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"THE TROUBLE WITH COMMON SENSE"

JOSHUA 9:1-15

As I was growing up the values that my parents had for me became clear rather quickly. I learned very early that obedience was a great value. I learned that respect was a high value.

I learned that honesty and hard work were high values. And I learned fairly early that common sense was a high value in our home.

My parents found regular occasions to talk to me about the value of common sense. When I got the idea that I could parachute off our second story balcony with a bed sheet and ropes, they had opportunity to teach me about common sense.

My mom would come up with these wonderful sayings about common sense that left us scratching our heads for days. I think they came out of her Arkansas upbringing.

For example, she'd say, "Son, sometimes i don't think you've got the sense God gave green apples!" I still don't know what that means. But the message got through. Common sense is important. You can't get on in life without it.

We understand that. There's nothing more disconcerting than to run into an adult who just has no common sense. Like the lady I heard about who called a poison control center one day.

She was frantic because she had caught her little girl eating ants. The medical professional quickly reassured her that the ants were probably not harmful and there was no need to bring her to the hospital.

The mom calmed down, relieved, and just as they were ready to hang up, the mom happened to mention the fact that she had given her daughter some ant poison in order to kill the ants. Now that's what I call suffering from a basic lack of common sense.

Common sense is important to us. We can't get along very well without it. However, there are times when functioning by common sense alone can get you in trouble. Sometimes conventional wisdom isn't wisdom at all.

That's the lesson that Joshua and the people of Israel learn in this story we've just read together this morning. The people of God are confronted with a critical decision. They make that decision on the basis of common sense, and suddenly find themselves in a compromised situation.

Let's set the stage just a bit. You remember that we've been following Joshua and the nation of Israel as they move into the promised land God has given them. It's a time of conquest. They have taken the city of Jericho and now the city of Ai.

They are a powerful army under the hand of almighty God. So much so that it strikes terror in the hearts of the other Canaanite peoples. They could see what was coming and they feared for their lives.

But the people of Gibeon were pretty clever. They know they'd better do something to keep from being wiped out. But instead of rousing their army and building fortifications, they come up with a different plan.

They send a delegation to Joshua on a ruse. They dress up their people in old worn-out clothes and give them old provisions because they want Joshua to believe that they've come from a far land. Apparently they understood something of the orders that Israel was under. The Lord had given clear instructions to Moses back in Exodus.

They were not make treaties with any of the Canaanites because, God said, "They will cause you to sin against me because the worship of their gods will be a snare to you."

That's why God instructed Israel to wipe out the cities of Canaan and their inhabitants. However, according to Deuteronomy 20, Israel was permitted to make peace and enter into treaties with cities that were "Very far off from you."

That's why the Gibeonites come and try to convince Joshua they are a far off people, even though in reality they only lived about six miles away from Israel's camp at Gilgal.

And these people were good. They made it all look so genuine. They invite Joshua to take a good look at their provisions to prove that they had come a long way.

They said, "Look at our food. The bread was warm and crisp when we left, but now all we have are dry, stale crumbs. And our clothes, our sandals - so new and fresh when we left home, but now they are worn out from the long journey.

They really sold it. Now Joshua wasn't totally gullible. In fact verse 7 indicates that he was appropriately suspicious. He asked some good questions, but the evidence seemed pretty clear.

And besides these people started talking glowingly about Joshua's Gd. They said, "Oh we've heard about what your Gd has done in Eypt and how he wiped out the cities of Shon and Og
However, what really moved them (we learn in verse 3) is when they heard what happened at Jericho and Ai. But they don't mention that, you see, because they're supposed to be from a distant land. They couldn't have known about these latest developments.

Well it all sounded reasonable. It sure seemed like a valid story. And they had evidence to back it up. So Joshua and the people of Israel exercised a little common sense, and they entered into a treaty with the people of Gibeon, not knowing that in fact they were close neighbors.

Well they soon discover that their trust was sorely misplaced. But now they're stuck. They swore an oath on the name of God and now they must figure out how to live with the consequences of their "common sense."

Now the narrator of this story does not want us to miss what really happened here. So he spells it out for us clearly in verse 14: "The men of Israel sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the Lord."

In other words, they traded God's divine wisdom for a little bit of common sense and it got them in serious trouble. This story means to impress us with how Israel suffers not from a lack of common sense, but from a lack of the wisdom of God.

It was not that they were sloppy in their investigation. The problem is that they were alone in their decision. It wasn't that they didn't think, but that they didn't pray. Oh my, does that sound uncomfortably familiar, or what?

How many times have we made decisions in our lives, important decisions, on the basis of common sense? And yet we have discovered that we needed more than common sense, we needed a word from the Lord.

How often in our lives do we act and then pray? Or we act and never get around to praying? And the decisions we make might seem right and good and everyone around us agrees with them. But if we have not inquired of the Lord, we are operating out of human understanding and not out of the wisdom of God.

As I thought about that, one place in my own life where I have seen this is in my ministry of trying to give spiritual direction and counsel to others. Someone may call me and say, "Pastor I'm dealing with this issue and I'd like to talk with you about it."

We set up the time and I sometimes think to myself, "I know what the problem is. I know how to handle this. This is a matter of common sense." I am self-assured in my wisdom. But more often than not, when I operate that way, my "wisdom" falls short and it becomes clear that I haven't been very helpful.

On the other hand, I love the times when I have come before the Lord over a situation of counseling and have cried out to God saying, "Oh, Lord I don't know how to help this person. I need your insight. I need to see things as you see them. I need your wisdom."

And I'll tell you there have been many times when I have sat across from someone and listened to the words coming from my mouth and i literally think to myself, "Where is this coming from? I didn't know this. This is God."

You see, the problem with common sense is that it's common. Everyone has access to common sense, Christian or not. But for the Christian, for those who have the Spirit residing within, we have access to something much greater than common sense. We have access to the wisdom of God.

Oh friends, how much could it be said of us, "They did not inquire of the Lord"? How often to make important decisions in our lives without really coming before the Lord to plead for his wisdom?

It seems that as Christians we often try to follow Christ on the basis of common sense. We often find ourselves thinking we are making careful decisions, when we really haven't adequately sought heavenly wisdom.

The problem is that if we only go on the basis of common sense, it's very easy for us to be lulled into the world's way of thinking. And we make spiritual decisions that may seem very right, but they are based on the world's values, and not the values of the kingdom of God.

I think of couple that I know who several years seemed to have everything going for them. They were serving as pastors in a large metropolitan church, having a terrific ministry. They had two beautiful kids, a nice house in the suburbs, I mean life was looking good.

And yet they began to feel the call of God on their lives to leave all of that and cross cultures to give themselves as missionaries. They struggled with that decision. People in their church, close Christian friends told them they were crazy. "It doesn't make sense", they said. "You already have a productive ministry here," they said.

"We need you here," they said. "And you have a responsibility to your kids," they said. "God wouldn't want your kids to suffer just so you can go to another country, would he?"

Common sense. They could have easily made a decision to stay put in their church and nobody would have questioned their decision. But, they inquired of the Lord. They sought his wisdom. And in doing so, he made it clear to them that this wasn't a time for common sense, it was a time for obedience to the call of a sovereign God.

Now you may not have ever dealt with a call to missions, but you deal with this issue just as surely. Common sense says you deserve to have a nice house and nice things in the house. Common sense says that in order to have those things you have to pay the price of long and hard work.

But what does God's wisdom say to you? Could it be that God's wisdom would call you to live more simply so that you can focus on what's really important?

Common sense says you need to take care of yourself. Common sense says you need time just for yourself. Common sense says you're just too busy to really get involved in other people's lives.

But what would God's wisdom say to you about laying down your life for another? What would God's wisdom say about pouring out your life for the sake of the kingdom?

May I ask you this morning, "How often could it be said of you, in the decisions you make on a daily basis, "he/she did not inquire of the Lord?"

Are you operating your life on the basis of common sense or on the basis of God's wisdom? Common sense is a good thing, but it always has to be held against the will and plan of God.

Because very often God's way of doing things is in conflict with conventional wisdom. His plan is often different than what common sense would lead us to.

The apostle Paul understood this. In First Corinthians he writes: "We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us." He goes on to say, "The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."

And finally he says, "But we have the mind of Christ." That's the good news for us today. We don't have go through life making decision only on the basis of common sense. Sometimes that works out, but often it puts us at odds with what God really desires for us.

Instead, we have the privilege of accessing the very wisdom of God, through prayer. And I don't know about you, but I really don't want it to be said of me, "He didn't inquire of the Lord."

Joshua and the Israelites found out that common sense isn't always enough. It is critical that we bring our lives before God in such a way that our lives are ordered by the wisdom of God, and not by the wisdom of man. May God help us to be a people who always "inquire of the Lord."