Matthew 6:16-18

Having been taught by Jesus the manner in which we are to pray He now returns to the matter of how we carry out the disciplines of life.  Remember that His concern is with hypocrisy, and He has made it clear that our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees.  Having applied these things to charitable deeds and prayer He now comes to the discipline of fasting.

Fasting is not the popular discipline that giving and praying are.  This is a loss for God’s people.  Far from a method of dieting, or some masochistic means of prying something from a selfish god or gaining an advantage from a good god, Biblical fasting is a rich and deep discipline that provides wonderful opportunities to grow deeper in one’s relationship with God.

Consider this definition of fasting.

An AFFLICTING of the SOUL through a specific TIME of depriving the BODY of basic NEEDS and/or COMFORTS as a demonstration to GOD of intense DESIRE about a SPECIFIC concern.

We tend to think of fasting as a physical discipline.  But in Scripture this practice is for the afflicting of the soul, the inner man (Lev. 16:29; Ps. 69:10; 35:13).  Fasting may have various durations.  Israel fasted for one 24-hour period on the day of Atonement.  Jesus fasted 40 days.  The duration may depend on the depth of the worshiper’s desire to know God.  

Fasting is generally associated with prayer (Acts 13:3; 14:23; Dan. 9:3; Matt. 17:21).  At times, especially in the Old Testament, fasting was joined with other signs of affliction such as sackcloth (Ps. 35:13), ashes (Dan. 9:3), dust on the head (Neh. 9:1-2), tears (Ps. 69:10), or tearing the clothes (1 Ki. 21:27).  Fasting is joined with the grieving over sin that Jesus referred to in the Beatitudes. 

For Christians it would seem that the bottom line is that fasting provides a point of identification with Christ Who in His incarnation left the glories of heaven, experienced all our grief, and suffered the ultimate affliction on the cross.  His afflictions are called the suffering of His soul in Isa. 53:11.  In fasting we have an opportunity to become more associated with Christ in that aspect of His person and work (Phil. 3:10).

This discipline is to be especially encouraged when the believer sees apathy or lukewarmness in his life.  As one seeks God in His word during a time of grieving over sin, of prayer and fasting he inevitably sees the Spirit at work to bring a return of passion for Christ.

Let us not forget Jesus’ point here.  He assumes fasting will take place.  He warns against doing this to be seen of men.  So in the process one must take care not to parade the discipline before others but to make it purely between himself and God.