4 Steps to going all in for God (Alex Willson)
Based on Revelation 3:14-20 where Jesus addresses the lukewarm church in Laodicea where they are not all in, they were lukewarm.
Based on Revelation 3:14-20, Jesus addresses the lukewarm church in Laodicea, urging them to move beyond their half-hearted commitment. Laodicea was a wealthy city but lacked a consistent water supply, relying on aqueducts from hot springs in Hierapolis and cold springs in Colossae. This water, often lukewarm and tainted with calcium deposits, became toxic.
He was telling the church that because of the lukewarm water they’re used to tasting. They spit it out of their mouth because its toxic from the calcium build up.
Similarly, he’s calling them out from a life of toxicity lukewarm Christianity is toxic for the church, people who are on the fence indecisive are toxic in the church. They serve the world and serve God, they serve money and serve Jesus. They’re on the fence.
1. Wake
In Revelation 3:17, Jesus says:
You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked
To wake up is to recognise our true spiritual state. The Laodiceans believed their material wealth equated to spiritual prosperity, but Jesus calls them to see their need for His righteousness.
To wake is to realise, you’ve been sleeping to realise that you’re not as rich or prosperous or as perfect as you think you are. The people in Laodicea where thinking that they were righteous in and of themselves. They’ve done lots of good things, they’re a pretty good person. They went to a point where they stopped realising that they need God for their righteousness they needed to wake up.
2. Take
Revelation 3:18 states:
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
Taking means accepting Jesus’ righteousness. Just as one would purchase a necessary item from a store, we must seek and accept what Jesus offers, acknowledging our dependence on Him.
Take Jesus’s righteousness, as we alone do not have righteousness of our own. To take means to trust in to believe.
When you go to a store, you go inside the store and you buy that item and you take it with you knowing that I needed this item, this item is going to help me, I believe it’s going to help me that’s why you’re taking it with you. To go to Christ is to say God I need your righteousness help me to take it.
3. Shake
Jesus continues in Revelation 3:20:
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me
Jesus is knocking on the hearts of the Laodiceans, waiting for them to invite Him in. Shaking hands symbolises welcoming Him into our lives, building a personal relationship with Him.
When someone knocks on your door and you invite them in, one thing that we do is we shake their hands and we look in their eyes and we welcome them into our house. However, for a lot of us and for this church in Laodicea, they have left Jesus on the front step for a long time, they never open up the door, they never shook his hands looking at Jesus’s eyes and shacking Jesus’s hand, it said it means welcoming him in to your life.
4. Cake
Jesus promises to dine with those who open the door in Revelation 3:20. Sharing a meal represents intimacy and fellowship. Jesus desires an ongoing, deep relationship with us, one that extends into eternity.
To eat with someone in this culture and even in today’s culture is an intimate thing to look at someone’s eyes across the table to share a meal to hold a fork in your hand while another person hold a fork in their hand and to look at each other and to laugh and to talk.
Jesus doesn’t just want a first meal with you, he wants to spend the whole entire evening with you, evening of Eternity eating cake with him dinning with him being intimate with him and be a daily and lifelong thing.
Conclusion
Jesus experienced the extremes of suffering so we could avoid spiritual lukewarmness. He fully immersed Himself in God’s will, enduring the wrath of God for our sake. By reflecting on His sacrifice, we find the strength to live fully committed lives for God. What is holding you back from giving your all to Him?
The more you look at how all in Jesus was to the father’s will, the more it gives you the power to live all in for God. It gives you the power to wake up from it, gives you the power to take his righteousness to be your own it gives you the power to invite him in to shake his hand to look into his eyes and to sit and have cake with him and be immersed and be intimate with him.
Whats keeping you from giving you all in?