Once upon a time, if you went to a dealer to order a new car, they handed you a list from which you could choose exactly which options you wanted (or didn’t want) your vehicle to have. Not any more. Now most cars only come with "options packages"—which means that to get the features you want, you also have to get (and pay for) a bunch of other features you don’t care about. You can get tinted windows, but only as part of a package that includes super-huge alloy wheels and simulated wood grain door panels. Want the good stereo? Okay, but you also have to get heated leather seats and a power ash tray. And of course you pay for the entire package, even if you only want one or two of the options it includes. It’s all or nothing.
Cable and satellite TV providers have figured this out, too. You can’t order channels individually; you have to buy a "programming package." So if you want The Classic Movie Network, you also have to buy The Basket Weaving Channel, Sock Puppet Network, and two dozen other channels you know you’ll never watch. It’s all or nothing.
Like it or not, the gospel of Jesus Christ is also a package deal. We may come to it with our own notions of what we want, but the Savior offers only one package (John 14:6). We must take it or leave it. It’s all or nothing.
Some people want justification without responsibility — what some call "faith only" salvation. But God’s gift of redemption comes with the obligation of obedience. "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). We cannot call Jesus our King without subjecting ourselves to His laws. "And why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?" (Luke 6:46). To profess trust in Christ without obeying Him is vanity (see James 2:14f). Faith and works are a package deal.
Other people are willing to accept some of God’s commands, as long as they can choose which ones they will obey. But He hasn’t given us that luxury. Even though we can’t earn our salvation by good works (Ephesians 2:8-9), we are not free to disregard any of God’s instructions. "For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not commit murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty" (James 2:11-12). Obedience is a package deal.
Some people want to profess love for God without showing love for man. But that is impossible, "for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen" (1 John 4:21). True, some folks may be less lovable than others. But godly love, being an act of the will, doesn’t concern itself with that. "For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? . . . And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others?" (Matthew 5:46-47). We don’t really love God if we don’t show love for those made in His image. Love is a package deal.
Christ calls on us to accept the whole package. "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23). It’s all or nothing. But it’s all worth it.
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