“He shall tear it open by the wings, not severing it completely, and then the priest shall burn it on the wood that is on the fire on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.”
~ Leviticus 1:17
Hi James and Ellen,
What do you think pleases God? Giving something back to God pleases God. Are you pleasing God? What have you given back to God? Giving God a money offering pleases God. God had Moses write a book on how to give offerings to Him. The book is called Leviticus. Do you remember Jacob? Jacob is the Israelite people group’s patriarch. Do you remember how many sons that Jacob had? Jacob had twelve sons. Each one of Jacob’s sons as well as Joseph’s two sons became the tribal clan leaders for the Israelite people group. When God had His specially chosen guys, gals and kids leave Egypt, God chose one of the tribal clans – Levi, to be the tribal clan to offer up sacrifices and offerings to Him. Leviticus simply means relating to the Levites. The Levi tribal clan did more than just make offerings and sacrifices to God. The priests who served God in the temple were all from the Levi tribal clan. Your grandpaa will be telling you a lot about what the Levi trial clan – or the Levites, did. There was one thing which the Levi tribal clan was not to do which all the other Israelite tribal clans were to do. The Levi tribal clan was not to fight in battles. The Levi tribal clan was given a fair share of the land which was captured. The other Israelite tribal clans gave the Levi tribal clan animals which the Levi tribal clan would use as offerings and sacrifices to God. God about 3,400 years ago wanted any guy among His specially chosen people who wanted to bring an offering to Him to bring a bull or a lamb or a goat to the Tent of Meeting where the bull or lamb or goat would be sacrificed to Him. Leviticus 1 is the beginning of a series of instructions for the Israelite people group on how to bring sacrifices to God. If a guy did not have a bull or a lamb or a goat that could be used as a sacrifice to God, the guy could bring as a sacrifice to God a dove or a young pigeon. The Israelite people group guys were instructed by God – through Moses, on how they were to bring sacrifices to Him. The Israelite people group guys themselves were the ones who were to kill what they had brought to God as a sacrifice. The priests – who were from Moses’ bro Aaron’s family, would be the guys who would sprinkle the animal’s blood against all the sides of the altar. The priests would burn the meat on the altar. If a dove or a young pigeon was offered as a sacrifice to God, the dove or young pigeon was to be offered or sacrificed in a special way. It really sounds brutal but this is what Moses wrote in verse 17 as to what a guy was to do with a dove or with a young pigeon if this was to be his sacrifice to God “He shall tear it open by the wings, not severing it completely, and then the priest shall burn it on the wood that is on the fire on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.”
God was pleased over three thousand years ago when a guy made an animal or a bird sacrifice to Him. God is pleased today when you give your life as a living sacrifice to Him. God is also pleased when you give what He has given you back to Him – or to others who are serving Him. When your grandmaa and grandpaa helped to start up the rural resident training program in Bolivia – in Concepción Nuflo de Chávez, your grandpaa would visit the villages around Concepción. Your grandpaa would go on his motorcycle. When your grandpaa would go to visit a village, your grandpaa would always take one of the resident training center students with him. One day your grandpaa and one of the students went to visit a family who lived on a small ranch. The dirt road to the family’s ranch house was badly rutted, wet and slippery. The family did not know that Ramón and your grandpaa were coming. When Ramón and your grandpaa showed up at their ranch, the family had Ramón and your grandpaa sit down and they took off. Ramón and your grandpaa sat and sat. After waiting and waiting, a guy finally showed up with two hardboiled eggs, two spoons and a little salt. The guy gave Ramón one of the hardboiled eggs and your grandpaa the other egg. As your grandpaa was hungry, the hardboiled egg tasted really good. The two eggs that the family hardboiled for Ramón and your grandpaa were probably the only food that they had to give to Ramón and your grandpaa to eat. Even though this family – who were Christ-followers, did not have to give Ramón and your grandpaa something to eat, this family sensed God impressing on them to please Him by giving Ramón and your grandpaa something to eat. When you have God – as the Holy Spirit, living in your lives, you will innately want to give to others.
The things that you have really are God’s things. The money that you have really is God’s money. God allows you to have what you have. God taught the Israelite people group this. This is why God wanted His specially chosen people to bring to Him sacrifices and offerings. God wants you to regularly give Him money gifts. Your grandmaa and grandpaa frequently attended different churches in Bolivia. When it was time for the collection to be taken, it seemed like every single guy, gal and kid in the church would put something in the offering bag. Even the little kids would put a peso in the offering bag. Shortly after your grandmaa and grandpaa arrived back in the United States on their first furlough break, your grandmaa and grandpaa visited a church that is near where you live Your grandmaa and grandpaa sat in the church’s back row. When the offering plate got to where your grandmaa and grandpaa were sitting, there was nothing in it. The guys and gals in this church have lots of money. The guys and gals in the church probably give an offering once a month versus every time the offering plate passes them but . . . as God wants you to give back to Him, it is good to learn to give back to Him every chance that you get. God desires that you give back to Him and to others. When you give your life back to God as a living sacrifice, your life is a pleasing aroma to God.
Leviticus 1 (69)