Real Righteousness - Fasting - Part 1 (Matthew 6: 16-18)

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome
• 1:18 Fasting an Introduction
• 9:11 How Not To Fast.
• 13:32 The Right Way To Fast
• 18:09 Story Illustration.
• 20:45 Farewell and Outro

Transcript

Real Righteousness – Fasting

Matthew 6: 16-18

 Introduction

If I were to ask you, what do you have to do in terms of a religious practice to be righteous or Holy before God, what would you expect that most people would say. Something like praying might be an answer as to what people would think comes under the category of righteousness. Giving to the Lord would certainly be on the list and that would be hard to disagree with. What else would you add to the list well, I could think of a number of things today but if you lived in the 1st century Israel the religious leaders of Jesus day had list and it consisted basically of three things. They said that being righteous was about doing things like praying, giving and they added to that list the concept of fasting.

Elsewhere Jesus told a story a parable about two people that went to the temple to pray one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector that story is recorded in Luke chapter 18 and here’s what it says.

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. [Now listen carefully to what he says next]12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”  (Luke 18: 10-14)

Notice what the pharisee said that in order to demonstrate that he was righteous he offers as proof of his righteousness the fact that he was fasting twice a week and that he gives a tithe of all that he possesses. My point is simply this, that in the 1st century if you wanted to be righteous at least according to the Pharisees you had to do three things, pray, give money and fast. In this, the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus is talking about righteousness you will have already heard me say that Jesus is teaching that.

“Unless our righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees we will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5: 20)

Jesus is talking about righteousness but his purpose here throughout his sermon is to contrasts the Pharisees external type of righteousness versus real righteousness which is internal and from the heart.

When he arrives at this point described in chapter six, he then starts talking about our inner attitudes as expressed through external religious practices, and he talks about these three things by way of illustration. He talks about giving to the poor, prayer and fasting. Now it is significant that he’s chosen these three things because those are the three things the Pharisees considered what you had to do in terms of religious practices in order to be righteous. We have already looked at the charitable giving and prayer and today we will plunge into this subject of fasting. Before we do that, I need to make a couple of observations.

One observation is that Jesus is assuming that his listeners would fast sometimes. That’s already a problem because most Christians today simply don’t fast. One reason given is that this was their custom, they fasted on the day of atonement, and they fasted on some other historical and special occasions. Like when there was a spiritual decline hey would repent and fast, as seen in several Old Testament passages. However, the question is should we fast today. That was their practice then and Jesus is assuming they did it, but does that still apply to us today. Well let’s let Jesus answer that question. After he gave the sermon on the mount if you look a little forward in chapter 9 of Matthews account you will discover that he said this.

Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. (Matthew 9: 14-15)

In this verse Jesus represents the bridegroom and he’s saying that if the bride groom is here his disciples aren’t fasting but when the bride groom leaves then they will fast. So, Jesus assumes in the Sermon on the Mount that they were fasting, and he specifically says that after he leaves his disciples will fast. So that answers the question we should fast if Jesus is not amongst us. Does that just conjure up all kinds of questions in your mind. Like what is fasting and why do we do it and how do we do it and how often should we do it? The list goes on and on.  Well, I’d like to address some of those questions today but my main purpose is to explain the Sermon on the Mount and actually in the sermon on the mount fasting is simply being used as an illustration. It’s not really the main point in the sermon. So, we will approach this matter in more detail when it is addressed directly later as we progress through Matthews gospel account.

You see the Sermon on the Mount is mainly about Jesus talking about righteousness, and the example of giving and praying and fasting are the three illustrations he uses to make his main point about what real righteousness looks like. Here’s what I’d like to do is today, I would like us to go to the passage and just look at the passage and see what Jesus is trying to teach us about righteousness but when I get all that done I’ll take some time and address the questions concerning fasting. So, we’re going to do double down over the next two episodes. There has been a pattern so far in this sermon, Jesus has told us first what to do and what not to do, and this time he is going to tell us the wrong way to fast and then the right way to fast.

How Not To Fast.

Frankly the passage is reasonably straightforward, verse 16.

When you fast, do not look sombre as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. (Matthew 6: 16)

“When you fast”. Let’s just pause right there for a second. As I mentioned a moment ago, he’s assuming that you fast, he didn’t say if you fast, he said, when you fast, so he’s clearly assuming that you are doing that. The Old Testament law prescribed at least an annual fast on the day of atonement, but Pharisees of course always went beyond the law and there are indications in the New Testament that they fasted twice a week. In Luke 18 it says they fasted on Mondays and Thursdays and what they did is they looked very sad and hungry while they were doing it. 

So, Jesus says, “when you fast do not be like the hypocrites with a sad countenance”. The law says you should fast, but they went beyond the law and fasted, and even more than the law required. But, Jesus says they did it with a sad face, as a matter of fact he goes on to explain they changed their faces so that they looked like they were fasting. As a matter of fact, left their hair and beard unattended and coloring their faces to make them look pale. In other words, they use cosmetic effects to make them look like death warmed up, and they did it for show. They made a display of it.  This was not spirituality at all, it was showmanship, they were pretending to be spiritual when, they were in reality not. They were hypocrite playing the part of being spiritual when in reality they really weren’t.

That’s what the Pharisees were doing and that’s why Jesus calls them hypocrites, they wanted everybody to see’ look I am fasting I am spiritual and Jesus says when you fast don’t do that. As a matter of fact, he says in verse 16, “assuredly I say to you that you they have their reward”. Don’t do that. The Pharisees are doing it to get the applause and attention of people and they got what they were after, they got their reward. When you fast don’t put it on the church bulletin and don’t go around and tell everybody you’re fasting with a hungry face. That doesn’t mean that that other people can’t know your fasting there are example in the scripture groups of people who fasted and the whole church community fasted as a group. So obviously other people knew they were doing it, that’s not the point, the point is motive, that you’re doing it with the motive of other people seeing you do it and that’s what Jesus says is not legitimate righteousness.

We’ve seen over and over again in this Sermon on the Mount that real righteousness begins with an inner attitude and while that may be outworked by an external practices, their first has to be the inner attitude that I’m doing this for the father and not to be seen by other people. When our reputation becomes more important than our character, we have become hypocrites, so Jesus is saying that’s the way not to do it. Well how should you do it?

The Right Way To Fast

Verse 17 onwards will tell us, 

But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Matthew 6: 17-18)

So very straightforward here's what you do, instead of putting on cosmetics that makes you look like a corpse stay fresh faced. That’s the point of verse 17, when he says anoint your head and wash your face. In other words, just look normal and hide from others as much as possible the fact that you’re fasting. Because he reminds us in verse 18 that our father who knows about the secrets of our hearts will know you fasting and will reward you for that.

I’ve said repeatedly the point of this passage has to do with righteousness, real righteousness versus this phony or external righteousness, and Jesus is simply saying that if you fast to be seen of people then you will have your final reward as far as it goes will be the admiration of a few fellow shallow human beings.  But if you fast secretly before God will reward. Jesus is teaching real righteousness is an internal attitude of the heart not an external display to attract the attention of people. That I think summarizes what this passage is trying to say, now having said all of that let me make some observations.

If you start with Ch 6 verse one you go down through to verse 18 you will see Jesus has been talking about three things. Giving, praying and fasting. But if you just read those 18 verses all at once you will see that there are reoccurring themes that keep cropping up in each of the three cases. The whole point of the whole passage is don't do religious things to be seen of others, and he contrast that with the alternative of doing them to be seen by your father which is in heaven. Real righteousness is an inner attitude of doing things as unto our father in heaven and they are not usually seen by people on the earth.

The second theme that runs through all three illustrations is that of hypocrisy. In all three cases he says don’t be like the hypocrites and pretend to be spiritual, whether it’s giving, praying, or fasting or some other activity today in the modern church. Don’t do any of that just so other people will think you are spiritual or blessed with special gifts of the Holy Spirit. If you played the part of trying to look spiritual when in your heart, you’re not it will stunt your spiritual growth. So eliminate those things from your life that are motivated by false righteousness and hypocrisy because they will prevent you from really being the person you ought to be and it’ll prevent you from growing spiritually.

Church is always in danger of developing a legalistic culture and can end up with people doing things in order to gain attention or to try and make it look like they are doing great things for God when they are really only trying to look good. The danger is church can potentially become a place where actors take part in a sort of religious play rather than serving one another and the wider society, as unto the Lord. Let me close today’s episode with a story that I think illustrates this.

Story Illustration.

There was a man who desperately needed a job he was running out of options, and he applied to get a job at the local zoo. But the manager said, “I’m sorry but there’s nothing for me to offer you”. But then the zoo manager looked at this guy and he noticed he was a rather large chap and he said, “you know unfortunately our gorilla died the other day”, if we could get you a gorilla suit would you be willing to play the part of a gorilla until we could get another one.

The guy was so desperate for job he said yes, I’ll do it, so they got him the gorilla suit and he went out into the cage wearing the suit and he beat his chest he rattled the bars on the cage, and the people were just thrilled. And he got more and more confident, and he swung, and he climbed high an rolled around and the crown particularly the children loved it. So, he got on the trapeze that was in the cage and he swung so high he was swinging over the lions cage and he lost his grip and he fell into the lions cage. Immediately this ferocious lion let out a roar and the man, well he was scared to death, and he backed up against the bars and he tried to get back over the fence back into the gorilla cage. But the lion slowly came nearer and nearer, and he thought I need to call for help, but if I do, I’m going to blow my cover and everybody will know this is not a real gorilla.

So, he was backing up but the lion kept coming towards him and finally the man just couldn’t take anymore he let out a whimper “help” and the lion said, “shut up stupid or we will both get fired”.

I wonder how any people have put on a gorilla suit when they come go to church. Well Jesus says here don’t do that, don’t be an actor, don’t be a hypocrite, do everything you do, as unto the Lord.

Now there’s a third theme that runs through this and echoes down every chamber that he travels and that is the whole idea of rewards to come. But we will look at that in the next episode.