Jesus Changed Everything

Reference

Mark 2:18-22

Fasting:

What is secular fasting?

Merriam-Webster says “to abstain from food or to eat sparingly or abstain from some foods.”
Oxford Dictionary says “abstinence from food or drink or both for health, ritualistic, religious, or ethical purposes.”

What is biblical fasting and what does it mean?

In Hebrew, Fasting means to abstain from food, while the Greek means to abstain from food or drink.
The first time we hear about fasting was in Exodus 34:28.

Talking about Moses it says, “So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.”

“2 In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. 3 I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks.”

“And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.”

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Our scripture isn’t about fasting but it’s important to know what fasting is…and isn’t.

The closest to this would be Leviticus 16:29 where it says to “afflict” yourself.

When you see fasting in the Bible, it’s when people were in need, sad, anguished, distraught, looking for guidance and wisdom, and other reasons.

The pharisees fasted on Mondays and Thursdays (Luke 18:11-12) but that wasn’t necessary.

It’s not about what we do, but instead what we receive.
The pharisees were used to the Jewish people just doing what they were told…following orders.

The pharisees teach and act like “works” will cleanse you.
That’s not true…no amount of works will ever clean your heart, your soul, your mind.

Jesus changed everything:

v.19-20 “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.”
Why do I fast if Jesus lives in me?

Romans 8:9 “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

v.21 “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.”
2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

v.22 “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”
Ezekiel 36:26 “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”