Ten Rules for Life (An Antidote for Chaos)

We are beginning a series on Sunday mornings called “Ten Rules for Life.” The series subtitle is “An Antidote to Chaos.” The title bears some resemblance to the bestselling book, “Twelve Rules for Life (An Antidote to Chaos,” by Jordan B. Peterson. There’s a reason for this. The Ten Commandments are an antidote to chaos because they are certainly ten essential rules that should govern our lives.

This sermon series will bear little resemblance to Peterson’s book. In fairness to Peterson, he gets a lot right in his book in terms of practical wisdom. However, because of his Jungian worldview he gets a whole lot wrong. Peterson is a master of observation and conclusion. That is to say as a clinician and a scientist when he applies the scientific method to human affairs and relies on objective research, his conclusions about our society, culture, and individual behavior are spot on. But when he gets into root cause, his worldview is often, though not always, a serious departure from a Christian worldview. And while Peterson often conducts lectures on the Bible and biblical topics, his interpretative practices tend to be allegorical and hyper-spiritualized. That’s the Jungian influence. But as Peterson often points out in his lectures, “Words have meaning.” As a Christian pastor, as a practical theologian, and as a biblical exegete I approach the text of Scripture differently, asking three basic questions of the text:

1.     What do the words of a passage say (what does the text say)?

2.     What do the words mean (based upon context and language)?

3.     What do I do (how then shall we live)?

Peterson’s approach is more allegorical than literal. As Christians, we interpret the Bible in a literal fashion. Don’t get me wrong, we recognize genre, turns of phrase, figures of speech, etc. However, when Jesus says “I am the door…” we understand He means what He says. He’s not claiming to have hinges and a knob. He’s claiming to be the way to God, the channel of salvation. The text means what it says. We can know from the context and flow of thought. When Jesus says, “Jerusalem… Jerusalem… how I have longed to gather you under My wings…. like chicks…” We understand that Jesus says what He means and means what He says… We don’t say that Jesus has feathers but that He longs to be their Savior and Protector. The Bible is not allegorical it’s literal. Genre strengthens the message rather than blurring it. Jesus is the door… He is like a mother hen wanting to gather the chicks into His kingdom. This is no allegory.

And so, we come to “Ten Rules for Life.” The Ten Commandments are ten rules for avoiding the kind of chaos in your life that results from living a life absent the will and the word of God. The Ten Commandments are literal, understandable, and applicable. They are as applicable today as they were when they were codified on Mount Sinai around 1446 BC. I invite you to join us on this journey through the Ten Commandments. And in and through this journey I hope and pray that we will come to understand them in a way that is life changing. Here are the message titles:

·      Make God the Priority… Accept No Substitutes

·      (Be) Careful What You Say.                          

·      Make Time for God.                                                                     

·      Respect Your Parents.                                                                                   

·      Respect Life.                                                                                              

·      Respect Your Spouse.                                                                             

·      Respect (Other) People’s Property.                                                          

·      Respect the Truth.                                                                                 

·      Learn and Practice Contentment.                                

What we see structurally here is that the Ten are about relationships. These relationships are vertical and horizontal: how we relate to God and people. And when we relate properly, we honor and love our holy God and we love those he has placed in our path. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and our neighbor (people) as ourselves. Jesus said all things biblical hang on these two ideas. And we find the details of these ideas in the Ten Commandments. Join us for this journey so that you can avoid the chaos that follows those who ignore them. You’ll be glad you did! Listen online at www.hillside.org or drop in and see us!

Here we are… our inaugural post!

Welcome to “Grace to Live’s” inaugural blog. We are excited to launch our new radio slot! If you are already familiar with us, then you may have been on this one and a half year journey with us since we kicked off our radio show, Sunday mornings at 10 AM on KFAX, 1100 AM. Now we have expanded to include the original slot plus this Monday through Friday slot at 7 PM.

Who are we and why are we here? “Grace to Live” is the radio ministry of Hillside Church in San Jose, CA. Our aim is simple. We want to be instruments in the Redeemer’s hand to be used by Him to change this world one soul at a time with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This broadcast is part of this larger kingdom effort and ministry. And part of our effort is to extend the the Bible teaching we do from South of Gilroy to North of San Francisco up to 6 days a week. Monday through Friday we can be heard at 7PM. Sunday mornings you can hear us at 10AM. The sermons you are hearing are previous sermons that have been preached that have been edited for our half hour radio broadcast. The sermons in our 10 AM Sunday broadcast are different from our sermons that you hear Monday through Friday evenings. And all of these sermons are different than what I am preaching on Sunday mornings at 9AM and 10:45AM.

Why should anyone listen to this broadcast, or these sermons? We believe that the Bible has something to say about every inch of thread that makes up the fabric of our existence. God’s word helps us make sense of our existence. We could not know God or find Him had He not graciously revealed Himself and His Son to us through His Word. We could not find salvation without it. Therefore, at Hillside Church and through this broadcast we teach the Bible, more or less asking and answering three basic, yet essential, questions with each sermon. What does the Bible say, what does it mean, and how do we apply it to our daily lives. It is our hope that these messages will encourage you as you seek God, seek salvation, or seek to grow as a follower of Jesus Christ.

Who is “Dr.” Keith Crosby? In reality, Keith Crosby is no one of consequence. I am a servant of Jesus Christ, who came to faith during his years in the resort/hospitality business and left industry to go into full time vocational ministry. I obtained my Masters in Divinity in 2003 in pastoral ministry and my Doctorate in Expository preaching in 2015. I’ve been married to Terilyn since 1990, with two grown daughters, Grace and Anna. My daughter, Grace is married to my son-in-law Ivan (she has a neat blog of her own here). Believe me, it’s worth a look, she was almost killed in 2016 and it chronicles what will be a 2 - 5 year recovery process. My daughter Anna works (surprise) in the tech industry right here in Silicon Valley. Anyway, I am the lead pastor at Hillside Church in South San Jose, California. My ministry began there in 2016 a little over 2 years ago. Welcome to this blog. Welcome to our broadcast. If I can be of service to you email me at keith@hillside.org. God bless you and ‘welcome aboard!’

What about future posts? After this first week, I’ll be posting twice each week, Monday’s and Thursday’s about various topics. Stop buy and give us a read from time to time! I’d also be remiss in not inviting you to church. If you don’t have a church home, or if you are looking for a church home, drop in and see us at 545 Hillsdale Avenue in San Jose. Until next time.