The test is expediency

James 4 says, [14] Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
[15] For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

How do you make the most of life when you are not dying but you know it could happen to you at any moment?

I have an old kitchen plaque saved from my childhood home that reads, Only one life, Twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. ‘To me to live is Christ.’

Bible commentary writer Cora Harris MacIlravey (circa 1916), reminds, “Time is rapidly fading away, the things of the earth and of the natural are sinking out of sight and becoming as shadows.

"There is a glory falling upon our union with our Lord, which is shining more brightly as the days go by. It seems that there are only a few more mileposts to pass, only a little more time in which to perfect our relation to Him and our separation from all else, and then shall we rise to meet Him in the clouds; and thus be forever with the Lord . . .

“Let us lay our wills down at His feet, that His will may more closely encompass us. Let us yield that He may purify and fashion us into His own glorious image. Only as we abandon ourselves to Him without reserve, can we enter into this relationship. . . Every power and every faculty—all, all must be His and for Him alone; for Him to use as He pleases.”

Here is an old study on the subject:

“Paul says that as a saved person, you should count EVERYTHING in your life as loss, as dung, in comparison to the ‘excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,’ " explains Columbus, Ohio Preacher David Reid.

“You know what happens with us? There’s a lot of things we still esteem. There’s a lot of things that occupy our time, that become obsessions for us, and we don’t really believe that verse that the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ is so surpassing that it makes all the other things in which we spend our time dung.

“Webster 1828 defines excellency as ‘being of great virtue or worth.’ The second definition is ‘distinguished for superior attainments.’ The core of what it means to be excellent is to be superior. It’s something that is better.

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“I think Matthew 13 is an interesting picture of this. This is in the kingdom program, so please don’t misunderstand, but this is a good picture. Matthew 13:44 says, ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.’

“So you find a treasure in a field and it’s just surpassing; it’s beyond anything you’ve ever experienced. It is then a rational decision to sell everything you have; to give up every other possession you have just to get that field because that treasure is so great. That is the same concept that Paul is saying with regard to the ‘excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.’

“Think of it this way. Do we spend a lot our time occupied in worldly stuff that just fascinates us? The point in Philippians 1:10 is not simply to approve things that are different (through right division); it’s to approve things that are excellent; that are superior.

“In life you don’t look to simply be a dispensationalist because being a dispensationalist means you recognize the right division chart and the differences in things over time, but what you do is approve things that are excellent and invest your LIFE in those things. When we make decisions in life, we need to make decisions about what is the best thing.  Oftentimes the question we ask is, ‘Is it okay for me to do this?’

“Does Scripture tell you to think about life that way?! I Corinthians 6:12 says, ‘All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.’

“Romans 6:4 says, ‘Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.’

“Today, we are not under the law, period. You should make ZERO decisions in life on the basis of whether something is lawful. The fact is you don’t need Scripture to do anything you want; you already DO anything you want.

“By the way, there are consequences for everything you do. When you make bad decisions in life, there’s often physical consequences. You harm your body. There’s legal consequences. There’s reputational consequences. There’s consequences at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

“I Corinthians 6 says ‘all things are lawful to me but all things are not expedient.’ That’s the test! I Corinthians 7:23 says, ‘Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.’

“The idea there is, forget lawfulness as the test; the test is expediency. The word ‘expedient’ means literally ‘hastening, urging forward. Useful, profitable.’ In other words, does it move the ball forward? There’s a lot of things we do in life that just don’t advance the cause of Christ. It’s not expedient because it doesn’t contribute to our edification or the edification of others in the Body of Christ. It doesn’t lead to someone getting the gospel.”

(to be continued)