Fasting By God’s Grace
By Steve Sudworth
In the early years of leading Anthem Church, I confess that fasting was perhaps the one thing I avoided most. I refused to read books about it. I skimmed over Scriptures that mentioned it. I certainly never preached about it (not until a few years ago) and if I ever did it, it was with little faith. Fasting was my weak attempt to impress God, yet it was when He seemed most distant—which made me grumpy…and hungry.
So I write this article as a fasting novice. However I’m determined for the fullness of God’s Word to form me, and I’m desperate to enjoy and to experience all that God has for me, my family and His church—and fasting is a part of that. Along this journey the single greatest truth God has taught me is this: fasting is an expression of our longing for intimacy with Jesus.
And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.” (Matthew 9:15)
Before we can understand what Jesus is teaching in this Scripture, we need to read it in the context of the verses that both precede it and follow it.
Jesus’ teaching on fasting is preceded by the account of His meal with Matthew, the tax collector, whom Jesus had called as one of His disciples (Matthew 9:9) and His friend—something that horrified the religious leaders (Matthew 9:10-11). Jesus responds in verse 12, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick”—meaning that intimacy with Jesus (the meal) isn’t achieved through self-righteousness (Matthew 9:13).
After His comments on fasting, Jesus immediately talks about the change and transformation that comes from Him alone. The wineskin (people, church, etc.) needs to be flexible and able to adjust to the wine (the life of God) otherwise both are lost (Matthew 9:17). The bridge, or link, between intimacy with Jesus and lasting change and transformation is our longing for Him, our Bridegroom, expressed through fasting (Matthew 9:15). The grace for fasting is found in our revelation of Jesus and in our desire to be with Him.
There is a tendency to label fasting as “legalistic” or “religious.” The Pharisees certainly demonstrated this:
And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (Matthew 9:11)
So did the disciples of John the Baptist:
Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” (Matthew 9:14)
The struggle behind both questions is this: intimacy with Jesus is not earned or achieved through performance. The Pharisees were essentially asking Jesus; “What have those sinners done to deserve or earn Jesus’ favor?” The answer is clear—nothing! That’s grace: the abundance of God’s blessing and goodness unearned yet poured out upon us without limit, because of Jesus’ death and resurrection. John’s disciples asked a different question with a similar heart: “Why do we have to fast (in the hope of earning blessing) yet your disciples don’t?” The context of Jesus’ teaching on fasting is this: we are free from having to earn His favor and blessing through performance.
What does Jesus teach us about fasting?
We must remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 9:15: And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
Firstly, Jesus isn’t teaching if we should fast—that’s settled. Jesus endorsed fasting (Matthew 6:16: “When you fast…”) and He fasted Himself (Matthew 4:2). In setting Himself as the supreme example, Jesus taught that fasting is for a specific time and specific reason: a when and a why.
When should we fast?
The physical person of Jesus is no longer with us at this time (“The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast”). Arthur Wallis, author of God’s Chosen Fast says this: “Fasting opens the way for the outpouring of the Spirit and the restoration of God’s house. Fasting in this age of the absent Bridegroom is in expectation of His return. Soon there will be the midnight cry, “Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” It will be too late then to fast and to pray. The time is now.”
Why do we fast?
We fast because we long for Jesus more than anything or anyone else. Three important words in Matthew 9:15 emphasize this (they’re underlines below):
Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The Bridegroom is obviously Jesus—full of grace, tender in mercy, fiery in passion and always motivated by love. We are the guests (or “friends” in some translations). Jesus says of us in John 15:14, “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” Because we are His friends, we mourn for the Bridegroom—for Jesus. To mourn is to long for. It’s painful at times; it’s a love-sickness caused by separation when we remember times of intimacy. It causes an active pursuit. Jesus is teaching that the active pursuit for intimacy with Him is expressed through fasting as a lifestyle—along with the other “disciplines” He teaches about in the Sermon on the Mount (prayer, repentance, obedience to His word, forgiveness, generosity, etc.).
Jesus is our “why” for fasting: intimacy with Him is our motivation. The Bible mentions 8 reasons to fast. Jesus doesn’t replace them but in each of them He is the overarching motivation:
Fasting to avert a crisis (Jonah 3): Jesus is our Rescuer.
Fasting to experience the power of God in ministry (Matthew 17): Jesus is the Worker of Miracles.
Fasting for revival (Joel 2): Jesus is the Savior of the World.
Fasting to express sorrow or mourning (Psalm 69): Jesus is our Strong Tower.
Fasting because of personal loss (2 Samuel 1): Jesus is our Comforter.
Fasting to prepare for a divine assignment (Acts 13): Jesus is the One who calls us.
Fasting to confess sin over a city or nation (Nehemiah 9): Jesus is the Lord of the Nations.
Fasting for understanding and divine revelation (Jeremiah 36): Jesus is our Wisdom.
The Bible teaches that Jesus rewards fasting: (v16-18):
“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)
The teaching is clear—when we fast (or pray or give, for that matter) with the wrong motive (for others to notice), our reward is nothing more than the praise of man. But when our motive is to honor Jesus alone, the Father sees it and He rewards us.
What is the reward of fasting?
It’s more “internal” than “external.” It’s new wine “housed” by a flexible wineskin (Matthew 9:17). In his book, A Hunger For God, John Piper captures this understanding perfectly: “Fasting is peculiarly suited to glorify God because we look away from ourselves to Christ as our only hope, and that gives the Father an occasion to magnify the glory of His grace in the all-providing work of His Son. Fasting is fundamentally an offering of emptiness to God in hope. It is a sacrifice of need and hunger. It says, by its very nature, “Father, I am empty, but you are full. I am hungry, but you are the Bread of Heaven. I am thirsty, but you are the fountain of Life. I am weak, but you are strong. I am poor, but you are rich. I am foolish, but you are wise. I am broken, but you are whole. I am dying, but your steadfast love is better than life. The final answer is that God rewards fasting because fasting expresses the cry of the heart that nothing on the earth can satisfy our souls besides God.”
The reward of fasting is “more” of Jesus, manifest in various ways:
An enlarged capacity and desire to “encounter” God…the more we taste of Him, the more we want
A greater revelation of God, His Word and His presence
A greater desire to obey God and to please Him in every way (Colossians 1:10)
A strengthening of your spiritual identity: I am in Christ!
A zeal for righteousness
In his “Systematic Theology” Wayne Grudem lists these benefits of fasting:
Fasting increases our sense of humility and dependence on the Lord (our hunger and physical weakness continually remind us how we are not really strong in ourselves but need the Lord).
Fasting allows us to give more attention to prayer (for we are not spending time on eating, etc.).
Fasting is a continual reminder that, just as we sacrifice some personal comfort to the Lord by not eating, so we must continually sacrifice all of ourselves to him.
Fasting is a good exercise in self-discipline, for as we refrain from eating food, which we would ordinarily desire, our ability to refrain from sin, to which we might otherwise be tempted to yield, is strengthened. If we train ourselves to accept the small “suffering” of fasting willingly, we will be better able to accept other suffering for the sake of righteousness (Hebrews 5:8;
1 Peter 4:1-2).Fasting heightens spiritual and mental alertness and a sense of God’s presence as we focus less on the material things of this world (such as food) and as the energies of our body are freed from digesting and processing food. This enables us to focus on eternal spiritual realities that are much more important.
Fasting expresses earnestness and urgency in our prayers: if we continually fasted, eventually we would die. Therefore, in a symbolic way, fasting says to God that we are prepared to lay down our lives so that the situation would be changed rather than continue.
Concluding Comments
Above all else, ask God to help you in your pursuit of Jesus. Remember that He is our Great Reward
After reading this article, if nothing else, be intentional to study God’s Word further, to pray and to speak to the elders about fasting. Don’t just walk away from the subject!
If you feel stirred to respond, then be intentional and start fasting right away. Start simply (maybe fast a meal once a week to pray instead).
Resources for further study:
God’s Chosen Fast by Arthur Wallis
A Hunger for God by John Piper
Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem
The Hidden Power of Prayer and Fasting by Mahesh Chavda