The subject of profit in regard to natural and material things often occupies the thoughts and conversations of men, but those who are shrewd in relation to what is profitable in temporal things may be very unwise regarding profit that is spiritual and eternal. “The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light” (Luke 16:8) in caring for what is for their profit in this world, but they do not look beyond the present, which the children of light should constantly do, for they belong to a scene that will remain after the present age has gone for ever.
“What shall it profit a man...?”
While on earth, the Lord Jesus raised the question of profit in regard to the soul of man, saying, “For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 13:36). The last thing man desires to think about is the eternal destiny of his soul, yet it is of the greatest importance to him, things that are temporal fading into insignificance in the light of what is eternal. This demonstrates so clearly that the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, for they are utterly indifferent to their own eternal welfare, being engrossed with what will so soon pass away.
No man has ever possessed the whole world, even though some of the great men of this world have conquered all their foes, and have seemed to have the world within their grasp. Still, even if a man could possess the whole world, it would be but for a very short time. All that any man possesses of this world must, sooner or later, be given up. If earthly possessions are not lost during life, they must be relinquished when death comes. Only the treasure that is laid up in heaven is possessed when we leave this world behind. Those who are poor in this world’s goods may be immensely rich in heavenly treasure; and those who are rich in earthly possessions may be utterly destitute of heavenly riches.
In Luke 12, the Lord Jesus spoke of one who only cared for the present, calling him a fool because he was not rich toward God. Again, in Luke 16, the Lord spoke of two men, one rich in this world, but who had neglected his soul, and landed in eternal perdition; the other was neglected in this world, but had his portion in heaven for evermore where the true riches are.
“The flesh profits nothing”
When the Lord Jesus spoke of the flesh profiting nothing, in John 6:63, He was not specially thinking of the flesh in its evil propensities and expressions, but rather of the whole life that man lives in present things in this world, a life without the knowledge of God. A man might live a moral and upright life which will bring its own rewards in this life but what is viewed by men as righteous and good can procure nothing for eternity, and it is what is eternal that really matters, for the present life will soon be over.
When the Jews wanted to make the Lord Jesus king, they were only concerned with present things; they wanted a king that could give them present things, loaves and fishes, for they were not concerned with what is eternal. Although the Lord, in His goodness, did meet the temporal needs of the multitude, this was not the reason for His coming to earth, He had come to bring spiritual things to men, and His words were indeed “spirit and life,” for they spoke of the eternal things, the heavenly things, that His Father had given Him to speak.
All that the natural man finds in this world to meet the needs of his body, or to gratify the desires of his heart and mind, when viewed in the light of eternity are of no profit. The whole world system has been built up for the gratifying of the flesh, whether it be the religious world, the commercial world, the industrial world, the world of art and music, the world of sport, and the political world; the world in all its departments is not for the pleasure of God, but to meet the demands of man away from God. Soon this world will pass away in God’s judgment, and all who have found their life in it will discover that “the flesh profits nothing.”
How good that the Lord showed us that wherein true profit is to be found, for He added, “The words that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life”. The words of the Son of God were from His Father, and spoke of the things of the Father, spiritual things that do not pass away, for they belong to the scene into which the Son of God has gone, the place from which He came to make them known. To be able to receive the things of spirit it was necessary to be born again, for, as the Lord said in John 3:6, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit,” The world of flesh is for the man after the flesh; only those who are after the Spirit can touch the things of spirit that belong to God.
What the Lord spoke were things of life, the eternal life that belonged to heaven and that was manifested in Him here below. The things of eternal life were unfolded in what His Father gave Him to speak, but He was their personal expression, being in His own Person “the true God, and Eternal Life.” But He had not only come to speak the words of life, but to make that life available to men, and this required the death of the One who came to make life known, so that we might appropriate the life by feeding on His death, eating His flesh, and drinking His blood.
Soon the things of flesh will have gone forever, and only the things of spirit and life will remain; so that the true believer has the privilege of being occupied even now with the things that shall engage him with Christ for evermore. The things of spirit and life are heavenly, and as the saints of God are occupied with the Son of God in heaven there is the enjoyment of what is eternal and divine, and with this there will be the manifestation of the heavenly life that was seen in its perfection in Jesus here.
“Bodily exercise profits little”
We have ever to remember that the body of the believer “is the temple of the Holy Ghost,” so that nothing unholy is to be allowed to defile that in which God’s Spirit dwells (1 Cor. 6:19), that in which we are to glorify God. On the one hand there is not to be the wilful “neglecting of the body” (Col. 2:23) in an asceticism that ministers to the vanity of the flesh; nor, on the other hand, has there to be anxious care in regard to raiment (Luke 12:22-23), for the Lord knows how to provide for our every need.
There is ever the danger of going to extremes in regard to our bodies, and some would give so much attention to the body that divine things are neglected. Things are to be kept in divine perspective, so the Apostle tells Timothy, “For bodily exercise profits (for a) little: but godliness is profitable unto all things” (1 Tim. 4:8). There is no danger of the body being wilfully neglected if we seek after true piety, nor will we give the body undue attention if the will and glory of God are before us.
Bodily exercise is profitable only for the life that now is, but godliness has “promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” Piety brings its own reward in the present life, for it gives the godly the rest of soul that belongs to those who take upon them the yoke of the lowly Jesus, and the joy of things that belong to God, the things eternal and spiritual to which we have been called. Godliness also holds out promise of the coming good things, the things that we shall have as a reward in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
The Young Convert
Onesimus, the slave of Philemon, had run away from his master, but had been converted to God through the Apostle Paul, and had ministered to the Apostle while in prison at Rome. The name Onesimus means “Profitable,” but the runaway slave had belied his Name, so that the servant of the Lord in writing to his master could say of him, “Which in time past was to thee unprofitable” (Phil. 11). Having received a new nature, and being a child of God, the character of Onesimus had altered, he was truly converted, so that Paul was able to add, “but now profitable to thee and to me.”
There were peculiar features about the conversion of Onesimus, but what marked him on his conversion also marks all who are born again. Receiving the divine nature, the one who once was living for himself and for this world, now lives for the will and pleasure of God, who has done so much for him. So that even the youngest who have been brought to know God, and to trust in the Saviour, have the assurance from this Scripture that they can be profitable to God, serving Him wherever He has set them, doing His will at all times and in all circumstances.
The Restored Servant
Mark, in whose mother’s house the remarkable prayer meeting of Acts 12 took place was a close relative of Barnabas, and had gone out with Paul and Barnabas in the work of the Lord, but Mark had not continued, and on account of him, Paul and Barnabas had parted company. We are not told how Mark occupied the years in which he was separated from Paul, but how blessed it is to read of Paul saying, “Aristarchus my fellow prisoner salutes you, and Marcus” (Col. 4:10). He was then evidently with Paul in Rome, and had been restored to the confidence and fellowship of the great Apostle to the Gentiles.
Then, in his 2nd Epistle to Timothy, when the end of his labours approached, Paul wrote to Timothy, saying, “Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry” (2 Tim. 4:11). How good it is to see the thorough restoration of Mark as a servant of the Lord, now profitable in the service in which the Apostle had found him to be unprofitable. And how great is the profit that we have derived from the ministry of Mark in his Gospel, written by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So that when restored, Mark was profitable to the Apostle, but also profitable to the Lord as His servant, and profitable to us also long after he had finished his course.
How to Profit from Divine Things
In 1st Timothy 4:15 we learn from Paul how our lives and service can be profitable. Timothy was a special vessel of the Lord, with a special gift, and with special work to do; but what he needed for his life and service we also need. Having given Timothy much instruction in this epistle, he writes, “Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that they profiting may appear to all.” The first part of this exhortation is not only for Timothy, but for us all. We ought to find our meditation in the things of God, and this will come out for others to see in lives formed by that on which the heart and mind have been meditating.
The second part, “give thyself wholly to them” no doubt meant that Timothy was not to be occupied with secular things for a living but was to be a whole time servant of the Lord. Yet it has an application to us, for all that we do, even in the most menial of tasks, we are to “serve the Lord Christ” (Col. 3:24). Others will indeed see that we have profited from occupation with the word of God, if we have the Lord and His glory ever before us in our reading and meditation.
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