All In: What It Actually Means to Give God Everything

Meta Description: What does it look like to be truly "all in" for God? A look at Philippians 2 and what Jesus-shaped, full-send living actually costs us. URL Slug: all-in-philippians-2-living-for-god-and-others Featured Image: A simple wooden cross against a wide-open sky, or an overhead shot of open hands — conveying surrender, openness, and generosity

I want to start with a confession.

Back in the summer of 2001, twenty of my college friends trusted me with $300 to buy drinks for a lake weekend. Instead, I fed every dollar into a lottery ticket machine. Hours of scratching later, we had nothing. Zero. I had been given one job — bring back what we asked for — and I spent it entirely on what I wanted.

As funny as that story is now, I've never been able to shake what it actually illustrates. Because that's exactly what I was doing with my whole life back then. Everything God had entrusted to me — my mind, my relationships, my time, my energy — I was spending it all on myself. Not just their money. My life. His gifts. All for me.

And if I'm honest, that's the daily default setting for every single one of us.

This past Sunday, we kicked off a new series called All In — about what it looks like to leverage everything, full send, for God and his kingdom. The passage we're camping in is Philippians 2, and it is one of the most convicting and beautiful texts in all of scripture.

Going All In With Christ — The Only Way to Have Anything to Give

Paul opens Philippians 2 with a rhetorical question that doubles as a challenge:

"If there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind." — Philippians 2:1-2

The logic is simple: if you've received love from Jesus, now reflect it. You've been comforted — now comfort others. You've received the Spirit — now let him flow through you to the people around you.

I used a water bottle to make this point on Sunday, and I want to make it again here. Water doesn't come out of a bottle because you squeeze it or shake it. Water comes out because water is in it. And I didn't put it there — someone else did.

That's the Christian life. We are vessels. We go all in with Christ — daily, continuously, not just in a morning quiet time — so that we are filled. And we pour out because we've been poured into.

Here's the honest challenge: too many of us tithe our relationship with God. We give him Sunday morning, maybe a Wednesday night, maybe a life group — and then we compartmentalize. We're one person at church and a different person in the boardroom, on the team, at home. But Paul says be of one mind. You've received the love of God. Now be that, everywhere, all the time.

Living All In for Others — Shocking Selflessness

The next few verses stop me cold every time I read them:

"Do nothing from selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." — Philippians 2:3-4

Do nothing from selfish ambition. Not your job. Not your grades. Not your relationships. Nothing.

I shared a story from 2008 when I spent a summer in Haiti during a devastating food crisis. Children under five were dying of malnutrition daily. We found a medicinal peanut butter that could reverse malnutrition and save lives — and we watched children be restored. But there was one little boy who kept losing weight. Eventually, someone found his mother in town — she was selling the peanut butter while her child was dying.

The reaction in the room was visceral. And it should be. But I had to say it plainly: that's what we do. We walk through Waco — through our neighborhoods, our workplaces, our schools — and we don't share the gospel with people who are spiritually malnourished. We have the bread of life. And we keep it to ourselves.

Your life should be marked by shocking selflessness. Not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less — looking upward to God and outward to others. Your cranky neighbor. Your waitress. Your roommate who never does the dishes. Whoever God puts in your path today is your neighbor, and they are worth your full attention and love.

Being All In for the Gospel — Because the Stakes Are Real

Paul then gives us the theological anchor for all of this:

"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." — Philippians 2:5-11

This passage is three things at once: convicting for us, exalting of Christ, and sobering for those who don't yet know him.

Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess. In heaven, on earth — and under the earth. That last phrase means those who have already died without Christ. They will confess Jesus is Lord too. Just not with the joy of salvation.

That reality should create urgency in us. The people around us will either bow before Jesus in this life or in the next. We have the message that changes everything. And as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:

"All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation... Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us." — 2 Corinthians 5:18, 20

You have been saved to be sent. Whether you're in medicine, law, education, or staying home raising kids — God has placed you exactly where you are as his ambassador. The mission field isn't somewhere else. It's wherever you already are.

This Week's Challenge: Don't Just Hear It — Live It

As we wrapped up Sunday, I handed out bingo cards. I know — stay with me. Each square has a practical action: ask someone how you can pray for them, invite someone to church, share the gospel, memorize Philippians 2:3, forgive someone who comes to mind. The goal is to black out the card by next Sunday.

Do it with your family. Do it with your life group. Do it with your roommates. Let's not just hear a message — let's live one.

And the verse we're memorizing together as a church this series:

"Do nothing from selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves." — Philippians 2:3

Start there. Say it until you believe it. Then go live it.

God loves you. Now go love someone else with everything you've got.

Social Media Excerpt (Facebook/Instagram): What if being "all in" for God meant every relationship, every conversation, every environment — not just Sunday mornings? This week we're in Philippians 2, and the challenge is simple and impossible: do nothing from selfish ambition. Here's what that actually looks like. 👇

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