How to Share Hearts Instead of Exchange Words, Part 1

Communication is the highway upon which love travels.

Okay? Communication is the highway upon which love travels. You can love one another, you can love God, you can be committed to one another.

And if you can’t get out inside of you, what you really think and what you really feel and if your mate can’t do it in a way that doesn’t attack and wound one another, I will tell you, in years and years of marriage counseling, there are people that love one another, love God, and no longer are together because they could not communicate and get to the heart of the issues.

The greatest, most vivid example. It’s in your notes. It starts with: It all started with the car. It was an early pastorate that I had in Texas many, many years ago and I love to play basketball, if you’ve ever heard me speak, you know I’m a basketball junkie.

And had the privilege of playing in college and then around the world for a couple, three summers.

And these neighbors had a hoop. And so I knew, these are going to be my friends. Because I’m going to go play. And we started playing and he had three boys and I had boys.

And one thing led to another. And I found out that he was there, he’d been through a couple very difficult relationships and he had four teenagers. And he was living with a gal who’d been through some really painful relationships and a couple, three marriages.

And she had a tiny, little girl and they were all living together. And so we went down and played basketball. Six, seven, eight, nine months. And little by little got a chance to share Christ with him and then he came down one day and I can still remember. You know, I was weeding next to my mailbox and Dan comes by. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I said, “What do you mean?” “Why didn’t you tell me?” I said, “Man, why didn’t I tell you what? “That you’re one of those preacher types. You’re a pastor.” I said, “Well, yeah, I am.”

He said, “Well, we’ve been kind of watching you and Theresa and we’ve been listening and we want to get married. Will you marry us?” And I’m thinking, Oh boy.

I said, “Well, I’ll tell you what. One of the things I have is I always do six weeks minimum of counseling and you really need to know what marriage is and it’s kind of hard. And so I want to talk about how that works and I would love to meet with you and your wife and Theresa will do it too.”

Well, we did it. By about the third session, they both came to Christ. Amazing stories. Great redemption.

And went through the whole process. And then now we’re into this new marriage. Six or nine months. They’re both brand new in Christ. They both love God. They’re both in God’s Word. They’re both going, I will say it was a good church, I got to be the pastor. It was a great group of people.

And so I came by and he was in this traveling job where like Monday through Thursday or even all the way to Friday, he’d be traveling all over America in sales and then he’d come home.

Well, she’s with four teenagers that aren’t hers, okay? And they’re making her nuts. And so, he comes home and he’s thinking, Oh, I haven’t seen my wife. Let’s go out to dinner. I’m going to really love her. We’re going to have a date. Lists all this stuff. And she’s thinking, we’ve got to resolve conflict with Bob at school and your other son and your daughter, she’s dating this guy and she’s juggling all this stuff.

And so anyway, they come home and she’s listening and she’s meeting with Theresa and he’s meeting with me.

So, this is, listen. Listen. They love each other, remember. They’re committed to the Lord, remember. They’re actually growing spiritually, remember.

And so, he comes home for the weekend and she says, I want to be others-centered and grace-giving. So, they go out to a beautiful dinner, they have a romantic evening, they take walks the next day and but she keeps waiting for: When are we going to have the big talk? When are you going to sit down and talk about: am I going to discipline these kids? And they’re too big for me and what about these issues and we’ve got all kind of things we need to do.

Well, he wants to be others-centered. And it’s getting cold in Texas so it’s Sunday afternoon and he’s going to get on a plane in about five or six hours so he is out, underneath the car, changing the oil of her car to make sure the antifreeze.

So, he’s loving her. All right? You got the story.

I walk down, I know we’re not going to get to play basketball and my, one of my kids runs out of the house and says, “Dad, you better watch out. It’s going like crazy down there.” I said, “Well, what do you mean?”

So, I walk up and by the time I get there, it is a no holds barred, he’s half under the car, sitting up like that. There is veins, eyes bulging, plates have already been flowing, there is cursing, there is “You are this.” Everything they’ve ever thought.

Oh, everything they brought into their marriage that was ugly, bad they just spewed it on one another. And my kid ran out, I said, “What happened?” “Well, that plate almost hit me when it went by and crashed against the wall. You know.” And I said, “Well, get home.” You know?

And so I watched all this happen. And she’s there thinking what? Man, I’m loving these four adults, teenage adults, and I’ve got all this stuff on my hands and you’ve been here two and a half days, we’ve had a decent talk, and you’re going to get on a plane. I’m stuck with all this and I don’t know what we’re going to do.

And he’s thinking, You know what? I have come home and I have wined and dined instead of getting a workout and doing some stuff I wanted to do and I took these romantic walks and talks like Chip says we’re supposed to do and all this jazz. And here I am out here trying to get your car ready for you so you’re safe and you treat…tcoo, tcoo, tcoo, tcoo, tcoo, tcoo, tcoo, tcoo, tcoo, tcoo.

Here’s what I can tell you. He did what he did all weekend for one reason. He loved her. She did what she did all weekend because she loved him. And they had one of the biggest fights that put a barrier in their marriage that they never recovered from.

And you know, to this day, I know two people who are no longer together who love one another, who both love God, because they didn’t learn what we’re going to learn right now.

Let’s talk about the communication process. The definition is the meeting of meanings. Write the word “meanings.” Communication is not talking. It’s when the meaning, what’s in your heart, what do you really mean somehow goes across this highway into the heart and to the mind of your mate.

Norman Wright says, “Communication is the privilege of exchanging vulnerabilities.” By the way, the word “vulnerable” it means “open to woundedness.” See, great communication is always risky and often painful before it gets good.

Norman Wright also says, “Communication is the process of sharing yourself verbally and nonverbally in such a way that the other person,” listen, “can both accept and understand what you are saying.”

So if you say it in a way where they can’t accept it or they can’t understand it, you don’t communicate. You can say, “I said the right words. I wrote it down. This is the way it is.” If they can’t hear it, you didn’t communicate.

And a lot of times, we do things, unintentionally, completely unintentionally that shut down the communication process.

Many of us think, especially us as men, we think communication, “Look, that’s what I said. I said, I love you. Okay? Look. I love you. You don’t get it? What’s the deal? I love you! Hey, I said it once. I said it twice. You know, well…I love you, okay? Get over it.”

Now, what do my words say? Someone could have put that in a transcript and said, “Oh my. Chip’s such a wonderful husband. He just said six times in a row, ‘I love you.’” Except that wasn’t my tone of voice, was it?

Notice on your notes the complete message. Words alone are about seven percent. Tone of voice, thirty-eight percent. Facial expression, gestures, posture, the nonverbal, fifty-five percent.

There are five levels of communication, according to author John Powell, who wrote the book, Why I’m Afraid to Tell You Who I Am. He says, there’s the cliché, level one, safe, shallow -“How are you?” “I’m fine.”

There’s level two, reporting facts. Refers to, basically, third person. “Have you heard about the weather today?” “No.” “I think it’s going to rain.”

There’s level three, ideas or judgment. Risk begins here because there’s attachment of yourself with the facts. “So, what did you think of that message last week in church?” “What do you think about the current political situation?” “What do you think about what we need to do with our money?”

Do you see? Now what you say may cause a little conflict so it’s getting a little bit more dangerous.

Level four is feelings and emotions. Laying self on the line. “I feel hurt.” “I’m struggling.” “I’m depressed.” “I was really offended last night when we were with that couple and you brought that subject up that you never talked with me about that. I felt really damaged.”

Level five is open communication. Total honesty, mutual understanding, vulnerability. No holds barred.

So how in the world do you move from level one down, progressively in different areas, to level five? Intimacy always occurs at levels four and five.

So with that, let me give you five principles, I believe, that will transform communication in your home.

If you’ll open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4. The context is really exciting because you know, the first three chapters are about all these wonderful great things that God has done. You’re a new person in Christ.

Then chapter 4 opens up, “Now walk in a manner worthy of your calling.” In other words, how do you live out this new, supernatural life? The Spirit of God has taken up residence in you.

You’ve been taken out of the kingdom of darkness. You’ve been pulled into the kingdom of light. Your sins are gone. You have peace. The Spirit lives in you. You’re a part of a new family called the Church. You are going to be transformed. He says, how does it work?

And in the first seventeen verses, he begins to explain about who you are in Christ and how your mind needs to be transformed.

And this supernatural thing called the Church, it’s called a community where He gives apostles and prophets and evangelists and teachers so to equip the saints to do the work in the ministry until everyone is mature. And the idea is, where we, all the fullness. We become more and more like Jesus.

And then after he lays all that out, he picks it up and he says, okay, now, let me target about five specific areas about how this practically works out in your relationships.

How do you live out this new, supernatural life, the Spirit of God in you, you’re born again. You’re a Christian. How does it work in relationships? And he gives five very simple principles.

Principle number one, you pick it up in verse 15 but he develops it in verse 25. And it’s simply put: be honest. Write those two words down. Speak the truth in love. This is the key to communication.

It is easy to speak the truth. It is easy to speak in love. It is very hard to speak the truth in love. It’s easy to speak the truth. “You gained a lot of weight lately. What’s the problem?” “Oh nothing really. I think it’s the lazy guy I’m married to!” The truth is just right there on the table, no problem here, right?

But I’m not sure that’s going to bring about good communication. Or you don’t ever mention areas that are of pain or a problem.

“Oh, you’re wonderful. I’m wonderful. You’re wonderful. I’m wonderful. No, you. No you’re more wonderful. No, no, no, no, no. You’re wonderful but I’m more wonderful.”

And you just take all that junk and you don’t face it and you push it down. Speaking the truth isn’t hard. Speaking in love isn’t hard. Speaking the truth in love requires tremendous Spirit-directed capacity.

Notice what he says in verse 15. “But speaking the truth in love,” notice what happens. “We are to grow up into all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ. Finish, then, with lying and tell your neighbor the truth.” Well, your mate is a neighbor. “We are not separate units but intimately related to one another in Christ.”

It means that we stop pretending. It means we don’t lie. And it means that in a very calculated, wise, God-ordained way, we begin to move into levels four and five and we start talking honestly about areas that are of conflict. Areas that are hard. Areas where you’re dissatisfied. Areas where you feel wounded.

But you speak the truth in a way where the other person can hear it because it’s couched in: “I’m not down on you. This is not payback.” And I’m going to give you some specific skills toward the end about how to do this, okay?

But what do you’ve got to do? We’ve got to be honest. You don’t grow unless we’re honest with one another.

One of the little applications I would give you, write in your notes: make direct requests. One of the things we do is we think our mates can read our minds. And so the car is a quarter low on empty and your husband drives your car and it comes back all the way on empty.

And you’re frustrated and everything and so what we go to is, “You know, I can’t believe he’s so inconsiderate. Why does he leave my car that way?”

Well I got news for you, if he’s anything like me, I don’t know where my car is, heaven knows I know what yours is.

Speak the truth in love. Those kind of issues like that sometimes go unspoken for ten, fifteen, twenty years in marriages.

Second. You didn’t know this much was in the Bible, did you? Be angry. Deal with anger appropriately. Notice what it says. “If you’re angry, be sure that it’s not out of wounded pride or a bad temper. Never go to bed angry. Don’t give the devil that sort of foothold.”

That’s a Phillips translation of Ephesians 4:26 and 27. The literal translation is “be angry.” It’s a command. It’s an imperative. Yet, do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger. Anger is the most destructive emotion in any marriage relationship.

Anger is – the distance between your expectations and your experience is anger. The difference between what you thought was going to happen and what you’re currently experiencing creates anger.

Now, sometimes it’s justified and sometimes it’s not. It just, they just tick you off a little bit and it’s because you’re selfish.

But he says, “Be angry.” If you don’t deal with that anger and if you push it down. You know, some researchers say as much as ninety percent of all depression is rooted in unresolved anger. Well, I can tell you, it will cause your stomach to do this.

But here’s what’s worse. What’s this verse say? We don’t think about the Spirit world and Jesus came to – what? To give life. The enemy came to destroy. And to steal. And to kill.

What’s this verse say? Be angry yet don’t sin. Don’t let the enemy get a foothold. When you go to bed mad, when you have unresolved anger, when you push it down, you’re inviting demonic spirits to begin to divide.

And then you start playing in your mind and blame shifting. Man, I’ll tell you what, it is a serious thing to be able to say, “I feel angry. I don’t know how we need to resolve it but I feel angry about…”

One of the little tools and I feel bad giving this away because I paid my ninety dollars for twelve weeks but I’m giving it to you free. So I want you to write this down.

A skill here is what we call “I feel” messages. Our Christian counselor, you get on a 3x5 card, it was on our refrigerator for two years. “I feel blank when you blank.” Okay, you want me to go over that again slower? Okay.

I feel blank – hurt, angry, frustrated, lonely, when you blank – don’t come home on time, don’t call, are not affectionate or responsive. I feel blank when you blank.

My wife and I bumped heads and we didn’t know how to resolve anger and that card was on here and I had one thing that drove her crazy.

She would make dinner and she is what we call a “dot” communicator. I’m a “dash” communicator. Dot communicators mean, when they say something, there’s a period at the end of it.

We’re going to eat at five thirty. Dot. It’s concrete. Not five thirty-one. Five thirty. And when you come in at twenty ‘til six – I’m a dash – five thirty. You say, hey, let’s meet at five thirty.

To me, that’s, “Aahhh, twenty after five, twenty to six, depending on traffic, depending on whatever else is happening. I’m sure you’ll understand. I understand. I’ll give you grace, you give me grace.” Okay, I’m a dash, I’m married to a dot. Yet another difference.

So it’s five thirty. And I come in, not at twenty ‘til. And I don’t call. And it’s now six o’clock and I’m thinking, you don’t understand. I’m working full time. I’m going to school full time. Like, two afternoons, I can play pick-up basketball.

And I’ll never forget, I came home, typically late. And she didn’t have her hands on her hips and there was candles. And it all, she goes, “Your food is in the oven. I’ll get it for you if you want to sit down.” “Uh-ooh.”

Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo. [sings Twilight Zone theme]. You know? You know?

I don’t know what this counselor’s teaching her but it’s getting scary. And so she brings it and she sets it down and she said, “I want you to know, the kids and I had a good meal.” I said, “Oh.” You know, I’m thinking, ooh, gosh, I’m not sure how to handle this.

And so, I sat down and I started to eat and she just waited, calm, under control, clothed, in her right mind.

And I had all my defenses up and then I’ll never forget she looked at me and she said, “Chip? I feel like you don’t love me when I spend all day cooking a meal to express my love to you and you don’t show up and you don’t call.” Swwwohh. Ahhhhhhhhh! It was like, get up and fight like a real man! You know?

Eyes watering up. I feel like, see? Do you see where the attack has gone? It’s an “I feel” message. And pretty soon it was, “I feel frustrated, I feel confused, I feel lonely, I feel left out.”

And you can learn to begin to express anger with this little message that doesn’t attack the person.

And then I don’t know. Something happened. I just thought. Now, wait a second. I love to play ball. But I love my wife. I mean it got to be, I rarely ever was not on time.

Because as long as she was chiding me, as long as she was trying to get to change me, instead of opening her heart and telling me how she felt, then we were in a battle. When I realized I was wounding her. Well, I may not be sensitive but I’m not a jerk.

That is what isn’t it the kindness of the Lord that brings us to repentance? It was her kindness that transformed me, not her nagging.