The Vision (8.27.21): Founded on the Rock

 

Image: A house built on a rock on the Drina River, near the western Serbian town of Bajina Basta.

Note: Devotional taken from last Sunday's sermon on Matthew 7:24-29.

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock (Matt 7:25).

In the climactic parable of the wise and foolish builders which concludes the Sermon the Mount, Christ begins with the wise man who built his house upon a rock (Matt 7:24). He then describes how natural hardships came upon that house (v. 25: rain, flood, wind).

Notice two things about this description:

First, the things that fall upon this house are not unusual things. We might even say they are ordinary things. Build a house and rain will fall. Waters will rise. Wind will blow.

Second, the wise man’s house was not exempt from these occurrences, because he was a wise man (a disciple of Christ). The implication here is that the man who hears Christ’s words (in a saving manner) and obeys his word, as an outward fruit or evidence of salvation, will not be exempt from the ordinary trials of life. Recall 1 Corinthians 10:13, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man….”

This part of the parable dismantles any notion of the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. Christians are not exempt from hardship. In fact, being a Christian will often bring special hardships. Christ himself taught, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

But notice the last word about the wise man’s house: “and it fell not.” Christ provides this explanation: “for it was founded upon a rock [petra].”

What is meant here by the term “rock”? Later in Christ’s ministry at Caesarea Philippi, he will ask his disciples, “But whom say ye that I am?” (Matt 16:15). Simon Peter will answer, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16). Christ will respond that “upon this rock [petra] I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (v. 18). The “rock” is Peter’s confession that the Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

To build one’s house upon a rock is to build one’s life upon the confession of faith that the Lord Jesus is the Son of the living God. He is the Rock. The wise man builds his life on Christ.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (8.13.21): Ye shall know them by their fruits.

 

Image: Pear tree, North Garden, Virginia, August 2021

Note: Devotion taken from recent sermon on Matthew 7:15-20.

“Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16a).

I have suggested that the theme of Matthew 7 is proper discernment or judgement. In vv. 15-20, this theme is applied to false prophets: “Beware of false prophets” (v. 15a).

What test does Christ apply? “Ye shall know them (false prophets) by their fruits” (v. 16a). The point seems to be that a man’s true nature will be exposed by the things that flow from his life (i.e., the fruits). An unregenerate man cannot produce the authentic fruits of righteousness before God. Hebrews 11:6: “But without faith, it is impossible to please God.”

Good trees produce good fruit (v. 17a). Bad trees produce bad fruit (v. 17b). Is Christ saying that some people are naturally good, and they naturally do good things, while others are naturally corrupt, and they naturally produce evil things?

No. The Bible teaches that sin has corrupted every one of us. Romans 3:10: “There is none righteous, no not one.” Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

To be transformed one must have his nature changed by the power of God in regeneration. As Christ told Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). 2 Corinthians 5:17 add, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

A false prophet is one who has not had his nature transformed through regeneration, so he cannot produce good fruit.

What is meant by fruit?

It could mean the fruit of repentance. John the Baptist warned the crowds who came to him to be baptized: “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance” (Matt 3:8). False prophets showed no signs of genuine conversion, beginning with genuine repentance for their sin.

It could mean to fruit of the Spirit in their lives (Gal 5:22-23).

It could mean the fruit of good works. Paul said that we as believers are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works (Eph 2:10).

The point is that just as there will be outward discernible evidences of those who are true disciples, there will be evidences of those who are true servants of the Lord

J. C. Ryle observed, “Sound doctrine and holy living are the marks of true prophets—Let us remember this” (Expository Thoughts on Matthew, 68).

The office of prophet was an “extraordinary” office at the time of the apostles. It does not continue today. Peter made clear in 2 Peter 2:1 that false prophets appeared in times past, “even as there shall be false teachers among you.”

We can use the same test Christ suggested to discern false prophets to identify false teachers in our own day. “Ye shall know them by their fruits.”

Grace and peace,

Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (7.30.21): Enter ye in at the strait gate

 

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Matthew 7:13-14.

Matthew 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

This teaching is a parable. The two ways are those of unbelief and of faith, the ways of ignorance and of knowledge, the ways of falsehood and of truth, the ways of death and of life.

The way of unbelief seems wide and easy, while the way of faith seems narrow and hard. The problem is that in this life we do not see the end. We do not see the destination. The great faith chapter begins, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1). Christ reveals here, however, that one way leads to destruction and the other to life.

The way of unbelief requires no creed, no confession of faith, and no ethical code of conduct. It promises wide latitude and freedom. It asks nothing of you but whatever you want.

The alternative is a strait gate. You must confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. You must believe, as Christ declared, that he is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no man comes to the Father but by him (John 14:6). There is salvation in none other: for there is no other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12). Some have called this the “scandal of particularity.”

Once through the gate, the path is also narrow. Christ calls upon any man who comes after him to deny himself, to take up his cross daily, and to follow him (Luke 9:23). Whoever tries to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for the sake of Christ will find it (Luke 9:24).

Remember the rich young man (Matthew 19:16-24). When Christ demanded he enter the strait gate and walk the narrow way, he went away sad because he had much (v. 22). Christ added that it is hard (but not impossible) for a rich man to go through the needle’s eye (v. 24).

Christ is describing here the way of faith (the gate) and the way discipleship (the way).

This teaching is about discerning one’s way in life, but it is really about obedience. Our all-wise Teacher, our all-competent Guide, stands at the crossroads and tells us which way to go: “Enter ye in at the strait gate.” The question is whether we will obey him.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (7.23.21): Five Observations on the Golden Rule

 

Image: Saturday morning hike at 2021 Youth Conference, Louisa, Virginia

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Matthew 7:12 (audio not yet available).

Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets (Matthew 7:12).

This verse contains one of the best-known teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, popularly known as the “Golden Rule.” One commentator traced the first usage of this term to an English philosopher named Charles Gibbon at the beginning of the seventeenth century (see Alfeyev, The Sermon on the Mount, 359, n. 1). This same scholar describes the Golden Rule as “one of the fundamental moral reference points in Christian ethics” (Alfeyev, 362).

Notice at least five things about this teaching:

First, notice the context. The Golden Rule comes just after Christ’s teaching on petitionary prayer (vv. 7-11). 7:12 begins with the word “therefore”, which means, in light of what has just been said.

How is it connected to the previous teaching on prayer? Perhaps Christ especially wanted his disciples to keep this principle in mind when they were praying for others, even for their enemies (Matt 5:44).

Second, consider the scope of Christ’s command: “Therefore all things…”

What are the kinds of things we should do for others, as we would have them to do to us? All things.

Third, consider the object of Christ’s command: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you….”

The word “men” here in Greek is anthropoi, the basic term for a fellow human being, someone made in the image of God, whether he be friend or foe, Jew or Gentile, male or female, believer or pagan. It’s not a narrow, particular, or exclusive term. It is an expansive, universal, and inclusive term.

The Golden Rule is thus parallel to Christ’s teaching in the Great Commandment: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matt 22:39).

Fourth, notice the reciprocal nature of this teaching.

Just as the heart of the horizontal teaching in the Great Commandment is love your neighbor as yourself, so the positive reciprocal nature of the Golden Rule is that disciples should treat others, as they themselves would wish or want to be treated.

Fifth, consider the uniqueness of Christ’s teaching.

Some might tell you that some form of the Golden Rule is taught in the ethics of other world religions or philosophical traditions. That is not, in fact, the case. In a few places (from The Analects of Confucius to the apocryphal Jewish book of Tobit one finds a crude “negative” form of the Golden Rule that says something like, “Don’t do to others, what you do not want them to do to you.”), but in no other teacher do you find the positive version of the rule being given: As you would have other do to you, do to them.

It is that positive element that is crucial. Christ taught not merely that we avoid doing what is wrong, but that we do what is right.

As followers of Christ, we should strive not only for orthodoxy but also for orthopraxy. This includes adhering to Christ’s “Golden Rule.”

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (7.16.21): Discernment in Petitionary Prayer

 

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Matthew 7:7-11.

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you (Matthew 7:7).

Christ here teaches that his disciples should pray with boldness and confidence. He starts with three consecutive imperatives or commands, each followed by a promise.

Petitionary prayer is like asking. It is like seeking. It is like knocking.

And each of these things also perhaps suggests different aspects of petitionary prayer.

Asking is perhaps the most common way of speaking about petitionary prayer in the NT. It implies a defined request. You know what you want, and you make a specific request for it.

Think of your birthday. Your family says, “What do you want for your birthday?” And maybe there is something specific you really want. You ask for it. You make a specific desire known. This is what I want.

Seeking has a different connotation. It implies that one has a need, but perhaps he does not know how to find it or even how to articulate it. He needs something, but he is not quite sure what that thing might be. So, he goes out looking or seeking for it.

Knocking has yet another connotation. It implies a closed door. There is a way through which one wants to enter, but the pathway is blocked. The door is closed. And one knocks in hopes that it might be opened.

So, we might say there are asking prayers, seeking prayers, and knocking prayers.

Some might take this teaching out of context and use it to promote what is called a “name it and claim it” theology of prayer.

All I have to do is ask, and God is obligated to give what I ask.

All I have to do is seek, and God is obligated to let me find.

All I have to do is knock, and God is obligated to open the door.

But this where we must apply the Reformation principle of Scripture interpreting Scripture, or what Paul called “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). Christ made it clear that he promised to grant the petitions of those who prayed “in my name” and who were abiding in him, and his word in them (cf. John 14:13-14; 15:7; 16:23-24).

Prayer is not “name it and claim it.” It is not like rubbing a lamp to find a genie in a bottle who is compelled to grant you three wishes. It is not about making God do our bidding, but about our being so conformed to Christ and his will that we want what he wants.

Let us then pray with boldness and confidence, asking, seeking, and knocking.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (7.9.21): Pearls Before Swine

Image: David Phlox, North Garden, Virginia, July 2021

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Matthew 7:6:

Give not that which is holy unto dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again, and rend you (Matthew 7:6).

In keeping with the theme of discernment in Matthew 7, this verse calls for wise judgement in sharing gospel truth.

We can divide the content of this single verse into three parts:

1.    A command to disciples NOT to give that which is holy and precious to those who are spiritually incapable of receiving it (v. 6a).

2.    If one does so, he risks bringing reproach to the truth (v. 6b).

3.    If one does so, he risks bringing injury to himself and to the fellowship of the saints (v. 6c).

Let me offer some application of this teaching to various circumstances:

First, with respect to evangelism:

Some of us may have friends and family with whom we are eager to share the gospel and bear witness to our faith in Christ. We need to recall Ecclesiastes 3:7, which says, there is “a time to keep silence and time to speak.” We need to exercise discernment.

This does not mean, however, that we are to use this teaching as an excuse never to share the gospel. In 1 Peter 3:15 the apostle urges believers to be “ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.”

Remember in Christ’s parable of the sower that the sower sowed promiscuously so that the seed fell on the path, the shallow ground, the thorny ground and the good soil (Matt 13).

See the record of Christ’s encounter with a Canaanite woman with a demon possessed daughter (Matt 15:21-28). When Christ tells her it is not right to give the children’s bread to the dogs (v. 26), she responds that even the dogs eat the crumbs from the table (v. 27). Christ then declares her to be a woman of great faith (v. 28).

We are not to use Matthew 7:6 as an excuse not to share the truth with those whom Christ is drawing.

Second: With respect to apologetics (defending the faith):

Christ here suggests that there can be diminishing returns in merely seeking intellectual dialogue about religion with those who are hostile to the faith or false teachers.

I recall reading the memoir of a Brethren missionary to the Berber people of North Africa who lamented the “missionaries” who spent more time in speaking with nominal Muslims about comparative religion (essentially teaching them Islam) rather than simply sharing with them the gospel.

Look at Peter’s teaching on this in 2 Peter 2. He addresses false teachers (v. 1), referring to them as “natural brute beasts” (v. 12), and concludes by saying it would have been better for them if they had not known the way of righteousness (v. 21), for they are like dogs returning to their vomit or pigs wallowing in their mire (v. 22).

Spurgeon observed: “When men are evidently unable to perceive the purity of a great truth, do not set it before them…. Saints are not to be simpletons; they are not to be judges, but, also, they are not to be fools” (Commentary on Matthew, 70).

Third, with respect to our own self-understanding:

The capacity of the “dog” and the “pig” here recalls Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 2:14 that the “natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

Reading Matthew 7:6 might bring to our minds a remembrance of what we were like before our conversion, before the change of our nature. We were hostile dogs and indifferent swine, till the Lord opened our hearts and renewed our minds through spiritual regeneration and made us new creatures in Christ.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (6.25.21): Take therefore no thought for the morrow....

 

Image: Magnolia, Albemarle County, Virginia, June 2021

Note: Devotion take from last Sunday's sermon on Matthew 6:31-34.

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof (Matthew 6:34).

The final exhortation in Christ’s teaching on dealing with worry relates to the future (tomorrow): “Take therefore no thought for the morrow….”

This verse does not exclude the exercise of prudential wisdom in planning for the future. The Proverbs offer strong exhortations against laziness and the value of planning ahead, putting in work, and accomplishing goals (cf. Proverbs 6:6-8; 20:4). Still Christ warns against excessive worry for the future, noting that “the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.”

He then adds: “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” The point: There will be enough things to occupy your attention today, so that you have no need to attempt to add to today’s pile the things that you will worry about tomorrow.

Spurgeon wrote: “Today will require all the vigor we have to deal with its immediate evils; there can be no need to import cares from the future. To load today with trials not yet arrived, would be to overload it” (Commentary on Matthew, 68).

J. C. Ryle observed: “Half our miseries are caused by fancying things that we think are coming upon us: half the things we expect to come upon us never come at all. Where is our faith? (Expository Thoughts on Matthew, 61).

A popular expression related to Christ’s words is that we have to take one day at a time. Yes, it is a cliché, but it rests on Biblical footing. If you have ever gone through a significant crisis of any sort (whether health or family related or financial) you know the wisdom of this. The best you can do sometimes is to live by faith day by day, and sometimes hour by hour, and even minute by minute (recall James 4:13-15).

Maybe you know the gospel song that alludes to this verse (I like this Alison Krauss version):

I don't know about tomorrow.

I just live from day to day.

I don't borrow from the sunshine,

For its skies may turn to gray

 

I don't worry o'er the future,

For I know what Jesus said,

And today I'll walk beside Him

For He knows what lies ahead.

Many things about tomorrow

I don't seem to understand,

But I know who holds tomorrow,

And I know who holds my hand.

 

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (6.18.21): Ye cannot serve God and mammon

 

Image: Roses, North Garden, Virginia, June 2021

Note: Devotion take from last Sunday's sermon on Matthew 5:24-30.

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24).

Christ begins, “No man can serve two masters….” Note two important verbal facets of this statement:

First, the verb rendered here as “to serve” comes from the root word for “slave” (doulos). So, it might be translated, “No man can be a slave (doulos) to two masters….”

Second, the word rendered “masters” is from the Greek word kurios, “lord.” It is the word that Jews used to translate the holy name of God when they translated the OT from Hebrew into Greek. It was there in the confession that the earliest Christians made about Jesus, when they said, “Jesus is Lord” (Rom 10:9). So, we could render it, “No one can be a slave to two Lords” or “No one can be a slave to two Gods.”

We might say it goes back to the first commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exod 20:3). Christ was warning against polytheism, belief and adherence to more than one God. You can’t serve two Lords. Christ demands your exclusive allegiance.

The last line in v. 24 is striking: “Ye cannot serve [be a slave of] God and mammon.” Mammon is an unusual term. In the NT it appears only four times (cf., Luke 16:9, 11, 13). It is a Semitic or Jewish term, used in both Hebrew and Aramaic (but not found in the OT). According to the dictionary definition it means “wealth or property,” but it is often rendered simply as “money.” The NIV, for example, translates the last line: “You cannot serve God and money.”

You cannot serve the Lord Jesus and try, at the same time, to serve Lord Money.

Let me offer two insights we should heed in rightly dividing this declaration:

First, Christ did not address these words to a gathering of wealthy men at the Jerusalem chamber of commerce meeting. He addressed this to all of his disciples, most of whom were ordinary men, and, by modern standards, even poor men.

Second, Christ is not saying that money or possession in and of themselves are evil. Paul said in 1 Timothy 6:10: “For the love of money is the root of all evil.” He is also not saying anything here that nullifies the duties of stewardship that are given to Christians elsewhere in Scripture (cf. 1 Tim 5:8).

The point is that we must use mammon (including all of our material possessions) as a means to fulfill our duties toward God and man, but we are never to be “spiritual slaves” to it. Money is never to be our Lord.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (6.11.21): Treasures in Heaven

 

Image: Hydrangea, North Garden, Virginia, June 2021

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Matthew 6:19-23.

Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth… But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:19-21).

Christ begins his teaching on laying up treasures with a negative admonition: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth….” The Greek word for “treasure” in thēsauros, the root for our English word “thesaurus” which means a treasury of words. The word “treasure” or the plural “treasures” appears three times in Matthew 6:19-21, once each in vv. 19, 20, and 21.

It seems clear that “treasures on earth” are “understood to be material wealth in general, as well as any material goods in particular” (Alfeyev, Sermon, 306).

If you read through the Gospels, it will be clear to you that the Lord Jesus repeatedly sounded the alarm on the spiritual dangers of materialism. He saw the desire for and pursuit of laying up treasures on earth as one of the chief rivals and dangers to living an authentic life of discipleship (see, e.g., the seed that fell among the thorns in Matt 13:22; the parable of the Rich Fool in Luke 12:15-21; Christ’s encounter with the Rich Young Ruler in Matt 19:16-30).

He continues in v. 19: “where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.” Two practical reasons are given as to why one should not make the focus of his life the laying up of treasures on earth.

First, such things will eventually break down and wear out with time. The moth and rust corrupt them. Have you ever left clothing up in your attic only to find later that moths have gnawed holes through them?  Or maybe you had an expensive tool and you left it in the leaky tool shed and when you go to retrieve it you find it is rusted to pieces.

Second, such things can be taken away from you. They can be stolen or lost. A fortune can be won and lost overnight. The online site “Economics Times” say that in 1930, the year after the 1929 stock market crash, 23,000 people committed suicide as a direct result of the crash.

On my first mission trip as a college sophomore, I went with a group of students to Haiti. Just before we arrived the missionaries whom we came to help had their home broken into and many of their most prized possessions were stolen. When we asked the missionary about this, he quoted from memory vv. 19-20. That left an impression on me that has lasted to this day.

The positive admonition comes in v. 20: “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven….” What is meant by treasures in heaven? In part it means the doing of good works that flow from a life that has been transformed by Christ.

Remember Christ’s words to the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:21: “Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.”

The thing is that we can see the treasures that one can lay up on earth. We can count them. We can quantify them. But we cannot count up or quantify the treasures that are laid up in heaven. They are not visible or tangible assets.

A great contrast is drawn at the close of v. 20. These secret assets, these heavenly treasures, are not corrupted by moth or rust, and thieves cannot break in and steal them. The shifting market will never be able to devalue them.

Christ concludes the teaching on treasures in v. 21: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” The word “heart” here does not refer to the internal organ that pumps blood, but to the seat of one’s affections. If your affections are set on earthly things, that will be your treasure. And it will one day break down or be taken away from you.

The question one must ask: Where am I laying up treasures? Yes, we all need to live. We all have Scripturally sanctioned duties to provide for our own household and, as we have opportunity, to do good to all men and especially for those who are of the household of faith (cf. 1 Tim 5:8; Gal 6:10).

But what about the unseen spiritual treasures? Are we seeking to store up those things also? Let us heed Christ’s admonition and not lay up treasures on earth but treasures in heaven.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Clement of Alexandria: Who is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved? (Part 1 of 8)

 

I am continuing to preach through the Sermon on the Mount on Sunday mornings at CRBC. Yesterday's message was on Matthew 6:19-22, with a focus on Christ's admonition not to lay up treasures on earth but to lay up treasures in heaven.

In some of my commentary reading, I ran across a reference to Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215) and his treatise "Who is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved?", which is an exposition of Mark's account of the Christ's encounter with the Rich Young Ruler (Mark 10:17-31). This work consists of 42 short chapters. I decided to launch a new series to read through this treatise. Episode 1 of 8 appears above.

I'm interested not only in how Clement dealt with Christ's teaching on the difficulty of the rich entering the kingdom, but also how pre-critical exegetes dealt with the Gospels in general.

In chapter 5, for example, Clement stresses the harmony of the account of the Rich Young Ruler in the Synoptic accounts (Matthew 19; Mark 10; Luke 18):

These things are written in the Gospel according to Mark; and in all the rest correspondingly; although perchance the expressions vary slightly in each, yet all show identical agreement in meaning.

I am making use of the translation by William Wilson. You can find the complete text of the treatise online here.

JTR

The Vision (6.5.21): Thoughts on Fasting

Image: Ripening blueberries, North Garden, Virginia, June 2021

Notes: I recently started a twitter account (@Riddle1689). I only have a few dozen followers and have only infrequently tweeted. Last week, however, I tweeted the following thread as a follow up to last Sunday’s sermon and thought I’d share the thread’s bite-sized content (collectively) here:

Preaching through the Sermon on the Mount. Last Sunday on fasting from Matt 6:16-18 (listen here).

Three questions posed:

1.    What is fasting?

2.    Is fasting still a spiritual discipline for disciples today?

3.    If it is expected, how is it to be practiced?

Responses:

1.    What is fasting?

"Denying oneself of bodily necessities, like food or drink, which are ordinarily good and lawful, for some limited period of time, for spiritual purposes, especially to express one’s hunger and desire for the Lord’s presence and protection."

2.    Is fasting still a spiritual discipline for disciples today?

Christ speaks of it as normative: "Moreover when ye fast...." (Matt 6:16); "But thou, when thou fastest..." (Matt 6:17).

What about Christ's response when John's disciples asked Christ about fasting (Matt 9:14-17; Mark 2:18-22; Luke 5:33-39)? Does Christ speak of fasting in this age when he says, "and then shall they fast" (Matt 9:15)?

Did Christ set an example when he fasted "for forty days and nights" in his temptation (Matt 4:2)? What of when he told the "lunatick's" father, "this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting" (Matt 17:21)?

Did not the church at Antioch fast and pray when setting part Paul and Barnabas for their missionary journey (Acts 13:3)? Did they then not pray with fasting when elders were set apart in the churches (Acts 14:23)?

What of Paul's instruction to husbands and wives to refrain from intimacy only with consent and for a limited season to give themselves "to fasting and prayer" (1 Cor 7:5)? Note: Modern texts omits "fasting" here.

“In this teaching Jesus does not dispute the practice of fasting itself. He is arguing only against an understanding of fasting that places the emphasis on the external, conspicuous form of the practice while ignoring its internal content” (Alfeyev, Sermon, 297).

3.    If fasting is expected, how is it to be practiced?

"Fasting is to be practiced, according to Christ’s instruction in Matt 6:16-18, not hypocritically, not to be seen by men, but to be seen only by the Lord."

Not like the Pharisee who "prayed thus with himself...I fast twice in the week" (Luke 18:11-12).

Spurgeon: “Fasting took a leading place in devotion under the Law, and it might profitably be more practiced even now under the Gospel” (Matthew, 61).

Spurgeon: “Use diligence to conceal what it would be foolish to parade…." (Matthew, 62).

Spurgeon: "Act in seasons of extraordinary devotion as you would at other times, that those with whom you come in contact may not know what special devotion you are practicing” (Matthew, 62).

Note how our Lord's teaching coheres with the spiritual heights of the OT prophets, as in Isaiah 58:6ff: "Is not this the fast that I have chosen?..."

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle