Love Starved Orphan Spirit (Part 1)

Love Starved
An Orphan Spirit (Part 1)

1 John 4:7-12

• 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

Orphan – Definition

• a. A child whose parents are dead.
• b. A child who has been deprived of parental care and has not been adopted.

Lamentations 5:3

• 3 We have become fatherless, our mothers are widows.

Psalm 68:4-6

• 4Sing to God, sing praises to His name; Lift up a song for Him who rides through the deserts, Whose name is the LORD, and exult before Him. 5A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, Is God in His holy habitation. 6God makes a home for the lonely; He leads out the prisoners into prosperity, Only the rebellious dwell in a parched land.…

John 14:17-19

• 17that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.    18“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19“After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.

Spiritual Orphans

• ‘The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”’ (Rom 8:15)

The ‘orphan spirit’

• The ‘orphan spirit’ refers to a spiritual condition in which some Christians profess outwardly to know God as Father, but experience an internal contradiction to that belief.

Ephesians 1:3-6

• Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will —to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

1 John 4:7-11 English Standard Version (ESV)

• 7Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Have you tried to fulfill that empty place in your life with things, but continue to be unsatisfied? Perhaps you feel starved for love. It’s not the will of God for His children to feel empty, alone and without love. He has made provision for you to be fulfilled and live with joy.

The Lord doesn’t want anyone to feel starved for love.

In fact, He’s made provisions for us to experience the joy and fulfillment of being loved by Him. Yet many people miss out on a satisfying relationship with Him because they are trying to fill the empty place in their lives with things, money, sex, or prestige. Every human relationship will disappoint, but God’s love will never fail.

SERMON POINTS

What does it mean for a person to be starved for love?

Those who feel unloved are likely to display some of the following characteristics:

Become involved in immoral situations. When someone is looking for a satisfying relationship, it’s easy to confuse sex with love. In reality, sex is a roadblock to genuine love when it’s practiced outside the marriage relationship.

Commit crimes. Some people’s deep emotional needs cause them to become desperate for recognition, even if it comes in the form of a crime report on the news.

Don’t love themselves. Those who feel unloved have trouble loving themselves, and therefore, cannot love others.

Engage in excessive spending. Some people turn to shopping in an attempt to fill what’s lacking in their relationships.

Experience loneliness. Those who are starved for love may feel isolated even when they’re with others. They think marriage is the solution, but only Jesus can fill a lonely heart.

Become critical of others’ relationships. Although dissatisfied people find fault in others, the truth is that they desire what the other person has—a relationship with someone else.

Get angry. Because of a lack of love, some people develop an angry spirit. They may not be upset with anyone in particular, but are simply frustrated because all their attempts to meet their emotional needs have failed.

Become self-absorbed. A person who doesn’t feel genuinely loved could become inwardly focused on his or her longing for a relationship. But self-centeredness only leads to unhappiness.

Try to buy love. Although there is nothing wrong with giving gifts, those whose generosity is motivated by neediness for love in return are actually trying to purchase another’s affection.

Are overly complimentary. Some people lavish compliments on others, hoping to receive a response in return which will fill up the emptiness in their hearts.

Emphasize being in agreement. When people don’t understand true love, they might make the false assumption that love means always being in agreement.

Do what others want. The desire for a relationship can be so strong that a person may serve someone in an attempt to earn love.

Make personal sacrifices to receive love. Emotional neediness leads people to say, do, or give whatever is necessary to make the other person love them.

Why do people remain starved for love?

• God has placed a hunger for love in every human heart, but He’s also provided a way for us to have that need met through Him.
• However, instead of turning to the Lord, many people remain stuck in a place of emotional deprivation because they try to satisfy their longings with substitutes.
• Another reason for remaining starved for love is because of past rejection—especially if it occurred in childhood.
• It manifests as a feeling of unworthiness to receive love and an inability to give it and maintain a healthy relationship.

Next Week

• We will examine What True Love is!
• We will look at the characteristic of True Love and show you how to find and have it in your Life.