Prayer & Fasting

Dan Hutchison

Celebration of Discipline • Sermon • Submitted 9 months ago • Presented 9 months ago

Psalm 1:1–3

Matthew 5:5–13

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Intro

Spring in the air

New rhythms this time of year.

Also, a time to get motivated

warmth in the air, more light, birds are singing

Also, this time of year I annually want to encourage us to look at the spiritual practices we have in our lives.

Paul the author of Cor. says about the race of life:

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 NIV

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 forever. 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.

If you are a sports fan this month and last has been a great time.

Finals,

AFL, NRL, - discipline all year to be in the finals

Cricket - endurance over 5 matches

and Soccer - disciplined on the big stage

The reason these teams are in the finals is because of the self-discipline the players have had to put on themselves which brings the team success.

That is the same in our Christian life. And this is where I get so excited because you see the hype and joy that comes with your team being the best, becoming the champions. Well, think about the joy and witness to the community when we as a church are being disciplined and spending time with God our coach.

That only happens when we have good habits of spending time with the Lord.

Yet the joy of Discipline is not something we often speak of. well at least when I was going up in the church (read our bible and pray, only two, but there is so much more), I know you guys are probably getting sick of me going on about it. But I am seeing some great fruit from people engaging with different Spiritual practices. That I will share as we go.

So as we start this new series I want to take us back to the book that has had a significant impact on my life. Opening my eyes to the place of Spiritual disciplines and the different ways that we can meet with and spend time with our Lord in our Life.

The Book:

CELEBRATION OF DISCIPLINE

Richard Foster

Richard Foster is a Christian theologian and author of multiple books on spiritual disciplines.

This book has sold over one million copies. It was named by the magazine Christianity Today as one of the top ten books of the twentieth century.

‘Like a child exploring the attic of an old house on a rainy day, discovering a trunk full of Treasure and then calling all brothers and sisters to share the find, Richard Foster has ‘found’ the spiritual disciplines that the modern world stored away and forgot… the instruments of joy, the way into mature Christian spirituality and abundant life.’

Eugene Peterson

That was my feeling when I read the book and now I am here with you - my brothers and sisters wanting to share this treasure.

Let me give you a quick overview of where we are going over the next 6 weeks.

In the opening pages, the book highlights the door to liberation that spiritual disciplines provide.

Our logo of a door

Spiritual disciplines open the door to liberty from the ingrained habits that keep us in slavery -

The sea does not need to do anything special to produce mire and dirt; that is the result of its natural motions. This is also true of us when we are under the condition of sin. The natural motions of our lives produce mire and dirt. p. 5

We can feel trapped in our lives because of the habits that we have formed without thinking.

To wake up from these habits, to move away from our bodies imposes to please ourselves costs.

That is the cost of discipleship and the need for self-discipline.

We talked about this in our last series around charity and the way the early church gave much of themselves was because God had given much, Jesus his son in fact to bring liberation, grace and forgiveness.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (German Lutheran theologian and pastor; an active opponent of Nazism, he was arrested and sent to prison and later executed 1906-1945)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer makes it clear that grace is free, but it is not cheap. The grace of God is unearned and unearnable, but if we expect to grow in grace, we must pay the price of a consciously chosen course of action which involves both individual and group life. p. 8

Matt Garvin spoke last week about the cost of living a cross-shaped life and to do that we need to be guided and know intimately our heavenly father.

However, we humans are quick to turn discipline into a law for life for ourselves and others, sucking the joy out of the practice. It is a balance but most importantly we must understand the benefits to our soul and the people around us when we lean into these disciplines.

The book is broken up into 3 sections

INWARD DISCIPLINES

MEDITATION

PRAYER

FASTING

STUDY

OUTWARD DISCIPLINES

SIMPLICITY

SOLITUDE

SUBMISSION

SERVICE

CORPORATE DISCIPLINES

CONFESSION

WORSHIP

GUIDANCE

CELEBRATION

In the coming weeks, we will look at 2 of these disciplines a week. The pitfall with doing a series like this is learning about these disciplines but not experiencing them. Can I ask you to make time to contemplate these practices over the next 6 weeks or 40 days, and think of ways to practice and experience these disciplines? Consider how you might integrate them into your life.

The Discipline of Fasting

I wanted to start with Fasting as it is a discipline that we have had some experience with this year and I am thankful for people's comments on how having a go really did give an experience of greater obedience and peace.

We had people in July for our week of prayer and fasting, fasting from food, a meal, coffee, and TV shows.

However, Fasting has been lost from our modern culture and so I am going to go through in more detail what it is.

There are 2 factors why this is not a regular practice today.

Firstly excessive practices and rigid regulations gave fasting a bad reputation coming out of the Middle Ages. It was taken away from its inward focus on the Christian faith and used instead to put stress on the outward form, body appearance. This resulted in nothing written on Christian fasting for 100 years from 1860 - 1954.

Secondly, the constant advertising today that if we do not have 3 large meals a day with several snacks in between we will starve. Compounding this is the belief that we are to always satisfy our human appetite has made fasting obsolete.

summed up well in:

Some have exalted religious fasting beyond all scripture and reason; and others have utterly disregarded it. - John Wesley

Now fasting is not exclusively a Christian discipline all the major religions of the world recognise its merits. So what is a biblical view of fasting?

Throughout Scripture fasting refers to abstaining from food for spiritual purposes. p. 61

It is not a hunger strike used to gain political power or attention. And it is not healthy dieting which stresses abstaining from food for physic and looks.

An example of fasting in the bible is Jesus in the wilderness for 40 days abstaining from solid and liquid food but not water.

Partial fast - restriction of diet - in Daniel

absolute fast - several stories in the bible of abstaining from both food and water. Absolute is only used in the case of an emergency like Ester 4:16 when she learned of the execution of her and all her people:

Esther 4:16 NIV

“Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”

However, in most cases, fasting is a private matter between you and God.

When we do come together to fast as a group it is a wonderful and powerful experience provided we are of one mind in drawing near to Jesus or seeking God to provide a way forward.

See notes for verses to go deeper

The Purpose of Fasting

The first statement Jesus made of fasting dealt with the question of motive.

Matthew 6:16–18 NIV

“When you fast, do not look somber 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. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 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.

So fasting is not to bend God to our will and to get what we want. And that's the same for prayer.

Fasting must forever centre on God. p. 67

Fasting is another way of worship. My experience has been that as I fast I am constantly reminded of God and that he is the one that sustains me as my body lets me know I have skipped a meal.

In fact, I tell people that after day 3 your body is actually more used to it and it is the first three days that it is most on your mind or felt in your stomach.

You experience every craving, but you lay each one down and lift up the name of Jesus as the actual sustainer of life.

The Practice of Fasting

So if you are considering fasting make sure you walk before you run and be informed medically what are the limitations.

I am not asking you to jump straight into 40 days but over this period to try different disciplines.

So start with a partial fast - 24 hrs once a week.

As I said these short stints are actually the hardest but you will become more aware of God’s presence in the mundane and everyday duties as you now perform them in prayer, worship and adoration.

Next year we will again do a week of prayer and fasting and that may be an aim for you to work your way up. I now crave this time with the Lord and enjoy the sacred time with God, even if that appreciation comes after my belly is filled.

So consider fasting this spring. see more details in the notes. Isaiah 58:1-7 is a great story of God’s desire to draw near to you in fasting.

The Discipline of Prayer

Now we all have different experiences with prayer

Foster Begins this section on prayer by stating:

Prayer catapults us onto the frontier of the spiritual life. Of all the Spiritual Disciplines prayer is the most central because it ushers us into communion with the Father.

Real prayer is life-creating and life-changing. p. 52

This life in prayer changes us and transforms us. Progressively, we are taught to see things from God’s point of view.

Is prayer the main business of your life?

Even as I say that I am challenged both by the lack of turning to prayer in my life and also missing out on seeing the world as God does which we experience when we do pray.

During alpha, we had a time of praying for each other, after praying for the holy spirit to enter and guide us. We were all left with a greater desire to be praying for one another.

However, like Peter the waves around us cause us to take our eyes off Jesus and our prayer life is usually the first to go when stress and busyness consume our lives.

Yet

Real prayer is something we learn.

The disciples had to learn from Jesus how to pray. our reading today.

prayer involves a learning process.

Can I encourage you to study prayer in the bible, and look at the patterns of prayer?

1. Turn to a pattern of prayer in our lives.

2. Seek someone with a strong prayer life.

I remember in my teens feeling prompted after the service to go ask for prayer and the lady guided me in prayer.

First, thank God for who he is, bring your request and finish with praise for what God will do.

who do you have in your life to encourage prayer?

3. Pray with expectation.

lately, I am noticing more and more prayers being answered.

Reading this book for the second time, I am challenged to be bold in my faith and expectation that the Holy Spirit will guide me in the right words.

Foster says:

We can determine if we are praying correctly if the request comes to pass. If not, we look for the ‘block’; perhaps we are praying wrongly, perhaps something within us needs changing, perhaps there are new principles of prayer to be learned, perhaps patience and persistence are needed. We listen, make the necessary adjustments, and try again. p.47

I shared a few weeks ago about the book being Christian after Christendom - We are experiencing not the end of Christianity in the West, but the end of the West as a Christian culture.

I have now read the next chapter and it highlights the difference between the average Joe who lived in the Christian worldview and Christian Chris who lived it. A key difference I think is what we are talking about today growing in maturity by practicing spiritual disciplines.

The interesting point it was making was the benefits we have in the West because of our Christian values and beliefs.

He goes on to summarise a few authors that give credit to Christianity for giving rise to the Western culture through the birth of Universal human rights (especially women and children); Justice; selfless heroism; optimism; compassion; education for the masses; public healthcare; the scientific method; secular politics; and morality.

Scientific method -

Greek philosophers had questions but did not test them

Romans and Chinese discovered things by trial and error and coincidence. Not a systematic process of hypothesis-experiement-anaylsis-modified thesis and new test.

To get to this point you need a belief in an ordered universe (other gods are erratic and easily annoyed)

Stewadship - changed with the care for utilize the planet’s resourrces.

Sacredness all human kind, Made in God’s image. progress to improve all human lives.

We see God in Ceation and he invites us to explore and lean into him.

The same is true with prayer. Don’t abandon or decrease your prayer life because it doesn’t seem to work. learn into it.

better record your prayer requests, wrestle with God over it, and ask him to reveal the barriers to your prayer life.

To finish I want to invite you in 3 ways.

We are looking to re-establish a weekly prayer time. 12:30 in the office on a Wednesday.

There are guides to learn more about each of the disciplines and encourage you in a daily bible reading and how to integrate these practices into your life.

And finally, to pray for each other

Can I encourage you to pray for someone after the service simply ask if you can pray for a breakthrough in prayer and leave the holy spirit to guide you and them to the rest.

As I close in prayer, referendum

with Mentone Baptist Church

“Abba Father

Our nation’s past is complex, Lord, and so are our hearts. We pray for all the debate happening around the referendum about the Aboriginal Voice to Parliament at the moment.

You are a God of justice, and we pray that the outcome would be a just one. You are a God of mercy, and we pray that the outcome would be a merciful one.

You are a God who cares for the widows and orphans, the weakest among us, and we pray that the outcome and the way the debate is conducted would honour the weak and helpless.

We pray for our own hearts, that your Holy Spirit would convict us of our own sinful attitudes, wherever they may lie.

We pray for our Aboriginal brothers and sisters in Christ. We thank you for the deep godliness and sanctification of many aboriginal Christians who are living for the Lord, often in tough circumstances. We pray you would keep them faithful to your word, and fill them with your Spirit boldly to declare the praises of him who called them out of darkness into his marvelous light. We pray that you would open a door for their ministry, so that more and more aboriginal men and women can find freedom, fulfilment and life in Christ.

With issues like the Voice likely to cause divisions among Christians, we pray the words that Jesus himself prayed in John 17:

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen”