30. April 2010 by admin.

worship 4-25-10 from Brad Vander Waal on Vimeo.

message 4-25-10 from Brad Vander Waal on Vimeo.

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30. April 2010 by admin.

Have you ever really thought about our Western eating customs?  People all over the world share meals differently.  In Malawi, whenever you go to someone’s home, they want to cook you a meal as part of their hospitality.  It is more than hospitality though.  It is generosity!!!  The people may have very little to share with another person (of course they do not tell you this, and they just go hungry later), but they share what they have.  It is their custom, and it is rude to refuse their hospitality.  In America when someone comes to visit, we usually offer them something to drink, and perhaps a snack, but usually it is not a big sacrifice to do this, and if there isn’t enough food for dinner, then we would just skip it.  Neither is right or wrong, they are just different. 

In Leviticus 3, we are now speaking of the wellbeing or fellowship offering.  This is considered a “lesser offering”.  This offering still has the rules about sacrifice, but it can be any animal from the herd or flock, so long as it is without blemish.  Certain parts of the animal are the offering, and all of the fat belongs to the LORD.  This is important. 

Once again, in Malawi, when I went to buy meat, the butcher always tried to give us the best parts of the cow because we were visitors to his country.  While we tend to think of the lean cuts as being the best cuts, they look at the best cuts as the ones with lots of fat.  This is because it improves the taste and makes the meat moist when cooking.    Many people like the fat of the meat for it’s sweet taste (even though I am not one of them.)

God requires the fat.  Why?  Perhaps it is because it is the extra of the animal and shows the animal has had enough to eat, or perhaps it is because it is the most savory.  Either way, the people sacrifice this to the LORD as an offering.  However, unlike the burnt offering and the grain offering, the people that sacrificed the animal get to keep the extra parts that are not required by the LORD.  That is why this is a fellowship offering.  In fellowship we share with one another.

Are you fellowshipping with the LORD today?  Are you giving something to the LORD above the minimum?  How is God sharing it back with you?

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