Noblesse Oblige, by Scott Applegate

This book was released by a pastor & author from Westminster, Colorado in 2009.  Scott is the pastor of Novation Church, a non-denominational bible-first church that serves the community each and every day, spreading the Gospel through practical works and teaching. We will publish each chapter weekly, and encourage you to read it and digest it each week in order to search for and live God’s true calling on your life. Through this series you will learn to search for your Noble: Living, Purpose, Vision, Mission, Ability, Faith, Action, Assignments, and Death.

“We have different gifts, according to the grace given us…(Romans 12:6 NIV)

“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” (1 Peter 4:10-11 NIV)

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NIV)

Chapter #5 Noble Ability

God does not want us to be frustrated because our gifts are not being used, rather He desires us to be fulfilled by using our gifts to His glory. Jesus desires that our lives are fruitful, meaning we make maximum impact for His Kingdom:

“Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing…My true disciples produce much fruit. This brings great glory to my Father.” (John 15:5, 8 NLT)

In the Zone

Michael Jordan is arguably the greatest basketball player who ever played the game. Jordan could make shots and do things that no one else could do. He would have nights where it seemed like he couldn’t miss. On these nights the announcers would say that Jordan was “in the zone.” To be “in the zone” is to almost unconsciously be able to do your job, your skill, or your calling. How did he get to be so good at his game? First of all, he obviously had natural talent. He had ability given by God, physical tools, that others did not have. He had a determination to be the best at his game. With that determination came drive to practice and exercise his ability. Finally, he had played so much basketball he was confident in his skills. In other words, he knew how good he was. This led him to be able to get “in the zone.” Spiritually speaking, getting “in the zone” is simply learning how to exercise and walk in who God has made you to be. If God has given you a mission (calling), He will also empower you to fulfill that mission. In other words, He will give you the tools you need to do what He calls you to do. Whatever He has called you to do; He has equipped you for it with the right tools. Our job is to learn how to discover what those tools are and how to use them. The tools common to all are our unique spiritual gifts, our character, which is shaped from learning to draw from your life experience (good and bad), and confidence in the gifts God has given you.

Spiritual gifts

In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit would come upon people to do what God wanted them to do. He would empower them for service. This empowerment was symbolized in the act of anointing with oil. For example, Kings and Priests would be anointed for service in the Old Testament by having oil poured over them. The oil signified God’s power and Spirit being applied to the one being anointed. David was anointed to be king over Israel in 1 Samuel 16. From that moment on David gradually grew in his awareness of his anointing. Ironically, it took ten years before David actually became king over Israel. The New Testament has replaced the concept of anointing with “spiritual gifting.” For example the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth:

“I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way-in all your speaking and in all your knowledge26 because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.” (1 Corinthians 1:4-9 NIV)

Spiritual gifting comes from the fact that the Holy Spirit no longer comes upon believers, but has come to take up residence within them. A person cannot be a Christian without the Holy Spirit. This is what the Bible calls being “Born again.” The Holy Spirit comes and regenerates a person and makes them new creations. When He does this He gives spiritual gifts, empowered by Himself to the person. He gives these gifts for the strengthening of the church and for the glory of Christ. If you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit has gifted you with spiritual gifts to serve. We could describe “spiritual gifts” as the God given ability to carry out your calling. Using your spiritual gift could be described as your ministry “sweet spot”. It is when your God given talent, God’s timing, God’s power, and your calling converge. Spiritual Gifts can be categorized in three categories: the ministry gifts, the manifestation gifts, and the office gifts. The ministry gifts are listed in Romans 12:4-8:

“Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully” (NIV).

These gifts are given to serve the body of Christ. A believer will not be fulfilled until they find and exercise their ministry gift.  The manifestation gifts are listed in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11:

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines,” (NIV).

The key to understanding the manifestation gifts is vs.11. “…he gives them to each one, just as he determines.” These gifts are given as the Holy Spirit determines. People do not possess these gifts, the Spirit does. We are to desire them (1 Corinthians 14:1) for God’s glory and empowerment, but they will only be manifested as the Spirit sees fit. This is how they differ from the ministry gifts. Our ministry gift is ours to exercise, as we like. The manifestation gifts our exercised as He likes. The intent of this chapter is not to be theological in nature, but rather to bring clarity to how God uses spiritual gifts. I would suggest further study for a clearer understanding. Lastly, there are the office gifts:

“It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ,” (Ephesians 4:11-13 NIV). These gifts of …apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, are also sovereignly bestowed. We are not all called to one of these offices in the church. However, we do have a gift. In the last chapter I gave you some suggestions on how to discover your gifts.

Experience breeds confidence

It is important to realize that God has gifted you but you may not yet understand how to use your gifting. Like with most things we become good at in life it takes practice and experience to breed confidence. The more we walk in our gifting the more second nature it becomes. I told you earlier that I felt a calling to teach and preach early in my walk with Christ. However the first few years of teaching and preaching were not very fruitful. I had a lot of fear and a lot of immature agendas of my own that blocked the release of God’s gifting on my life. Because I struggled does not mean that the gifting and calling was not there, rather it means that I had to learn how to use them before it would become fruitful. The release of our gifting grows with faith, experience, and humility. The anointing of God is the God given ability to carry out our calling by using our spiritual gifts. I once heard someone say, “the anointing of God (or gifting of God) is like a cloak that he didn’t tailor for me, but rather he must tailor make me for the cloak. He must fit me for my anointing not the anointing for me.” God is using your past, your current situation and circumstances to tailor you to fit your gifting.

Brokenness

In order to become the people God wants us to be, and to become the kind of people He can trust with His gift and calling, God wants to break us. There are two definitions for the word brokenness, one with a negative connotation and one positive. The negative definition is what we might call “broke-ness”, meaning that something is broken, in need of repair, or unusable. In a positive sense, brokenness has the connotation of being tame, teachable, and pliable. Horses that have been tamed are called “broken”. God desires that we move from “broke-ness” to “brokenness”. “The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17 NLT) God uses adversity and pain to create the broken people He can use to fulfill His noblesse oblige for their lives.

The Gift of Adversity

One of the greatest gifts God gives to lead us to true brokenness is the gift of adversity. It was mentioned earlier but is worth mentioning again, we are to comfort those with the comfort we have received from God (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). In other words, God uses the pain of life to shape us, mold us, and fit us for His calling. God does not comfort us to make us comfortable, but to make us comforters. You can’t minister to the hurt of others until you have hurt yourself. This is why Jesus is the perfect Savior. He knows suffering beyond the level any human has ever suffered. You have not experienced a hurt that Jesus has not experienced. That is the difference between sympathy and empathy. With sympathy we feel bad for someone’s pain. With empathy we understand someone’s pain because we have experienced it ourselves. I heard someone say that change and growth come from two sources, inspiration or desperation. We have all heard great and moving messages that inspire us to do great things for God, but it’s safe to say the greatest messages that change us the most, we never actually hear but rather we learn from the pain and trials of life.

Pure Joy?

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4 NIV)

It is very difficult to consider the pain and trials of life as a gift from God. How do we learn to count our trials pure joy? And how do we allow them to help us in our noblesse oblige? There are four things we can do with our pain. We can run from it, deny it, numb it, or embrace it as a gift from God. Running from pain, denying pain, and numbing our pain, does not take much explanation. Learning to embrace our pain requires serious contemplation because it is the healthiest and probably the greatest tool in God’s hands to shape us into who He wants us to become. We are not to consider the trials themselves joyful, but by faith we accept them with joy because of the spiritual growth it will produce in us. A good friend told me the following story:

“There was a young man who attended a church service, and in that church service was a pastor who moved in a powerful anointing both in preaching and ministry. The young man had desired an anointing like the one of the preacher, and approached the preacher after service and asked him to pray that God would give him the same anointing as he had. The preacher graciously laid his hands on the young man and began to pray, “Lord I ask you that you would take this young man through the darkest deepest valley, I pray that you walk him through health problems that bring him to the door step of death, allow him to have broken relationships, and to lose all that is close to him. The young man stopped the preacher from praying and asked him “Why are you praying this stuff over me?” and the preacher responded “son you cannot have this kind of anointing unless you walk through things I’ve had to walk through. This anointing is not for free it is grown and developed over trials and pain.”

The young man in the story made the mistake we all make. He thought that fulfilling his calling could be zapped into his life by one quick prayer. However there are no shortcuts or microwaving spiritual power. The tools we need for our mission are strengthened as we exercise them and walk in humility and brokenness.

Noble Questions to Ponder

What do you feel God has gifted you to do?

Have you accepted the spiritual fact that God has gifted you for something that only you can do? How can you resist gift envy?

Are you finding a place to exercise your gifting and grow in your potential?

How has or is God using pain to grow your calling and potential?

  Comment below and let us know what you think about the Noble Ability!