Appetite-denying discipline, to better concentrate on God

Fasting

Mat 6:16-18 "When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don't make a production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity but it won't make you a saint.

If you 'go into training' inwardly, act normal outwardly. Shampoo and comb your hair, brush your teeth, wash your face.

God doesn't require attention-getting devices. He won't overlook what you are doing; he'll reward you well.  (Message Bible)

And whenever you are fasting, do not look gloomy and sour and dreary like the hypocrites, for they put on a dismal countenance, that their fasting may be apparent to and seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full already. 

               Isa 58:5 Is this like the fast I will choose, a day for a man to afflict his soul? To bow his         head down like a bulrush, and he spreads sackcloth and ashes? Will you call to this as a fast and a day of delight to Jehovah?

But when you fast, perfume your head and wash your face,

So that your fasting may not be noticed by men but by your Father, Who sees in secret; and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you in the open. (AMPC Bible)

"When you go without eating, do not look gloomy like those who only pretend to be holy. They make their faces very sad. They want to show people they are fasting. What I'm about to tell you is true. They have received their complete reward.

"But when you go without eating, put olive oil on your head. Wash your face.

Then others will not know that you are fasting. Only your Father, who can't be seen, will know it. He will reward you. Your Father sees what is done secretly.(NirV Bible)

(Mat 6:16-18) The right way to fast.

“Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”

a. When you fast, do not be like hypocrites: The hypocritical scribes and Pharisees wanted to make sure that everybody knew they were fasting, so they would have a sad countenance and disfigure their faces so their “agony” would be evident to all.

i. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward: When hypocrites receive the admiration of men for these “spiritual” efforts, they receive all the reward they will ever get.

b. When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting: In contrast, Jesus’ instructs to take care of ourselves as usual and to make the fast something of a secret before God.

c. When you fast: However, notice that Jesus assumes that His followers would fast. But with most anything good like fasting, our corrupt natures can corrupt something good into something bad.

i. A modern example of a good thing gone bad is the manner of dressing nice on Sunday. There is nothing wrong with this in itself, but if it is used to draw attention to one’s self, something good has become something bad.

d. You can do a wonderful thing for the wrong motive and have it count for nothing before God; Christianity is a matter of the heart, not just outward works.

e. The real problem with the hypocrite is self-interest. “Ultimately, our only reason for pleasing men around us is that we may be pleased.” (D. Martin Lloyd-Jones)

Matthew 6:16-18.  That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

We have our LORD’S direction in these verses concerning the proper observance of Fasts. In which Jesus doth not condemn seasons of humbling the soul, but he reproves the Pharisaical method of pretending to mortify the body. Perhaps nothing in the Church of CHRIST hath opened to greater evil under the cloak of religion, than Fasts and pretended Fasts. It was the reproach those Pharisees of our LORD’S days presumed to throw upon the SON of GOD himself and his disciples, that they observed them not. Why (say they) do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees, but thine eat and drink? Luk 5:33. How little do they know the true spirit of the Gospel of Christ, who consider an abstinence from food as a real fast of the soul towards God! Fasts and Festivals, the former to mortify, and the latter to gratify the body, what are these things in the view of the LORD? The kingdom of GOD is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Rom 14:17. And we may say upon all those things as the Apostle doth upon another occasion; for meat commendeth us not to God, for neither if we eat are we the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse. 1Co 8:8. It is astonishing to behold, what the pride and corruption of our poor fallen nature prompts us to do, in substituting anything in the place of real vital godliness. Oh! what would we give or suffer, in respect to the body, to atone for the sin of the soul? And the reason is obvious, could men but see it. For it tends to gratify the pride of our unhumbled nature. Anything but Christ. To rely wholly upon the person, and finished salvation of the LORD JESUS, who but those taught by the Spirit of Jesus can fully do it? But those things which the Apostle saith, have indeed a shew of wisdom in will, worship, and humility, and neglecting the body. Oh! how much they tend to lead the heart from Christ, instead of directing to Christ. Col 2:16-2