He Who is Noble

Isaiah 32:8 (NET)

An honorable man makes honorable plans; his honorable character gives him security.

Isaiah 32:8

But he who is noble plans noble things,

and on noble things he stands.

I was sitting in silence, listening for his voice, thinking about His mission and my part in that, thinking about the REAL NEED for MEN, who are fiercely loyal to Jesus, Men who are Passionate about living lives that reflect true Nobility, Lives that are marked by unselfish love and Noble Discontent!

Men with a fierce love for Jesus and a faith that believes that while the world may never know their names, They are mighty men of Valor in God’s hands and in the Kingdom they are known as men of true Nobility.

We need Noble Warriors, men who willingly gave their all so that others lives that were wrecked and left destitute by the ravages of this sinful broken world could know true peace and find the comfort and love they so desperately need and only Jesus can bring.

I’ve tried the other avenues, I’ve walked other paths and other roads, suffered outside of Christ and know first hand that this is true, that Jesus is the promised Messiah and The King of the Cosmos

I know that Jesus is the Only Way, The Truth and Life to those who trust him.

I’ve counselled and spoken to perhaps hundreds of men in the past 5 years and ultimately, I come to same conclusion.

A functional relationship with Jesus is the answer and this world needs more men that are experiencing that.

Eternal Life ........isn’t something we are just waiting on, it’s something that we are called to live in today.

The Kingdom of God isn’t something we are waiting for, it’s already here.

Luke 17:21 Jesus said

“for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

It’s the practical aspect of bringing the Kingdom to bear on our world however...that I feel most men struggle with.

I know I did for a long time.

There’s this mentality of “Who am I, to think I can make a difference?” “I’m nobody special” “I am not talented, I don’t have the right tools, I don’t have the right education, I don’t have what it takes”

I’m not qualified!.... Or, I’m not Called!

Worse yet...I’ve failed as a christian and I am disqualified!!

Ohhhh, that one had me chained to the ground for a decade!

I know if I were an enemy of God and despised righteousness at all levels, I sure wouldn’t want the average man to think he had any capability to be Noble and bring Eternal Life and the Kingdom of God into the world around him.

I’d be working hard to create a culture and a mindset that kept men for even thinking it was possible, that all hope was lost anyway and failure was almost assured. Best to just mind you own business and not get yourself involved.

And for those men who might get overly ambitious and want to really scratch that itch to be Noble, I’d make sure the IDEA.. that Kingdom work was really for those who were called, like Pastors and Missionaries..... was well entrenched..... and use this as a last ditch barrier against men who would follow Christ and be serious about the Mission He had given his followers.

The narrative and the pressures both outside of a Man and inside a man’s own heart are constantly fighting against the urge to be Noble.

Most men are simply trying to earn a living, build a life for their family, hold their marriage together, meet the demands of the workplace.

Even those who are being intentional in their faith and have a daily practice of time in scripture and in prayer with Jesus find it a challenge to understand how they can bring the Kingdom to bear on the world around them.

Today, I want take a stab at the heart of that mindset.

When I read the Bible, I can’t help but notice that those who would be held up as Heroes..... sure didn’t start like that.

They were the least likely.

Often, the ones ignored and overlooked.

They had character issues and flaws.

They had moral failures and shady pasts.

Yet, these people had something in common. Perhaps it was a sense of Discontent..... that called to the nobility that God had sown as a part of his own image into their hearts.

That...... and the smallest grain of belief that maybe God could use them after all.

In his Book “Bible Nobodies that became Somebodies, Lance Wubbles writes about a man who was filled with Noble Discontent.

Shamgar.

That’s ok, nobody else recognizes the name either.

Of Shamgar Wubbles writes “ because He was filled with a burning discontent against the “status quo,” there was hope for him.

He was a million miles ahead of the man who had slipped into a mind-numbing cowardly contentment.

It is bad to be whipped, but to be content to remain so is infinitely worse.

It is bad to be in the prison house of your foes, but to lodge there till you no longer care for freedom is an even greater travesty.

To be in the far country among the swine like the prodigal son is a terrible calamity.

But to come to the place where you are content to live there, where you feel at home among the stench and the filth of it all, that is the very climax of calamity.

To be in the Church and yet count for nothing is extremely pathetic.

To be a spiritual pygmy, a moral dwarf, that is tragic indeed.

But to come to the place where you persuade yourself that that is God’s best for you, that is the supreme tragedy.

To be content with the worst when you might have the best.”

Wubbels, Lance. Bible Nobodies Who Became Somebodies: 50 Inspirational Characters Who Prove that Anyone Can Be Special in God's Kingdom (Wubbels, Lance) (p. 249). Destiny Image. Kindle Edition. 

Have we become content to live in the filth and stench of a world where lives are wrecked by addiction, marriages and families are destroyed daily and children are cast aside like unwanted little creatures?

Are we Ok with a world where Children abandoned by parents whose lives are swallowed up in destruction and misery can suffer just out of sight?

Do few Angel tree gifts at Christmas constitute real care? Are we comfortable with that?

Have we’ve allowed ourselves to become comfortable in a world were young women are stolen from their homes and families, addicted to drugs and then forced into sexual slavery?

I might be so bold today to say that we aren’t just comfortable with it, the statistics say we support it!

The recent statistics of men who regularly attend church and are engage in a pornography addiction is 68%.

More than-two thirds, it’s 50% among active pastors.

Jesus I pray, please don’t let this sit well in our hearts today.

Have you once thought that by looking at those images, we are supporting the rape, the destruction of innocence and de-humanization of someones daughter?

Are we ready to stand before God and give an account for promoting the rape and exploitation of young women he died to save?

Maybe you saying, WHOA!!!!! Joe, I don’t do that. I don’t support these things!

But do we tolerate them?

Are we living lives that are inspiring the men that are trapped in this sort lifestyle and sin that to repent of this horrific behavior and call them to true Nobility in Christ?

Are we truly, deeply committed to loving our Wives as Christ loved the Church? Do we give ourselves for her or is she simply a team mate and a source of comfort or fulfillment when needed? A housekeeper, childcare expert, project manager and sex partner?

Are we rising up and living as Godly fathers that won’t abandon their children and who would open their homes up to a child who has been abandoned?

Are we inspiring True Christ-Like Nobility in the men around us?

I’m convinced that the first step in bringing the Kingdom to Bear on the World around us, is for men to accurately model King Jesus in our everyday lives.

Until our marriages and families reflect Christ, until our work ethic and our daily pursuits are in alignment with Jesus, any words that come from our mouths are worthless and potentially damaging to the Kingdom of God.

The Apostle Paul used a quote from Isaiah 52:5 to warn Jewish believers in Rome about how their actions caused unbelievers to slander and blaspheme God.

Romans 2:24

If you are listening to this episode, then you know that Christianity has lost a lot of influence in our Western Society and honestly who can blame those outside of Christ for looking at the Church today and calling BS.

When divorce rates are the same in church as they are outside of it, and suicide rates are nearly the same among men in the Church as those outside of faith, when pornography and addictions to a myriad of life controlling issues are the same in the house of God as without, then who would be inspired by that?

LOOK, I am guilty of playing to party to all of this.

My past life and my past sins contributed to others scoffing at Christ, but that was then, this is now and Christ can and will redeem our stories and our pasts for the Kingdom of God.

He can and will use our stories and our now faithful devotion to him to bring a message of hope to those who thought they were the only ones who struggled in such a way.

How does the average man become a hero in the Faith?, By becoming a man who daily dies to himself, submits himself as a living sacrifice to God, allows himself to be filled with a discontent for the state of the world around us and understands that one life, that is well-lived for Jesus truly becomes Salt that improves and preserves communities and is Light that shines for those who are groping in the darkness and desperately need to see something that looks like Hope.

I calling for a few good men, who are ready to become filled with a Noble Discontent, men that are tired of living in the tragedy of settling for the worst, when we are called to bring forth the very best.

In his book Wild at Heart-John Eldredge said that

“Men want a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue and love”

What greater adventure could be offered, what greater battle could one give himself to than the cause of Christ and the mission to reconcile those around us and bring them into the beauty of His love?

If you know the power of his love, then you know there is no greater mission to be had.

2 Corinthians 3:1–3 NET

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? We don’t need letters of recommendation to you or from you as some other people do, do we?You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts.

Paul called the believers in Corinth, Living Epistles, Living Letters.

Men... our daily lives matter.... and those around us are reading the letters of our lives everyday.

Being in Community with other Godly men and being trained by spiritual mentors is no longer optional.

It’s a must!

We are living in day where men may be saved, but they aren’t discipled and they aren’t trained how to be Men in God’s Kingdom.

I’m not OK with that! My story would have been radically different if I had been trained, mentored and discipled. 

I can’t help but wonder how much suffering could have been eliminated in my own community if this had been a priority 30 -40 years ago?

We have to get to the point where we see the value of this and start investing our Time and our Treasure into getting the training and mentoring we need as men and then being equipped ourselves to do this for other men in Christ.

There is a CRY in the Earth today for True Nobility and men who would dedicate themselves to a Godly pursuit of Noble things.

If this resonates with you, please take a few minutes this week to pray with me and ask the Holy Spirit to teach us and equip us to be men that not only value this idea but are ready to put our hands to the task of being built up in Christ ourselves and then learning to build others around us.

Until Next Week

May the Lord Bless and Protect you.

May the Lord’s favor be upon you and his Grace follow you

May the Lord smile upon you and give you his Peace.