necessary it can often and easily
become something it’s not meant to be. Food was fighting for control of my
life.
This became painfully
apparent to me about 10 years ago I went to my doctor for my annual checkup and
he told me that I was obese. I was a little shocked but then he told me for the
last several years I have been overweight. I guess I always felt that was OK
but this stung. Me obese? Was I losing the fight with food?
It was then I started to really consider what food had
become. I no longer would eat to live but I started to live to eat. Food had
become a great pleasure and comfort and it began to show. I had stopped
fighting the urge to eat too much-eating too much 2 often.
And so I began to
experiment with fasting and I found that indeed I had an unhealthy relationship
with food that was becoming an addiction. I had a hard time controlling how
much food went into my mouth and my wife and kids would tell me that.
Yet I found when I fasted, I could break the addiction and
feel genuinely free. It was, and remains a powerfully liberating discipline
that is beautifully biblical and even endorsed and practiced by Jesus himself.
Jesus won the food fight every time.
Some of you may
recall on my last sabbatical in 2022 I did a 40 day fast losing a total of 40
pounds thus jumping all the way from obese, through overweight and into the
upper edge of normal weight for my height and age. Sadly those 40 pounds I lost
I’ve managed to find, 20 of them again. Food was still fighting for control of
my life.
And so I will be
going on another slightly different 40 day fast beginning next Sunday-and I
will invite you to fast too in the way God may be calling you. At the end of this
sermon I will give you the details on that.
But for now I would like to begin this series I call “Fast
Focus”. If you’ve been in a fight with food, like I have, I want to give you a
spiritual edge that can help you win the fight-called Biblical Fasting.
However I believe the principles of fasting can be applied to anything that
fights for control of your life.
Fasting can do more than
just break a food addiction. I believe fasting principles and practices can
move you to a higher level of connection with God. This can push back spiritual
darkness and guilt- these are also things we are needing right now.
Here’s your point: Biblical fasting is the best way to win
the fight against food and sin.
When I preached a couple weeks ago that I felt there was a
spirit of suicide in our community I had no idea there would be a suicide that
night in Rittman. When things like this happen people of faith need to dig in
deep. We need to sharpen our focus on Jesus and fasting can help us do just that.
For today we are going to look at two master fasters from
Bible and see what led them to do the fasting they did and perhaps inspire us
to do some of the same.
Let’s open our Bibles
to see our first master faster: Moses… Deut 9:9-18 tho not named in our text, here
we see Moses fasting for wonderful and terrible reasons… say amen…
9When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of
stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord had made with you, I stayed on
the mountain forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water.
10The Lord gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the
finger of God. On them were all the commandments the Lord proclaimed to you on
the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.
11At the end of the forty days and forty nights, the Lord
gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant. [bask in the
glory of those 40 days… ]
12Then the Lord told me, "Go down from here at once,
because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have become corrupt. They
have turned away quickly from what I commanded them and have made a cast idol
for themselves."
13And the Lord said to me, "I have seen this people,
and they are a stiff-necked people indeed!
14Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out
their name from under heaven. And I will make you into a nation stronger and
more numerous than they."
15So I turned and went down from the mountain while it
was ablaze with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.
16When I looked, I saw that you had sinned against the
Lord your God; you had made for yourselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf.
You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you.
17So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my
hands, breaking them to pieces before your eyes.
18Then once again I fell prostrate before the Lord for
forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all
the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the Lord 's sight and so
provoking him to anger.
Deut. 9:9-18 We can fast for glorious and grievous
reasons-which is for you?
In v. 9-11 God is giving Moses and his people the law-the
divine instructions to guide them and help them be truly be different from
everyone else as God’s chosen people. This is a powerful blessing that is hard
to imagine. We can only imagine the intimate fellowship he had then-it would
have been the best 40days of his life! This can be the same for you. If you
just want to get closer to God, if you are in a good place fasting can make it
better. God can sustain you in supernatural ways we can’t even comprehend.
You too maybe on the
verge of something great. God may be leading you to fast into that time, just
to sharpen your focus on Him and his blessings-this is a Glory fast-do it with
joy! Fasting, believe it or not can give you more joy not less when it’s done
w/ God.
But then in v. 12-18 Moses came down the mountain-the people
had forgotten and rebelled against God-what a mess! Moses is so sad, mad and
feeling bad. Now he enters a fast of grief-he doesn’t want to celebrate
anything in fact he wants to mourn-this is a time to fast too-have you been
there? Are you there now?
You are so messed up you don’t even want to eat! So you
don’t -but it’s not just a hunger strike. You want, or more so need, to draw
close to God to get the nourishment only he can provide. You need the
miraculous fast food we will talk about later-that is food God gives you when
you fast-wow! We’ll discover that next week.
For now, are you in one of those situations? Glory or
grief-God may be calling you into a fast. Now to be clear-Moses, not taking any
water for 40 days as noted in v. 9 & 18 is an exclusive element for that
time, place and person. God never called his people to corporately fast from
water for 40 days. If you have questions on that let me know.
Now lets’ look at another master faster who has a book of
the bible named after him-turn in your bibles to Daniel 1:8-17… again say amen when you get there…
8But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal
food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile
himself this way.
9Now God had caused the official to show favor and
sympathy to Daniel,
10but the official told Daniel, "I am afraid of my
lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you
looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my
head because of you."
11Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official
had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah,
12"Please test your servants for ten days: Give us
nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink.
13Then compare our appearance with that of the young men
who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you
see."
14So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
15At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and
better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.
16So the guard took away their choice food and the wine
they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
Daniel 1:8-17 Daniel knew the fight wasn’t just about
food-what does our culture say you should eat and are we healthier for it?
Daniel knew who he was. He knew what he ate mattered. He
felt this food fight was worth it. What he did has been termed a Daniel Fast.
This fast was all the rage a few years ago with many books written about it. I
never did it then but over the years I’ve been convicted that I too have been eating
the king’s food and I wasn’t getting healthier.
What is the kings food? Rich, tasty food that is fit for a
king! Daniel and his friends knew they could eat whatever they wanted at the
kings table-they could live it up! And so can we-but here’s the catch-if you do
you’ll create a king size appetite and start needing king size clothes! You
will lose the food fight.
It’s just common sense-what do you eat more of: food that
tastes really good or food that is just… well… food. I was amazed recently I
experimented with a normal fast, that is no food-or a Daniel fast-that was just
plants and guess what? I lost as much
weight and felt just as good-actually without the withdrawal effects of a
normal “no food” fast.
So since I did a normal, no food fast, before I’m going to
try a Daniel fast this time-and you’ll get to see if I look healthier after 7,
then 14 then 21, days-and so on. It doesn’t say how long this fast went beyond
the 10 days-but I’m willing to go 40 if others will go with me. Are you ready
to push back the king’s food? What if you would look, feel and think better
after 10 days-how bout we find out together?
Again for clarity-the Hebrew word used in v. 12 and 16 for vegetables
is ZE-RO-A, which actually means any plant that comes from a seed or the seed
it’s self-thus fruits and nuts could also be included on the Daniel fast menu.
Now I know on your outline there is another text with fill
in-but that will come next week-as I want time to preach over the greatest
master faster of all. So come back then :) For now I just want you to consider
this: is God calling you to fast with me? I believe Biblical fasting is the
best way to win the fight against food and sin. So let’s get in the
fight-together with God’s help.
Next Sunday, Lord willing, I will begin a Daniel fast, that
is eating nothing but fruits vegys-I plan to do this for at least 21 days but
if there are those who will do a fast for 40 days I’ll go along with you.
Anyone know what our mission statement is? Our church invites you to live a SAVED
life-anyone remember what the A in saved stands for? ADVENTURE :) Fasting is an
adventure I’m inviting you on.
If God leads you to fast one day or 40 days-I hope you will
push out of your comfort zone and find yourself closer to God as we go on this
adventure, consider what God is calling you to do, even today… let us pray…
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