What does First B Jackson teach about fasting?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First B Jackson, the teaching on fasting starts with a simple observation: Jesus assumes His people will fast. In the Sermon on the Mount series through Matthew 6, Pastor Ray pointed out that Jesus does not say "if you fast" but "whenever you fast," treating it as something disciples simply do, the same way He assumes they will give and pray. The warning Jesus attaches is not against fasting itself but against performing it so others will notice. If being seen is the goal and you achieve it, that is the only reward coming.
The instruction Jesus gives, Ray taught, is to avoid making a gloomy face or letting the fast show the way hypocrites do, drawing attention to themselves. The fast is between the disciple and the Father who sees in secret, and it is the Father who responds. The motivation is the whole issue, not the act.
In the Monday night study through Mark, Ray returned to fasting from a different angle. When critics questioned why Jesus and His disciples were not fasting the way John's followers did, Jesus answered with a question of His own: do wedding guests fast while the groom is with them? Ray connected this to a passage in Isaiah where God rejoices over His people as a bridegroom over his bride. The groom had arrived, and this was a moment to celebrate, not mourn. That did not abolish fasting, but it placed it in its right season, and it showed that the purpose behind it had always been about the condition of the heart, not the performance of a rule.
Taught from Matthew 6:1-24 · Mark 2:18-22 · Isaiah
The passage taught · Mark 2:18-22
18 John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and they came and asked him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don’t fast?”
19 Jesus said to them, “Can the groomsmen fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they can’t fast.
20 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then will they fast in that day.
21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, or else the patch shrinks and the new tears away from the old, and a worse hole is made.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- November 15, 2023 Monday NIghts @ Frist B Nov 14th Mark 2-3 shows Jesus challenging religious rules to reveal God's true intent: mercy over sacrifice, people over tradition, and open hearts over rigid religion.
- January 16, 2022 To Be Noticed By Them Jesus calls His disciples to give, pray, and fast with pure motives, not to impress others. The pastor walks through Matthew 6 on what that looks like.
- January 16, 2022 Take Care Not to Practice Your Righteousness Jesus warns His disciples about doing good things for the wrong reasons, examining giving, prayer, and fasting done to impress people rather than to honor God.
Mentioned along the way
- October 25, 2023 Women's Bible Study - October 25th, 2023 - Review and New Topic: Forgiveness Deborah teaches First Baptist Jackson's women's Bible study on how unforgiveness blocks spiritual growth, drawing from Matthew 18 and Ephesians 4.
- February 26, 2017 Christ Hits the Center of the Target Paul's letter to the Colossians warns against rules, rituals and angel worship as substitutes for Christ, who alone hits the center of every target.
- February 26, 2017 The Substance Belongs to Christ Paul's letter to the Colossians cuts through religious rules and rituals to show why Christ alone, not law-keeping or self-denial, is the center of the Christian life.
- September 19, 2012 I Am Free, I Am New, I Have Eternal Life A sermon on what Christ's sacrifice truly means for us: freedom from sin's bondage, becoming a new person in Him, and the settled assurance of eternal life.