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Matthew 6:16-18 | SECRET FASTING

Robb Esperat

  1. Is fasting a discipline with which you have much personal experience?
    If your answer is ‘no,’ share with the group what connotations does fasting have when you think about it?
    If your answer is ‘yes,’ share with the group your experience with the group. Has it been mainly a good or bad experience? How has your relationship to fasting changed over time?

  2. Read Matthew 6:16-18. This is the 3rd in a series of three teachings on giving (6:2-4), prayer (5-8) and fasting (16-18). How do these three sections mirror one another? How does today’s passage differ from the others?

  3. Read Matthew 4:1-11. This account of Jesus’ fast in the wilderness comes just after his baptism (Matt 3:13-17). Why do you think Jesus engaged in these spiritual exercises? In the sermon today, Robb called fasting “a way of immersing ourselves body and soul in the story of Jesus.” In what way does fasting do that?

  4. Review the ‘nuts & bolts’ instruction below which was shared in the sermon today. What stands out to you as particularly helpful? What else might you add, from your own experience?

    • Consider fasting for Lent: February 14 - March 31, 2024.

    • Choose a fast that is stretching but do-able.

    • Remember that fasting is not the same as repenting.

    • Don’t look gloomy.

  5. Why does Jesus instruct us to “not look gloomy” when we fast? In what way does a gloomy fast betray its meaning and purpose?

  6. Read Acts 13::1-3. Fasting “in secret” does not mean that we can’t fast together. Regularly in Scripture, communities share the experience of fasting and prayer. Consider if your group might want to enter the season of Lent together this year. You needn’t all fast the same way, but a community can help spur one another on during seasons of spiritual discipline. Discuss what a group fast might look like, but don’t put pressure on one another to do it. Performative fasting is what Jesus is protecting us from! Pray for one another.