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.  

Foreward

This is the foreword from Noblesse Oblige, stay tuned for more bits from the book, and if you enjoy it or are grown through it please think about purchasing a copy of Noblesse Oblige.

Do you find yourself frustrated with where you’re at in life? How many times have you asked yourself, “Am I making the most of my life? Am I really doing what God wants me to do? Am I really being who God created me to be?”

You are not alone.

I meet people daily who wrestle with the same questions. What did you want to be when you were a kid? Your dreams probably changed as you grew older. I imagine your dreams grew “safer” and more achievable the older you grew. Dreams and aspirations are often shaped or assaulted by our experiences.

We struggle to find our place and settle for the easiest route to a comfortable and convenient life.  Did you know the majority of college students change their major three or four times before settling on a field of study? Why is that? Why do we struggle so much finding our place? Why do we seem to lack the contentment we know we should possess? Like you, I have spent a lot of time and energy trying to figure out who I am and what I want to be when I grow up. I want my life to count. I want my life to have maximum impact for the Kingdom of God.

I believe the secret of a meaningful life lies in not asking, “What do I want to do with my life, but rather, what does my ‘God-given life’ want to do with me?” What that means is your life, your past, your experiences, and your passions have shaped who you are and are speaking to you about how you should spend your life.

Are you listening?

We were recently given a dog named Lilly. One day, as I was walking her around the pond near our house, God used her to illustrate a very important point. Even though she is a mutt, it is obvious that she has some hunting dog in her. Whenever she sees a bird or a rabbit, she stops, picks up one paw, points, and gets very excited.

Lilly is a very compliant dog and doesn’t live a very exciting life. She eats and sleeps most of her day away. Any opportunity she gets to be outside is a complete joy to her. She goes ballistic when she hears the mail keys rattle, because that means she gets to go sniff the grass where other dogs do their thing and she does her thing, if you know what I mean.

One particular day, I took her on a walk around the pond near our house. On this day, there were about two hundred Canadian (sic) geese feasting near the pond. Lilly gave me a slight tug on the leash toward the geese as if to say, “Please, oh please, just one chase. Just let me be me for one moment.” She looked at me with a look that said, “I am a hunting dog for crying out loud; it is what we do!”

So I stopped and took off her leash and told her to sit. On my command, I said “get ’em.” Lilly was at full speed by the time she got to the geese. Needless to say, the sound of geese wings flapping was extremely loud. Lilly is old, so she didn’t catch any, but she sure had fun. After she came back and I put her leash back on her, I felt God warm my heart as if he was saying, “This dog was just being who I created her to be. Her passion for hunting was put there by me. More importantly, I have put passion in your heart. Be who I uniquely made you to be.

“Fulfill your noble purpose; it is why I created you and redeemed you.”

If I spoke French, he would have used the phrase, “noblesse oblige.” The French use this term to describe the responsibility and noble obligation of the powerful and the rich to use their positions and wealth for the good of the less fortunate, the broken, and the outcast. We as Christians, regardless of earthly status or wealth, also have noblesse oblige. We are spiritual billionaires through faith in Jesus (Ephesians 1:3), and are joint heirs with the Creator of the universe and the King of Kings (Romans 8:17, Colossians I:15-18). Therefore, we have a noble obligation to spend our lives on what matters most to God. The Apostle Paul described the noblesse oblige like this: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:1O, NIV).

Jesus knew and lived out his noblesse oblige. The gospel of John records: “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God” (John 13:3, NIV). This verse is jam-packed with spiritual truth that we need to grasp if we are to follow Jesus and fulfill our noblesse oblige.

First of all, Jesus knew who he was. He knew that he had come from God. In other words, his identity was secure. This is important because most people tend to find their identity in the wrong things. People tend to find their identity in what they do, how much money they have, or in the acceptance of others. This leads to an unending and unsatisfying search for answering the age-old question “Who am I?” Jesus fulfilled his noblesse oblige by knowing who he was. The only way you and I will do the same will be by knowing who we are.

Secondly, Jesus knew why he was on the earth. Jesus knew his purpose.

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45, NIV). The question “Why am I here?” haunts so many people. Jesus knew the secret of purpose and lived it fully. To live the fulfilling life of the noblesse oblige, we must know and pursue our purpose.

Thirdly, Jesus knew where he was going. Jesus knew his destiny and had vision for it. Jesus knew that he was returning to God. The writer of Hebrews puts it like this: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2, NIV). Jesus could have done or had anything he wanted while on earth. However, he chose to live his life in humble servanthood to the will of His Father. He lived for eternity rather than the temporal.

Lastly, Jesus knew what his specific calling was. In other words, Jesus knew what his mission in life was. Jesus summed up his mission when he said, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10, TEV). You too can know your unique mission and calling and explore all God has for your life, right where you are.

Each of us desires to know our identity, have a true sense of purpose and mission, and to have passion and vision for the future and how to spend our lives. The reason our hearts are restless is because there is a gnawing sense that there is something more to life-something more to the call of Christ than we are experiencing. If you are like me, you often find yourself holding back, cowering down to fear, worrying about how things will turn out, being fearful of taking risks, and worrying about things that, our faith tells us, we have no business worrying about. There is an enemy who is working overtime to rob you and discourage you from fulfilling all God has for you. Therefore, everyday we must recommit ourselves to find and fulfill our noble obligation.

As you read through the pages of this book, may you discover your noblesse oblige-the noble obligation that makes us who we are and brings the fulfillment we all desire.

-Pastor Scott Applegate

We will post each chapter of Noblesse Oblige weekly, check back here each week to learn something more about God’s beautiful plan for your life. Check out Novation Church in Westminster, CO on our Church Directory page.