As I have been reading the texts this week out of the Revised Common Lectionary in preparation for the upcoming sermon, I have been listening to music in the background. A song that I used in a sermon a couple of months ago, more as a side note, keeps coming up for me to hear. It is also one that my wife says is one of her new favorites. Before I tell you the song, let me point you to the text that makes this connection for me. The text for Sunday is John 14:15-21, but when read through the lense of last week’s reading of the Gospel, John 14:12-14, it makes me pause to wonder, are we WASTING THE GREATEST RESOURCE EVER, the Holy Spirit.
Putting it all together, in verses 12-17, Jesus tells us
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. [1]
Now, what does all this have to do with the song I keep hearing? We have the Spirit within us to do things greater than Jesus did while He walked the earth. He is the Spirit within each and everyone of us, giving us power and strenght to do what is needed, all we need to do is to ask.
Here is the song by Matthew West
“Do Something” [2]
Saw a world full of trouble now
Thought, how’d we ever get so far down
How’s it ever gonna turn around
So I turned my eyes to Heaven
I thought, “God, why don’t You do something?”
Well, I just couldn’t bare the thought of
People living in poverty
Children sold into slavery
The thought disgusted me
So, I shook my fist at Heaven
Said, “God, why don’t You do something?”
He said, “I did, I created you”If not us, then who
If not me and you
Right now, it’s time for us to do something
If not now, then when
Will we see an end
To all this pain
It’s not enough to do nothing
It’s time for us to do something
I’m so tired of talking
About how we are God’s hands and feet
But it’s easier to say than to be
Live like angels of apathy who tell ourselves
It’s alright, “somebody else will do something”
Well, I don’t know about you
But I’m sick and tired of life with no desire
I don’t want a flame, I want a fire
I wanna be the one who stands up and says,
“I’m gonna do something”
If not us, then who
If not me and you
Right now, it’s time for us to do something
If not now, then when
Will we see an end
To all this pain
It’s not enough to do nothing
It’s time for us to do something
We are the salt of the earth
We are a city on a hill (shine shine, shine shine)
But we’re never gonna change the world
By standing still
No we won’t stand still
No we won’t stand still
No we won’t stand still
If not us, then who
If not me and you
Right now, it’s time for us to do something
If not now, then when
Will we see an end
To all this pain
It’s not enough to do nothing
It’s time for us to do something [x3]
Time to ask, go and do! Evangelize without words but in action. Be part of the experience of opening the eyes of the world to see, know and receive Christ.
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Jn 14:12–14.
[2] “MATTHEW WEST LYRICS – Do Something,” accessed May 23, 2014, http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/matthewwest/dosomething.html.