Wesley's 7th Discourse

We are beginning a new sermon series based on the Sermon on the Mount. As part of this we will also be studying Wesley's original sermons. These sermons are a part of the rich history and doctrinal teachings of Methodism.

Below you will find a study guide our small groups and Bible study groups will be using during this series. Also there is an Ai translated version of Wesley's original sermon to aid in your reading. Also there is a preached sermon video from youtube if you are like me and find listening as a better avenue for the content.

Keep growing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWkS93kf04c

Study Guide Questions

Sermon

SERMON 27

UPON OUR LORD’S SERMON ON THE MOUNT

DISCOURSE 7 

“Moreover when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with gloomy faces. For they disfigure their faces so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so 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 openly.”

Matthew 6:16–18

1. From the beginning of the world, Satan has worked to pull apart what God joined together: to separate inward religion from outward religion; to set them against each other. And he has had no small success among those who were “ignorant of his devices.”

Many people in every age, having zeal for God but not guided by true understanding, have been tightly devoted to the “righteousness of the law,” the doing of outward duties, while at the same time they have been completely careless about inward righteousness—“the righteousness which is of God by faith.” And many have run to the opposite extreme, treating outward duties as unimportant, even speaking against the law and judging the law so far as it commands them.

2. By this very trick of Satan, faith and works have often been set against each other. Many who truly desired to please God have, for a time, fallen into this trap on one side or the other. Some have praised faith in a way that shuts out good works—not only from being the cause of our justification (for we know a person is justified freely through the redemption that is in Jesus), but even from being the necessary fruit of it—yes, from having any place at all in the religion of Jesus Christ. Others, eager to avoid that dangerous mistake, have run just as far the other way. They have either claimed that good works are the cause of justification (or at least the condition that comes before it), or they have spoken as if good works were everything—as if they were the whole religion of Jesus Christ.

3. In the same way, the end of religion and the means of religion have been set against each other. Some well-meaning people have seemed to place all religion in attending church prayers, receiving the Lord’s Supper, hearing sermons, and reading devotional books, while neglecting the end of all these things: the love of God and neighbor. And this very abuse has confirmed others in neglecting—or even despising—the ordinances of God, because those ordinances were so badly misused that they were turned into weapons against the very purpose they were meant to serve.

4. But among all the means of grace, there is hardly any area where people have fallen into greater extremes than the one our Lord speaks of here—religious fasting. Some have lifted it up beyond Scripture and reason; others have thrown it away entirely, as if they were paying back the first group by undervaluing it as much as the others overvalued it. The first speak as if fasting were everything—if not the goal itself, then always tied to it. The other speak as if fasting were nothing—fruitless work with no connection at all to true religion. But the truth is clearly between the two. It is not everything, and it is not nothing. It is not the goal, but it is a precious means to the goal—a means God himself has appointed, and therefore, when it is used rightly, he will surely bless it.

To make this as clear as possible, I will try to show: First, what fasting is, and the different kinds and degrees of it. Second, the reasons, grounds, and aims of it. Third, how we may answer the most reasonable objections against it. And fourth, how it should be practiced.

Part I.

1. First, I will show what fasting is, and the different kinds and degrees of it. As to what fasting is, all the inspired writers, in both the Old Testament and the New, use the word “fast” in one plain sense: not to eat, to abstain from food. This is so clear that it would be wasted effort to quote David, Nehemiah, Isaiah, and the later prophets, or our Lord and his apostles. They all agree: to fast is to go without food for a set time.

2. In earlier times, people usually added other outward actions to fasting, though these were not necessary parts of it. They might neglect their usual clothing, set aside ornaments they normally wore, put on mourning, sprinkle ashes on their heads, or wear rough sackcloth next to their skin. But in the New Testament, we find little mention of these extra customs. And it does not appear that the earliest Christians placed any great weight on them, though some penitents may have chosen them as outward signs of inward humility. Still less did the apostles—or the Christians who lived in their time—beat or tear their own flesh. That kind of practice was more fitting for the priests of Baal. The gods of the pagans were only devils, and it was surely pleasing to their devil-god when his priests “cried aloud and cut themselves” until blood poured out. But this cannot please the One who “came not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”

3. As for the length or measure of fasting, Scripture records some who fasted several days in a row. Moses, Elijah, and our blessed Lord—given supernatural strength for that purpose—fasted without interruption for “forty days and forty nights.” But the time most often mentioned in Scripture is one day, from morning until evening. This was also the fast commonly kept among the early Christians. Beyond this, they also had half-fasts (as Tertullian calls them) on the fourth and sixth days of the week—Wednesday and Friday—throughout the year. On those days they ate nothing until three in the afternoon, the time they returned from public worship.

4. Closely related to this is what our Church seems to mean, in a special way, by abstinence. This may be used when we cannot fast completely because of sickness or physical weakness. Abstinence means eating less—going without part of what we normally take—taking a smaller amount of food than usual. I do not recall a clear example of this in Scripture. But I cannot condemn it, because Scripture does not. It may be useful and may receive God’s blessing.

5. The lowest kind of fasting—if it deserves that name—is abstaining from pleasant food. We have several examples of this in Scripture, beyond Daniel and his friends. For a special reason, they did not want to defile themselves with the king’s food and wine, which he had ordered for their daily provision. So they requested and received vegetables to eat and water to drink. Perhaps the ancient custom of abstaining from meat and wine during appointed seasons of fasting came from an imperfect imitation of this. Or perhaps it arose from the belief that meat and wine were the most pleasing foods, and that at solemn times of drawing near to God it was right to use what was least pleasing.

6. In the Jewish church there were certain fixed fasts. One was the fast of the seventh month, appointed by God himself and required of all Israel under the severest penalty: “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, On the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement… and you shall afflict your souls… For whoever does not afflict his soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people.” In later ages, several other fixed fasts were added. The prophet Zechariah speaks not only of the fast “of the seventh,” but also “of the fourth, of the fifth, and of the tenth month.”

In the ancient Christian church there were also fixed fasts, both yearly and weekly. A yearly fast was the one before Easter. Some observed it for forty-eight hours; others for a whole week; many for two weeks, taking no food until the evening of each day. Weekly fasts were kept on the fourth and sixth days of the week, and were observed, as Epiphanius writes—stating it as an undeniable fact—throughout the whole inhabited earth, at least wherever any Christians lived. The yearly fasts in our Church are the forty days of Lent, the ember days at the four seasons, the rogation days, and the vigils or eves of several major festivals. The weekly fast is every Friday in the year, except Christmas Day.

But besides fixed fasts, in every nation that fears God there have always been occasional fasts, appointed as circumstances required. So when the people of Moab and Ammon came to fight Jehoshaphat, he set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout Judah. And in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, in the ninth month, when they were afraid of the king of Babylon, the leaders of Judah proclaimed a fast before the Lord for all the people in Jerusalem.

In the same way, individual believers who watch their lives carefully and desire to walk humbly and closely with God will often find a need for private times of afflicting their souls before their Father who is in secret. It is mainly to this kind of fasting that the directions in our Lord’s words chiefly and primarily apply.

Part II.

1. I now move to the second part: the grounds, reasons, and purposes of fasting.

First, people who are under strong emotions—moved by a powerful passion such as sorrow or fear—are often so taken up by it that they forget to eat. At such times they have little concern for food, not even what is needed to sustain the body, and much less for anything pleasant or varied, because their minds are fixed on other things.

So when Saul said, “I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me,” it is recorded that “he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night.” So also the men in the ship with Paul, “when no small tempest lay upon them, and all hope that they should be saved was taken away,” continued fasting, having taken no regular meal, for fourteen days. And so David and the men with him, when they heard the people had fled from battle and many were dead—Saul and Jonathan too—“mourned, and wept, and fasted until even.”

Yes, many times people whose minds are deeply engaged cannot bear interruption. They even dislike their necessary food, because it pulls their thoughts away from what they want to hold their full attention. So Saul, on the occasion already mentioned, though he had “fallen all along upon the earth, and there was no strength in him,” still said, “I will not eat,” until his servants, together with the woman, pressed him to do it.

2. Here, then, is the natural ground of fasting. A person under deep affliction—overwhelmed with sorrow for sin, and with a strong fear of the wrath of God—would, even without any rule, and without thinking whether God commanded it, “forget to eat his bread.” He would abstain not only from pleasant food, but even from what is necessary—like Paul, who after he was led into Damascus “was three days without sight, and did neither eat nor drink.”

Yes, when the storm rises high—when a terrible dread overwhelms someone who has lived without God—his soul would “loathe all manner of meat.” Food would feel unpleasant and burdensome to him. He would be impatient with anything that interrupts his constant cry, “Lord, save or I perish.”

How strongly our Church expresses this in the first part of the Homily on Fasting: When people feel the heavy burden of sin, see damnation as its reward, and behold the horror of hell with the eye of the mind, they tremble and quake. Their hearts are touched with deep sorrow. They cannot help but accuse themselves, open their grief to Almighty God, and cry to him for mercy. And when this is done seriously, their minds are so taken up—partly with sorrow and heaviness, partly with a strong desire to be delivered from danger—that all desire for food and drink is laid aside. A loathing for worldly things and pleasures takes its place. Nothing seems more fitting than to weep, lament, mourn, and show by words and by bodily behavior that they are weary of life.

3. Another reason for fasting is this: Many who now fear God feel deeply how often they have sinned against him by misusing lawful things. They know how much they have sinned by excess of food; how long they have broken the holy law of God regarding temperance—if not sobriety; how they have indulged their bodily appetites, perhaps even harming their physical health, and certainly doing great harm to their souls.

By this they constantly fed and increased a light, foolish spirit—an airy mind, a careless temper, a shallow attention to what matters most—a giddy and reckless spirit. This was nothing less than a drunkenness of soul, which dulled their best powers no less than wine or strong drink dulls the body. To remove the effect, then, they remove the cause. They keep far from excess. They abstain, as much as possible, from what had nearly plunged them into everlasting ruin. They often refrain entirely, and they always take care to be sparing and temperate in all things.

4. They also remember well how fullness of bread increased not only carelessness and lightness of spirit, but also foolish and unholy desires—yes, unclean and shameful passions. Experience puts this beyond doubt.

Even a refined, respectable sensuality is always making the soul more sensual, and sinking it down to the level of animals that perish. It is hard to express how much variety and delicacy of food affects the mind as well as the body, making it ready for every pleasure of the senses as soon as opportunity invites.

For this reason also, every wise person will restrain his soul and keep it low. He will wean it more and more from indulgences of lower appetites, which naturally chain the soul to earth and pollute and degrade it. Here is another ongoing reason for fasting: to remove the fuel of lust and sensuality, to withdraw the triggers of foolish and harmful desires, and of empty and shameful passions.

5. Perhaps we should not entirely leave out another reason for fasting (though I do not know whether we should place much weight on it), which some good people have insisted on at length: punishing ourselves for having abused God’s good gifts, by sometimes wholly refraining from them. In this way they practice a kind of holy revenge on themselves for past folly and ingratitude—because they turned what should have helped them into an occasion for falling.

They think David had this in mind when he said, “I wept and chastened my soul with fasting,” and Paul when he spoke of “what revenge” godly sorrow produced in the Corinthians.

6. A fifth and far weightier reason for fasting is that it is a help to prayer, especially when we set apart larger portions of time for private prayer. At those times, God is often pleased to lift the souls of his servants above earthly things, and sometimes to draw them up, as it were, into the third heaven.

And it is chiefly as an aid to prayer that fasting has often been found, in God’s hand, to be a means of strengthening not just one virtue—not only chastity, as some have imagined without Scripture, reason, or experience—but also seriousness of spirit, earnestness, sensitivity and tenderness of conscience, deadness to the world, and therefore the love of God and every holy and heavenly affection.

7. Not that there is any natural or necessary connection between fasting and the blessings God gives through it. But God will have mercy as he will have mercy. He will give what seems good to him by whatever means he chooses to appoint.

And in every age he has appointed fasting as a means of turning away his wrath and obtaining whatever blessings we need from time to time.

How powerful a means this is to turn away the wrath of God we learn from the striking example of Ahab. “There was none like him” who so sold himself—gave himself up like a slave bought with money—“to work wickedness.” Yet when he tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his flesh, fasted, and walked softly, the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying, “Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days.”

It was for this purpose—to turn away God’s anger—that Daniel sought God “with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.” This appears from the whole direction of his prayer, especially from its solemn close: “O Lord, according to all thy righteousness,” or mercies, “let thy anger be turned away… Hear… forgive… hearken and do, for thine own sake.”

8. But we learn not only from the people of God how to seek him with fasting and prayer when his anger is stirred. We learn it even from the heathens.

When Jonah declared, “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown,” the people of Nineveh proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least. The king rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. He caused it to be proclaimed through Nineveh: “Let neither man nor beast… taste anything… let them not feed, nor drink water.”

Not that the beasts had sinned or could repent, but so that by their example people might be warned, remembering that for human sin God’s anger was hanging over all creatures. “Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?”

And their labor was not in vain. God’s fierce anger was turned away. “God saw their works”—the fruits of repentance and faith that he worked in them by his prophet—“and God repented of the evil… and he did it not.”

9. And fasting is a means not only of turning away God’s wrath, but also of obtaining whatever blessings we need.

So when the other tribes were struck down before Benjamin, “all the children of Israel went up unto the house of God, and wept, and fasted that day until even,” and then the Lord said, “Go up… for to-morrow I will deliver them into thine hand.” So Samuel gathered Israel when they were in bondage to the Philistines, and “they fasted on that day” before the Lord. And when the Philistines drew near to battle, the Lord thundered upon them with a great thunder, confused them, and they were struck down.

So Ezra proclaimed a fast by the river Ahava, that they might humble themselves before God and seek from him a safe journey for themselves and for their little ones—“and he was entreated of us.” So Nehemiah fasted and prayed before the God of heaven, asking for success and mercy before the king—and God gave him mercy in the king’s sight.

10. In the same way, the apostles always joined fasting with prayer when they sought God’s blessing on an important work.

So we read that in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted—surely seeking direction—the Holy Spirit said, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” And when they had fasted and prayed again and laid hands on them, they sent them away.

So Paul and Barnabas themselves, when they returned to the churches, strengthened the disciples, and when they had appointed elders in every church, they prayed with fasting and commended them to the Lord.

Yes, that blessings may be obtained through this means which cannot be obtained otherwise, our Lord expressly declares when he answered his disciples, who asked why they could not cast the demon out. He said it was because of unbelief, and then added: “Howbeit, this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” These are the appointed means of receiving that faith by which even devils are made subject.

11. These were appointed means. For God’s people in every age were not directed to fasting only by reason or natural conscience, but were taught by clear revelations of God’s will.

So by the prophet Joel the Lord said: “Turn you to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning… Who knoweth if he will return… and leave a blessing behind him?” He commands: “Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly.” And he promises: the Lord will be jealous for his land and pity his people. He will send corn, wine, and oil, and will no more make them a reproach among the nations.

And these are not only temporal promises. At the same time he promised restoration—“I will restore you the years that the locust hath eaten”—he also adds spiritual mercy: “Ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel… and that I am the Lord your God.” And then follows the great gospel promise: “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh… your sons and your daughters… your old men… your young men… and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids.”

12. Now whatever reasons stirred God’s people in earlier times to practice this duty zealously and consistently, they still have equal force to stir us today. But above all of them we have a special reason to be “in fastings often”: the command of the One whose name we bear.

He does not in this place directly command fasting, almsgiving, or prayer. But his directions for how to give, pray, and fast have the same force as commands. For to command us to do something in a certain way is an unquestionable command to do the thing itself—because it is impossible to do it in that way if we do not do it at all.

Therefore, the words, “Give… pray… fast” in this manner are a clear command to do these duties—and to do them in such a way that we do not lose their reward.

And this is still another encouragement: the promise our Lord has joined to the faithful practice of it—“Thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” These are the plain grounds, reasons, and purposes of fasting, and our encouragement to continue in it, even though many—wiser than their Lord—have continually raised objections against it.

Part III.

1. I now come to consider the most reasonable objections that have been raised against fasting.

First, it is often said, “Let a Christian fast from sin, not from food. That is what God requires.” It is true that God requires us to abstain from sin. But he also requires the other. Therefore, this should be done, and that should not be left undone.

Look at the argument fully, and you will see its weakness:

If a Christian must abstain from sin,then he must not abstain from food.

But a Christian must abstain from sin.

Therefore, he must not abstain from food.

The first statement does not follow from the second. Yes, a Christian must abstain from sin. But how does that prove he must not abstain from food? Let him do both. By the grace of God, let him always abstain from sin, and often abstain from food, for the reasons and purposes that Scripture and experience clearly show are accomplished through it.

2. Second, it is asked, “Is it not better to abstain from pride and vanity, from foolish and harmful desires, from irritability, anger, and discontent, than from food?” Without question, it is better. But again, we must remember our Lord’s words: “These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”

In truth, fasting is meant to help us do the greater thing. It is a means to that higher end. We abstain from food for this very reason: that by the grace of God, given through this outward means (together with all the other channels of grace he has appointed), we may be strengthened to abstain from sinful tempers and desires. We refrain from the one so that we may have power from on high to refrain from the other.

So this objection actually proves the opposite of what it intends. If we must abstain from evil tempers and desires, then we should use the very means God has chosen for strengthening us to do so—even fasting.

3. Third, some say, “But we have tried fasting many times, and it did no good. We were no better afterward. We received no blessing from it. In fact, it seemed to make things worse. Instead of helping with anger or irritability, it increased them, so that we could not bear others or even ourselves.”

This may indeed happen. It is possible to fast—or to pray—in such a way that we become worse rather than better, more unhappy and less holy. But the fault is not in the practice itself; it is in the manner of using it.

Continue to fast, but use it differently. Do what God commands in the way he commands it. Then his promise will not fail. His blessing will not be withheld. When you fast in secret, “He that seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”

4. Fourth, it is said, “Is it not superstition to think that God cares about such small things?”

If you say that it is, you condemn all the generations of God’s children. Will you say they were all weak and superstitious? Will you say this of Moses and Joshua, of Samuel and David, of Jehoshaphat, Ezra, Nehemiah, and all the prophets? Yes, even of one greater than them all—the Son of God himself?

It is certain that our Lord and all these servants of God believed that fasting was not a small matter, and that the Most High does regard it. The apostles also believed this, even after they were filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom. When they had the anointing that taught them all things, they still approved themselves as ministers of God “by fastings,” as well as by righteousness. After the bridegroom was taken from them, they fasted in those days. And they did not undertake important matters—such as sending laborers into the harvest—without solemn fasting as well as prayer.

5. Fifth, some say, “If fasting is so important and so blessed, should we not fast continually? Instead of fasting at certain times, should we not always practice as much abstinence as our bodies can bear?”

Let no one be discouraged from practicing constant moderation. By all means, use plain and simple food. Practice self-denial as much as your strength allows. This can help with several of the purposes already mentioned. It may assist not only chastity, but also a heavenly mindset. It may help detach your heart from earthly things and fix it on things above.

But this is not scriptural fasting. It is never called fasting in the Bible. It may partly serve similar purposes, but it is not the same thing. Practice constant temperance if you will, but do not let it replace a command of God or an appointed means for turning away his judgments and obtaining his blessings.00

6. So continue in moderation as much as you desire; this is simply Christian temperance. But this does not interfere with keeping solemn seasons of fasting and prayer.

For example, if you were suddenly overwhelmed with deep sorrow or fear—if you felt crushed with guilt and dread—your ordinary moderation would not prevent you from fasting. In such a condition, you would naturally lose appetite. You would scarcely take even what is necessary for the body until God lifted you up and gave you peace. The same would be true if you were in intense desire, wrestling with God for a blessing. You would not need instruction to abstain from food until your request was granted.

7. Again, suppose you had lived in Nineveh when it was proclaimed, “Let neither man nor beast taste anything; let them cry mightily unto God.” Would your daily moderation have excused you from joining that public fast? Certainly not. You would have been as concerned as anyone else to abstain that day.

Likewise, habitual temperance would not have excused any Israelite from fasting on the Day of Atonement, when God said that anyone who did not afflict his soul on that day would be cut off from among his people.

And finally, if you had been among the believers in Antioch when they fasted and prayed before sending out Barnabas and Saul, would your regular abstinence have excused you from joining them? Surely not. If you had refused, you would have been cut off from the Christian community and rightly regarded as bringing disorder into the church of God.

Part IV.

1. I come now, in the last place, to show in what manner we are to fast, so that it may be an acceptable service to the Lord.

First, let it be done unto the Lord, with our eyes fixed on him alone. Let our purpose be this—and nothing else—to glorify our Father who is in heaven; to show our sorrow and shame for our many sins against his holy law; to wait for greater cleansing grace that lifts our affections to things above; to add seriousness and earnestness to our prayers; to turn away the wrath of God; and to receive the great and precious promises he has given us in Jesus Christ.

We must be careful not to mock God, or turn our fasting—just like our praying—into something hateful to him by mixing it with selfish motives, especially the desire for praise from others. Our Lord strongly warns against this in the words before us. “When you fast, do not be like the hypocrites.” Many who were called the people of God acted this way. They put on gloomy faces, forcing their expressions into a certain look. They even covered their faces with dust and ashes, so that they might be seen by others as fasting. This was their main purpose, if not their only one. “Truly, I say to you, they have their reward”—the admiration and approval of people.

“But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face.” In other words, behave as you normally would. Do not try to look different. Let no part of your purpose be to appear as someone who is fasting. If others find out without your seeking it, it does not matter. You are neither better nor worse for that. But let your fasting be “unto your Father who is in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly.”

2. Second, if we desire this reward, we must guard against thinking that we earn anything from God by fasting. We cannot be warned too often about this, because the desire to establish our own righteousness—to gain salvation as a debt rather than as grace—is deeply rooted in every heart.

Fasting is only a way God has appointed for us to wait upon his undeserved mercy. In it, without any merit of our own, he has promised freely to give his blessing.

3. At the same time, we must not imagine that the mere outward act of fasting brings any blessing. The Lord says, “Is this the fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it only to bow down his head like a bulrush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, an acceptable day to the Lord?”

If fasting is only outward, it is wasted labor. It may trouble the body, but it profits the soul nothing.

4. In fact, the body may sometimes be troubled too much, so that it becomes unfit for the duties of our calling. We must carefully guard against this, because we are to preserve our health as a good gift from God. Whenever we fast, we must consider our strength. We must not offer God what amounts to self-destruction, nor harm the body in a misguided attempt to help the soul.

Yet even in weakness, we may avoid the other extreme, which God rebuked when his people complained that he did not regard their fasts. He answered, “Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure.” If we cannot fully abstain from food, we can at least abstain from pleasant food. Then we shall not seek his face in vain.

5. But above all, we must afflict our souls as well as our bodies. Every time of public or private fasting should be a time for holy affections—those that belong to a broken and contrite heart. Let it be a season of sincere mourning, of godly sorrow for sin.

The apostle speaks of this kind of sorrow when he says, “I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance. For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation, not to be regretted.” This sorrow according to God is a precious gift of his Spirit. It lifts the soul toward God, from whom it comes.

Let such sorrow produce in us true repentance—a complete change of heart, renewed in the image of God in righteousness and true holiness—and a change of life, until we are holy as he is holy in all our conduct. Let it produce carefulness to be found in him without spot and blameless; clearing ourselves by holy living rather than mere words; hatred of every sin; holy fear of our own deceitful hearts; strong desire to be fully conformed to God’s will; zeal for his glory and for growth in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; and holy revenge against Satan and all his works, against all impurity of flesh and spirit.

6. And with fasting, we must always join fervent prayer. We should pour out our whole souls before God—confessing our sins with all their seriousness, humbling ourselves under his mighty hand, laying before him all our needs, all our guilt, and all our helplessness.

This is a time to expand our prayers, both for ourselves and for others. Let us mourn over the sins of our people, and cry out for the city of our God, that the Lord would build up Zion and shine upon her desolations. In ancient times, God’s servants always joined prayer and fasting. So did the apostles in the examples already mentioned. And so does our Lord join them together in this very discourse.

7. Finally, if we would observe a fast acceptable to the Lord, we must add to it almsgiving and works of mercy, according to our ability—caring both for the bodies and the souls of others. “With such sacrifices God is well pleased.”

The angel said to Cornelius, who was fasting and praying in his house, “Your prayers and your alms have come up as a memorial before God.” And God himself declares clearly what kind of fasting he chooses: “Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor who are cast out into your house, to clothe the naked when you see them, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?”

Then, he promises, “Your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring up quickly, your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am.”

If, when you fast, you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your gloom will be like noon-day. The Lord will guide you continually, satisfy your soul in drought, strengthen your bones, and you will be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

Week 7 - Fasting: The Quiet Work of Grace

Scripture: Matthew 6:16–18

Wesley Reference: John Wesley, Sermon on the Mount, Discourse 7 (Sermon 27)

Introduction

Most of us are far more comfortable talking about prayer than fasting. Prayer feels familiar and accessible; fasting often feels intimidating, outdated, or even unnecessary. Some of us grew up around it, others never heard it mentioned except in passing. And many of us quietly wonder, Does this really matter anymore?

In this part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus doesn’t argue whether His followers should fast—He simply assumes they will. “When you fast…” He says. Not if. But Jesus also makes something very clear: fasting isn’t about performance, appearances, or proving spiritual seriousness. It’s about quiet honesty before God. John Wesley echoes this by reminding us that fasting is not the goal—it is a means of grace, a tool God uses to shape our hearts, deepen our prayers, and loosen our grip on lesser things so we can cling more fully to Him.

GATHER

Purpose

To surface our assumptions and experiences with fasting, and to begin reframing it as a grace-filled practice rather than a religious burden.

Personal Discovery

• When you hear the word fasting, what emotions or memories surface first—confusion, guilt, curiosity, resistance, or something else?

• Have you ever intentionally fasted (from food or something else)? If so, what motivated you at the time?

• What do you think makes fasting feel uncomfortable or unfamiliar for many Christians today?

Group Discussion

• Why do you think Jesus speaks so plainly about fasting, without defending or explaining it?

• Wesley warns against separating inward faith from outward practices. Where do you see that tension showing up in modern Christian life?

• How have you seen spiritual practices either become empty rituals—or be dismissed altogether?

GROW

Purpose

To understand fasting as a biblical and Wesleyan means of grace—neither everything nor nothing—but a practice God uses to deepen prayer, humility, and dependence.

Summary

Wesley is careful to place fasting in its proper place. It is not a way to earn God’s favor, nor a substitute for repentance or obedience. But neither is it irrelevant. Fasting is a means God has chosen—one that helps awaken spiritual hunger, strengthen prayer, and bring clarity to our dependence on Him.

At its core, fasting is simply abstaining from food for a time. Over the centuries, people have added many outward expressions to it, but Jesus strips it back to something deeply personal and inward. When fasting is done to be noticed, it loses its power. When it is done quietly, prayerfully, and humbly, God meets us there.

Wesley also reminds us that fasting is often joined with prayer during moments of deep need, repentance, discernment, or longing for God’s direction. It is not about punishing the body, but about reordering the heart—loosening the hold of comfort, indulgence, and distraction so we can hear God more clearly.

Personal Discovery

• Wesley says fasting is meant to help prayer, not replace it. How might fasting create space for deeper attention to God?

• Are there comforts or habits in your life that sometimes dull your spiritual attentiveness?

• What would it look like for fasting to be an act of trust rather than self-discipline?

Group Discussion

• Wesley says fasting is “not the end, but a precious means.” Why do you think we struggle to keep that balance?

• Jesus emphasizes secrecy in fasting. Why is anonymity so spiritually formative?

• How does fasting challenge our culture’s emphasis on comfort, convenience, and constant consumption?

GO

Purpose

To invite a gentle, faithful step toward embodied discipleship—practicing hidden obedience that shapes the heart.

Take It Home – Mark of Holiness

Hidden faithfulness.Holiness is often formed in places no one sees. When we practice obedience without applause, we learn to live for God’s approval alone.

Scripture Readings for the Week

• Matthew 6:16–18

• Isaiah 58:6–11

• Joel 2:12–13

• Acts 13:1–3

Memory Verse

“And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” — Matthew 6:18

Prayer Prompt

“Father, help me desire You more than comfort. Teach me to practice obedience quietly, honestly, and with humility. Show me what distracts my heart—and draw me closer to You.”