Transcript Slide 1
Lent : Week (4) –
Fasting
30th March 2014
What do the different Church traditions say?
What does the Bible say?
Why fast ?
Does it work ? A personal experience
How does one start ?
Plenty in the West – 15% increase in calories per day in last
50 years
‘our diets are becoming increasingly energy-dense and
sweeter’
‘there are now more overweight and obese people than
underweight or malnourished in the world’
‘The consequent health burden arising from the nutrition
transition is enormous. Increased consumption of highly
calorific and more energy-dense food with less activity
leads to an increased incidence of obesity and diet-related
diseases like diabetes, coronary heart disease (CHD) and
certain types of cancer’
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has
a demon.” The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they
say, “Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors
and sinners.” But wisdom is proved right by her deeds’
Matthew 11 v 18-19
‘Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the
outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but
into their stomach, and then out of the body.’ (In saying this,
Jesus declared all foods clean.)
Mark 7 v 18-19
They order people to abstain from certain foods, which God
created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe
and who know the truth. For everything God created is good,
and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving
1 Timothy 4 v 3-4
Orthodox – Lent, Advent, Feast of the Apostles (June),
Feast of the Virgin Mary (August)
Roman Catholics – Ash Wednesday and Good Friday
Protestants – fear of asceticism and legalism
Wesley’s requirement of Methodist ministers – to fast
every Wednesday and Friday
The Day of Atonement
The LORD said to Moses, ‘The tenth day of this
seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a
sacred assembly and deny yourselves (or fast)
and present a food offering to the LORD. Do not
do any work on that day, because it is the Day
of Atonement, when atonement is made for
you before the LORD your God.
Leviticus 23 v 26-28
Moses – 40 days on Sinai
Nehemiah – repentance and blessing
Esther – at a time of peril
Daniel – repentance and mercy
People of Nineveh fast and repent in response
to Jonah
Then the word of the LORD Almighty came to me: 5 ‘Ask
all the people of the land and the priests, “When you
fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months
for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you
fasted? 6 And when you were eating and drinking, were
you not just feasting for yourselves? 7
Zechariah 7 v 4-6
‘Even now,’ declares the LORD,
‘return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.’
Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity
Matthew 6 v 16-18
Matthew 9 v 14-15
Acts 13 v 1-3
Acts 14 v 23
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. 17 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 v 16-18
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 v 14-15
Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and
teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of
Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with
Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were
worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,
‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to
which I have called them.’ So after they had fasted and
prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent
them off.
Acts 13 v 1-3
Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them
in each church and, with prayer and fasting,
committed them to the Lord, in whom they
had put their trust
Acts 14 v 23
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only
one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the
prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict
training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we
do it to get a crown that will last for ever.
Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do
not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to
my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached
to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
1 Corinthians 9 v 24-27
Cleanse the body
Develop self-control / self-discipline
Seek God’s favour and guidance
Humble oneself / repentance
Become more sensitive to those in need
A spiritual purpose – draw near to God
Sara’s fast over Andrew’s career change
‘Luxuries’
Abstinence
One meal (using the time to pray)
One day
Longer periods
Fasting as a community
TV
Video games
Internet
Shopping
Our health
Our struggle against self-indulgence and ‘comfort’
eating
A personal commitment to seek God’s guidance
A corporate turning to God with prayer and fasting