Small Things Matter

Author: Joseph

Date: December 29, 2019

Yeshua taught His disciples not only what character to have, but also what their motivation should be regarding the good works required of them as God’s people. He tells His disciples, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). He was teaching His disciples two things.

First, He was teaching them that they should not hide deeds that would bring glory to God (Matthew 5:14-16). The difficult aspect of this was that the disciples had to separate what they themselves thought was good from what God knew was good. They had to understand what kind of works were able to bring God glory. The astute Pharisees and Sadducees seemed to be highly regarded by many men, but did that mean that they were regarded highly by God? If not, then did that mean that the disciples were not to do the things that their religious leaders were teaching?

Second, Yeshua was teaching His disciples that their motivation for performing good deeds before men was to be for God’s glory alone. If anyone else was glorified in the process, then the purpose would be lost and the deeds would be fruitless. The good works Yeshua was talking about had to bring glory to God in heaven, regardless of if they humbled the person performing the good deed or the one witnessing it. A good deed was never to be performed in a manner that elevated the person performing it above the One (God) to whom the deed was done for.

What kind of good deeds could possibly be performed in this manner? The disciples struggled in their hearts to understand what this meant. The commandments of God, they understood, were the good deeds that were asked of them by God, but they had scarcely, if ever, seen them done before in a way that only brought glory to God. The Pharisees and Sadducees were far from a good example to model their own deeds after. Yet, Yeshua understood this when He continued to speak to them:

Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but

to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or

stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the

least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in

the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in

the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of

the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

(Matthew 5:17-20)

The commandments of God, Yeshua said, were still authoritative as the good deeds God desired. He stated that it would require heaven and earth passing away before any of the commandments would be fully accomplished and no longer needed. Until that time, when heaven and earth would pass away, the commandments were still valid and applicable (cf. Revelation 21).

Yeshua explicitly stated that not only were the commandments still the standard for good deeds, but also contrasted that the way the Pharisees were performing them was taking away from God’s glory and, furthermore, keeping them from entering the kingdom of heaven; their deeds were no good. The Pharisees and others like them may have been publicly performing their good deeds, but these were not glorifying God, nor were they bearing and good fruit. The acts they performed stole God’s glory and elevated themselves and others above God, Whom the deeds should have been glorifying.

"...perform the good deeds of God and bring glory to Him."

When the commandments of God are done in a way that glorify God, the one doing them is humbled, and if anyone witnesses the deed, they will be drawn to glorify God. The life of Yeshua and the teachings He gave us model exactly how we are to perform good deeds. Just as Yeshua warned His disciples not to neglect even the “least of these commandments,” let us also be diligent to perform the good deeds of God and bring glory to Him.

You may have wrongfully been taught that obeying God’s commandments is somehow a bad thing and that we diminish Yeshua by obeying them. Quite the opposite is true. Obeying God’s commandments is a good thing and we glorify God by performing those good deeds in the way Yeshua showed us.

Look intently at the life of Yeshua and see how He obeyed God’s commandments so that you can also model His deeds and bring glory to God by doing so.

Matthew 5:14 - 20

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB). www.lockman.org