Listening to God - Fasting

Pastor Burcham’s Sermon

Sunday, June 27, 2010

I’ve often said that I wish God had an 800 number. In fact, even if He had a 900 number, I’d shell out the bucks for it. If there was a way in which I could call God up at key moments in my life and just have a conversation with Him, when I’m wrestling with a big decision, when I’m trying to figure out when I have some questions about life or just when I need to have a conversation where I could hear Him speak clearly to me and give me some direction and guidance, I’d gladly pay to have that opportunity to listen to what God would say to me. And I don’t think I’m alone.

I think every one of us here wants to hear from God. We want to have God speak into our lives and that’s nothing new. Throughout all of history, His people have wanted to hear from Him. They’ve wanted to listen to what God has to say and that’s why, historically, they have developed these spiritual disciplines as a way in which God maybe could speak into their lives, in which they could sort of open themselves up to hearing God. Because you see, the point is God is speaking. God is speaking through His Word. I believe God is speaking through our lives. The problem isn’t that God isn’t speaking; the problem is we’re not always listening.

We have so many things going on around us and our heads are full of so many thoughts, it’s difficult at times to really listen to God. That’s why for the past few weeks, we’ve been going old school. We’ve been dipping back in history. We’ve been trying to resurrect some historical, spiritual disciplines that time has tested and that God’s people said they’re useful tools.

I believe that we’ve all been stretched with some of them. And this week may be the biggest stretch of all. As we talk about fasting, giving something up, traditionally, fasting means that we’re going to stop eating for a time. We’re going to live only on liquids and we’re going to spend that time focusing on God. Culturally, socially, that just isn’t something that we do. Perhaps we give something up during Lent. But the whole idea of going without eating, of giving something up so we can spend time focusing on God, that just kind of seems out there a little bit.

But the ironic part of it is, of all the things we’ve talked about for the past four weeks, the one that scripture mentions the most is fasting. Over 50 times in the bible, it talks about His people coming to Him with fasting and prayer, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. 

So throughout time, at least in biblical times, this was a way in which people would prepare themselves and open themselves up for God to speak into their lives. It wasn’t something God commanded them to do but it was a way in which they could focus on God.

So this morning, I’m going to ask you to come at this with an open mind and an open heart. And maybe together we can breathe new life into this whole idea of fasting. Scripturally, fasting was always giving up food. I’m not sure that works today. I think we are so well fed and we are so well nourished that just giving up food for a time, I’m not sure it has the same impact on us. Maybe it does for you. But the whole purpose behind fasting is that we want to spend an intentional and intense time listening to God.

So, therefore, what can you give up, what can you set aside for a specific time that will constantly draw your attention that, for this season in my life, for these specific days or weeks, I want to focus on God. Maybe it’s your Blackberry. Maybe it’s your cell phone. Maybe it’s television. Maybe it’s the computer. Maybe it’s reading. What is it that you turn to on a daily basis that instead of turning to it, you would turn to God’s Word?

As I look through scripture and I read all of those 50-some odd passages about fasting, I found out that there are three key things to fasting. Fasting needs to be purposeful. It has to be personal and it will be powerful.

The most important aspect is fasting has to be purposeful. What I mean by that is we have to have in mind exactly what is it that we want to accomplish through this discipline? What is it we’re after? Overall, the purpose is to listen to God, that we’re going to spend time intently and intensely listening to God. This is going to be a tool in which we can do this so the overall purpose is that we want to hear from God.

What fasting is not is a way to drop a few pounds. What fasting is not is a way to punish ourselves in front of God. What fasting is not is a way for us to stop a bad habit. I say those things because I think the only real experience we have that comes close to fasting is this whole idea during Lent. Some people say, “Well, I’ve given up chocolate for Lent.” Other people say, “I’ve given up pop for Lent,” or “I’ve given up caffeine for Lent.” Haven’t you heard people say that? Maybe you’ve done that. Usually, when people say that to me they always follow it up with this, “Yeah, I’ve given up chocolate for Lent because I really need to lose a few pounds anyways.” “Yeah, I’ve given up drinking pop for Lent because really, that’s just not a good habit for me to be in.”

My point is if you need to give up eating chocolate, then just give it up. If you need to stop drinking pop, then just stop drinking pop. Don’t mix the two. If this is going to be a spiritual journey for you, then understand the purpose for it and don’t let it be deluded, don’t get sidetracked with something else.

The purpose is to listen to God. We’re going to set something aside so instead of reaching for it, I’m going to reach into God’s Word. If we can take this discipline of fasting and if we can link it up with some of the other disciplines that we’ve learned from the past few weeks, I think it can be powerful in your life, if you’ll give it a shot, if you’ll give it a chance. If you can link up fasting with meditation, that is, you’re going to turn to God’s Word, there’s going to be a passage that you’re going to live with during the time which you are fasting. If you can link it up with journaling, you can write down, “What is God saying to me? What am I experiencing? What’s happening through this time of fasting?” I believe that God will truly speak into your lives. But the most important aspect is your attitude coming into it, that you have in mind, “This is going to be an intentional and intense time to listen to God.”

In scripture, there are three key times that His people turned to Him in fasting and prayer. You read through all of them and these three sort of themes emerge from that, the purpose why people come to Him during a fast. The first one is in times of mourning. When people suffered a loss in scripture and their hearts were aching, they would enter into a time of fast and prayer. For example, the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah starts out, if you will recall, Nehemiah is in exile. He’s over in Babylon and he has emissaries come back from Jerusalem. The walls are torn down. The temple is in shambles. Overall, morale is at the lowest point. It is a very, very sad time for God’s people. This is what He says. “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days, I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.” His heart is aching. He is mourning what’s happening with his people. And so in this time of discomfort and pain, he turns to God and he fasts and he prays.

Are you at a point where you’re mourning the loss of something? Has there been a death in the family? Has there been a death of a loved one? Is this the time of year when you remember somebody that you’ve lost? Do you have a loss of a relationship? Do you have a loss of a dream? Is this a time when you need God to comfort you? Then instead of reaching for the Blackberry, reach for God’s Word and perhaps the very next verse in Nehemiah, “Oh, Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant of love.” Do you need to live with that verse for a week or a couple of days? The great and awesome God, the God who is beyond comprehension and yet, He keeps His covenant of love. In other words, God keeps His promises to you. When God promises, when Jesus says, “Believe in me and you shall be saved. You’ll have eternal life,” to know that your loved one had faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and they’re in heaven, they’re waiting for you and you’ll be reunited with them, you have God’s promise, His covenant of love and He doesn’t waiver from that. He won’t let you down. Are you struggling through things and you don’t understand? So God says, “You know what, I’ll never give you more than you can handle. I won’t push you over the edge.” Do you need to have that verse just sink in, this awesome wonderful God who keeps His covenant of love? Just meditate on that and let God speak to you and heal your hurts. That’s what fasting is about. This is an intense and intentional time for God to speak to you.

The second reason the people of God turned to Him in fasting is in repentance, when they had done something they knew was against God and they couldn’t quite get over it, they couldn’t understand or really comprehend God’s forgiveness or maybe they couldn’t forgive themselves and so they would turn to God in fasting and prayer, not to punish themselves and somehow pay for their sins but to be reminded of God’s love and God’s grace.

For this example, we turn to 1 Samuel. Samuel comes to the people at a time when they have fallen away from God. They have given into all the pagan gods of the surrounding countries and they have all but forgotten the one true God. Samuel comes on the scene. This is what is recorded in Chapter 7, “When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day, they fasted and they confessed, ‘We have sinned against the Lord.’” They entered into a time where they humbled themselves before God and they fasted and they prayed and they confessed before God.

Do you have something that has been nagging at you all week? All year? For the past decade? Sometimes, I’m surprised at how long people carry around sins from the past that they won’t let go. Then all of a sudden, it rears its ugly head when they least expect it. Something you did as a teenager, something you did in your 20’s and you haven’t quite comprehended God’s forgiveness. You haven’t forgiven yourself. Instead of reaching for the remote this next week, maybe you need to reach for God’s Word. And you go into a time of fasting. You give up the tube. And each time that you’re going to go watch the tube, maybe you read 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He’s faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” We understand that God forgives sins but we’re asking here for God to purify us, to wash us clean. Do you need to read that passage maybe 100 times this next week, to really let it sink in, to be reminded that you have a faithful God, that you have a just God, a God who was willing to sacrifice His Son, a Son who was willing to give up His life, is willing to shed His blood so that He could purify you from all unrighteousness? Does that need to sink into your soul? Do you need to read it through four and five times a day until God finally breaks through to your heart and He says, yes, He loves you that much and, yeah, His forgiveness is that powerful? That’s what fasting can be for. But it’s an intense, intentional time for God to speak to you.

The third time in which God’s people turned to fasting and prayer is when they had big decisions, monumental decisions. This time, we go to the New Testament, the book of Acts 13, “While they were worshiping 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.” Now maybe this doesn’t sound like a big deal to you. Okay, they’re going to send a couple of guys off in a mission field, except that one of the guys’ name is Saul. You recall who he is, do you not? Saul is the one who was the number one enemy of the Christian church. Saul is the one who stood by and watched it as they stoned Stephen to death. Saul is the one who hauled them off to jail because they were Christians, because he saw us as a threat to Judaism. He was the number one enemy of Christians. Now, all of a sudden, Saul comes on the scene and he says, “No, no, Jesus appeared to me and now I believe.” Are you sure? Can he be trusted? Can they send him out as their emissary? They came before God with fasting and prayer and said, “God, we need your leadership, we need your guidance. What should we do?”

Do you have a big decision? Are you deciding whether now is the time to retire or not? Are you deciding whether you need to move half way across the country because they want to transfer you? Do you have something that’s looming out there? Do you need to turn to God and you really want Him to speak to you?

Maybe instead of clicking on the computer and googling, maybe you need to pick up God’s Word. Maybe Psalm 119:33, “Teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees and I will keep them to the end. Give me understanding.” Does this become your prayer for the next week? Is this what you say over and over again, that each time you’re going to go sit down at the terminal, instead you don’t sit down at the computer. You pick up the scriptures and you pray that prayer and it says, “Teach me, God. Give me understanding. I don’t know what’s happening. I’m not sure which way I should go.” Opening yourself up for God to pour into you.

Do you understand what I’m saying here? Fasting isn’t something you do on a weekly basis, not on a monthly basis. When you have something big in your life, scripturally speaking, when there was mourning, when there’s repentance and there are big decisions, God’s people spent an intense and intentional time of saying, “I want to listen to God.” That was their purpose, the most important aspect of fasting, to set aside something for a time so you can be immersed in God’s Word and open yourself up to listening to Him.

The most important part about fasting is that it’s purposeful, but it’s also personal and it should be deeply personal. A few moments ago, we heard the words of Jesus. Listen again, He says, “When you fast,” isn’t that interesting? He doesn’t say, “if you fast.” He says, “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting.” He’s talking about the Pharisees. The Pharisees would fast twice a week and everybody around them knew they were fasting. They would look a wreck as they’d go out in public. They wouldn’t comb their hair. They wouldn’t wash their face. And everybody would say, “Ah, look, they’re fasting, how pious they are, how wonderful they are.” Jesus says, “No, comb your hair, wash your face. The only one who should know that you’re fasting from something is God, only your Father in heaven.”

It is part of the mystery, if you will. It is part of the spiritual aspect of fasting. This is something between you and God. No one else needs to know. I suppose if somebody notices that you haven’t returned 14 e-mails because you’re not looking at your Blackberry, yeah, you’re probably going to have to tell them. But could that be a powerful witness? “You know what, I’m on a spiritual journey for the next week. I put down the Blackberry. I will respond when I get back to the office.” You don’t need to tell them what. You don’t need to tell them you’re in a time of mourning, repentance, big decision, it’s personal. It’s yours. This needs to be a time between you and God. Fasting is personal.

I believe fasting is powerful but the only way it’s going to be powerful is if it’s sacrificial. And when I say sacrificial, I mean that it has to be a willing sacrifice. It isn’t, “I’m going to punish myself before God and make myself worthy of Him.” No, no, no, I’m talking about if it isn’t something that you rely on, if it isn’t something that you won’t miss, then it’s not going to be effective. So if you go into fasting and you say, “I’m going to lose a few pounds so I might as well stop eating for a time,” no, no, no, there’s a benefit to it. You give up something where there is no benefit to be found in you giving it up except that this is time that you’re going to spend with God. And it has to be something that you turn to on a regular basis so instead of turning to it, you turn to God.

The only way I really know how to demonstrate this is to use myself. I’ve never fasted so this is new for me. But I’m willing to try it. I’m willing to say if biblically, historically this has worked for God’s people, then I have to bet it’s going to work for me, too. So I’m going to let you know what I’m going to give up for the next week. And I will be honest with you, I made this decision on Thursday and up until the moment I announced it last night at service, I wasn’t sure I was going to. You’re going to think it’s silly when I tell you what it is but this is a huge part of my life, believe it or not. I’m giving up my I-Pad for a week. You think, “So what?” No, no, you don’t understand. Months before it was released, I saved up my shekels to buy one of these little gizmos because I couldn’t have an I-phone because I’m married to Verizon. And I love technology. If you know me, you know that I love technology. Saved up my shekels. They went on sale, pre-order sale March 12 at 7:30 a.m. Central Standard Time. 7:42 a.m. I placed my order.

It arrived Easter Saturday afternoon. After the two services Saturday night, I came home and I set up my I-Pad and stayed up until midnight doing it. It has not left my side. All of my e-mail, I look at on here. All of my calendar is on here. The books I’m reading, there are two right now, they’re on here. The music I listen to is on here. When I go to the gym, so I’m not bored out of my tree on the treadmill, I watch this. When I surf the Internet at night, I go to this. Movies that I watch when I’m traveling, it’s on this. Ask my family, ask my friends, ask Pastor Tim, it’s with me all the time. As of last night at service, I turned it off. It won’t be on until noon next Sunday.

I tell you that because I’m in this with you but that implies that you’re in it with me. I’m going to get in your face for a moment. This is the fourth week now that we’ve been introducing something from the past that we believe is helpful. And each week, I’ve been kind of asking, “So who tried journaling? Who tried meditating?” It hasn’t been a stellar response. Isn’t it time for us to step out? If you can’t give something up for a week, I’m with you. Three days? A half a day? Can you put your toe in the water? Can you maybe try some of the historical practices so God can pour into you? I’m with you on this. I won’t turn it on until noon next week. Sometime between now and tomorrow afternoon, I’m going to pick a verse as I have been doing since the meditation week because that one really grabbed me. I’ll post it on Facebook as I’ve done the others. I’m not going to tell you why I’m fasting but I’ll share the verse with you. But will you join me?

You see, God’s speaking. I believe He’s speaking all the time. I think the problem is that we are so convoluted that we don’t hear Him. Can this be a week in which you really listen, listen to God? Amen.

Copyright 2010 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church