Speaker 1: 0:06

Welcome to Made for Good, the podcast where we explore how to live out our purpose through good works out of a biblical truth.

Speaker 2: 0:13

Hey, I'm Josh and I'm Mark. Well, josh, we've arrived at the final episode of this season and we really focused on the good works mission, the mission of good works in the Christian life. Over these past well, 15 episodes this being the 16th one we've explored a lot of aspects of good works, but one thing that we haven't talked about, that I want to make sure we do talk about. The ultimate good work that we should be doing is sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with others. That's the ultimate good work. If we do that, all these other things can come from it, because, again in our foundational verse Ephesians 2.10, it says created in Christ. We were created in Christ for good works. So what we really need to do is to make sure that the created in Christ part happens, and that's sharing the gospel, that's acknowledging that Jesus died on the cross for our redemption and that he has purified for himself a people zealous for good works. We've got to make sure that we do the ultimate good work, and that's sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with others.

Speaker 1: 1:23

I'm so happy that you talked about what we're called to do and what we hope that's happened over the last 15 weeks is through these exercises, these challenges, that you've gained more confidence where you can actually do just that.

Speaker 2: 1:34

Yeah, so you've built a relationship with others, potentially, and maybe those others aren't believers. They aren't Christians. Again, the ultimate good work is to make sure that they are created in Christ as well, so they can go and do the good works. We've explored why good works matter, how they shape our character, our identity, how they can lift us up when we're sad, how they can help our marriages and our families, and how, ultimately, they're intended to glorify God. Yeah, so this, but this episode today is about what comes next. So let me ask a question, josh, to start us off here. What was the one lesson that we talked about this season that really stuck with you the most?

Speaker 1: 2:23

Well, I think I would just think back to the great philosopher Nate Bregazzi. Yeah, yeah, I know.

Speaker 2: 2:27

And.

Speaker 1: 2:28

I would say everything, all of it.

Speaker 2: 2:29

Everything, all of it. Okay, no, I mean, can you narrow it down a little bit?

Speaker 1: 2:34

Sure, yeah, I'll be more serious. I love the message throughout of our study and our time together where we've realized that good works aren't just something we do there, who we are as Christians. And then, more specifically to me individually, I think back to several studies that were helpful the episode on being a husband I know it was about your marriage, but for me as a husband, I just think about my wife and I's marriage, how, when we grew spiritually, it was because we were serving together. So I love the conversation around that. I love the idea that people are listening and thinking as a couple, let's talk about something that we both love and could bring us joy, and let's serve together to do just that, because you can grow together and your families can just be stronger. You can keep your motivation. I love that.

Speaker 1: 3:26

I love the one episode that we had about parenting.

Speaker 1: 3:30

Do as I do.

Speaker 1: 3:31

If I'm being honest, you know there were some things that I talked about that I may not be necessarily doing all the time, yeah, and so there was reflection.

Speaker 1: 3:40

After that day that we recorded that episode, I just thought, man, there's so many times that I could give my boys more opportunities to serve, but I kind of take it away from them as a parent, and I need to rein back on what I'm able to do and give them opportunities and encourage them to do that, because, ultimately you talked about having arrows, you know as parents and and I want to point them in the right direction, but I want them to be warriors in the kingdom, and so there may have been parents that are listening to the episode that thought the same thing Wow, I can do things like the story you shared about your mom. I can do things to my kids that they can experience at a young age, they'll never forget and that will make them a servant and a child of God later on in their life. But thinking about some things that they did as a kid, yeah, yeah, I love those.

Speaker 2: 4:30

Those are great. The one that stuck out for me is the one I think that I struggle with the most, when we talked about emulating Jesus. You know, when, when Peter was introducing Jesus, we talk about the most significant, you usually leave with the most significant thing, and in the first sentence, peter was introducing Jesus to them and he said who went about doing good? And that was an explanation of how Jesus spent his time. Yeah, and you know, I lost my older brother at the age of 57. He was almost 58. And so, now that I'm past that age, I'm thinking I've had more time than he had. I struggle with using my time wisely and not wasting it. I've come to understand that that time is a gift, and it's a gift that not everybody gets, and so I want to make sure that I spend my time wisely, and so that's the one that's really the most impactful for me. They're all good, and I think they all have their own impact.

Speaker 2: 5:34

When you look at what scripture says about good works, let's remind everyone what Paul wrote to Titus in chapter three, verse 8. And this is really our message to our listeners here at the end of this season, one where we want them to continue these things. Titus 3, 8 says this saying is trustworthy and I want you I Paul, want you, titus to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God that's you and I and our listeners may be careful to devote themselves to good works. Devoting ourselves to good works Not something we do when we get around to it, going back to our trailer at the beginning of the season it's a devotion to good works, it's a habit, it's an identity. Why Last sentence in that passage? These things are excellent and profitable for the people, so powerful God prepared these works ahead of time for us to do. Our challenge is just as we said step in serving others and making that a lifelong commitment.

Speaker 1: 6:46

Mark, I remember being in the back classroom of the church building where we attend and we were looking out at the members and we have all been studying together for 16 weeks, like we've done in this podcast and you looked out at them and you said do you remember what you said to them?

Speaker 2: 7:04

Yeah, I'm glad this is over.

Speaker 1: 7:05

No, not that part, although you probably thought that, yeah, I'm glad this is over.

Speaker 2: 7:08

No, not that part, although you probably thought that no, what I said was don't let this summer of good works the summer of 2023, when we taught the class be a memory where you look back and go hey, remember when we did all that we cut so-and-so's yard, we wrote those letters, we volunteered at the food bank, we spent time with our fellow believers, fellow Christians, we took people to lunch and we did all these great things. Remember that, man. That was good, that was good times, that's good times, good times. And it didn't change us, it didn't enable us into a habit of good works. And that's the risk With the new season being released on whatever streaming service you use and you get back and you want to sit down and watch that and you fall back into those habits of again of wasting time.

Speaker 2: 8:07

Yeah, we've experienced it. We know that time is precious. Yeah, a lot of people don't have wasting time. We've experienced it. We know that time is precious. A lot of people don't have the time that we have had. We need to make sure that we guard against falling back into bad habits, and some of the habits may not even be bad. They just they're not, as we learned with Mary and Martha, the best use of our time. They can be good, but we need to be wise about using our time in the best way.

Speaker 2: 8:34

That's the risk. We just want to encourage all the listeners, as we did, the people in the class and ourselves as well, because in class we talked about ourselves. We had such an intense 16 weeks of teaching that you and I were tempted to feel that, okay, 16 weeks of teaching that you and I were tempted to feel that, okay, I've done my time. I deserve some time off from this service and we don't. We don't deserve that. We need to keep going. We need to keep excelling and, as Paul told Titus, to tell and teach the people that he was preaching, to be careful to devote yourselves to good works, because these things are excellent and profitable for us.

Speaker 1: 9:16

So what you're saying to the listeners is fight off the urge or temptation to be lazy. Yes, exactly. Let's shift gears to our last Bible basis of the season. At the start of this study, we asked the question what does the Bible say about good works? And we've seen that it says a lot. Some key truths we've learned in the Bible include good works are a part of our identity in Christ. We've read about that in Titus 2, 11 through 14, a couple of times We've read that good works glorify God in Matthew 5, 16, and 1 Peter 2, 11 through 12. And we've also seen in this study that good works are our responsibility, and we can read about that in Proverbs 3, 27.

Speaker 2: 10:01

You know, and Jesus showed us really the perfect example of good works, and the way he did it was he turned his compassion into action. Just remember that verse in Matthew 14, when he went ashore and he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them and he healed the sick. That compassion that he had, he didn't just feel it, he acted on it, and I think that that's our challenge too. I agree.

Speaker 1: 10:28

As we move forward. How can we keep good works at the center of our lives? Well, here are three key ways. One, use your time and your money well, think about Galatians 6.10. So then, as we have the opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are in the household of faith. So, as far as your time goes, remember what we talked about Replace wasted time with meaningful service and strive for a balance from work, rest and serving others. And then, when it comes to the financial aspect of this, understand that all of your money and your belongings belong to God. Job 41 talks about that. And when you give, give generously to those in need. We talked about that in 1 John, 3, 16 through 18.

Speaker 1: 11:13

The second thing we want to talk about is finding your groove.

Speaker 1: 11:16

By the way, I love that episode, but in that episode we talked about a handful of things, one being pray, about where God wants you to serve, and we talked about using your talents wants you to serve, and we talked about using your talents to do good things in the kingdom and looking for opportunities in your church, in your community, to do just that.

Speaker 1: 11:37

One of the things we talked about in the Find your Groove episode is, and I would say it to you even now, if you still are thinking I know God says that he's given us all talents, but I'm really struggling on what mine is and remember what we talked about in that episode. Go talk to someone that you look up to at your home church or you're a member of someone who is well-respected, who you love, and ask them what am I good at? And I guarantee you they can point you in the right direction and get you going pretty quickly. And the last thing is start small little things. They lead to great things. We talked about a number of biblical examples where that's the case. But think about Matthew 17, 20, where Jesus said if you have faith as a grain of a mustard seed, nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Speaker 2: 12:22

So the takeaway is good works don't have to be grand, they just have to be faithful. Yeah, and when the good works come from a place of faith and desire to serve God, then God can take that effort and he can magnify it and they can be beyond what we can even conceive is possible. I think that when we had that conversation in the back of the building about what does the Bible have to say about good works, I don't think that we had any idea of how many people we were able to touch with this class and with the podcast and now with the book. God's taken that one little conversation and magnified it that one small grain of a mustard seed, as you said and done wonders with it. Yeah, we also talked about another challenge. You know, and this is kind of our final reality check the challenge for us is balancing public and private good works.

Speaker 2: 13:29

Yeah, Jesus said in Matthew 16, as we talked about letting your light shine, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. It's okay for your good works to be seen by others. It's okay, in fact, it's good. And why is it good? Because it gives glory to God, and that's the goal, that's our reason. But we also remember we looked in Matthew 6, verse 3, where it says when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. The question, josh, is how do we balance this? And I think there's a couple of ways we can do this.

Speaker 2: 14:10

Let your light shine when it glorifies God and inspires others and serve quietly. When the focus shifts to personal recognition. If there's something that's got your name on it, like a contribution check at your church or something like that that needs to be done in private, it needs to be done, and I think it's interesting that not letting your left hand know what your right hand is doing is in the context of giving to the needy, and you know there's also things about when you fast. You know, don't go about telegraphing that you're fasting but in the context of financial gift, financial giving, that should be private and I think that we just need to learn, we need to have the wisdom to know what's done publicly and what should be done privately. For instance, back to the public thing letting your light shine when you're trying to stir somebody else up to love and good works and getting them involved in it. They're going to see it, they're going to be there. You ask them to participate in the good work. The mindset should always be to God. Be the glory.

Speaker 1: 15:26

Well, this brings us to our last mission challenge. This is the most difficult one out of all the ones we've had so far, and I know some may be kind of chuckling because we put them through the wringer. I mean, we had a five-day challenge, we had a seven-day challenge. Well, the reason I say this one is the most difficult is because what we're asking you to do is to make a lifelong commitment to GoodWorks. And so here's what I mean we want you to make a plan, a good works commitment plan.

Speaker 2: 15:54

Yeah, choose one area of service that you enjoyed and commit to that for a whole year. So what we're talking about is setting a goal. Maybe it's volunteering monthly or doing something every week, going to visiting someone every week or maybe it's you know, it could be a seasonal thing, like you know cutting someone's grass or something like that. So, yeah, I love this. Make a good works plan for the year.

Speaker 1: 16:18

And at this point, you've been a part of so many challenges and we've been a part of them too. You know what brings you joy. So, a part of this, this commitment to good works, what we want you to do is you know what your thing is that brings you joy.

Speaker 2: 16:35

Go do it, do more of those things, because it'll help you, it'll bring light to your day and it'll shine your light to others as well. We're letting our light shine, literally, matthew 5,. Letting your light shine so that others can see and glorify God.

Speaker 1: 16:48

Absolutely. And last part of this challenge is that we expect you to bring someone alongside with you. We encourage you to do that.

Speaker 2: 17:01

Good works can grow exponentially when we bring other people in, because we know that two are better than one. If someone falls, we can be lifted up by them. It doesn't just multiply, it is an exponential growth in blessing for you, the other person, your relationship, as well as the person that you're helping, the object of the good work.

Speaker 2: 17:18

Well, hey, I'm going to add one more. Okay, this is a very popular thing in our society today and I think that there's probably a good bit of validity to it, and that's this concept of a mission statement. Companies do this, organizations do this, and it keeps everybody focused on what the main thing is right. Keep the main thing, the main thing. Maybe. Write something like this and I'm not saying post this on social media, I'm just saying write it in your notebook, write it on a post-it note, stick it on your mirror so that you see it.

Speaker 2: 17:48

Something like this I commit to using my time, my talents and my resources to serve others, to glorify God and to make good works a lifelong habit. That's it for today's episode and really for this whole season of Made for Good. One thing that I'd like to do is express thanks. I want to express thanks to you, josh, for this journey this season. You've challenged me Number one. I've never done a podcast before you have, and so I really relied on your knowledge and your expertise and the skill that you developed previously. But I also want to thank the listeners, the subscribers and the feedback that we got. We started getting feedback before we ever released episode one.

Speaker 1: 18:35

That was wild, if we're being honest. We knew that we were going to do a trailer, we were going to be quiet about it and just a handful of folks knew and that was so encouraging to hear back from just folks and that really prompted us to move on pretty quickly with the episodes.

Speaker 2: 18:51

Yeah, it was a shot of adrenaline to to get to get these, the rest of the episodes done. I mean, you know, before a week had passed after we dropped the trailer, you know we had several hundred views of that in in in that in that first week and at that point I don't even know if we'd recorded episode one yet. So it was a shot in the arm to go and to do this.

Speaker 1: 19:14

First of all, I'd just like to say, you know, thank you for you know, just taking time to do just that. Thanks for everyone who's listening. We have been very encouraged, you guys. Our goal was to stir each other up for good works and you guys have definitely done that. We've heard from people in states away, some people that we don't even know, and some people that we don't even know, and you know, as you referenced earlier. I'm thankful for what's been said to our spouses and my children, just so really grateful to be a part of this, and if you found this conversation valuable, consider sharing it with a friend. Until next time, keep serving, keep shining and remember you were made for good, thank you.