Today's discussion revolves around the concept of serving the common good, which challenges the prevalent "it's all about me" mindset. I emphasize that our actions should benefit the community as a whole, not just ourselves. Drawing from Hebrews 13:16, I highlight the importance of not taking our opportunities for service for granted and encourage listeners to share their resources, love, and encouragement with others. Throughout our conversation, I explore how individual sacrifices can contribute to the common good, reinforcing that many aspects of our Christian life require community engagement. Ultimately, we are called to motivate and support one another, fostering a spirit of compassion and justice in our relationships.

Takeaways:

1. The Hobo Soul podcast provides insights on serving the common good, emphasizing community over individualism.
2. We are encouraged to share our resources, love, and support with others for the common good.
3. The importance of consistent meeting and encouragement within the church community is highlighted.
4. Achieving the common good often requires personal sacrifice and commitment to one another.
5. Reflecting on Hebrews, we are reminded to motivate each other to love and good works.
6. True discipleship means prioritizing the needs of the community and engaging deeply with one another.

Hi, welcome to the Hobo Soul podcast of road advice from the Bible and from me, Yvon Prehn, someone who's a little further down the road of life. I'll talk to you every weekday for about five to 10 minutes with periodic longer talks on serious Saturdays.

Let's get started with our topic today, which is episode 18, Serve the Common Good. Before we get into today's topic, I want to give you a little bit of an update on this Hobo Soul podcast.

Though we'll be in Lent for 14 more days, I'm switching the title of the podcast to simply an episode number.

I messed up on some of the previous schedule and recording and I'm going to do the topics from the Lenten booklet, but I'm jumping ahead and doing the ones that finish up between now and Easter.

Now I'm going to go back and do some of those topics after Easter because there's some really good stuff in there, but I want to make these devotions go more along with what you're reading now. One other little change. I'm going to be doing five podcasts, not six a week. I was just wasn't able to do the six. And I did make a commitment though.

After spending lots of time in prayer and talking to the Lord, talking to some people, getting some feedback that I am going to continue doing five podcasts a week. I have made a commitment to do that.

But please, your prayers are very much appreciated as my goal is that the Lord really flow through me to help you all be a better apprentice, a better disciple, a better follower of Jesus.

And sometimes the flowing through gets a little bit clogged as I get distracted and I get worried and I get over scheduled and all those kind of things. But I love sharing God's word with you. It's a real priority in my life and with your prayers and the Lord's help, we press ahead.

Okay, let's get into our episode today. Today's topic isn't primarily about us as individuals, but what we call the common good.

And it's a great challenge to the sort of it's all about me mindset that we can fall into so easily today, even as believers in Jesus.

"Make sure you don't take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good. Share what you have with others.:

Now our challenge from that is what is

"What is the common good? What does that mean to you, to your community?

What can you share with others? Money aside Share your love, prayers, encouragement, hope in Jesus. People need these gifts."

Now to expand a little bit more, I asked myself again, what is the common good?

And after looking up numerous definitions online and dictionaries and all that, I think the most basic definition is it's something that benefits a group as a whole, not just individuals or perhaps the benefits received by individuals who get them because they're part of that particular group.

Now, the idea of something that benefits can come from being in a group reminded me of this verse in Hebrews 10 that is often quoted to remind people to continue going to church, even if maybe they have a problem or whatever with it, where it says, let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. Now though, this verse alone is a great encouragement to do the obvious. Just don't neglect meeting together.

In other words, go to church, attend your small groups, meet with other Christians.

Whatever it is, it has even more motivating power when we look at it in the context context of the entire passage that it's found in, which is about persevering in our faith.

And let us not neglect meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. A big part of staying strong is being together. It's hard to do that alone. And much of the Christian life simply can't be practiced alone.

There are so many commandments of the Bible that must be practiced in community. Let's go back to the Old Testament. Even back then, in Micah 6.

Now, the situation that was going on there, people were not happy with how God was treating them.

They didn't understand what he wanted, though the prophets told them God and that God had clearly communicated to them again and again and again what he wanted.

But they continue to ask, and they're quoted in kind of a petulant, snarky way where the people are saying, how can I stand before God and show respect to the high God? Should I bring an armload of offerings topped off with yearling calves?

Would God be impressed with thousands of rams with buckets and barrels of olive oil? Would he be moved if I sacrificed my firstborn child, my precious baby, to cancel my sin?

That's Micah 6, 6 and 7 and in modern speech they're just saying, what do you want, God? And the answer is very simple. God speaks through his prophet and says, do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with your God.

Now listen again how the message translation expands it when it says it's quite simple. Do what is fair and just to your neighbor. Be compassionate and loyal in your love. Don't take yourself too seriously. Take God seriously.

Now what I want to note here, what's really important for us to hear is that we can't be fair or just or compassionate or loyal and loving or even humble just to ourselves. We've got to have an object, a community in which to experience being fair and just people to be compassionate to and to love.

And when we do that, we're benefiting the common good. But it's never that simple, is it?

When I was looking up definitions of the common good on a website called thethoughtcompany.com it had this statement about the common good that has spiritual applications. I think it was talking about it in just our normal society, but I think it's kind of interesting.

I'll read it and then I'll comment on said Achieving a common good has always required a degree of individual sacrifice.

Today, the trade offs and sacrifices necessary for the common good often involve paying taxes, accepting personal inconvenience, or giving up certain long held beliefs and privileges. Now this comment from the web talking about sacrifices we make in taxes or not simply being able to act however we want to.

These are so true in our everyday lives and in our lives, particularly in the church. It can be a sacrifice to, as we mentioned earlier, meet together as the verses encourage us to do even more.

It can be a sacrifice to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. Because to motivate someone you've got to know them well enough to know what motivates them, what makes them want to do something.

You can't just stand up and go, well you ought to do this and you ought to do that and whatever. No, you've got to know them. You need to spend time together.

You need to observe and listen and remember what they told you, which in most churches it's hard enough remembering people's names, but we need to go so much deeper than that. What motivates the people we worship with?

And beyond that, doing good works of any kind requires a sacrifice of our time and maybe our money, and also may involve spending additional time with people, maybe that we might not normally choose to be with but when we do that, when we love without judgment and intentionally interact with and encourage each other, when we share our time, when we listen, really listen to one another's concerns and remember to pray, when we promise to pray and follow up and say, how's it going? All those actions are ways to share Jesus life with others and work toward the common good of our small group, of our church, of our faith community.

We might think we are giving up or doing whatever we do when we make a sacrifice. But isn't it interesting that when we do those things, when we focus on the common good, not just ourselves, we can feel the smile.

We can feel we can know the approval of Jesus.

That's all for this podcast, for transcripts, links to related material and much more to help you learn to know, know, trust, apply and teach the bible. Go to www.bible805.com for now, let me end with this benediction and prayer.

May you walk each day surrounded by the gracious love of the Father, guided by the gentle wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and conscious of the astoundingly real presence of Jesus, who will walk with you until you're no more a hobo soul, no more a transient, wandering heart, but at home in the kingdom prepared for you with your God forever. Amen.