You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

Matthew 5:14

Jesus said not to think that He was come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17).  What this means for us today, was the He was the fulfillment of the Law of Moses.  What He lived on Earth, perfectly satisfied the perfect of justice of the Father, so that anyone who is baptized into Jesus Christ has lost their old life with its sin and corruption, and entered into that perfect, finished, and sufficient righteousness of God.

Yet, more than this.  In Matthew 5:19, Jesus says that whoever continues to BREAK one of these commandments AND teaches other to do so, will be considered least in the Kingdom.

Let us consider this a moment.  Jesus is obviously NOT referring to the Old Covenant in this passage.  Jesus does NOT says that a person who breaks the least of the commands and teaches others will be unworthy, cast out, or rejected, but rather, will be a part of the Kingdom, but be considered least in it.

This brings up several points of doctrine.

1. First, even as James and John asked for the highest place in the Kingdom, Jesus’ right and left hand, there is some sort of rank in the Kingdom of God, and it would be a more desirable thing to be considered “great” than “least”. Not all places in the resurrection are the same, although this does not mean it necessarily corresponds to what would typically appeal to the pride of fleshly man.
2. Second, obedience is still a key element in the Kingdom, even while it is not in the same spirit.
3. Third, this is positively separate from the Mosaic covenant.  Jesus indicates the place in His Kingdom.  Under the Old Covenant, lawbreakers are excommunicated or outright killed.  Considering the Mosaic covenant, it is only the one who faithfully fulfills all of the commands of God that has life (Deuteronomy 28), and those who break even the smallest are not designated as the least, but as outcast altogether (Romans 6:23).  Reckoning this as a reference to the Old Covenant is clearly wrong, and whatever Jesus intimated by this statement must be understood in the New, or not at all.
4. Fourth, and the point directly stated by Jesus, is that those who do break and teach even the least of the commands is to be counted as least in His Kingdom, which is obviously an undesirable outcome, as previously mentioned.

But, when we consider New Testament understanding of the finished works of the cross, we realize another aspect of this.  We are holy only by the finished works of Jesus, and not our works.  So, how do we solve this sometimes seeming difference of viewpoint?

If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

John 14:15

As we really love who He is, we will obey His commands.  His commands are not excessive, but are simply to love.  On this hang all the Law and the Prophets.

Some have likened the Sermon on the Mount as what we cannot do without the enabling of the Holy Spirit.  This is absolutely correct.  Yet, we are not of this world, if indeed the Spirit of Christ lives within us!  This is exactly what we can do WITH the Holy Ghost within us.

And, so we come to the crux.  The least in His Kingdom is the one least led by the Spirit.  As Paul wrote, if we live by the Spirit, we will not gratify the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).  If we truly love Him, we will be doing His commands.  If we are great in His Kingdom, it is because we are greatly following, relying upon, and keeping in step with His Spirit.  Doing this always means doing what God is doing, which is always, of course, in line with God’s original, perfect law!

This is the essence of the Kingdom.

Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven was like a treasure hid in a field, which a man found, and hid again, and for joy, went and sold all he had to buy that field (Matthew 13:44).

The greatest man of the Kingdom is the servant of all, the one like the child, because that is who Jesus is, through His Spirit within us.  This only happens by CONTINUALLY listening, and seeing what the Father is doing (John 5:19).  This is the heart of the father, to love and to give, and to be the greatest in God’s Kingdom means to be the most like Him, of course.

Only faith, hope, and love remain (1 Corinthians 13:13).  They are the only things that matter Eternally.  And, it is only faith working through love that makes any difference at all.

The Eternal Law of God has never changed.  Our primary focus is not to heed the law, lest we fail by it.  Yet, while that is so, since we have died to it through the cross, we must live by the Spirit, walk by the Spirit, love by the Spirit, and die to everything else.  The man doing this perfectly fulfills the law through the Spirit, and does not live from his old, fallen nature, just as the man with the field sold everything else to possess it.

Nothing else matters but the Presence.  Yet, to be the greatest is to be the most humble, to yield everything of self to the Spirit, owning and knowing nothing but Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2).  In this, we live the life of Jesus through us by Faith (Galatians 2:20), and not our own.  And, in that we walk in Love, who is God, we come to, as far as we are willing to submit, fulfill the Law of Moses and the Prophets, as Jesus said.

Pure love, the cry of so many Christians disappointed with the modern church, is only a possibility and a reality in full submission to the one greater than us, Jesus Himself.  Just as the being holy is absolutely impossible without Christ and His blood, Love itself is impossible without Him constantly dwelling within us and loving with His love through us.

The man who loves perfectly is the man with perfect faith, perfect hope, and lives continually in the union with God Almighty, the Eternal One, the Great I AM, the Sovereign Judge of all the Earth.  It requires a perfect hatred of everything of our old nature, despising and rejecting everything not of Him, and saying, with Jesus, I do only what I see my Father doing.  None are saved short of Him, and none are made holy without Him.  He only asks us to believe!