The Common Good: Coming Together!

Scriptural Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:15

The Common Good: Coming Together!

Hillel, the Hebrew rabbi, said, “Do not do to thy neighbor what is hateful to thyself.” Socrates, the Greek philosopher, said, “What stirs your anger when done to you by others, that do not do to others.” Confucius, the Chinese sage, said, “What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”

These statements are worlds away from what Jesus said. Their rules are negative and passive. Jesus’ rule is positive and active. In essence these wise men said, “Avoid doing to others what you do not want done to you.” Jesus said, “Think of something good you wish someone would do for you, then do it for someone else.”

Rerum Novarum launched the movement called Catholic social thought. Successive popes and other Christian thinkers picked up on Leo’s themes, defining the common good as ,

“the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily.”

Two ideas are particularly significant in this definition. The common good is measured by fulfillment or flourishing—by human beings becoming all they are meant to be. And

the common good is about persons, both groups and individuals—(Gal. 6:10)

not just about “humanity” but about humans, and not just about individuals but about persons in relationship with one another in small groups.

 Galatians 6:10 (NIV) 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Andy Crouch, “What’s so Great about ‘The common Good’?: Why Christians Need to Revive the Historically Rich Phrase,” Christianity Today 56, no. 10 (2012): 42.

The idea of “the common good” was once widely understood and accepted in America. After all, the U.S. Constitution was designed for “We the people” seeking to “promote the general welfare”—not for “me the selfish jerk seeking as much wealth and power as possible.”(Reich, p27)

Starting in the late 1970s, Americans began talking less about the common good and more about self-aggrandizement. The shift is the hallmark of our era: from the “Greatest Generation” to the “Me Generation,” from “we’re all in it together” to “you’re on your own.”....The past five decades have also been marked by growing cynicism and distrust toward all of the basic institutions of American society—government, the media, corporations, big banks, police, universities, charities, religious institutions, the professions. There is a wide and pervasive sense that the system as a whole is no longer working as it should.

A growing number of Americans feel neglected and powerless. Some are poor, or black or Latino; others are white and have been on a downward economic escalator for years. Many in the middle also feel stressed and voiceless. Whether we call ourselves Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives, we share many of the same anxieties and feel much of the same distrust. We have nonetheless been cleaved into warring ideological tribes, and tribes within those tribes. Some of us have even been seduced by demagogues and conspiracy theorists.(Reich, Robert. The Common Good, P4)

Polls tell us that a majority of today’s Americans worry that the nation is losing its national identity. Actually, we have lost our sense of common good! (Reich, Robert. The Common Good, p31)

“Patriotism based on the common good does not pander to divisiveness. True patriots don’t fuel racist or religious or ethnic divisions. They aren’t homophobic or sexist or racist. To the contrary, true patriots confirm the good that we have in common. They seek to strengthen and celebrate the “We” in “We the people.””(Reich, p31)

To believe we humans can achieve good on our own, even working together, without the radical intervention of God, “we will not see the forest for the trees.”(Vol. 56, No. 10, Pg 41)

The behavior of most people needs to be changed: Behavior toward God-personal behavior(v.15-22)

Next to God Himself we need each other most.…We should not lose sight of that(John 15:5)

Liberty University alumnus. “But the common good requires us to care for all people—loving our neighbor no matter what they believe.”

John 15:5 (NIV) 5“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Bradley Lewis said, “the common good is God. It is God who satisfies what people need, individually and communally.”

Believers are called upon to oppose all that is hostile to God’s purposes in the world. God opposes evil (Leviticus 26:14–17).

Leviticus 26:14–17 (ESV) — 14 “But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, 15 if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17 I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you.

Opposing evil by doing good. Commanded by God (1 Pe 2:15; Mt 5:44; Ro 12:20–21; 1 Th 5:15)

1 Peter 2:15 (ESV) — 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

See also Mt 5:44; Ro 12:20–21; 1 Th 5:15

Matthew 5:44 (ESV) — 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

Romans 12:20–21 (ESV) — 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

1 Thessalonians 5:15 (ESV) — 15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

Thus,

Matthew 7:7 (NIV) 7“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.