the Israelites were the envy of the nations (Deut 4:5–8
In Deuteronomy’s view, attitude and action are interrelated. Without fear and love, walking, serving, and keeping all the commands become legalistic, deontological performances of duty. Without walking, serving, and keeping all the commands, fear and love are useless and dead.
Jesus told his disciples, “If you love me [i.e., are covenantally committed to me], you will keep my commands” (John 14:15), and the one who demonstrates love for Jesus by keeping his commands is assured of the love of the Father (John 14:21, 23; 15:10).
As in Christian worship, for the faithful in ancient Israel, worship “in spirit and in truth” was driven by God’s animating, inspiring, and empowering Spirit; it was addressed to the one true and living God; it was the human response to God’s gracious redemption, his call to covenant relationship, and his revelation of his will; it was fundamentally a matter of the heart, but was expressed concretely in life—full-bodied and whole-hearted service of God—and only secondarily in ritual actions
Jesus does not offer an alternative way to God, replacing the failed program of the Old Testament. God never fails! His plans never collapse; nor do they need to be repaired. The life offered to believers in Jesus is not another gospel. It represents the climax and fulfillment of the plan that God started with Israel, whom he chose to be vehicles of grace and glory