For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody, to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves, who was slain, and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered and brought to naught. Acts 5:36
He doesn’t make the history books, this Theudas, nor does Judas of Galilee, who is mentioned in the next verse. Gamaliel’s accounts of their short-term and limited impact campaigns may be all that the world will ever know about those two imposters. Gamaliel used them as examples of little people who rise and fall in a night, failing to accomplish anything worthwhile or enduring because them were not of God. We need to use our imagination in order to get any details of Theudas and Judas of Galilee, what their intentions were, what their struggles included, and how they perished. They were apparently small-time rebels against the Roman authorities, possibly masquerading as prophets or even as a messiah. But as Gamaliel pointed out, they were not part of God’s plan, and so, they fade into insignificance and obscurity. That is true of all, both great and small, who have operated outside of God’s purposes. But it is not true of those who are within God’s will and purposes.
Great men and women of history have appeared on the world’s stage and played their parts. Some have left a great legacy for good while others have left a legacy of destruction and misery. Beneath the level of the great, each man and women who has ever lived has played their part, both good and bad. Those in the past have seen the curtain fall and those in the present are still playing their roles. And God, who has been keeping a perfect set of books on everyone, has recorded it all. He is recording our stories now, and the parts that we are playing. His books will reveal someday not whether any of us was great or small, but whether our part was played according to His purposes. That is why as Christians we need to make sure that we are obeying His Word and owning Him as Lord.
God can use, and has used, the deeds of ungodly men for His purposes. But because their deeds were not done in subjection to His lordship, God cannot record those deeds as obedience to Himself. Those deeds produce no credit for anyone but God. But the humble and seemingly insignificant deeds of obedience by the Lord’s people capture Heaven’s attention and garner Heaven’s credits. The cup of cold water given in His name is precious to the Lord Jesus. We usually don’t see huge results from our efforts and often write them off as meaningless. But God notices. It matters to Him when a believer conducts his day according to the morning gleanings from the Word of God. He notices and notes the honesty and compassion that mark the lives of so many of His saints. It makes a huge difference to Him when the faithful few gather according to His pattern to remember His Son.
Our little part to play in this world takes on new meaning when we realize that those deeds done for our Lord are big in His estimation. -Jim MacIntosh