Careful Living

1 Kings 2:3-14; Ephesians 5:15-20

Most of us like to think that we have a lot of common sense. And there are, indeed, some persons who seem to have more of it than others. Usually, we think of common sense as something that comes with age, but I have known some very young people who have a lot of it and most of us have met some persons with a few years on them who have very little of it. Nevertheless, it seems that those persons who are willing to listen to those who have common sense do learn a bit from them. But, most likely, common sense is one of those things that usually comes with experience. It is only the exceptional person, young or old, who can gain common sense from learning it from someone else.

I still remember some of the common sense offered to me by my old scout master, Norman Asselstein. I was eleven years old and getting ready to go on my first weekend camp out with my Boy Scout troop. My mom and dad had bought me a nice boy scout backpack that had little pockets here and there on it and little loops on the outside so that I could tie my sleeping bag on it and hang all sorts of necessary and not to necessary equipment from it. So, I remember how I got ready for that camp out, packing that backpack with everything you can imagine an eleven year old boy might think he would need. At last, I had the backpack packed. The sleeping bag was lashed on and I was ready to go. I put the backpack on my back and almost fell over backwards. But, off I trudged,

I remember getting to my church where the boy scout troop met a half hour early, because I was so excited about going. I was the first one there, except for Norman Asselstein, my boy scout leader. He had been there for at least fifteen minutes, because he knew from experience that there would be some eleven year olds who would show up early because they were excited.

Norm was one of those guys who was always bursting out all over with common sense. If he wasn't saying something that had some common sense, he was doing things that were full of common sense. So, Norm came over to me and the first thing he said was, "Well, the early bird always catches the worm, eh Paul?" Being only eleven years old, I had to think about that one for a moment. Then, Norm asked me if I had my permission slip from my mom and dad. I thought for a moment and remembered that I'd stuck it in my backpack.

"I stuck it in my backpack," I said.

"Well, you might as well get it out," said Norm, "because we'll need it before we can leave for the camp."

I looked at my backpack and remembered how long it had taken me to pack it and I knew that I had put the permission slip at the bottom of everything. So, I unlashed the sleeping bag, opened up the backpack and took everything out -- everything from toothbrush, to socks, to underwear, to shirts, and flashlight. Finally, reaching way down into the bottom I found the permission slip and handed it to Norm, who, by that time, had a big grin on his face. He'd been watching and was probably remembering back to his first experience with the scouts when he was eleven years old.

Taking the permission slip out of my hand, he quipped, "Next time, just put things like that into the outside pocket of your backpack. That's what it's for." I remember sheepishly shrugging at that bit of common sense. Of course, Norm was right. "How could I have been so dumb?" I thought.

Other boys were coming so I started to repack my backpack as fast as I could. Throwing everything back in, I fumbled with the lashings for the sleeping bag until everything was back in place, or almost everything. It was then that Norm looked my way and noticed that I had forgotten to pack a couple of shirts, a pair of socks and some underwear. "Don't you think you'll need that, too?" he asked. I blushed. "Haste makes waste!" Norm quipped.

"Now, that's a clever rhyme," I thought to myself as I quickly fumbled with the lashings on my sleeping bag and untied my backpack for the second time. "I wonder what it means? -- Haste makes waste!" Quickly putting in the underwear and the shirts, I tied the backpack shut for the third time that day and then fumbled with the lashings for the sleeping bag, one more time.

As I was fumbling in haste, Norm looked at me, once again, and said, "Haste makes waste!" It was at this moment that I was thinking, not only do I have a poet for a scoutmaster, but he likes to repeat his poetry. I looked up at Norm and he said it again, "Haste makes waste!" Then he explained: "Just take your time, Paul, and you'll have more time to think about what you're doing and you won't make mistakes that will end up costing you time. Haste makes waste!" As he said this bit of common sense, he pointed to the socks I had still forgotten to put back into by backpack.

Blushing again, I took the socks and stuffed them into outside pocket of my backpack. "That's just the place for things like that," I said to myself.

Norm taught me other bits of common sense over the years that I knew him; things like wrapping a piece of aluminum foil around a dime and always keeping it in your pocket for emergency telephone calls; and also how to tie a bowline with one hand; as well as a few other things that could save someone's life or make life easier. But, then, that's what good Boy Scout masters are supposed to do.

It was just this kind of common sense that the apostle Paul was giving to his readers when he wrote the words in the book of Ephesians that were read this morning. He gave them a list of things to do and not to do that were simply full of common sense. He told them, "be careful how you live, not as the unwise, but as the wise." He told them to make the most of their time, and to refrain from getting drunk, but to be full of the Spirit, instead. In many ways, the apostle Paul was much like a Scout leader, sharing his wisdom with the young Christians of his day. And those who listened would benefit, while those who ignored his teachings would have to learn wisdom the hard way, if they ever learned it at all.

Paul's advice to the Ephesians is important for us to think about, however. He told them, "Be careful how you live, not as unwise people, but as wise." I know some persons who live careful lives, but not in the same way as Paul was talking about. Some people live carefully, trying avoid every possibility of an accident for either themselves or for a member of their family. For instance, I remember the folks who lived next door who wouldn't buy their little girl a tricycle or bicycle because they were afraid she'd fall off of it and get hurt. Then, when the child got older they wouldn't let her go to church camp because they just knew it was too dangerous. After all, there was a lake at the camp and their little sweet heart might fall in and drown. They always drove her the two blocks she would otherwise have walked to school so she wouldn't get run down by a car as she crossed the street. Her parents were so careful. Yet they couldn't understand why the girl rebelled so radically when she got to be seventeen and did so many reckless things during that time of her life.

This kind of careful living is not what Paul was talking about when he told the Ephesians to "be careful how you live." For in living carefully, he wanted them to be wise. For Paul careful living was an earnest and constant striving after knowing what the will of the Lord is for one's life. To know the will of the Lord was the very essence of wisdom. For Paul and for these early Christians, to know God was to know wisdom. And to know wisdom was to avoid doing foolish things and knowing the will of God. Knowing wisdom meant dedicating one's self to a spiritual life, giving thanks, as Paul said, to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Old Testament lesson for today talks about how King Solomon prayed. You know, when many people today pray they ask for material things, or for health, or for God to work out some sort of a problem for them. It is interesting that in our Old Testament lesson for today there is only one thing that King Solomon asked God for: wisdom. And when God answered Solomon's prayer he said that because Solomon had asked for wisdom he would give him wealth and health and prosperity for his people in addition to the wisdom he had asked for.

In a real sense, God's answer to Solomon's prayer should teach us something. It should teach us the importance of wisdom in our lives. We may ask for wealth and material possessions and even get what we want, but how long can such things last or how can such things prosper us unless we have the wisdom to use them properly? Or we may ask for health and get good health, but how long can good health last or how can it prosper us unless we have wisdom? But, if we ask for wisdom, we may be able to take only a very little to do much with it. If we have wisdom we may be able to take a frail body and do monumental things with it. With only a bit of wisdom there have been those who were able to turn straw into gold, junk into treasure, and failure into success. Indeed, if there was one thing a person could ask for in his or her prayers, it should be wisdom.

There is an old story about how wise King of a small country wished to annex a small neighboring kingdom. But, wisely, before he did this he sent a scout to look over the country. Within a week or so, the scout came back and told the king that he should invade the country, explaining that the country was surrounded by a high wall and a deep moat. He added that the country's granary was well stocked which seemed to indicate that the country was a well-governed country. "Therefore," concluded the scout, "the country could be a formidable foe."

Thinking for a few moments, the wise king replied, "In spite of what you have told me, I believe that it may be all right to invade the country. First of all, it is a small country. Secondly, when a small country has a well-stocked granary it means that it levies heavy taxes. When a country levies heavy taxes it means that the people are probably angry with their ruler. In addition, when a small country surrounds itself with a high wall and a deep moat it means that the strength of the people has been sapped."

With such wisdom as his inspiration the wise king sent just a small army against the country and annexed it without firing a shot.

May God give us such wisdom as we encounter the challenges that life dishes out. Let us pray for wisdom! For as the writer of the book of Proverbs once wrote:

"Happy are those who find wisdom,

and those who get understanding,

for her income is better than silver,

and her revenue better than gold.

She is more precious than jewels,

and nothing you desire can compare with her.

Long life is in her right hand;

in her left hand are riches and honor.

Her ways are ways of pleasantness,

and all her paths are peace.

She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her;

those who hold her fast are called happy.

Let us pray:

O God, give us the wisdom we need to serve you and to be faithful in our discipleship. Give us wisdom to care for the world's resources and for those things that you have given to us, already. Give us wisdom to share the talents we already have; wisdom to listen to one another; wisdom as we work and play; wisdom as we live together in community; wisdom as we love and learn and hear your voice. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.