Deuteronomy 4:6-8 “Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?”

The closer a society conforms itself to God’s commands, whether it’s a society of two in a relationship, or several in a family, or tens to hundreds in a church, or more still in a city or country, the better it functions. There are no perfect examples since all sin and fall short of the glory of God. But even in societies dominated by Christians, where there are problems, dysfunction, or just plain evil, that results from a departure from God’s commands, not from obedience to them.

A woman who attended my church noticed something strange after a few weeks. We had all these whole, complete, functioning families in one place. It didn’t look much like the world from which she had come. Statistically, I can tell you there is a reason for that. We often hear that one in two marriages ends in divorce. But a study by Paul and Richard Meier revealed that when the entire family attends church together, that drops to one in 40. And when Bible study and prayer are part of the home life each day, it drops to one in 400.

The point is, there is something appealing about happy functioning families. There is something appealing about people who are polite and courteous and don’t swear like sailors. People are drawn to groups of people that seem genuinely content with life, though they may not be particularly “rich.” This is the kind of lifestyle God’s commandments create if we keep them. More and more people may slander his commandments for being prudish, even an offense to human dignity and freedom. But they are still attracted to the lifestyle it creates. They may even be envious of it, and will try to reproduce it outside of God’s commands. That will always create a kind of mutant, an imperfect counterfeit that cannot function like the original.

Moses’ words served as a kind of prophecy for Israel. The golden years for this nation under Kings David and Solomon were far from perfect. The lives of the kings sometimes read like a soap opera. Yet it was a highpoint in the faith and life of the people. That produced a time of relative peace and prosperity. It was a witness to the nations. It was enough to draw the Queen of Sheba from over a thousand miles away to come and find out what was going on. She left praising Solomon’s wisdom and God’s love for this people.

But note how Moses slips something even more fundamental than commandment keeping into this description of Israel’s witness. “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us when we pray to him?” One of the Lord’s favorite words for Israel in Deuteronomy is “stiff-necked.” At least a half dozen times he picks up the theme of Israel’s rebellion in this book. And iniquities separate us from God.

Yet the defining characteristic of these people is that the Lord is near them. They were a forgiven people. And so are we. Our most important witness to the world around us isn’t found in our love or morality. Every day we fall short on those. But we belong to the God of grace who sent all our sins to the cross with his Son. He does not hold them against us. He does not let them divide us. He is near us. By faith he even lives in us.

A broken world just as sinful and damaged as we are needs this witness most of all, because they need this grace from God most of all. But often it will be the witness of our lives, keeping his commands of love, that will attract their attention first and give us the opportunity to introduce them to the Savior whose blood cleanses their souls.