Love Deeper Series

Title: Love Deeper

Text: John 12:1-8

Thesis: Love is a gift God gives…to be given.

Series Introduction;

Tim McGraw’s hit song Live Like You Were Dying, is the springboard for the current series of messages. The song is the story of a man who learned he was dying of a fatal disease and what he learned about living his final days well. It is a song about what he found to be important and how he hoped everyone could have the chance to live like they only had thirty days to live.

The series is based on the materials provided for the Live Like You Were Dying Church Campaign Resource Kit available from WWW.LLYWD.ORG. In addition to the suggested sermon titles and general outlines, I have attempted to cite any other specific references lifted from the resources.

Message Introduction:

Two Sundays ago, we talked about change and what we do when we begin to live like we were dying. We talked about seizing each day as a gift from God and the importance of living with a sense of urgency, keeping eternity in mind, of slowing down, and reordering our priorities to focus on your relationships with God and others.

Last week we talked about the power of words and how we can use our days to speak words of appreciation, encouragement, and to pray for the people in our lives. We thought about how we can learn to speak sweeter.

I would like for us to take a moment to watch a “man on the street” clip as we begin.

Video: Love Deeper

Today we are going to talk about loving deeper.

One of the anecdotal stories I have accumulated over the years is that of an elderly man who visited his doctor’s office early one morning to have some stitches removed from his thumb. I don’t know where I got the story or to whom to give credit, but it is a good story.

As the nurse was removing his sutures, she asked him about his day and he said he was in kind of a hurry. She inquired as to why he was in a hurry and he told her that he needed to get to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife, who had been in the nursing home for some time.

As the nurse was dressing his wound, she asked if his wife would be upset if he was a little late. He told her no, that that his wife had Alzheimer’s, and that she no longer knew who he was and had not recognized him for almost five years.

The nurse was surprised and asked him, “And you still go every morning, even though she doesn’t know who you are?”

Then, patting the back of the nurse’s hand, he replied, “She doesn’t know who I am, but I still know who she is.”

In the video clip, we heard people say that love isn’t just about saying it, though last week we learned that it is important to say it. We heard people say that love is also something you show… something you do. Loving deeper is an activity. We say it but we also do it.

I had been nervously anticipating the end of March and the expiration of my bank debit card after 03/08. However, I need not have troubled myself. Before the end of March, I received a new debit card that will be in effect until 03/11. But the fact that I had a new debit card extending my banking privileges until March of 2011, did not mean it would work. Because, across the face of the card was an adhesive strip informing me that I had to call a 1-800 number to activate the card. The card was of no value until it was activated.

That is now it is when it comes to loving deeper. We need to say words of love but beyond the words are actions. In order to love deeper, we must activate our words and put them into action.

We put words into action when we show someone what we mean. If a young man comes to our church and asks if he can do some community service. I can hand him some trimmers and a saw and say, go cut down that bush. Or, I can take him to the bush, and show him how to use the trimmer and the saw. Then I hand them to him and say, “Here you go. Cut down this bush.”

When it comes to loving, we may say love but we say love louder when we show love… not in ways that please ourselves but in self-giving and sacrificial ways that please the person we wish to receive our love.

Actions really do speak louder than words. Jesus essentially said, “The proof is in the pudding” when he said, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13:35