Fellowship

Suppose that some evening this week my wife and I came knocking at your front door with a bag of groceries and said, “Let’s eat together.” You’d (I hope) smile, and say “Come on in.” We’d dig around in the bags to see what we had to work with, and cook up whatever needed cooked up, and eventually sit down to eat and enjoy each others’ company. You would be blessed by the food we had brought, and we would be thankful that we have such delightful friends.

For some reason we humans seem to give extra value to the sharing of food. It’s deep within us, and it’s a phenomenon that has been around for a long time. People just like eating together and talking about life. It makes us feel closer, it bonds our friendships, and it creates community.

In America, we practice this with relish. And turkey. And ham. And steak. And potatoes. And pie. Give us a holiday and we will roll out the food and gather in the friends and family. And when the food is done, the talk begins. The older men solve the world’s problems, the women talk about family and friends and whatever else it is women talk about, the younger people talk about jobs and raising children, the teenagers sit around texting or rolling their eyes, and the little kids are just underfoot. And at the end of the day, we are all feeling good, full of food, and all talked out. And the introverts go home exhausted, and extroverts go home energized, and everyone feels closer and happier.

With all this in mind, look at a somewhat unusual piece of scripture from Leviticus 7:

(11) ‘This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings which he shall offer to the LORD: (12) If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer, with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers anointed with oil, or cakes of blended flour mixed with oil. (13) Besides the cakes, as his offering he shall offer leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offering. (14) And from it he shall offer one cake from each offering as a heave offering to the LORD. It shall belong to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the peace offering. (15) ‘The flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offering for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day it is offered. He shall not leave any of it until morning.

What is being described here are the peace offerings, which are discussed in chapter 3 of Leviticus as well. Some translations call these the “fellowship” offerings. They were brought, it seems, not so much to gain peace with God, but instead in acknowledgment of the peace God had given and for fellowship with Him. Sometimes the fellowship offerings were brought to God out of thankfulness. If you were living right, had no sin that needed to be dealt with, and God had done something for you that was thankworthy, you could bring this sacrifice.

So, when someone wanted to thank God for something, they would bring a lamb or a goat (that’s in chapter 3), some cakes or wafers, and bread made with yeast. The animal was slaughtered, and the priest burnt part of it on the altar. He sprinkled its blood on the altar, too. And part of the rest of the meat was given to the priest. So far this is pretty much like the other offerings, but now it gets completely different. From the cakes or wafers that were brought, one was offered to God (as a “heave” offering, meaning it was lifted up before the altar), and given to the priest. It doesn’t say what was done with the bread.

So the person who brought the sacrifice was left standing there with (a) some of the meat, (b) some of the cakes or wafers, (c) probably at least some of the bread. Why? What was he supposed to do with all this food?

Here’s what he did. He took it home, gathered his family around, and they ate. They ate with the understanding that they had shared with God and He had shared back with them by not keeping it all for Himself.

What does this all mean? What’s this all about? It’s about the fellowship. With some adaptations because God is spirit ( you couldn’t sit down across the table from Him) God was sharing food with His people. Symbolically He was sitting down to dinner with them. And with no reference to sin nor any indication that anything was dividing them. Just fellowship. Just enjoying each other. What a privilege this was for the Old Testament saints, to share with God a meal that specifically thanked Him for His goodness.

There are things for us to learn here.

• God wants to fellowship with us. He wants to share the joys and trials and ups and downs of our lives.
• God finds delight in our fellowship with Him. He wants us to bring to Him things which will bless Him, which will please Him, which will make both of us smile.
• Our relationship with God is not limited to things relating to sin. It’s not supposed to be all confession and atonement and forgiveness. There is supposed to be a very large component of thankfulness involved. Of joy expressed over God’s greatness and goodness to us. Of simple pleasure of being together through the common moments of life.

I don’t think this works the same way for New Testament believers. We aren’t expected to show up before God’s throne carting roast lamb and cakes and bread. But there are things we ought to share with God in thanksgiving. Things we should bring to Him. What might they be? A review of the New Testament indicates that they might be these:

• Romans 16:4: We bring those who minister to us to Him.
• 1 Corinthians 15:57: We bring our spiritual victories to Him.
• 2 Corinthians 9:11: We bring our blessings to Him.
• Colossians 2:7: We bring our spiritual maturity to Him.
• 1 Thessalonians 1:2: We bring each other to Him.
• 1 Thessalonians 3:9: We bring our joys to Him.
• 1 Timothy 4:3,4: We bring the holy pleasures of life to Him.

So here’s what I think. I think Leviticus 7 teaches that a necessary part of fellowship with God is bringing to Him, as an offering, those blessings he has shared with us. And doing so thankfully, with joy as we share back with Him what He has shared with us.

To be blunt and brief, I don’t think that Christians have much fellowship with God if they aren’t actively thankful.

Hebrews 13:15 and 16 sums it all up: “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”

Might it be that the “sacrifice of praise” parallels the peace offering of thanksgiving, continually offered to God as God  continually pours good things into our lives? Thanks to God should always be on our lips. Thanks should be in our hands, too, as we share the goodness of God in tangible ways with others.

This pleases God. It draws us into a relationship with Him that might be likened to the closeness and camaraderie and warmth and love you feel after a great day of food and chat with friends and family. It draws us into fellowship.

Check out your life. If you you are lacking a closeness with God, it may be because you are lacking in thankfulness. Learn to be thankful and you’ll find Him drawing you ever closer.

Link to audio.