"And Nadab and Abiu, the sons of Aaron, taking their censers, put fire therein, and incense on it, offering before the Lord strange fire: which was not commanded them." (Leviticus 10:1)
Just as God favored Abel's sacrifice over Cain's, we see in Leviticus 10 an example of an unworthy sacrifice to God. Aaron's sons took it upon themselves to basically play by their own rules, using a strange fire during sacrifice and essentially ignoring God's commands. They became infamous examples for us of just how much God wants us to stick to His ordinances.
I think anytime we see someone creating his or her own rules of worship, we see an example of what Nadab and Abiu did. God laid it all out for us -- there is no reason for anyone to come up with something new. He wants us to approach Him in a certain way. He was very specific with Moses on how exactly the Israelites were to worship Him (anyone who has read the Torah can attest to this!). So it therefore is quite outrageous that Aaron's sons disregarded God's very specific commands during worship. Leviticus moves along in a steady stream of rules and guidelines, but for this one chapter at least, God stops to show us what awaits those who pay no attention to those rules and guidelines. It is a striking lesson (especially given the horrible death that befell Nadab and Abiu), but it is probably meant to show us the severity of the crime. Are we following God's commands when we approach Him? Or are we making up our own rules?
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