South Fayetteville Church of Christ

Series: N/A

Service: Sun PM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Eric Reynolds

Series: Fight the Good Fight

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Eric Reynolds

Series: N/A

Service: Sun PM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Eric Reynolds

Series: Fight the Good Fight

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Eric Reynolds

Series: N/A

Service: Sun PM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Eric Reynolds

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Eric Reynolds

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Eric Reynolds

Two Deaths

Yesterday, two people died. One was 86 and one was 17.

I got a call in the morning about brother Joe Smartt, who lived across the street. In March of last year we got a call that Joe wanted to be baptized. He was homebound and feeble. It was a joyous occasion, made all the more so by his daughter Cindy joining him in baptism. Yesterday, Joe passed away peacefully in his home, with his daughter by his side, as she had been the last couple of years.

Not long after I got home from their house, Grant came in the door. I thought maybe he was on lunch break, but he said that Tate has passed away in a car accident. From what I have heard, he was driving behind a truck hauling round bails of hay, when one of the bails fell off and hit his car. Sarah heard that his parents were following behind him and saw it happen.

There are things that I don’t understand. Most of them related to “why”? Why does one person live to be 86, and one 17? Why does a freak accident happen to one family and not another? Why not me? Why do some people experience more tragedies and loss than others?

What can you say to the friends and family that will help?

I know what to say to Joe’s family, but it doesn’t take away the sorrow and pain.

Today, instead of a usual sermon, I just want to make a few points about some things we know for sure.

A.  Death comes to all

Eccl. 9:11-12  Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. 12 For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.

Time and chance. We look for meaning, for explanation. But often, we are left with only “time and chance.”

What does time and chance have in store for you? For me? We do not know.

B.  The Lord knows and understands

I can somewhat understand what the Joe’s family is experiencing, although everyone’s experience and relationships are unique. But I was at my grandfather’s side, at almost the same age as Joe, in a hospital bed in his living room, just like Joe, when he passed away.

But I know that losing a grandfather is not the same as losing a father, and I haven’t lost either of my parents, so I cannot really say that I have been where Cindy is.

But the loss of a child. Whatever hell on earth Tate’s parents are going through? I’ve never known it. And selfishly I confess I hope I never do.

Some of you do.

I don’t know what it’s like to lose a spouse. Some of you do.

Or a brother or sister.

I can’t sympathize fully. But you know who can?

Heb. 4:14-16  Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

And do you know who has experienced the loss of an only Child? Our Father in Heaven.

C.  Judgment is coming

Heb. 9:27  And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

It would be nice to believe that everyone, regardless of how they spend their time here, meets up in Heaven on the other side. But the Bible is very clear that a judgment day is coming. Jesus taught this.

After the judgment, according to the Bible, there will be a second death for many. Because of sin, people will be cut off from God for good.

D.  In Christ, we have hope

But Jesus died so we don’t have to experience the second death.

Heb. 9:28  so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Think about this. God sent his Son to die, and yet we all still face physical death. Jesus didn’t suffer all that to save us from sickness, cancer, car wrecks, heart attacks, or old age. He died to save us from something much worse.

We can’t avoid our earthly death, but we can avoid the second death, thanks to Jesus’ sacrifice.

On the occasion of a funeral, the death of his good friend, at which Jesus wept, he said to Lazarus’s grieving sister:

John 11:25-26  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Through Jesus, we can overcome death. In Him, death is a doorway. I heard a title of an old sermon on death called, “The Bright Side of a Dark Door.” From our side, the door of death is dark. But from Heaven’s side, it is bright.

Rev. 21:3-4  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

E.  Life is short

We don’t know how long our lives will be. The heartbreaking thing about Tate’s death is that he seemed to have most of his life still ahead of him. He didn’t know that his life would only be 17 years long.

Jam. 4:13-14  Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

But even if you live to 107, it’s still just a vapor. Like the flower of the field that is here today and gone tomorrow. What’s important is what comes next.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun PM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Eric Reynolds

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Eric Reynolds

Series: N/A

Service: Sun PM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Eric Reynolds

Fasting

I.  Introduction

Tonight I want us to study fasting together. It’s a subject that doesn’t get discussed that often, and yet it is a very Biblical topic, both in the Old Testament and in the New. What is fasting? Why did people in the Bible do it? Should we fast today? These are some things I hope to cover tonight.

There are actually a ton of scriptures that refer to fasting—too many to include all of them in this lesson. But what I hope to do is use quite a few examples from the Old Testament to give us an accurate sense of when and why people fasted. Then we’ll look at what Jesus says about it. Finally, we’ll consider a couple of examples from Christians in Acts.

Let me first share with you the overall understanding I have arrived at from studying this, and then we’ll look at several examples so you can see what I mean.

Fasting is to refrain from eating. In some cases it meant to completely refrain from any food or drink, but often it seems to have referred mainly to food.

Fasting goes hand in hand with prayer. In fact, it seems the primary purpose of fasting is to have a fervent request heard by God.

Fasting is almost always associated with being in grief or distress. It accompanies a plea for mercy, help, rescue, or forgiveness. Many times the fasting person is also wearing sackcloth, a sign of mourning.

So these are some things to look for in these examples. Let’s consider some.

II.  Old Testament Examples

A. Fasting and mourning. 2 Sam. 1:12 
B. Fasting for healing.  2 Sam. 12:16, 2 Sam. 12:21-23 
C. Prayer for protection. Ezra 8:21-23 
D. Remorse of the sins of the people. Ezra 9:2-5 
E. Fear / distress. Esther 3:13, Esther 4:3 
F. Prayer for important mission. Esther 4:16 

As you can see, fasting normally accompanied a very serious and fervent prayer.

Knowing what we do about human tendencies, it shouldn’t be surprising that fasting turned into an empty ritual. At which point, of course, it becomes meaningless. Isa. 58:3-9 

What God has always cared most about is true repentance from the heart. Any form of worship or reverence without this is not accepted.

But it is clear that fasting, when joined with a sincere heart in prayer, is seen by God. Joel 2:12-15

Hopefully we’re getting a good sense of when people fasted and the fact that fasting was effective in communicating with God, but we may still be wondering: why? How does not eating have anything to do with prayer?

I found a helpful statement by David that sheds light on this.

Psa. 35:11-14  Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I do not know. 12 They repay me evil for good; my soul is bereft. 13 But I, when they were sick— I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest. 14 I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning.

David is saying his enemies were hateful toward him, but he was kind toward them, even praying for them when they were sick. But notice how he prayed. Three things are mentioned: clothing, fasting, posture.

Think of how each of these affects our mood. Do you feel different in your favorite pair of jeans compared to your work clothes? Or you church clothes compared to something you lie around the house in? Do you feel different when you get dressed up? To a certain extent, clothing has an effect on our mood.

Sackcloth is like burlap, a very rough, uncomfortable fabric. It would be the opposite of your lounging-around clothes, something to actually make you uncomfortable.

Posture: When someone stands and stretches you feel better. Body language tells a lot about what someone is feeling. And if we want to get into a humble frame of mind, we can bow or kneel or even prostrate ourselves.

Now think of how fasting fits with this. Think of how eating your favorite food lifts your mood. On the other hand, being hungry is an uncomfortable feeling. Like wearing sackcloth.

So fasting is a way of putting oneself in the right frame of mind to be serious and fervent in prayer.

Think of this another way. What does it say about Joseph’s brothers that right after they threw him in a pit, they sat down to eat? Or imagine this, you sit the family down to deliver some terrible news. And when you’re finished, one of the kids says, “what’s for supper?” Or you find out your child has done something really bad, and you confront them about it. He or she says, “I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” Then the next thing you know, they’re in the kitchen looking for a snack. What would you conclude?

On the other hand, how often have you realized that someone was bothered about something because they didn’t feel like eating, or barely touched their food?

The point is, there is a connection between being deeply troubled by something and eating. By fasting, not only are we showing that we are concerned or remorseful or grieving, it might also help us get into the right frame of mind.

III.  Jesus’ teaching

Now let’s move to the New Testament to see what we can learn from Jesus about fasting.

A. Jesus fasted. Matt. 4:2 
B. Jesus’ instructions on fasting. Matt. 6:16-18 

Fasting cannot be a show.
Notice Jesus says “when you fast…”

C. Fasting is associated with mourning. Matt. 9:14-15 

“then they will fast.” Fasting is not commanded anywhere that I can find in the NT, but it seems to have been expected.

IV.  Church examples

There are three examples of the early Christians fasting in Acts:

A. After realizing he was persecuting the Lord. Acts 9:8-9 
B. Early church fasting, important decision, commission. Acts 13:2-3 
C. Facing danger. Acts 14:19-23 

V.  Conclusion

Fasting itself is not commanded, but it was obviously a very common practice among people throughout the Bible, including Jesus and the early church.

Which should probably make us think: should I be fasting more?

Or maybe to put it another way, what benefit are we missing out on by not fasting?

Could our prayer lives be stronger?

As a recap, here are some situations when fasting would be appropriate:

• When you are mourning
• When someone, friend or enemy, is sick
• When you are repenting
• When you are facing danger or troubling times
• When making a very important decision

Basically any time that you are especially mindful of the need for God’s help, comfort, forgiveness, guidance, etc. Fasting will show that you take it seriously, and it will help you be earnest in prayer.