5 Love Languages: Physical Touch Series

FIVE LOVE LANGUAGES: Physical Touch

VARIOUS GOSPEL PASSAGES

INTRODUCTION… “Cooties” BlueFishTV.com

I want you to know that we will be talking about the last of the five love languages today and the last love language for us to ‘touch on’ is physical touch. Everything we will talk about today will get you cooties in one way or another! I start out with a little bit of humor because when we talk about physical touch, 75% of us probably jump to the definition of physical touch as a sexual act or sexual pleasure. Sex and sexual touching is certainly part of this love language, but we have to remember that physical touch is an entire language and is much more than just sexual touch. Fellas, you will just have to trust me on that. This sermon is much more than a sermon about sex. Sexual touch is just one dialect of an entire love language that has great power to communicate love and belonging. I hope today that we can apply this love language in our marriages, with our children and grand children, and with friends. Again, different dialects of this love language will apply in different types of relationships.

I also begin with a little bit of humor because I also understand that some of you may have been harmed in the past or even right now, by physical touch, and so a sermon like this can be a little uncomfortable or uneasy. I am so sorry that this has happened to you. You may not want to hear this, but God created physical touch to be a loving way to communicate to another person. Physical touch is one way that people can give and receive and communicate love.

Physical touch includes:

* the loving power of a hug * the loving power of a kiss * the loving power of sex

* the loving power of a handshake * the loving power of a hand on a shoulder or back

* the loving power of a hand on a cheek

So let’s get into the language of physical touch and so how it “translates” for us.

I. THE LANGUAGE OF PHYSICAL TOUCH

I want us to take a moment and look at Jesus’ life and how He used the language of physical touch. We have seen in the past four weeks that Jesus Christ speaks all five of the love languages perfectly… and physical touch is no different. Jesus was not a man who went through His life or His ministry physically isolated from those around Him. Jesus touched those He came in contact with. He showed His compassion to those around Him by physical touch. Let’s review some Gospel passages and see what those passages show us about Jesus and physical touch. To be honest, there were so many passages; I had to pare down those that we look at. Jesus communicated love by touch all the time.

Matthew 8:1-3 “When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." 3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.”

We should note when we read this passage that leprosy is a contagious skin disease. Those with leprosy were on the outside of social life in Jesus’ day. No one could touch them and they were cast out of normal life. No one did touch a leper, ever. When approached by someone not infected, the leper had to yell “unclean!” so that there would be no physical contact. I can imagine if one had leprosy that you would wish for the days when you could hug someone or kiss someone or have contact!

ILLUSTRATION… Ben Hur (p)

When ever I think of leprosy, I think of the 1959 movie Ben Hur. The character played by Ben Hur returns home after many years and eventually finds that his mother and sister contracted leprosy while in prison and now live a leper colony away from everyone else. They ask that he never be told that they are alive. They ask that he only remember them as their former selves. Ben Hur’s mother and sister were to be exiled from all contact with people, but as the story unfolds and concludes, they are healed by Jesus Christ. This movie illustrates the seriousness of leprosy in Jesus’ day and the horrible consequences.

In his book, The Five Love Languages, Dr. Gary Chapman states that not touching someone:

* as children, can impede their emotional development (pg 103)

* makes them feel unloved (pg 104)

* makes someone feel insecure about the marriage relationship (pg 105)