Relationships — Matthew 22
7 passages in this message
Bob Markovich discusses the nature of relationships, drawing from Matthew 22. He argues that relationship is central to biblical faith and explores how differences between people can be understood within this framework, using examples like Luke the doctor and Chris Schroeder. The message also touches on absolute truth and God.
Outline and transcript
1:15 My thought process on relationship
Now may or may not be aware, but I've focused on developing my thought process on relationship for more than a couple of decades at this point. Just because of the job that I got in 2000, that's one thing that I needed to do. So I've been studying relationship for a long time and so that's what I'm going to talk about today. And notice I have up here, I have relationship and I make a statement. This is a bold statement.
I'm ready to argue this or discuss this because it's gonna... It would open up... Expand my thought process too, but I believe that relationship is the core of biblical faith. I believe relationship is the core to to biblical faith. Alright?
Again, I make bold statements and then somebody brings me back to reality, I'm more than happy happy to hear that. But this is what I believe. So we're going to be talking about relationship today. We're going to be taking a look at it probably a little bit differently than what you're normally used to seeing it. I'm going to use some illustrations, some boxes again.
It's very important. It was very important for me to have my PowerPoint up and running today. I went through about fifteen minutes of disruption before the PowerPoint was up. So for those of you that are aware of the title of my book, that is the title of my book, Disruption. So here's our text for today.
Our text for today is Matthew twenty-two 30 five-forty. Now if you were here a couple of weeks ago when Andy Morris spoke, he used this verse as well. And if you've been here for the last five or six weeks, even though we haven't had a theme of relationship, the elders didn't get together and say, hey, we're gonna we're gonna talk about relationship. You will see a lot of a lot of string... Strings of relationship in everybody that has spoken the past or five weeks.
So here's the here's the text for today. One of of them. So I understand here's Jesus amongst a crowd. Right? That's one thing that we have to realize.
Jesus never... Never say never. Right? I don't recall Jesus avoiding crowds except for a few Right? Most of the time he was involved with people.
He was involved with crowds. He was involved with what was going on. He wanted to meet people where they were at. And so here's a situation. Jesus Jesus is at a location and one of them, an expert in religious law.
Right? Sad to see a Pharisee, whatever it is, tried to trap him with this question. So we know what this this this individual was trying to do. They're trying to trap Jesus. Well, you know what?
You can't trap Jesus. The teacher, he said, teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses? So he's going back the law of Moses. What is the most important commandment? And Jesus replied, you must love the lord your god with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.
This is the first and greatest commandment. Second is equally important, love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments. Okay? So just one observation before be be...
Before I move in. The observation is this. The children of Israel had a very difficult time building a relationship with the God of the universe even when God existed with them in the tabernacle. Alright? As a result or part of God's great plan was that God became man.
Right? Don said this morning, nobody has ever seen God. God became man in the form of Jesus Christ, came down to the earth, and my thought process, my focus is that we could have a relationship with Him, that we could have a personal relationship with Him, that we could understand that He was fully God and fully man and that's going to build the relationship. So, so Jesus points out here, the entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments. Now, we're not going get into an exegesis of these verses, but what I want to do is I want to talk about these two words, love.
5:22 Love is relationship
It is enjoying each other's each other's company. Now, so Jesus points out that these are important. This is what we need to do. And then if we jump to... Boy, that's a horrible background color.
Didn't expect it to look like that. Can we brighten that up at all, Logan? The screen up. Alright. So, but we did in the New Testament, we were given the keys.
We were given the keys to follow these verses. And the first one is in Revelation three twenty. Look, I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and we'll share a meal together as friends. So, here's Jesus knocking on the door.
I believe that a lot of us... I'm pointing the finger at myself when I say a lot of us. Maybe I should say, I believe that I, sometimes I hear that door knock and I go over and I open it up and I said, Lord, I need this. And then I close the door and I walk away. Then something else happens in my life.
I go over and I open the door and I say, Lord, I need this. And I close-up the door and walk away. That's nothing more than a superficial relationship. Jesus wants to come in and sup with us, to use the King James version. He wants to have that relationship with us.
Now, how many people do you have superficial relationships with? How many people, the only time that you get a hold of them is you open the door when you need something or you open the door when you need their help? Otherwise, you just go and you move down the road in your own direction. Alright? So what I want you to do here is I want you to take a minute and I want you to think in your mind somebody that you have a relationship with.
Somebody that you have a relationship with. It could be your spouse. It could be a kid. It could be a friend. Alright.
Bob is going to choose Jacob. The question is, if you had to rate that relationship on a scale from one to 10. One meaning you don't know the person's name and 10 being the best example that we have of relationship and that is Christ's relationship with God the Father. That's 10. And then we have one, don't know the name.
How would you rank that relationship? What number would you give to it? Alright? What number would you give to it? This is an emotional response.
Alright? This is an emotional response. Now think about that. What kind of relationship is that? Is that a superficial relationship?
Is relationship that where you open the door, hey, I need this and then you close the door? Is it a relationship where that person challenges you spiritually? Is that a relationship where that person challenges you intellectually? Challenges you emotionally? How would you rank that?
You know what? If you can't rank relationships that you have, guess what? They're closer to zero than they are to 10. If you decide not to rank them, they're closer to zero than they are to 10. We need to be bold about this.
We need to understand those relationships that we have and we need to make them a priority. But as Andy pointed out, we don't want that to be our total focus because they could be God's small g as well. So, relationships. Alright? Then we have the other part of the process or the key is, do to others as you would like them to do to you.
Now, last week, we had two people come up here after a song, Be Thou My Vision was the song. And we had Andy Hilton came up and Andy, I don't want put words into Andy's mouth, but what I heard Andy say was that he never, his paradigm shifted, to use his words. Those were his words. His paradigm shifted. He never really used that song to point out that my vision should be totally focused on Christ.
That's kind of what he said. Now you're going to have to ask him if that's what he meant. That's what I heard. That's what I'm saying. And then we had Denzel Boss came up here.
Interesting that those are the two elders. Then Denzel Boss came up and he was talking about people without the ability to see. He was talking about blind people and letting Christ be their vision, to see everything through Christ's eyes. You see, they interpreted that song differently. Alright?
9:59 Things that make us different
You see, we have all these things that go on in our life that make each of us different. Each of us different. And so, how am I supposed to take this verse? Do to others as you would like them to do to you. Well, the way that I read this verse really caused a lot of problems in relationships that I had because I treated others the way that I wanted to be treated.
That's not what this verse says. This verse says, treat others the way that they want to be treated. That's what it says. I think that, you know, there was a book written about the love languages. Right?
And the book about love languages, if you read it, points out the fact that different people want to be told how they're loved by you in different ways. It's kind of what this verse says. Right? Do to others as you would like them to do to you. So, I'll give you a quick story from my time in one of my past careers.
So this individual, his name is John Futterman, he worked for Smith Barney. Smith Barney doesn't exist anymore as a result of 2008. And so John, I called on John. He was in New York City and he was somebody that I had to knock on his door. I'm selling to him.
Right? I'm managing a division for the largest company in the world and I'm trying to sell. And John did nothing but take advantage of me. I I had a budget. I was able to pay for things that he needed for his company at Smith Barney and he took advantage of me.
And one time I just got tired of it because, again, I'm studying people. I'm like, I need to go after this New York businessman the way that he needed to be talked to. So, I got a little bit aggressive and I told him, John, this is the way things are going to happen from now on. Once I did that, John and I, our relationship grew. I haven't seen John since about 2008, but he and I just texted two weeks ago.
Alright? So that relationship that we built still exists today because I was speaking John's language. I was talking to John the way that he wanted to be talked to. Right? I normally wouldn't.
He was a person that was very very driven and he had his ways and I had to tell him that I had my ways. Do you get it? I made an assumption when I married Nancy that she was her dad. So I started to talk to her like I would talk to Harry. Guess what?
You got it. Thanks, Todd. Exactly. So, we need to figure each other out. We need to understand who we are talking to.
We need to see the world through their eyes. Be thou my vision. We need to walk a mile in their shoes. We need to understand who they are if we want to build that relationship. Right?
Okay. So, what I'm going do is I'm going to use this as an illustration. We're going to talk a little bit about four different styles of individuals. I'm just going say that. Four different styles of individuals.
And the way that I thought I could bring this and bring meat on the bone on this one was to say, okay, what we're going to do is we're going to take a look at different preaching styles. Alright? People that are up here preaching. And there's four different styles. We'll call them unique different styles.
Some people flop or slip into the other styles. Now, alright. So, the first one over there in the upper left hand corner, no gray areas. They're direct. They're result oriented.
So kind of like my buddy John Futterman. Right? Direct, results oriented. This is the way that it is. This is what the word of God says.
This is what it's going to be done. Alright? They get up here and it's like almost like fire and brimstone. This is the way that it is. This is the way that it is.
This is the way that it is. Alright? They're very direct. Think in your mind, who do you know that's been up here on that platform that has this type communication? Then we have the next one over here.
These people or speakers are... They're creative. They're emotional. They're model driven. Alright?
They do something like I'm doing right here. Alright? It's a model driven. I'm trying to make you understand what I'm trying to bring to you. Model driven.
Creative emotional model driven. Then we have these, relationally driven. These people are relationally driven, they desire to connect and they want no one left behind. All right? And then the fourth one, exact.
They're process oriented. They're outline driven. If then oriented. Right? So if you're if you're...
Write down if you're writing code, if then, if then, if then. Right? It is... There is a process. We need to follow the process.
So I came up with or I I uncovered these There are four different styles of teaching. Now, if I would say, and there is no wrong answer, and I learned that from my wife because she gave a name that I had not even thought about, but again, perspective, different personality, different thought process, different style. Who would you say falls into that category up there? Upper left. No gray areas, direct results oriented.
Anybody? Anybody can speak up. So yes. So the first person... You know what?
15:50 Chris Schroeder example
But, if you listen to Chris, when he was here last week, he gave you an outline. He gave you three words that started with the same letter. So he's actually moving a little bit into this exact process, outline driven, if then oriented style. And he's also... Is he emotional?
Right? He's emotional. He's creative. He tells stories. Right?
So, he also plays a little bit into that side. And then, he's relationally driven. Right? He makes eye contact and talks specifically about individuals that are that are sitting out there. Now, Chris teaches a class on preaching.
So I would expect him to to use all of these categories. Right? Do you understand? And that's what he does. He gets up in front of a group.
But if you take a look at Chris' life, you pretty much have to be in that upper left quadrant in order to go to the streets of New York and to give testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ in front of people that you have no idea what they are going through or how they're going to react. You have to be direct. Alright? Notice that I put at the top of the screen outgoing, so those people in that upper two quadrants are outgoing. On the side, these people over here are people oriented.
Over there, they're more task oriented and down here the two boxes at the bottom, they're more reserved. Okay? Alright. So, we got Chris Schroeder over there. Who would you say is in this box to the right?
Creative, emotional, model driven. Who would you say is in there? Okay. I'll say it. Me.
I'm there. This is where... I know who I am until I get revealed who I'm not. Then I'll figure out who I am better. Alright?
I would also put Andy Morris into this. Alright? Andy is in this side. You may not see the emotion, but Andy has that emotion, he is model driven and he is extremely creative. And he has a great way of looking at different aspects.
He's a great person to sit down and talk to one on one. You know, and I think that's a testimony to the relationship that Andy and I have created is that I understand who Andy is. And I enjoy that conversation with Andy. Alright? Alright.
What about this? Relationally driven, desires to connect, wants nobody left behind. Who would you put in this category over here? Like I said, no wrong answer. I think dental is appropriate.
Who else? Christian Eichele. Alright. You want me to expose my answer? I put Andy Hilton there.
But I get Denzel. I would put Denzel into this one as well. Okay? So, that's Andy. What about exact process, outline driven, if then oriented?
I've got a lot of examples of this. Who would you put here? What's that? John John Woodhams. Absolutely.
Who else? You would put Jim over here. Okay. Who? Ray.
Ray. Okay. So here's who I would put there. Don Morris, Denzel, Boss, Carl Reeder. For those that have been around as long as I have, Carl was the...
He was that guy that came up. This is what we're talking about. We're going to base it on the letter p and then give three points on the letter p. Definitely process driven. Plus, he's an engineer.
Right? He's got to be process driven in order to do that. But, yeah, so Denzel, you know, if I want to identify Denzel, I would probably take him in the upper left hand corner and the lower right hand corner as well. So I think I see Denzel as like a college professor a little bit more. And I do think that he's relationally driven.
He is a process oriented person. I mean that's what he does for a living. And then he also takes a look at data and makes a decision based on that data. Alright. He is occasionally emotional.
20:49 Everybody is different
We need to understand where somebody's coming from in order to have that have that communication, have that relationship. Alright? It's very difficult for me to have a relationship with somebody that is that is in that that lower right hand corner. Although I have a really good relationship with Denzel, that's difficult for me because again I'm I'm emotionally driven, they're process driven. Right?
We're different. It doesn't mean either one's right or either one's wrong, but we're different. Now, here's what I did. I had some fun, so I wanted to go through the Bible and I wanted to find out, okay, does this work biblically? Can we identify individuals in the Bible that are kind of like this?
And I say the answer is yes. So, the first one, upper left hand corner, that's where Paul goes. And just take a look at this verse, Romans one sixteen. Romans one sixteen For I am not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God, boom, for salvation, boom, to everyone who believes, first to the Jew and also to the Greek. Straightforward.
This is the way that it is. There is no other way. Okay? So that that's Paul. Then we've got...
Who would you say is in this other corner over here if you went from a Biblical standpoint? I'm gonna say it's Peter. I'm gonna say it's Peter. Let's take a look at Matthew 14. Matthew fourteen twenty eight-thirty.
Lord, if it's you, Peter answered him, command me to come to you on the water. Very emotionally driven. There's the Lord. I'm going go out and see him. I don't know if I can walk on the water, but I'm going to try to walk on the water.
He said, come. Jesus said, come. Climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus. Very emotionally driven. There's Jesus.
I want to go see him. I'm going to walk on the water even though I've never walked on the water before in my life. I'm going give it a go because why not? It looks like fun. Alright?
So there's Peter. And we can we can take a look at too, you know, how Peter preached to the masses and the number of people that came to Christ as a result of his preaching. He was a very very good preacher as well. We can find a lot of evidence there. Then And we've got, I would put John the beloved over here.
Alright? So the Apostle John that sat next to Jesus, laid his head on Jesus' breast as being being the individual over here. John 19, I mean, I think this illustrates it really well. John nineteen twenty six-twenty seven. When Jesus saw his mother...
So Jesus is on the cross here. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved, we know that's John, standing there, he said to his mother, woman, here is your son. Then he said to the disciple, here is your mother. And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. People oriented.
Relationship oriented. Desires to connect, once no one left behind. Alright? And I searched as hard as I can, and maybe I'll continue to search. I don't even know if they keep this data.
But I bet I bet there are more people saved as a result of reading the book of John than than any other book in the Bible. I don't know that this is true. I'm going make this statement because I think a lot more people are on this in this this category over here. Therefore, that relationship thing really strikes and John is all about, in the book of John, he's all about relationship. Right?
And then we have, don't forget too, we have the Romans Road over with Paul. The Romans Road. Right? Boom, exact process. Process orient or exact results oriented and direct.
25:07 Luke the doctor
Look how he opens up his Gospel. Many have undertaken to compile a narrative about the events that have been fulfilled among us. Just as the original eyewitnesses and servants of the world handed them down to us. Right? It also seems good to me, since I have carefully investigated everything, from the very first to write to you in an orderly sequence, most honorable Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of things about which you have been instructed.
Right. So we have Biblical examples of this. Right? I don't want the women to feel left out. How about the woman at the well?
Remember that story, the woman at the well. That conversation that the woman at the well had with Jesus Christ. Right? How about Mary Magdalene? What did she do?
Alright. At the Lord's feet. What about Mary, the mother of Jesus? Mary was this... In this category as well.
And then over here, Martha of Bethany. Alright? All examples. So, and we can go through or I could go through and I can pick out more. But, the point that I'm trying to make here is that we...
There's somebody here that you connect with. There's a preacher that you connect with. Right? I know that there are people out here that don't connect with me when I'm up here. And I do my hardest to try to make those people part of what I am trying to bring, but it's difficult for me to do.
But it's the same way in life. Different individuals have a different personality, different style, different characteristics, and we need to figure that out so that we can build that relationship. Now, again, so we had the keys. We had the keys to the process. Right?
The Lord said that we need to love the Lord our God with all our all our heart, mind, and soul. And we want to... And we we need to love our neighbors. And the other part of the key is over here, and that's Philippians four thirteen. So this is what we need to do.
We need to take... We need to open up the door, bring Christ in, let Christ fellowship with us. We need to do unto others as we would want them... As we would want done unto us. And then, here's the key, for I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.
Without the Lord, we can't do this. Without the Lord, this is difficult to do, I should say it that way. Alright? In order for me to connect with people that are different than me, it takes the Holy Spirit, it takes the Lord, it gives us that much more of an advantage to connect. Now, alright.
Go I'm going back. We've got a few minutes here. I'm going go back to this whole... The Johari Window that we talked about the last time I spoke. Right?
The Johari Window. And I'm going to remind you what the Johari Window was. For in this box in the upper left upper left hand corner, that's what you know about yourself. Okay? Over on the left hand side, that's known to others.
Okay? What do we call that? We call that the arena. So when we build relationships, this is where we're at. We're building relationships with people because we know about ourselves, we know about them.
That relationship grows, that relationship expands. Right? That's how you build relationships. You spend time with people. You get to know them.
Right? How get do to know the Lord? You spend time in the Lord's word. We we need... That is a relationship.
We need to we need to get there. Then we have this over here, what's known to self, what we... What what what's not known to self, this is what I don't know about me, but this is what others know about me. This is the blind spot. Right?
We've had this discussion. I've got more blind spots, I think, than anybody does. Alright? But we all have a lot of blind spots. Most of us aren't willing to actually think about them because there's more than we can actually think about.
Then we have also over here, what is not known to others. We call that a facade. Now, in the previous boxes, those people that are located in that lower left hand, they really want that little squiggly thing below the c. I did my best. I couldn't get it on there.
So facade's got that little squiggly line down there. I worked really hard on trying to figure out how to type that in there, but I couldn't. But what's known to self, not known to self but known to others, right? This is a space that we try to keep secret from everybody else, and this is the unknown. And as we talked before, and Andy Morris and I had this discussion, this is...
This this model right here isn't exact because if we really if we really back up and we take a 100,000 foot view, the arena and facade shrink and the blind spot and the unknown grows. There is so much that we don't know. Okay? From a relationship standpoint, we need to spend time in the arena. We need to get to know other people.
We need to do that through building relationships. We need to do that to make a commitment. We need to figure out how somebody wants to be communicated to. And we need to communicate them the way that they want to be communicated to. Alright?
30:25 Absolute truth and God
You know, need the Lord. There can be no absolute truth without a master designer or a master creator or God. There can't be absolute truth. Alright? I'd be happy to engage in a conversation.
I'm sure Bob Buttress would like to talk about that. I'm sure that Andy would. But I truly believe this. If you don't believe in God, if you don't believe that there's a Creator, there is no absolute truth. No matter what you tell me, there's no absolute truth.
What are you basing it on? Two plus two is four, Bob. That's absolute. No, it's not. Who decided to say that this was two?
What's the absolute truth? Now, so so this is me empathetically saying, you've got to believe in God because if you don't, you can't have a relationship with God. You need a relationship with God in order to be saved. And there is no reason for existence if you don't believe in God. Right?
Heard Bill Nye, the science guy. You guys familiar with Bill Nye? And he was trying to say, look, you know, most people, they don't like the fact that when you're gone, you're gone. Right? Because he doesn't believe in a master designer, a master creator.
He does not have a relationship with God. And he doesn't have any hope for the future. And he thinks that this is it, but it's not. But you know what? That's what people that cannot even consider a master designer, that's the way that they think.
Alright? I had to put that in there because this has been really gnawing at me for about three weeks. Okay? There can be no absolute truth without a master designer creator God. Can't be.
Absolute truth does not exist. No matter what your teachers, what your your college professors say. I I I just... I want to get into that discussion. If it's true, I'd get into discussion with a with a professor.
You can't. Unless there's something to say that this is truth, there's no other truth. One thing's got to be true in order for there to be absolute truth. And the fact of the matter is, is God created everything. And he did it in about six...
He he did it in in six twenty four hour days. And it... He did it about six thousand years ago. Sorry. If you disagree with me, I don't care.
Amen. Amen. Alright. Now, so as a result of everything that I said, this is what I want to leave you with right here. This is based on James chapter four.
So if if I took James chapter four and I had to boil it down to nine words... Okay? Count the words for those of you that really want the exact stuff. I think there's nine up there. But again, I'm on that upper right hand corner.
I don't care. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight... Yeah, there is nine. Alright. So, this is James chapter four.
We must break through the prison of self absorption. We must break through the prison... It's not about us. It's not about us at all. But we're absorbed with ourselves, but it's not about me.
You know? We have to realize that. That all the issues that we have going on right now are a result of me. Who remembers Groucho Marx? I always got to play this card when I can.
Groucho Marx had a great comment. I would never be part of a club that would have me as a member. Right? Groucho Marx recognized the fact that he wasn't everything that he was. Right?
So he was not looking through life from a standpoint of self absorption. We need to give up what we desire. We need to give up what we want. We need to give up me me me me me me me. We need to spend time.
We need to spend effort. We need to spend energy building relationships because that's what God, that's what Christ called us to do. Build those relationships. Love your neighbor as yourself. That's what we're called to do.
And when we don't do it, it's because we live in a prison of self absorption, where we want to make sure that we feel good. That, right? So I'm taking a look at, pointing the finger at myself, right? I asked Wayne to turn the air conditioner up. I'm thinking about me.
You guys might be cold, that's thinking about me. Right? I should be up here happy to sweat. I've never preached in The Philippines like Todd has. I don't know how much you can sweat in The Philippines.
I can sweat a lot. Alright? But we need to get past that, everybody. We need to fully embrace James chapter four and we have to realize it's not about us. And if we really want to change this world, and I believe that we can, for the better through Christ, we can do it and we do it through relationships.
Alright? I'm going to point my finger. I'm going to do this. Right? Way too often we say things on social media that we shouldn't say because it ruins relationships.
And it puts us into a situation where we're never going to be able to regain that relationship. So we really need to be cautious about what we say. Believe me, so often I want to respond, and you know what? It hasn't come back to bite me yet, but I'm sure it will. I type things out and then I erase them.
Right? It almost like gets it off my chest and I erase them. Because, you know, back in the day when I used to do things like that, I felt bad for a long time as a result of saying these things and then reading those responses. That's about me. If I'm going to respond to somebody on social media, it's because I am putting me first.
36:40 Closing prayer
We want to thank you for the truths that are spoken in your world. We want to thank you for absolute truth. We want to thank you for love. We want to thank you for telling us and showing us and giving us examples of how you want us to relate and respond to others. Help us build these relationships, Lord, that you so much desire with you and with others.
Lord, we pray that you bless our weekend. We pray, Lord, tomorrow's Memorial Day where we remember those men and women that have lost their lives for us to have the freedom that we have, Lord. We thank you for what they gave up in order for us to be able to be here today, Lord. And we don't take it for granted, and we just, we thank you for these men and women that are there, that have, you know, the thousands that died on the beaches of Normandy, and the Battle of the Bulge, and Guadalcanal, and all of these battles, civil war, the whole nine yards. Lord, we thank you for them, Lord.
And we ask you to help keep us probably focused on memorializing you this weekend, Lord. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Transcribed by machine from the recording, so it has the odd mistake in it. Any timestamp plays from that point.
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