Chapter 16 - The Hiddenness of the Devout Life
Mat 6:16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Mat 6:17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
Mat 6:18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
Bonhoeffer- 'Asceticism means voluntary suffering: it is passio activa rather than passiva, and it is just there that the danger lies. There is always a danger that in our asceticism we shall be tempted to imitate the sufferings of Christ. This is a pious but godless ambition, for beneath it there always lurks the notion that it is possible for us to step into Christ's shoes and suffer as he did and kill the old Adam. We are then presuming to undertake that bitter work of eternal redemption which Christ himself wrought for us. The motive of asceticism was more limited-- to equip us for better service and deeper humiliation. But it can only do that so long as it takes the suffering of Christ as its basis; if not, it degenerates into a dreadful parody of the Lord's own passion. Our whole motive now becomes a desire for ostentation. We want other people to see our achievements and to be put to shame. Our asceticism has now become the way to salvation. Such publicity gives it the reward it seeks.'
My thoughts-
'The motive of asceticism was more limited- to equip us for better service and deeper humiliation.'
as·cet·i·cism
n.
1. The principles and practices of an ascetic; extreme self-denial and austerity.
2. The doctrine that the ascetic life releases the soul from bondage to the body and permits union with the divine. Pasted from
Mat 6:16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Mat 6:17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
Mat 6:18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
When you fast… because you will fast, you should fast, abstaining from food and possibly drink as well, only by doing this are you not focusing on indulging yourself even of a very real, very human need of sustenance. For the duration of the fast you are depending solely upon God to keep you. You aren't giving into a desire, purposely.
Let's go back to those verses we read the other day-
Luk 2:37 And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
Luk 4:2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
Mar 9:29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
1Co 7:5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
*******
The widow served God with fastings and prayers NIGHT and DAY.
So some might say she never ate? They'd be wrong. There are many different kinds of fasting. The widow would have died had she not had anything to eat at all ever, night and day. Could her fasting have been from all but what she absolutely needed to sustain her? Could her diet consisted of the bare necessities and no more? Imagine your own life without any extras, without anything other than what you absolutely needed. It's hard for us to do that here in the United States, at least most of us find it hard. We've not only spent our entire lives indulging our passion for our preferred foods, we teach this same thing to our children and so on.
Does one who is starving truly care if they 'like' the taste of the food they are given to eat?
We are SO incredibly caught up in our 'LIKING' our food. It's a right we have, isn't it? If we don't like something we just don't have to eat it, we have to find something we do like. We'd rather waste lots of food than eat it, not liking the taste of it. We are an INDULGENT society. Fasting, could it in part be to reveal our indulgent nature?
The widow served God with- FASTINGS and PRAYERS.
We love to serve God, don't we? Many get all caught up in serving God as meaning being out there preaching, evangelizing, healing, etc. But we can serve God in our fastings and prayers.
How is it serving God in fasting? It's purposely abstaining.
And another verse--
Luk 4:2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
In a commentary on this it is noted that Christ being tempted in this way reveals to us a temptation tactic that Satan loves to use, in fact it was the first temptation of Christ that night, and used first because Satan had to believe it would be a very, very strong, all but impossibly strong temptation for any to resist- because man had over and over and over and over, time and again, fallen victim to this particular temptation- indulging self even with what we've deemed the necessities of life. Think about it for a moment. The temptation of food is one we face DAILY. The temptation to think more of our bellies than anything else. It's so easy for us to say, 'God understands, we have to eat, don't we?' And then we bring up the disciples walking through a field of corn and plucking corn cobs on the Sabbath to eat, surely that means it is okay for us to eat whenever we're hungry. Jesus even said it was okay to do this thing, to satisfy the hunger rather than stay hungry until after the Sabbath. Jesus even fed 5000 people, rather than make them endure hunger as they stayed to listen to Him preach the kingdom to them. So going hungry isn't in and of itself God's desire for us, however, when SATAN is using food to induce us to sin, God would NEVER want us to fall into that sin.
This verse-
Mar 9:29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
-obviously there is POWER in prayer and fasting that isn't there when we pray without fasting. I'm not saying we shouldn't pray without fasting all the time, by no means, especially if we are to pray always. But there is something that connects fasting with prayers, something that does something we cannot comprehend fully that enables the prayers to be more effective. That's what this verse is saying, isn't it?
'This kind can come forth by nothing (…. NOTHING…) but by PRAYER and FASTING.'
And our Savior was talking about casting out a demon. He'd already given his disciples this power to cast out demons, yet when they tried it this time it didn't work.
Mar 9:17 And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;
Mar 9:18 And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.
Mar 9:19 He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.
Mar 9:20 And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
Mar 9:21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.
Mar 9:22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
Mar 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Mar 9:24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
Mar 9:25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
Mar 9:26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
Mar 9:27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.
Mar 9:28 And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?
Mar 9:29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
The disciple didn't understand why they couldn't do the casting out, obviously they'd done other casting outs, but this time no results were had. They needed to know why. If their faith is strong only some times and not others surely something is wrong. But it wasn't necessarily their faith….or was it?
Jesus did say this- ' O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?' After He'd been told of the disciples failure to cast out the dumb spirit. Is faith tied up in the FASTING and PRAYING? Are we revealing a deeper faith, a deeper belief, when we fast along with praying? That kind… can come forth by NOTHING BUT PRAYER and FASTING.
That kind cannot come forth by just praying alone, there is has to be something more, something about the fasting, the self-sacrifice? The choosing to give up a part of self, to recognize that God and GOD alone sustains, it is GOD'S power that is being called upon and NOT a single bit of power we possess on our own. Instead of focusing on self- which we HAVE to do when we eat- focusing solely on the prayer. Praying long, praying through our meal times, not setting a time limit on the prayer, doing nothing but praying.
1Co 7:5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
A married couple giving themselves over to God in prayer, in fasting, would naturally also keep from having marital relations because the focus is only upon GOD and nothing more, not on their own pleasure. The focus is taken off all OUR pleasures, whether that pleasure is food or marital relations. The focus is PRAYER while fasting. To fast for God without prayer is truly selfish, because the desire is to be seen sacrificing self for the sake of appearing godly, but the heart isn't there. God knows our hearts, He knows us, and He alone can make our evil, sin stained hearts, clean again.
Bonhoeffer-' The motive of asceticism was more limited-- to equip us for better service and deeper humiliation. But it can only do that so long as it takes the suffering of Christ as its basis; if not, it degenerates into a dreadful parody of the Lord's own passion.'
Nothing WE do of our own accord means anything at all. It is only CHRIST in us that matters. If CHRIST in us, in HIS POWER, calls us to fast and pray it is all to GLORIFY HIM, and not us in any way at all!
Is it any wonder we are not to broadcast our prayers and fastings? We are glorifying GOD, we are giving all HONOR to GOD, all POWER to GOD, all PRAISE and WORSHIP to GOD, taking NONE for ourselves, it belongs all to HIM!
Mat 6:16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Mat 6:17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
Mat 6:18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
Bonhoeffer- 'Asceticism means voluntary suffering: it is passio activa rather than passiva, and it is just there that the danger lies. There is always a danger that in our asceticism we shall be tempted to imitate the sufferings of Christ. This is a pious but godless ambition, for beneath it there always lurks the notion that it is possible for us to step into Christ's shoes and suffer as he did and kill the old Adam. We are then presuming to undertake that bitter work of eternal redemption which Christ himself wrought for us. The motive of asceticism was more limited-- to equip us for better service and deeper humiliation. But it can only do that so long as it takes the suffering of Christ as its basis; if not, it degenerates into a dreadful parody of the Lord's own passion. Our whole motive now becomes a desire for ostentation. We want other people to see our achievements and to be put to shame. Our asceticism has now become the way to salvation. Such publicity gives it the reward it seeks.'
My thoughts-
'The motive of asceticism was more limited- to equip us for better service and deeper humiliation.'
as·cet·i·cism
n.
1. The principles and practices of an ascetic; extreme self-denial and austerity.
2. The doctrine that the ascetic life releases the soul from bondage to the body and permits union with the divine. Pasted from
Mat 6:16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Mat 6:17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
Mat 6:18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
When you fast… because you will fast, you should fast, abstaining from food and possibly drink as well, only by doing this are you not focusing on indulging yourself even of a very real, very human need of sustenance. For the duration of the fast you are depending solely upon God to keep you. You aren't giving into a desire, purposely.
Let's go back to those verses we read the other day-
Luk 2:37 And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
Luk 4:2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
Mar 9:29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
1Co 7:5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
*******
The widow served God with fastings and prayers NIGHT and DAY.
So some might say she never ate? They'd be wrong. There are many different kinds of fasting. The widow would have died had she not had anything to eat at all ever, night and day. Could her fasting have been from all but what she absolutely needed to sustain her? Could her diet consisted of the bare necessities and no more? Imagine your own life without any extras, without anything other than what you absolutely needed. It's hard for us to do that here in the United States, at least most of us find it hard. We've not only spent our entire lives indulging our passion for our preferred foods, we teach this same thing to our children and so on.
Does one who is starving truly care if they 'like' the taste of the food they are given to eat?
We are SO incredibly caught up in our 'LIKING' our food. It's a right we have, isn't it? If we don't like something we just don't have to eat it, we have to find something we do like. We'd rather waste lots of food than eat it, not liking the taste of it. We are an INDULGENT society. Fasting, could it in part be to reveal our indulgent nature?
The widow served God with- FASTINGS and PRAYERS.
We love to serve God, don't we? Many get all caught up in serving God as meaning being out there preaching, evangelizing, healing, etc. But we can serve God in our fastings and prayers.
How is it serving God in fasting? It's purposely abstaining.
And another verse--
Luk 4:2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
In a commentary on this it is noted that Christ being tempted in this way reveals to us a temptation tactic that Satan loves to use, in fact it was the first temptation of Christ that night, and used first because Satan had to believe it would be a very, very strong, all but impossibly strong temptation for any to resist- because man had over and over and over and over, time and again, fallen victim to this particular temptation- indulging self even with what we've deemed the necessities of life. Think about it for a moment. The temptation of food is one we face DAILY. The temptation to think more of our bellies than anything else. It's so easy for us to say, 'God understands, we have to eat, don't we?' And then we bring up the disciples walking through a field of corn and plucking corn cobs on the Sabbath to eat, surely that means it is okay for us to eat whenever we're hungry. Jesus even said it was okay to do this thing, to satisfy the hunger rather than stay hungry until after the Sabbath. Jesus even fed 5000 people, rather than make them endure hunger as they stayed to listen to Him preach the kingdom to them. So going hungry isn't in and of itself God's desire for us, however, when SATAN is using food to induce us to sin, God would NEVER want us to fall into that sin.
This verse-
Mar 9:29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
-obviously there is POWER in prayer and fasting that isn't there when we pray without fasting. I'm not saying we shouldn't pray without fasting all the time, by no means, especially if we are to pray always. But there is something that connects fasting with prayers, something that does something we cannot comprehend fully that enables the prayers to be more effective. That's what this verse is saying, isn't it?
'This kind can come forth by nothing (…. NOTHING…) but by PRAYER and FASTING.'
And our Savior was talking about casting out a demon. He'd already given his disciples this power to cast out demons, yet when they tried it this time it didn't work.
Mar 9:17 And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;
Mar 9:18 And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.
Mar 9:19 He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.
Mar 9:20 And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
Mar 9:21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.
Mar 9:22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
Mar 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Mar 9:24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
Mar 9:25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
Mar 9:26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
Mar 9:27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.
Mar 9:28 And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?
Mar 9:29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
The disciple didn't understand why they couldn't do the casting out, obviously they'd done other casting outs, but this time no results were had. They needed to know why. If their faith is strong only some times and not others surely something is wrong. But it wasn't necessarily their faith….or was it?
Jesus did say this- ' O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?' After He'd been told of the disciples failure to cast out the dumb spirit. Is faith tied up in the FASTING and PRAYING? Are we revealing a deeper faith, a deeper belief, when we fast along with praying? That kind… can come forth by NOTHING BUT PRAYER and FASTING.
That kind cannot come forth by just praying alone, there is has to be something more, something about the fasting, the self-sacrifice? The choosing to give up a part of self, to recognize that God and GOD alone sustains, it is GOD'S power that is being called upon and NOT a single bit of power we possess on our own. Instead of focusing on self- which we HAVE to do when we eat- focusing solely on the prayer. Praying long, praying through our meal times, not setting a time limit on the prayer, doing nothing but praying.
1Co 7:5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
A married couple giving themselves over to God in prayer, in fasting, would naturally also keep from having marital relations because the focus is only upon GOD and nothing more, not on their own pleasure. The focus is taken off all OUR pleasures, whether that pleasure is food or marital relations. The focus is PRAYER while fasting. To fast for God without prayer is truly selfish, because the desire is to be seen sacrificing self for the sake of appearing godly, but the heart isn't there. God knows our hearts, He knows us, and He alone can make our evil, sin stained hearts, clean again.
Bonhoeffer-' The motive of asceticism was more limited-- to equip us for better service and deeper humiliation. But it can only do that so long as it takes the suffering of Christ as its basis; if not, it degenerates into a dreadful parody of the Lord's own passion.'
Nothing WE do of our own accord means anything at all. It is only CHRIST in us that matters. If CHRIST in us, in HIS POWER, calls us to fast and pray it is all to GLORIFY HIM, and not us in any way at all!
Is it any wonder we are not to broadcast our prayers and fastings? We are glorifying GOD, we are giving all HONOR to GOD, all POWER to GOD, all PRAISE and WORSHIP to GOD, taking NONE for ourselves, it belongs all to HIM!
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