Do the Next Thing | Sunday, March 16, 2025

And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord"), and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, "A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons." (Luke 2:21-24)

Thirty years of the Messiah's life summarized in a handful of ordinary moments — what does that teach us about God's view of time?

A Culture Shaped by Scripture's Values

One of the hallmarks of the messages I give is that I look for connections between the Scripture text and our lives, our culture, our history, our philosophy, and our values. These things shape us; they shape the church in important ways. My philosophical presupposition is that our culture developed through history as a result of certain values that come from the Scriptures. The way our culture is today is a product of the value set we find in the Scriptures — commonly referred to as a Judeo-Christian culture.

That value set has led to some very good and great things. We have higher levels of personal liberty in Western culture, and liberty for more people than is typical in other cultures throughout history. In many cultures, the higher or wealthy class had freedoms and rights, but those outside that class did not. There is greater liberty across generations, genders, and socioeconomic and ethnic strata in Western culture.

We also have higher levels of prosperity distributed among a wider group of people, and greater access to knowledge, information, and education. We have a default assumption in the Western world that everybody ought to be educated — and I suggest you can trace that back to the values of Scripture. We have traditionally seen lower levels of poverty, lower levels of disease, and decreased mortality rates.

Concerning Shifts in the West

And yet there seem to be changes happening to the negative, moving away from those things, which concerns me. We've seen an increase of disease in Western culture — not just physical disease, but mental health disorders have increased substantially in the last couple of generations. The prosperity experienced in the Western world has somewhat leveled off, with increasing economic disparity. Prosperity has increased, but it's been aggregated to a smaller percentage of people. And liberties once thought to be fundamental rights are now sometimes called privileges.

We don't know whether these shifts are temporary plateaus that will spike again, or whether we're cresting and beginning a downturn. There are plenty of cultural critics and philosophers concerned that we're seeing what's called the death of the West. These are the things I'm thinking about constantly, and I get questions because of it.

What Is the Culture of Our City?

A couple of weeks ago someone sent a question for our podcast: what is the culture of our city? It's a good question, partly because as Americans we tend to think we don't have a culture. We see the culture of Europe or Asia, but we wrongly assume we don't have one. Culture tends to be invisible to us as we live in it — like the air we breathe or the water a fish swims in. You usually don't recognize your culture until it's stepped on by another culture.

Every one of us has a culture developed within our family and within our society. Those of you who are married married someone from a different family culture, and you discovered very quickly that they do things "wrong" — like putting the toilet paper on wrong. (The original patent has it going over the top, on the outside. Just so you know.) You realized there was a different culture there.

So what is the culture of our city? Living in San Diego County, we're spread out across suburban and urban areas, and you can do almost nothing without a car. My wife and I each put more than 20,000 miles a year on our vehicles. With four basically-teenage kids, you feel like you're an Uber all the time — sometimes we have to involve "Grandpa Uber."

We're also in a relatively populated area; 3.4 million people call San Diego County home. So we're spread out, highly populated, stuck in traffic, and we feel pressure because we have things to do. We're a "hurry up and wait" culture, and we find ourselves pressed for time.

The Drive of American Culture

San Diego is part of a larger American culture that has been highly focused on productive endeavors and mass production for the better part of the last eighty years. As a result, we constantly feel like we have a lot to get done. Americans love wristwatches, calendars, and to-do lists. How many of you have a to-do list right now? That's very American. If you find yourself in Mexico, the constraints of the to-do list, the calendar, and the wristwatch are not as big a deal.

Americans also have a sense of calling and destiny — we sometimes call it the American dream. If you ask a hundred people what the American dream is, you might get a hundred answers, but there's something in us that makes us feel we have a purpose and a destiny we want to achieve. There's a purpose, meaning, and mission vibe in American culture that drives us. So you're spread out, surrounded by people and traffic, feeling pressure to be productive and to perform, and you're on the clock with a to-do list and a calendar.

When I moved to Germany in my early twenties, I encountered a productive culture too, but Germans have a concept called Feierabend — by 4:00 or 5:00 on Friday, they're out and not thinking about work any longer. Everything was basically closed on Saturday and Sunday, which was totally weird to me coming from Southern California, where nothing has ever closed. My German friends called Americans a bunch of workaholics, and living there I started to realize we really do have a different culture.

Is This the Way God Intended Us to Live?

So we become anxious about finishing tasks. We don't like to be hung up in traffic, and we don't like trivial or meaningless tasks. Friends in the church have told me the things they do don't feel very meaningful, wishing they could do what I do — not realizing that much of what I do during the week is meetings, emails, and phone calls, just like their corporate work. There's a pressure that it has to be more meaningful than this.

One challenge of living in this culture is that I find myself on edge if I don't have something to do. This became clear during the shutdown a few years ago, when all the lists, tasks, strategies, and plans got put on hold, and I felt stressed. Here's the hard part: I'm not sure all of this is the way God intended us to live. Many people have been reevaluating the same things since 2020. A number of people have opted out of employment entirely, wondering about these things. So I wonder — is the way we live just cultural, or is there a better way? Is there something God would want us to learn?

God's View of Time Is Different Than Mine

As I contemplated this text in Luke 2 this week, I was reminded of something not unbelievably profound, but important: God's view and use of time are dramatically different than mine. Theologians believe God exists outside of time, so time doesn't exist for Him in the same way it does for me — yet I am always impressed by time.

Luke wrote this gospel as an associate of the Apostle Paul. He was not a firsthand eyewitness, so he worked like a journalist, going around and talking with eyewitnesses to understand what Jesus did and said. Here in Luke 2 we have the stories of Jesus before His birth and in His early life, and you have to assume Luke got some of this from Mary herself. Tradition holds that Mary lived many years, spending her last years in Ephesus under the care of John, just across the sea from Philippi where Luke pastored. It's likely Luke had time to sit down and interview Jesus's mother.

How amazing would that have been — "Today I'm going to interview Mary and get the details about how this child was born and about His life before His ministry." The gospels focus on three and a half years of Jesus's life, but there are thirty years of time. You'd imagine Luke thinking there had to be so much. And here's the amazing thing: from Luke 2:21 to the end of the chapter, we have about thirty verses with fewer than seven or eight episodes — little vignettes covering thirty years. When you add Matthew's details, it's still fewer than a dozen things about Jesus's early life.

Thirty Years in a Handful of Moments

We know Jesus was born in Bethlehem. After His birth, a group of dirty shepherds showed up, excited and worshiping, and then they left. Eight days later, just like every Jewish boy, He was circumcised, and His name was pronounced Jesus, the name given by the angel Gabriel.

About forty days after His birth, following the time of Mary's purification, they went to the temple in Jerusalem — only a ten-mile journey from Bethlehem — and offered a sacrifice. They offered two turtledoves, which takes us back to Leviticus and indicates the family of Jesus was poor. If you could afford it, you'd offer a lamb; if not, the law allowed two turtledoves. They offered two turtledoves because they didn't have much.

At the temple they encountered an old man named Simeon.

And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. (Luke 2:26)

Simeon had waited at the temple courts for years. Something about this family indicated to him that this was the one.

Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel. (Luke 2:29-32)

The name Jesus means Jehovah God is salvation, and Simeon says he has seen God's salvation. Joseph and Mary marveled at these things.

Simeon, Anna, and a Return to the Ordinary

Immediately after, they met another old person, Anna the prophetess, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She had married young but was widowed seven years later, and had been a widow of about eighty-four years.

...who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. (Luke 2:37-38)

You can imagine Luke sitting there, mouth open: "And what happened next?" Matthew fills in some gaps — after the temple, the family likely stayed with relatives in Bethlehem, where the Magi later showed up with gold, frankincense, and myrrh, probably a year or two after His birth. Joseph was warned in a dream to flee, they went to Egypt for a time, and eventually returned to Nazareth.

And what did they do? We have almost nothing. After Simeon blessed God for the salvation of Israel and Anna proclaimed redemption, they just went back to Nazareth and did what every Jewish family does in the normal things of life. They had more children — Mary did not remain a perpetual virgin.

"I Must Be About My Father's Business"

Every year, as was their custom, they went to Jerusalem for the Passover. When Jesus was twelve, after the feast, He lingered behind in Jerusalem without His parents knowing. Supposing Him to be in their company, they traveled a day's journey before realizing He was missing and returned to Jerusalem seeking Him.

Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. (Luke 2:46-47)

It's interesting that Luke's theme is that Jesus came to seek and save that which is lost — and here His parents seek Him.

"Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously." And He said to them, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?" But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them. (Luke 2:48-50)

Then verse 51: He went down with them, came to Nazareth, and was subject to them. They just went home. His mother kept all these things in her heart, and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. And that's about it.

The Anxiety That There Has to Be More

God's view and use of time are dramatically different than mine. We Americans have this manifest destiny — something we're here to do, working toward that goal, needing every day to progress us toward it. We have books titled Get Things Done and Deep Work because we've got an agenda.

If ever there was a person who had a vision of destiny for a child, it was Mary. And yet everything was just normal — births, weddings, funerals, sabbaths, synagogues, feast times. Not all of it was walking on water or feeding multitudes or raising the dead. It was just the normal stuff. And there's a feeling in the midst of the normal stuff that there has to be more we need to be doing.

God's Use of Time Is Perfect and Purposeful

Here's my second point: God's use of time is perfect and purposeful. It's hard for me to level with this because I feel that American drive — when there's nothing to do, I feel anxious. I have to remind myself: God, Your use of time is perfect and purposeful. As a Californian in 2025, God sometimes seems painfully slow. And yet it's been said: God is never late, He's rarely in a hurry, and He's always on time. This is one of the ways I know I am very different from God.

As I've evaluated the culture we live in — the rise of mental health disorders, anxiety, stress, sleeplessness, and the physical maladies they trigger — it makes me wonder if we need to reevaluate how we use our time and our lives.

Christ had a purpose, predicted for centuries by the prophets, fulfilled in His birth in Bethlehem. His purpose is articulated in many ways: Luke 19:10 says He came to seek and save the lost; Matthew 5:17 says He came to fulfill the law and the prophets; John 10 says He came to give life more abundantly; Mark 10 says He came not to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. Nothing was going to keep Him from fulfilling His purpose.

You'd think He'd use every minute toward that purpose, always moving forward. And yet there were thirty years with only little blips along the way — normal everyday things of life that were all part of the purpose. Even the mundane things are part of the plan, fulfilling His purpose in you and in me. I wonder if Mary ever thought, "This seems to be going really slow; I thought there'd be more to it than this." Some of Jesus's disciples may have thought the same: "When is this going to happen? You came to do something." But God's use of time is perfect and purposeful — and I have to ask myself, do I really believe that, and can I rest in it?

Do the Next Thing

That's why my third point is to wait on the Lord and do the next thing. That's hard for me. And what's even harder is that sometimes the next thing is laundry, or emptying the dishwasher, or taking the kids to practice, or a meeting, a phone call, or hosting a small group. The next thing is all kinds of little, trivial things of life. In the midst of this, I have to remind myself that God is doing this on purpose, He's still working, and I can learn to trust that His timing is perfect.

I've been trying to reevaluate, to determine what's important and reorganize my attention. It's been hard. Some of you know I have a problem called Twitter, so I turned it off on my phone for Lent — forty days. The other day someone asked if I'd heard about something in the culture, and I actually hadn't. That never happens, because I'm always watching Twitter and know all the things. But now I didn't know, and I realized: I don't care. That was revolutionary for me.

I'm reminding myself of verses I learned when I was young. Many of my journal entries from mid-2020 to mid-2022 began with Galatians 6:9:

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

Or 1 Corinthians 10:31:

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Can I do laundry to the glory of God? Maybe. God help me. Colossians 3:17:

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Can I give thanks and rejoice over dishes, or sitting in traffic on the way to Home Depot for the twenty-seventh time in one day? And Isaiah reminds us:

But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Lord, help me to learn to wait on You. Pray for me, because I'm not very good at it, and I'll pray for you.

Closing Prayer

God, sometimes waiting on me to get to the point must seem like an eternity to You. Thank You for Your Word, which is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. It cuts deep and exposes areas of our psyche, internal areas of anxiety and stress, that need to be dealt with. Lord, maybe there's a better way You'd have me live; help me to learn it and walk in it. We have so many pressures we put upon ourselves and that our culture puts upon us. Sometimes it's important to step back and ask, Lord, is this really what You want me to be doing? Help me to be about Your business, and in the ordinary and the mundane, to learn to worship You and give thanks to You through it. God, do a work in us. Continue to make us more like You. You're never in a hurry and always on time; God, help us to learn. We ask this in Jesus's name, and all those who agreed said amen.