Some folks call it "horse sense." We all know what horse sense it, right? Oscar Wilde said horse sense is what keeps horses from betting on people.

Al Henager contributed the following story to "Life in These United States," a column in the Reader’s Digest:

Someone has estimated that if all of man’s accumulated knowledge from the beginning of recorded history down to 1845 were represented by one inch, then what he learned from 1845 to 1945 (100 years) would amount to three inches. What man learned from 1945 to 1975 (just 30 years) would be represented by a distance roughly equal to the height of the Washington Monument! Since then it is anyone’s guess what the figure would be, given the rapid exchange of ideas now possible with the worldwide connection of high speed computers.

We get smarter and smarter, yet look at the problems in our world. We must be missing something. There’s more crime. We can’t build prisons fast enough to warehouse the criminals around us. There’s more war. There are more broken homes. There are more societal problems. When it comes to managing the basic issues of life, our generation is really no better off than generations past and, in some very important areas, we seem to be losing ground.

This incredible leap in scientific and technological knowledge has not been paralleled by a corresponding leap in wisdom, or to use another word, common sense. We can parrot the difference between "cirrus" clouds and "cumulus" clouds, but we can’t evaluate the "serious" effects that come upon our own lives.

Common sense today just isn’t all that common! We can send a cruise missile down someone’s chimney from a radar resistant airplane flying 600 miles per hour at a height of 3 1/2 miles, but we still don’t have a clue as to how to prevent the war that necessitates the airplane.

Common sense isn’t all that common because it doesn’t come with knowledge or technology. "Smarter" doesn’t necessarily mean "wiser." Wisdom comes from a different source than knowledge. It functions independent of the kinds of cars we drive and the numbers of beeping gadgets we carry in our pockets and hang on our persons.

That’s why God can couch His word in a book that is over 2000 years old and still it is as relevant today as it ever was - maybe even more so.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Proverbs 2:1-11:

"Discretion will guard you," Solomon says in that last verse.

Discretion is the ability to make wise and responsible decisions. It doesn’t come by reading books. It isn’t directly related to smarts. It doesn’t come overnight. It comes with time and experience. Some call learning it "the school of hard knocks." It’s the ability to show good judgment in both conduct and speech. It’s having a knack for making wise and responsible decisions. Solomon says here, in essence, "Son, it will keep you from a lot of heartaches."

Common sense. Some folks call it "horse sense." We all know what horse sense it, right? Oscar Wilde said horse sense is what keeps horses from betting on people.

Whatever you call it, wisdom, discretion, horse sense - we need it, and we need it badly! It prevents us from needless entanglements. As Christians, it makes us more fit for the Master’s use.

Can I teach common sense to you in a sermon? Hardly. About all I can do is perhaps help you appreciate it a little more and give you a few examples of it that I have learned, for by its nature, common sense or wisdom is something we must always be learning. We can never have enough of it. No on has "arrived."

Given these human limitations, I want to touch on four areas in this message that pertain to common sense. I warn you ahead of time though, they aren’t too flashy. In fact, they’re rather common, just like all other aspects of common sense. But if you learn them and practice them, like Solomon told his son, they’ll keep you from a world of trouble. Each of these four elements of common sense really has its root in the Bible, so I will cite appropriate Scripture references as I go. First then,

Jesus said in Luke 14:28-30, "For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him..."

Common sense teaches us to slow down! Don’t rush into things! Sit down and figure out what is involved before committing yourself to an action. Look ahead. Plan ahead.

Solomon agrees with Jesus. We shouldn’t rush into things without thinking them through.

"It is a snare," says Solomon in Proverbs 20:25, "for a man to say rashly, ‘It is holy!’ and after the vows to make inquiry."

Most people go through a period in their youth where they are oblivious to this facet of common sense. They have the false notion that bad things happen only to other people and that they are going to live forever, immune to the mistakes that others pay for. They are careless and hasty about decisions. Most are headstrong and not prone to listen to advice (to the frustration of nearly every parent.) As a result, many of them end up locking themselves into positions in life they do not like and from which they cannot escape without terrible hurt to those around them.

Both Jesus and Solomon would have us ask, "What will be the results? Who will be affected? Is this thing you want to do really worth the risk? Is it necessary? What does God think?" Common sense asks such questions before it calls for a leap.

Thinking of having sex before marriage? Thinking of waiting until you’ve sown some wild oats before settling down and giving your life to God?

Several years ago there was some advice going around in our youth group that you should wait until you’re 25 to be baptized so you can have some fun before settling down. That’s OK, I suppose, if you live that long. It will all work out if you are still willing to commit your life to God after you’ve pushed Him away for so long. But if you lose that ability to respond to God (and many do) or you’re dead, there is going to be hell to pay and there won’t be anyone around to tell you how cool you are.

Thinking of dumping your mate for someone else? Thinking of going into major debt? Slow down and think it through! Count the cost first.

While it’s rather humbling, there’s just something about the basics.

Jesus told the harried homemaker, Martha, in Luke 10:42, "only a few things are necessary." Most of us would do well to post those words in every room of our houses with perhaps two copies in our garages where we keep all of those unused things we thought we couldn’t live without.

A good football coach will constantly drill his team in the fundamentals: Passing, catching, kicking, hitting, running - over and over again. These issues make the difference between victory and defeat.

The same is true of life. Neglect the fundamentals and sooner or later you’ll be in a world of hurt. What fundamentals, you ask? Honesty. Respect for authority. Character. Consistency with God. Humility. All things that don’t attract much attention until you are in big-time trouble and discover you don’t have them.

A young man applied for a job as a farmhand. When asked for his qualifications, he said, "I can sleep when the wind blows." This puzzled the farmer, but he took a liking to the young man and hired him. A few days later, the farmer and his wife were awakened in the night by a violent storm. They quickly began to check on things to see if all was secure. They found that the shutters of the farmhouse had been securely fastened. A good supply of logs had been set next to the fireplace. The farm implements had been placed in the storage shed, safe from the elements. The tractor had been moved into the garage. The barn had been properly locked. All was well. Even the animals were calm. It was then that the farmer understood the meaning of the young man’s words, "I can sleep when the wind blows." Because the farmhand had performed his work loyally and faithfully when the skies were clear, or - we could say since he had faithfully done the basics - he was prepared for the storm when it broke. Consequently, when the wind blew, he had no fear. He was able to sleep in peace. Life is so much less complicated when you pay attention to the basics.

The Bible is a full course in the basics of life and so much of it is preventative rather than remedial. Don’t wait until you’re in trouble to become concerned for the basics! Get at it now, before trouble comes. "Keep my commandments and live..." says the writer of Proverbs 7:2. So true, and yet it’s so.... common!

Enormous amounts of head knowledge have little to do with common sense. One who rushes off to be involved in much knowledge to the neglect of the basic, simple principles of life will soon be hamstrung with problems that result from his or her neglect.

I don’t mean here that we should be ignorant, or uneducated, or mediocre. One does not have to be simple minded to be simple. Just don’t be too smart for your own good. That’s what Paul meant in Romans 1 when he spoke of those who "professed to be wise, but had become fools."(2) Perhaps we could say they outsmarted themselves.

"Oh, but you don’t understand," someone says. Our problems are complex and everyone knows that complex problems require complex solutions." We are nearly constantly warned about "oversimplifying complex issues." Yet careful investigation can often trace the complexity back to neglect of the simple. For instance, a person neglects the simple task of balancing his checkbook or paying his bills. Soon he doesn’t know where he is financially. As a result he overspends. Soon the bank is sending him letters. He tosses them, thinking he’ll deal with them later. His checks are bouncing like a room full of silly putty. Quickly he applies for credit and finds the temporary power of plastic. Ten dollars down and ten dollars a month. It sounds so easy. Two years later he’s reached the end of his spree. Time to pay the piper. He has an ulcer. His marriage is on the rocks because of the arguments about money. Life gets so complicated. Yet in the beginning it was so simple.

In marriage, one of the "simple" issues is communication. In child rearing it’s discipline. In school it’s studying. In finances it’s the budget. In spiritual things it is the daily walk with God. Yet, there are snappier things to do than these. That’s what gets us into trouble.

Sometimes all we need to do to begin the process of healing our misery in life is to rapidly return to the simple. It’s just good common sense.

Everybody makes mistakes. It is a part of being human. The Apostle John said in 1 John 1:8 that "if we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us." Yet just two chapters later, in 1 John 3:9, he said, "No one who is born of God practices sin..." Somewhere between those two important truths is a learning process. The idea is that we are supposed to be learning from our mistakes and not repeating them.

A person with common-sense learns from mistakes. He or she strives not to repeat mistakes.

This is so simple, yet that’s the problem, isn’t it? Sometimes it’s too simple for our highfalutin assessment of ourselves.

The apostle Peter was slow about learning from his mistakes. One afternoon Jesus began to tell His disciples about the coming crucifixion. Suddenly Peter interrupted, "No way, Lord. This can’t happen. I won’t let it happen!" Jesus said, "Peter, your idea is of the devil, not of God."(3) What a rebuke! Did Peter learn from his mistake? No.

Later, Judas brought the chief priests and Pharisees up to Gethsemane to capture Jesus. Only a few days earlier Jesus had predicted this was going to happen. Peter had heard about a betrayer - supposedly one of the disciples. No doubt when he saw Judas at Gethsemane he realized who it was. So what did he do? Did he recall the mistake he made earlier in resisting Jesus’ plan to offer Himself as a sacrifice? No. He whipped out his sword and somebody’s severed ear went flying.

Jesus calmly picked up the ear and put it back on the guy’s head. Then He shook his head at Peter, "When are you going to learn? Don’t you know that I could have called twelve legions of angels to rescue me?"(4)

Did Peter ever learn? Yes. And when he did he became one of the greatest men in history. That’s the power of common sense, when it learns from past mistakes.

By "perspective" I mean what some call "the big picture."

George Morrow of a company called Morrow Business Systems, understands the need of seeing the big picture in the area of business. In some of his writings he refers to what he calls "Market Myopia." Myopia is a visual defect that only allows a person to focus close-up. As a result he can never see anything but parts and pieces of what is out there. Anyway, Morrow says that "some people [don’t] understand what business they were in. For example, the railroad people didn’t realize they were in the transportation business; they thought they were in the railroad business. Had they realized they were in the transportation business they would have invested in the airplane. The telegraph people thought they were in the telegraph business instead of the communications business. In 1886 or so, they could have bought all the telephone patents for $40,000. So obviously these people didn’t know what business they were in. I used to think these guys were really dumb because they didn’t know what business they were in. Then I asked myself, ‘What business am I in?’ I have yet to hear an intelligent answer to that question."

If you’re a mom at home changing diapers, I ask you what business you’re in. Are you in the diaper changing business or are you in the business of raising responsible people who can be a blessing for your children’s generation?

If you’re working in factory or a mill I ask you, "What business are you in?" Are you making plywood so you can make enough money for a three week vacation so you can rest up and come back and make more plywood, or are you God’s emissary to those who work in that place?

You see, common sense steps away from time to time to ask the important question: Why am I doing what I’m doing? What business am I in? The person lacking common sense just runs on ahead, blindly moving from this interest to that with no thought of the overall effect or consequence.

I guess what I am really saying here is that not-so-common, common sense is always asking the question of purpose. How does whatever I’m doing contribute to my overall purpose? Even more basic for some of us perhaps, "What IS my overall purpose. Why am I here?"

My friends, there is only one way to answer that question. You have to go to the One who made you to see what He says about you!

That’s why the Bible states so clearly that "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."(5) When a person fears God, that is, acknowledges God in his rightful place of superiority and authority, he finds the real answers to life’s most important questions like:

Find and accept God’s answers to those questions my friends and you’ll be well on your way to living efficient, fruitful, satisfying lives.

Charlie Brown commented to Lucy in the Peanuts cartoon,

"Someone has said that we should live each day as if it were the last day of our life."

"Aaugh!" cries Lucy. "This is the last day! This is it!"

She dashes away screaming, "I only have 24 hours left! Help me! Help me! This is the last day! Aaugh!"

Charlie Brown, left alone, muses, "Some philosophies just aren’t for all people."

Sadly, common sense isn’t for all people either, judging from the way we run away from it for flashier things. Yet it remains a prized possession worthy of pursuit among those relatively few souls who desire to live godly lives in this present age.

Footnotes: Please use your back button to return to your place.

1. Contributed to "Life In These United States" by All Henager
2. Romans 1:22
3. Matthew 16:21-23
4. Matthew 26:47-56
5. Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 9:10

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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