“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” – Matthew 5:16, ESV
When Christ gave Himself up for us on the cross, he accomplished salvation in our place. He saved us from our enslaved nature to sin and gave us a living hope of eternal life and fellowship with Him. But he not only saved us from our sin – he also saved us to something as well, namely the “good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10).
If, then, we are to be a people “zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14), it should be of utmost importance that we learn how to be abundantly fruitful in those good works. Jesus said that if we would abide in Him we would bear much fruit (John 15:15), and that when we bear fruit, it would be to God’s glory alone (John 15:8).
But how in the world do we seek to do this in our chaotic, overwhelmingly busy lives?
In his book “What’s Best Next”, Matt Perman seeks to tackle this notion of “being full of good works” by proposing a gospel-based system and worldview of productivity. Since we are called to “look carefully then at how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making best use of the time” (Ephesians 5:15-16), Perman points out that many people do not have an understanding of what it means to be productive and fruitful in good works according to the gospel. The gospel changes everything, and that absolutely includes our ideas and methods on how to get things done.
For the next 9 weeks (starting September 15th), Konrad La Prade and myself will be teaching a class based on this book. We will focus our time around building a gospel-centered view of productivity coupled with practical methods to getting things done that will make you more effective and fruitful in good works. This class will not only help you learn how to get more things done but will also teach how to define the most important things and actually do them. Most importantly, our learning will be bathed in Scripture, giving us a solid foundation from which we can apply all of our learning.
If you are interested in taking this class, please click here to sign up. The cost is $25 and includes the cost of the book (which will be our guide), “What’s Best Next”, and will run on Monday nights from 6:30-7:30 at the Exodus office space. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us so that we can assist you in any way possible.
We look forward to the opportunity of growing together in our pursuit of learning how to get things done so that we can be zealous for good works in Christ!
