Matthew chapter 6, where we look
at verses 16 through 18 tonight. Matthew chapter 6, verse 16 through
18, and the title of the message is, The Worship of Our Bodies. The worship of God with our bodies. Now, in Matthew chapter 6 and
verse 16, it says, 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. But thou, when thou fastest,
anoint thine head, and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto
men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret. And thy Father
which seeth thee in secret shall reward thee openly." Now here
we have come in the study of our Lord's Sermon to the third
part of worship. If you remember, we began a ways
back, and I began to tell you in chapter 6 that the Lord was
beginning to speak to us concerning the matter of worship. And He
was going to use three different avenues, three different acts
of worship that was known to everyone. Three different acts
of worship. Giving of alms, prayer, and this
one here, fasting. And I told you at the beginning
that the giving of alms, or the giving unto the ministry of God,
this was the worship of God with our state. This is recognizing
that all we have, that all we possess belongs unto God. Everything is His. And we recognize
this by giving. That's what we do. And so, when
we see the next one is prayer. And prayer is the worship of
God from the soul, from the heart. from the innermost parts of our
being and affection, we lift up our prayers to God. And this
is worship. As you sit there tonight and
you listen to me, don't just listen to me, pray. Pray as you're
listening. Pray that God would come and
hear that the Word would be applied to your heart. Prayer is an act
of worship. And so even when we come to this
place to hear the Gospel being preached, we must be praying
people at all times. Paul said, pray without ceasing. Without ceasing. And so prayer
is an offer of God to God from our hearts and our souls. And now we have come to the last
expression of worship, and this is the one the Lord used, fasting. Fasting. Now as I studied this,
I realized that the Bible has very little to say about fasting. I had to open many books to find
things concerning this idea of fasting. And to be honest, this
was the first time I've actually studied on this idea of fasting. Now, fasting is mentioned once
in the law, and it's not even mentioned called fasting. It's
called the affliction of the soul, and that was on the great
day of atonement. But there are many fasts that
were declared by the prophets of God, and there was much fasting
being done by the saints of God in the Old and the New Testament. But really, nowhere is fasting
strictly commanded of God for us to do except for that one
instance on the great day of atonement. There was no direct
correlation to a command of God for us to fast. Well, what is
fasting? What is this idea of fasting?
Well, the Lord Jesus Christ is going, I'm going to show you
that this idea of fasting the Lord is using, He's going to
teach us by this that we are to worship God with our bodies. With our bodies. It's the worship
of God with the body. Now, literally, fasting is denying
oneself of food or other pleasures. for a spiritual desire or a spiritual
purpose. Having a need, having something
that has happened to you, some devastating thing, and you desire
of God an answer or a petition. And this is what men did. And
an illustration of this, you'll recognize this, when David was
told of God that he was going to lose his child. You remember,
God came down and said, David, the child's going to die. And
what did David do? David said, who knows what the
Lord will do. And so he began to fast. He began to reject all
food. And he began to seek God's face
only. He denied all of his physical
needs because he had a spiritual one. He needed to get to... He
talked to God about his child. He interceded for his child.
And we remember Daniel, when he received the message of the
Messiah, he received the message that the Messiah was coming.
But when he understood that Messiah was not going to come during
his time, the Scripture says he mourned and he fasted for
21 days. He went without food for 21 days
and prayed. He fasted and prayed to God.
We remember that the Lord Jesus Christ, before He was taken out
into the wilderness to be tempted, He fasted for 40 days and 40
nights. We have in the New Testament
even, the apostles, when they were going to anoint Saul and
Barnabas, the Scripture says that the church, they fasted
and prayed. They fasted and prayed. And so the law required it only
one time in the great day of atonement, but we can see that
fasting has occurred throughout the Scriptures. But what does
this have to do with us? What does this have to do with
you and me? Jesus said, not if you fast,
but when you fast. Just like He said with giving.
And pray, He said, when you give alms. Or when you pray. So it
was expected for them to fast. It was expected for us to fast. But if we're not under the law,
if the law commands it once in the great day of atonement, and
God doesn't speak of it, but yet people are drawn to this
idea of fasting, what does this have to do with us? You see,
Christ has already been our atonement. Why would we need to fast? What
is the importance of this? His sacrifice has already been
accepted on our behalf. And that makes us free from the
law and Christ is the end of the law of righteousness to everyone
that believeth. So what then does fasting have
to do with us? Well, here the Lord uses fasting
to prove a much broader point. And so we must keep the context
of His teaching in mind rather than focusing on the specific
deed of fasting. The specific deed of fasting
is not the main point. It's being used as giving in
prayer was, to prove a broader point. And this is the worship
of God with our bodies. Fasting is never for acceptance
with God. Some people use this abstinence
of food thinking that by doing this, God will be more apt to
hear them. That's not true. That's not true. God is not more apt to hear us
based on what we do. And so fasting is not going to
get us more heard with God. It's not going to move God to
do something for us. We are accepted based on the
grace of God alone because of His great love wherewith He loved
us. You see, when you pray, when
you pray to God, and if you are in deep need and you fast, don't
think that this is going to get you points with God. It's not. It's not. Our sole basis for
being heard is totally based on Christ alone. Now, should we not then offer ourselves? If God gave us such a great sacrifice
of Himself, if God gave His Son for us, should we then, is it
not reasonable for us to determine that we should offer our bodies
as sacrifices unto God? Is that not just reasonable?
Of course it is. It is both our duty and our pleasure
to give all that we have, all of our physical possessions,
family, friends, jobs, and everything in service for the Lord. But
if we give that, and then we keep our own bodies to ourselves,
are we not neglecting our duties? to our God? Of course we are.
We should give ourselves to God. And that's what the Lord's talking
about here. He's talking about giving yourself, your person,
your body, your members to the service of God. This is our Lord's
meaning of fasting. It is a picture to us of what
every disciple of Christ should gladly offer in service to God,
and that is his own body. Now notice this. Now go to Job. I want you to go to Job real
fast. As I was studying this, I noticed the tactic of our enemy,
and this is important for us to see. In Job chapter 1, I want
us to see the two avenues, the two areas that Satan, the enemy,
targeted in Job. The two areas that Satan attacked
to get Job to curse God. Look at this in verse 8 of chapter
1. And the Lord said unto Satan,
Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like
him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth
God, and astuteth evil? And Satan answered the Lord and
said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast not thou made an hedge about
him, and about his house, and all that he hath on every side?
Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance
is increased in the land. Put forth thine hand now, and
touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in
thy power, only upon himself. Put not forth thine hand." What's
the first thing that Satan attacked regarding Job? His estate. He said, ah, God, does Job worship
You because of all the things You've given him? God said, go
and see. Go and see. Take it. But you
don't touch his body. Don't you touch his body. And
what did Satan do? He came down and took everything
Job had. What was Job's answer when God took everything? when
he had nothing. He's standing on top of an ash
heap and he has nothing. His sons and his daughters were
killed and all of his wealth was gone in a moment. He didn't have trickle-down poverty,
did he? He didn't have a little bit here. He had it all gone.
And what did he say? The Lord giveth and the Lord
hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
You see, Job, he worshipped God with his estate, didn't he? Whether
he had it or he didn't, he still worshipped God. And Satan comes
back and look at what he attacks next. In verse 3 of chapter 2. He and the Lord said to Satan,
Hast thou considered my servant Job? I love this. I love the
way the Lord speaks to him. Have you considered my servant
Job? There's none like him in all the earth. A perfect and
upright man, one that feareth God and astuteth evil. And still
he holdeth fast his integrity. although thou movest me against
him to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the Lord and
said, Ah, skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give,"
for what? His life. Yeah, God, you took
all his wealth, but I'll tell you this, you touch his body
and he'll curse you to your face. God says, Be my guest. Take all
that he has in his body, take all of his health. Don't take
his life, but take all of his health. And Satan did that. And what was Job's response?
In all this, Job sinned not with his lips. His wife said, curse
God and die. He said, shall we receive good
at the hand of the Lord and not evil? You see, God, He worshipped
God not only with His estate, but He worshipped God even with
His body. Even though he was riddled with
all the pain of those boils, he still worshipped God with
every ounce that he had. His body, his soul, and his mind,
he worshipped God. And this is what every disciple
of Jesus Christ is called to do. If you're a believer in Christ,
make no mistake about it, you are called to serve God with
your body, with your soul, with your mind, and with your body. Your body. Job did. And this is what we
should be. Whether the Lord gives us health
or takes it away. We should serve God with what
we have. We should serve God with what we have. For we are Christ's body, soul,
and spirit. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians
6, 19. What? Know you not that your
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? which is in you, which
you have of God, and ye are not your own. For ye are bought with
a price. Therefore glorify God with what? Your body. Glorify God with your
body. and in your spirit which are
God's. Believers, we have been bought
with a price. Every ounce of you, every atom
of you has been bought by Christ. Every bit of you. And you are
not your own. Oh God, if He'd be gracious to
let us get a hold of that. We are not our own. I was talking
with a man the other day about this idea of being a slave. You
know, in our society, we really don't have any idea what that
is. We should. We should. We are slaves, friend
to Christ. We should be a slave to Christ
in everything we do. In everything these members do,
it should be in service to Christ. Everything. Why? It's not yours. It doesn't belong to you. Well,
I'll do it. You're not Christ if you'll do
with what you got because I belong to Him. I belong to Him. He's bought me. He's paid for
me. He's taken all my sin. He took all my sin on Himself. And God meted out the justice
for my sin. He paid my debt that I owed to
God. And by paying that debt, I became
His servant, His slave, His bond slave. And He is my Master. And so then, if you are not your
own, If you have been bought with a price, is it not reasonable
then to serve God with your body? Is that not reasonable? I'm going
to show you it's reasonable in the Scriptures. Go to Romans
chapter 12. Romans chapter 12 and verse 1. It's just reasonable. Paul said,
"...I beseech you therefore, brethren..." By the mercies of
God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable, reasonable service. Friend, that's just, that's just
simple. It's just plain. It's reasonable. That you present your bodies
a living sacrifice. That you present your bodies,
get this, a living fast. A living denial of self unto God, which is just reasonable
for you to do. Fasting is not just the denial
of the food for the body. Take that idea out. It's not
just food. I'll tell you, there are many
who deny themselves food who do not offer their bodies a living
sacrifice. There's plenty of people that
fast. But do they fast in offering of their bodies unto God? Many people that fast that don't
offer their bodies a living sacrifice. And there are many people that
don't fast that offer their bodies a living sacrifice every day. You see, we're not to offer these
to be accepted with God or to be applauded by men. That's what
some people do these things for. These Pharisees in the Lord Jesus
Christ's day, they fasted twice a week. I think it was Mondays
and Thursdays. Mondays and Thursdays, you can
put it on a calendar because every week they would fast two
times in the week. And now with the Pharisee that
prayed thus with himself, he said, I fast twice in the week. You see, and these Pharisees,
I'll tell you, friends, they may get a bad rap. I know they
were self-righteous, but do not think for one minute they weren't
sincere. They were very sincere. Don't think for one minute that
they were pretending, they were zealous, and they believed themselves
to be worshiping God. Don't think that they weren't
trying to worship God. The way that they wanted to,
but that's how they thought they should worship God. And I know there are many religious
folks in our day that give all kinds of pleasures. I had this
one man tell me, well, I'm just going to give up smoking. Like
that's going to commend him to God or something. That's going
to make him closer to God because he would give up this thing for
God. Like God should be appreciative
that He was going to give up such a great thing as that. And so they give up drinking
and smoking and they give up fornication, they'll give up
adultery. Usually they give it up for about
a day or so and then they're right back to where they started
with no repentance of heart. With no repentance of sin. No
change in their hearts. And believer, I believe that
because of this wicked and deceitful use of fasting by false religion
that we have misunderstood and misinterpreted altogether this
idea of fasting. And I want to be clear about
this because I'm talking about a deeper thing. I am not preaching
against fasting. Believe me, if God compels you
to fast, by all means do so. By all means do so if God compels
you to do that. You're free to do it or you're
free not to do it. Either way. It doesn't really
matter about the physical eating of bread, but if God compels
you, don't for one minute hesitate. Do it. But recognize that our
acceptance with God is not because of this eating of meat or not,
but only rests on Christ. Romans 14, 17 says, For the kingdom
of God is not meat or drink, but righteousness and peace and
joy in the Holy Ghost. What is our acceptance with God? What is our righteousness before
God? Christ. What is our peace with God? Is it not Christ? And what is
our joy in the Holy Spirit? Is it not Christ who is our joy? Yes. It's Christ who is everything. 1 Corinthians 8 says, But meat
commendeth us not to God. For either we eat, are we the
better, or if we don't eat, we're not the worse. And so, if you are compelled
to fast, do so with your eyes fixed on Christ. And if you're
compelled not to fast, don't fast with your eyes fixed on
Christ. Keep your eyes on Christ. And
let us not mind the applause of men in this either, but let
us fast unto God. And friends, when we fast, let
us not see fasting as giving up meaningless things for God,
but let us continually fast in this, that we fast from the sin
and lust and affections of this flesh. I think that's what the
Lord Jesus Christ is here talking about. Fasting from sin. Sin. Believer, let us starve the body
of evil to which it's drawn to constantly." Is your body drawn
to evil? Because I know mine is. Then
fast from it. Depart from it. Starve this natural
man. Well, how do we do this? Look
back in Romans chapter 12 here, and Paul gives us this in this
chapter. First of all, he says, don't
be conformed to this world. Verse 2, it says, "...be not
conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing
of your mind." This word, conformed, has to do with fashion. Now,
I was looking through a catalog, I'd say about a few months back,
and it was a 1970s J.C. Penney catalog. Now, I had a
really good laugh. I saw the fashion of the 1970s
in that catalog, and the butterfly collars, the orange jumpsuits,
looked like people were in prison. But, you know, you had the fashion
of the day. And back then, nobody laughed
at that or anything. Well, that's nice. I like that.
Look at those bell-bottom jeans. That's fashion. What happened
to that fashion? What happened? It changed. It didn't take long and it was
changed. He's saying don't be conformed
to the changing fashion of this world. Think of the world's fashion
as far as morality goes. Think about 60 or 70 years ago
when divorce was frowned upon. Think about when there was a
time in this country when a person There was no such thing as living
together. That was something contemptible. And it wasn't to
be heard of in your family. If it was, you kept it hush.
You didn't let that out. You think of the evil of homosexuality. Back then it was shameful. It
was something to be kept in a closet and not to be said in public.
It's not that they didn't do it. It's just they didn't even
speak about it. Because this was the fashion
of the day. It was a morality of the time.
And they didn't say anything about it. It was a shame. Sexual relations was something
to be had between a man and a woman in the confines of marriage.
Think about the television shows you used to watch. And they would
even have separate beds in the television. They didn't even
want you to think about that. My, how that fashion has changed. There was one time when the church
meant something. When the local body was someplace
that people went to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. And today,
it's nothing more than a community center. A place to get handouts. And the pastor's word is just
about as good as the bum on the street. Living together now is nothing
more than a common practice. Fornication is rampant. Marriage
is something to be thrown away at an instant. And Paul says, don't be conformed
to the changing moralities of this world. Don't conform your pattern of
living after this world. You ladies that sew, you have
a pattern, don't you? If you have something like a
dress you're making, you have a pattern by which you sew. He said, don't
sew your life after the fashion of this world. It's constantly
changing. Constantly decaying. This world's fashion of religion
and morals change. And believer, we are not to be
conformed to this life or this world and its system, but we
are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. What is
that? That is by the word of God. How is it, believer, we are to
know how to worship God with our bodies? How is it? The word of God. This is how. You see, the Spirit of God that
dwells inside us, this is how He speaks to us, is through His
Word. He speaks to us through His Word,
and He doesn't leave this idea of worshiping God with our bodies
to our own imagination. It's not my opinion about this
or your opinion about this. It's what God says we are to
do. We're His servants. And your body is not your own.
It belongs to God. Use it for His service. Well,
how do you know how to use it? Read the book. Read the book. It is by the Word of God. Look
at this in verse 9. You want to know how to act?
How we should conduct ourselves? Listen to this. Let love be without
hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil, cleave
to that which is good. Now, is that not plain language?
Is that not plain? Well, I don't know if I should
do this. Is it evil? Well, kind of. Don't do it. Don't
do it. Abhor that which is evil. Friends, we should hate evil. And we should run from it at
every instance. We should cleave to that which is good, which
is Christ. Verse 11, Be not slothful in
business, but fervent in the Spirit. This is not regular business. This is the business of serving
God. Don't be slothful in the business
of serving God with your body. Verse 12, Rejoice in Christ. Rejoicing in hope, patient in
tribulation, continuing instant in prayer, distributing to the
necessity of the saints, giving to hospitality, bless them that
persecute you, bless and curse not, rejoice with them that rejoice
and weep with them that weep, be of the same mind one toward
another, be not high minded, mind not high things, but condescend
to men of low estate, be not wise in your own conceit. These things I'm just reading,
but you can understand these things. Love. Be patient. Be kind. These are not just passive
things, but these are active things that we are to be about
doing. I believe we live in an age where
men, most men, claim to love God and believe on Christ, who
never neglect their flesh. They like to sing, oh, how I
love Jesus, but never desire to sacrifice any of their time
or effort to serve Him or worship Him. They confess that they love the
Savior, but will not humble themselves to obey His Word. Many, you see, my friends, will
fast with their lips. That's easy, isn't it? This is
the only part of the body that some people like to worship God
with their lips They like to say oh, you know,
I really wish I could have been there Do you if you did you would? If you did you would Many people
have their affections for set on Christ with their mouth, but
their hearts are far from Him." There are those that honor Christ
with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him. Look at Luke
chapter 14. Look over to Luke chapter 14.
Who are they that serve Christ? Well, the Lord Jesus Christ is
going to make it very clear very fast. Look at this in chapter
14 and verse 26. Jesus Christ said this, "...if
any man come to Me, and hate not his father and mother
and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own
life also, he cannot be My disciple." Now, the Lord Jesus Christ here
is not telling us to hate our families. He's not telling you
to hate yourself. What He is telling you is if
you put anything, including your family or yourself, above Him,
you cannot be His disciple. If there is anything you would
put above Him, He said it. I didn't say it. I have no right
to say it. He said it. You cannot be My disciple. Verse 27, "...and whosoever doth
not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." This
is a cross of the suffering of the flesh, the suffering of the
body, the neglect of the old man. Paul said, we crucify that
old man, that old nature. We mortify the deeds of the body
daily. Daily. I'll tell you what, if a man
is not willing to mortify the deeds of the body, he's none
of Christ. He's none of Christ. You see,
mortifying the deeds of the body doesn't make us saved, but everyone
that is saved will mortify the deeds of the body. They will.
And if a man does it, it's because he has no life. Because he has
no life. Look at this in verse 33. It
says, So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not
all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. We live in a religious
day, my friend, where people will come to you and say, Oh,
if you'll just make your decision for Jesus, then you can have
everything. He'll give you salvation. He'll
give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. And any sensible person would
ask this question, what is it going to cost me? What is it
going to cost me? That's a sensible person ask
that question. You see, everybody else will
say, the religious world will say, oh, it costs you nothing.
Friends, I'm not going to tell you that. If you're a follower
of Jesus Christ, it will cost you everything. Everything. Which of you have not counted
the cost of what it is to serve Christ? It will cost you everything.
For the Lord says, Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not
all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple. What did Paul say
concerning all the things that he had? He said, I do count them
but dung. that I may win Christ. I too
say the same thing. I have nothing of value. Everything I had has no value. I gladly give it. See, that's
a no-brainer for me because I don't have anything of value. Christ
is the only value. And so to give up all we have,
is that not easy? Is that not? I mean, if you had
a pile of manure there, and then you had a pile of gold, and you
say, okay, exchange your manure for the gold. Well, that's simple,
easy, if you understand what you have as manure. Some people
think they have gold, but it's nothing but dung. That's what sin is. It's nothing
but refuse. It's nothing but trash. Why would we not freely give
it away? Freely give it away. We should give it for the service
of Christ. Some have thought to obtain heaven
by their sacrifice without giving their bodies in service for Christ. And who will not give up the
lust of their flesh for the salvation of their souls? But Christ's disciples will easily
give all they have and fast concerning the lust of their flesh. And
lastly, let us see that our fasting is not just for show, but for
God. These Pharisees in our text,
when you go back there, you'll see that they were fasting to
be seen of men. But friends, the mortification
of our flesh is toward God and not toward men. Let us not worship
God with our bodies and suffer our lust to starve,
to be accepted of God or applauded of men. This is the opposite
side of false religion. One side says, I will suffer
nothing, for Christ, and the other side said, well, I'm going
to suffer all of these things for Christ, but really they're
doing it for men. This is nothing more than what
Paul calls will-worship. Which things, Paul says in Colossians
2.23, the commandments of men, he says, have indeed a show of
wisdom. You look at the religious world
and tell me that's not a show of wisdom. I mean, man, they
do some serious work, don't they? I mean, they're out there, they're
banging on doors, and they're feeding hungry people, and they're
bringing big sacks of grain into Africa, and they're doing a whole
bunch of things. But who are they doing it for? Most of them are doing it for
the applause of men. And Jesus said this, they have
their reward. You want to see their reward?
Here it is. That's it. That's all they get. And if you do work for Christ
and that's what you want, that's all you'll get. But praise God,
that's not our reward. God said, I am thy exceeding
great reward. And He will one day reward us
who worship Him, who shun this flesh, who worship Him in our
bodies, in this present world. He says, if you deny Me, I will
deny you. Isn't that what He said? But if we confess Him, how? With the worship of our estate. The worship of our souls and
the worship of our body, we confess Him. Not just with our gums,
bumping our gums. That's not confession. It's easy
to say, I love Christ. But friends, we must do more
than say. Just like Noah. When he was told to build that
ark, he preached, but he also hammered. He worshiped God with
his body, didn't he? He followed God's command, and
so should we. I pray that God blesses to our
hearts. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer.