Story on getting ready for a trip. Fast pass.
LEAD TO: We want things fast, easy. To be slowed down? Weighed down? Burdensome? Troublesome? Ah, no thank you! Pain? Inconvenience? Nope. Heartache, hardship? Nada. We just want a quick and uneasy, unencumbered route, void of speed bumps.
Tonight, however, we know we can't escape the pangs and pains of life. Charlie and JoAnn Grimes are our prime example. Tonight, we know that while there are bulletproof vests for the heart, there's nothing that protects the soul except what we have here, and that's our living and loving God. Tonight, we have words from Jesus Christ on prayer and on fasting.
With Sundays as the exception, for the next 40-days we anticipate the death and resurrection of Christ. We call this time Lent, the season of spiritual discipline and preparation. Since the earliest days of the church, Lent is a time to get one's spiritual life in order.
A spiritual life that is in order...that sounds attractive, doesn't it? That sounds desirable, doesn't it? Now some of us are doing fine, if by fine we mean frenzied, frazzled, insecure, anxious, doubtful or lost. But there is more to the Christian life than just getting by, there is more to the Christian life than just being FINE.
Yet we have a plan, and our plan—our clear, never cluttered plan—is to follow God and God's will for us not by our standards, but by His. We come tonight to accept His speed limit for us, not one set by ourselves.
The lane for us to be in is before us now, and this lane we are in tonight is not a new. This lane we are in tonight is not a fancy. This lane we are in tonight is not complicated, yet works. This lane, this choice to be present with God on this night on connection and renewal has been the staple of the spiritual health of the Christian church since its inception, and from our scripture it is this: prayer, giving, and fasting.
A fifth century Christian said, "There are three things through which faith stands firm: prayer, fasting and mercy. What prayer knocks for on the door, fasting successfully begs and mercy receives. These three are one and give life to one another. If a person has only one of them, or if he or she does not have them all simultaneously, then he or she has nothing." Prayer opens the door, Fasting requests, and Mercy receives.
In tonight's lesson, Jesus works from the expectation that we will be doing all three—praying, fasting, and having mercy. His commandment here speaks to the manner in which we pray, fast and show mercy. Jesus says that when you do these three things, not for those at school, not for those at home, not for those at the workplace, and not for those at the family gathering or the club you belong to, when you do these three things not in the sight of our church family but for the audience of One and One only—and that One audience is God—then our heavenly Father will listen. I say the reverse. When we do these three things, we are able to listen. Our text here says our heavenly Father is a 'rewards' those who honor him sincerely and earnestly. I say the reverse. I say the rewards are ours tonight.
Too many of us have been coasting along. Too many of us for too long have been asking God for things without listening back. Too many of us for too long have been talking not with but to God without listening back. Here in Mark it's clear what the relationship should be. Attune yourself to God by praying, fasting, and having mercy. Be His by what we did earlier—admitting your sin—and now by committing yourself tonight to be marked by His love, that mark will be the ashes on your forehead.
We are a praying church. We are a giving church. We are a committed church. We are a family church. We are a caring church. We are a growing church. But are we a fasting church? Most of us would probably be hard pressed to remember our last fast.
As I have been searching my heart in preparation for Lent, I have been wrestling with the calling to voluntarily abstain from eating. I've been hedging because fasting is a challenging and even threatening prospect. And we know why. When we get right down to it, fasting is a direct attack on our appetites. I have powerful appetites, and so do you. Let's not kid ourselves. In this affluent culture we've lost control of our appetites. Our appetites have come to control us. As St. Augustine once said, "We ask of God but we cannot receive because our hands are already full. We say, God fill us up, but we are already stuffed. Lord, comfort me, but we are already comfortable. What then do we really expect God to do?"
Our well fed and babied bodies have become a pen for our spirits that need room to move and speak with God. That is what fasting offers us. Catch the full implications of this. Simply put, there are conversations with God that we simply cannot have when we hold and try so hard to use that fast pass—and, just as importantly—there are conversations with God that we simply cannot have when our mouths are full.
Hear the good news. God loves us through the struggles we have. Be both lifted and inspired by following are examples of those who fasted in order that they may hear God.
Page after page, the Bible commends to us fasting as a discipline that adds passion and power to prayer that transcends prayer alone. Our forebears in Protestant faith knew this and that is why among all the things that they declined about the Roman tradition, fasting was not one of them. Martin Luther was an advocate of fasting. He compared the stomach to a "spoiled child, wont to grumble dreadfully." John Wesley, the forbearer of Methodism, prescribed fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays. John Calvin practiced regular fasting for self-control, to prepare for prayer and to express humility before God in confession.
Now I've just mentioned several Protestant leaders. Let me share with you these words from another Protestant leader. The words are as follows. "It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
"Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
"It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."
The prophetic power of these words may lead you to believe they belonged to a Robert Shueller or a Billy Graham. But they don't. They belong to Abraham Lincoln. These are the words of his proclamation for a day of national fasting and prayer. Lincoln fasted and he led this nation through the Civil War.
Throughout history, Christians have fasted and prayed to express contrition over their sin, to intercede on behalf of others, to avert calamity and to prepare themselves for powerful ministry in the name of Christ.
If we are not fasting, we are communicating something very important to each other and to God. We are saying: We have no need of repentance. We have no need for ministry that is significant enough to warrant beseeching a special outpouring of God's spirit.
It is time to fast. Fasting through food may not be the way you continue through Lent, but do fast because fasting enables a connection and closeness to God that is both intentional and practiced through Lent. Suggestions of things that you may give up are texting, using your cell phone for emergencies only not everyday conversation, eating fast food or eating out, yelling, procrastination, laziness, watching TV, caffeine, being the center of attention, or judging others.
God is calling you. God, who loves you, is asking you to hear Him. To hear Him, fast. Fast in the way that enables you to listen, hear and respond.
It's time to slow down. Turn in your fast pass for actual fasting. Turn in your fast pass for a real connection with God.