Matthew 5:16

Here, the good works are the fruit of the working of divine light in the soul. If we let our light shine, good works will also be connected with it. But they are not the focus of our attention here. In this world many people and groups do good works. For example, the Red Cross and other aid organisations have done much good for people in need. If we as children of God set out to do such good works, that alone does not make us a testimony to our Lord. He wants us to be a testimony to Him. Therefore He does not urge us here to do good works, but to let our light shine. We should not think of "our" works, but of Him. Good works will then be the result.

But what light is it that is to shine? It can only be the reflection of Him who is the Light. "He does not say let your good works shine, but let your light shine. That is, let Christ shine in your life. The point is not that you should see your good works, but that others should see them — and not to your glory, but to the glory of your Father."

Notice too that the light must shine in practical things, not only in teaching. People do not see it in our clear or fresh teaching put into words. They see it in our acts and works. They should hear our good words, but they must see our good works, if we are to be light to them. The word for "good" here does not mean kind or generous; it means upright or honest. Such actions find their source in the Father in heaven: they shed His light and glorify Him.

I might give away all my goods in what people call charity. I might even hand over my body to the fire. Yet I could do both without confessing Christ, and so without glorifying the Father at all. There is no light and no love without faith in Christ and the confession of Christ. That way a person honours self, not the Father. But let the light of Christ shine in your confession. Then people see right works that agree with the will of God. They glorify not you, but the Father, who is both the source and the aim of what you do.

Then you must have your lights burning. I do whatever God tells me to do, and it is a testimony to Christ; people say, that is what comes from a man being a Christian! It is that there may be no uncertainty as to what we are... I may be a carpenter or a shoemaker, but I must be a Christian. In every relationship — as servant or master, in eating or drinking, in our houses, wherever it is — I must be a Christian.

What Matthew 6 says here is not contradicted by the earlier words of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 5:16. There He was speaking to His disciples who ought to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. If people saw their good works, they would give the glory to God, not to men. In our paragraph in Matthew 6 the result is just the reverse.

Now, before God can sanctify His name through Israel's restoration (Ezekiel 36:20, 23), the Lord taught His disciples about the opportunity and the service given to them. By their good works they were to lead the people around them to glorify their Father who is in the heavens. As His people, Israel ought to have shown the nations what it was that was well-pleasing to God. As His children, the disciples should show the moral character of their Father.