“Moses then said to Aaron, “‘This is what the LORD spoke of when he said: ““‘Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.’”” Aaron remained silent.”
~ Leviticus 10:3
Hi James and Ellen,
What does it mean to you to worship God? What do you think that it means to God that He is worshipped by you? What are you doing when you are worshipping God? Are you worshipping God when you sing praise songs to Him? Are you worshipping God when you memorize Bible verses? Are you worshipping God when you give an offering or a tithe back to Him from what He has given you? Are you worshipping God when you get together with guys, gals and kids who also want to worship God? Are you worshipping God when you give your lives to Him as a living sacrifice to serve Him wherever and however? Do you think that God wants you to sing praise songs to Him? Do you think that God wants you to meditate on Bible verses? Do you think that God wants you to give back to Him some of what He has given you or has allowed you to have? Do you think that God wants you to get together with guys, gals and kids who also believe in Him? Do you think that God wants your lives as living sacrifices to serve Him wherever and however? It is something very serious and important to God that you worship Him. What do you think will happen if you do not worship Him after you have made a decision of faith to believe in what God – as His Son Jesus, did on a cross to give you the gift of eternal life? Your grandpaa does not want to find out what God would do to your grandpaa if . . . it really is something very serious and important to your grandpaa that he worship God through singing praise songs to Him, memorizing Bible verses, giving Him money offerings, fellowshipping with likeminded Christ-followers and giving his life as a living sacrifice to God to use for His kingdom’s sake.
An example is found in Leviticus 10 of what will happen when an attempt is made to worship God in a way that is not the way that God desires to be worshipped. If you do something that is against the law to do, you may be punished but you will not be executed unless you have killed a guy, gal or kid. Even if a guy or gal does kill a guy, gal or kid, that guy or gal is more often than not today is not executed for killing a guy, gal or kid. When God passed on through Moses a new belief paradigm to His specially chosen guys and gals, God chose Aaron – Moses’ big bro, and Aaron’s four sons to be the guys to burn animal sacrifices to Him. Out of the twelve Israelite tribal clans that made up God’s specially chosen guys and gals, God chose the Levi tribal clan as the designated tribal clan to be the tribal clan to explicitly worship Him. God passed on through Moses all kinds of different worship requirements and expectations. These worship requirements and expectations were for all twelve tribal clans that made up God’s specially chosen guys and gals. God though gave the Levi tribal clan a much higher requirement and expectation bar for each Levi tribal clan guy and gal to live their lives under. Because of the way that God chose the Levi tribal clan from the twelve tribal clans that made up His specially chosen guys, gals and kids, your grandpaa believes that God still chooses today certain guys from His specially elected guys to lead out in worshipping Him. These guys are in today’s Christ-follower communities the pastors, elders, Bible teachers, evangelists, missionaries, etc. These guys who God has chosen from His specially elected guys have a higher standard and expectation bar to live under on planet Earth as they are leading Christ-follower communities in worshipping Him.
Do you make mistakes when you are learning new games? Do you make mistakes when you are taking exams? Are you finding out that you have made a mistake when you did not do what your dad and/or ma has asked you to do? Are your learning from your mistakes? Are you given chances to make more mistakes? When God gave through Moses His new belief paradigm to His specially chosen guys and gals, God gave explicit commands to His specially chosen guys and gals how He wanted them to worship Him. God gave the Levi tribal clan the vast majority of things to do to worship Him. God gave Aaron and his four sons still even more things to do to worship Him. God expected His specially chosen guys and gals to worship Him how He wanted to be worshipped or . . . two of Aaron’s kids decided one day that they were going to worship God their way by putting fire in their censers, adding incense to the fire and then offering the fire and incense to God. God had not clearly told Moses to tell Aaron that he, his kids and every other guy in his extended family were not to worship Him in the way that two of his kids – Nadab and Abihu, thought that they could worship Him but . . . how do you think that God felt about the sacrifices of fire and incense that Nadab and Abihu wanted to offer Him? Verse 3 says “Moses then said to Aaron, “‘This is what the LORD spoke of when he said: ““‘Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.’”” Aaron remained silent.” When Nadab and Abihu tried to worship God in a way that God had not asked His specially chosen guys from the Levi tribal clan to do to worship Him, God killed Nadab and Abihu with fire. If you had been Aaron and if you had just seen two of your kids burned to death by a fire that had come from the presence of God – or if you had just heard that two of your kids had been burned to death by fire that had come from the presence of God, how would you have felt? When God killed Nadab and Abihu with fire that came from His presence, God sent a message to His specially chosen guys. God expected His specially chosen guys to never forget that He was to be seen as being holy and to be always honored. Your grandpaa hopes that you will always honor God by worshipping Him as a holy God who desires that you sing praise songs to Him, memorize Bible verses, give Him offerings, fellowship with other Christ-followers and give your lives to Him as living sacrifices.
Leviticus 10 (245)