We Have a Desperate Need to be Loved

Series: “How to Make it Through Tough Times”

Part 3

"We Have a Desperate Need to be Loved"

Pastor Jerry

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In America, Valentine’s is a day of love, but what is love? Today, I want to talk about our being loved and our misunderstanding about it. Some of you may think you don’t need it, but it is a deep need to be loved and especially to be loved by God. The misunderstanding is that to love requires that we need to let God show us how. Our ways are not God’s ways.  No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, my prayer for today’s message is that when you leave, you would not leave the same person. We’re spinning around in a love starved world.  And we desperately need love. You look for love in many places…but, it’s not what you are longing for…in those places it’s not what your heart and soul needs. The Bible boldly proclaims there is only one love in the universe that has what it takes to meet this love-starved need. And it’s God’s love. Jeremiah 31 “The Lord said ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love. I have drawn you with a loving kindness.’”  Some of you wonder why you came to church today. It’s because God’s love is drawing you to Him. I realize that with many of us here, we’re all in different stages of our spiritual journey. There are some trying to find out if God is real to you and you’re looking for answers. Some of you struggle in your Christian faith and don’t feel worthy enough to be loved. And, some are surrendered, totally given to Jesus Christ. That’s good, that’s what we all should be trying to be. Because we so desperately want to be loved, we’re willing to do desperate things to get love.  That’s where God’s love is so different. You don’t have to do anything …except let God have your heart. The Bible tells us that “God is love.”  That’s where God’s love is so different. God’s love says, There is no limit. Ephesians 3, Paul says, “I pray that you may be able to feel and understand how long, how wide, how deep and how high His love really is and to experience this love for yourself.” My spiritual journey has been a long one. I’ve been a Christian since I was a teenager – over 50 years.  It took me many years of being a Christian before I experienced God’s love. I went to Bible College at Bridgewater, Seminary at Bethany, and learned from some of the best teachers in the Church of the Brethren about God’s love. After that I went into a church and I taught about God’s love. But it was theory until some years ago when I experienced it in an unusual way. I died! I have a heart disease and my heart stopped beating. After that experience, I understood God’s love in a unique way. Everything I had studied, heard, taught, about God’s love  was now experienced and it was profound. Now I am able to understand this famous passage in Psalm 23 where it said “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Because at that moment I had no wants. I experienced how long, how wide, how deep and how high Jesus’ love really is. In this series, we’re looking at names of God in the Old Testament. The one we’re looking at today is Jehova Roi which means “I am the God who shepherds you.”  God referred to Himself as a shepherd and because He cared for us we have no wants. Jesus, in the New Testament, God in flesh also called Himself a shepherd. John 10:11”I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd is willing to die for the sheep.” A love that is willing to die, a love that leaves us with no wants, that’s the type of love that God has for us and He wants you and I to experience it. That He was willing to die for us and that we can live life with no wants. When we get our arms around God’s love and we know that it’s personal and we know how much He loves us, we can live life with no wants.

1. I can have no wants because GOD KNOWS ME AND HE STILL LOVES ME.

John 10, Jesus says “I am the good shepherd and I know My sheep.”  The fact that He knows me  means nothing is too petty for God. Matthew 10:30 says, “God even knows how many hairs are on my head.”  God‘s love for us is not based on whether we respond to it or not. God is love. It’s unconditional. God ways are not man’s ways. 1 Peter 5 “He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.”  You might say, “So what? The “So what” is freedom!  You don’t have to run from Him or try to earn His love. God loves you. He knows you. He knows your pain, your past and your sin.  The “So what?” is stop hiding! Quit seeking love in all the wrong places. You don’t measure up to what God wants you to be, but God loves you anyway. Just as you are! God knows you and still loves you!

2. I can have no wants because GOD ALSO PROTECTS ME.

He protects me just like a shepherd protects the sheep. God is in control. If I’m a child of God, I’ve got nothing to worry about. Some here are saying, “I’m about to sink!  But God wants to give you His power to get you out of situations, to help you live. God wants to protect us. Psalm 40 “My only hope is Your love…” When it all boils down, my only hope is God’s love. It’s the only thing I’ve got going for me. “… for my problems are too big for me to solve and are piled over my head.”  God wants to protect us so that we’d have no wants. The Scripture says, “God is your refuge and underneath you are His everlasting arms.”  God is protecting us. In the midst of fumbling around in our life and what we do or don’t do, God is watching over us. We can count on God’s protection. Romans 8 “Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

3. He loves us, He protects us and like a good shepherd GOD GUIDES US.

This week, many of us are going to be facing important decisions in our lives, and even if, we know that God loves us so much, do you know He will guide you. God wants to guide you in safe places. He knows that life is too difficult to be lived on its own and He wants to guide us in the right decisions and direction. Romans 8 “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” If you are a Christian, God wants to guide you. You can count on His leadings to move you more into the likeness of Jesus Christ. Do you sense His guidance? Do you feel His leadings? Do you hear His leadings? God wants to lead you. He has good plans for you. Plans that you might prosper, not to harm you. Good plans, as the scripture says. He’s always trying to lead us.  The question that faces us is are we listening? God’s love is a gift. Non-believers say, “I’m not worthy of that type of love.” My response is “Exactly. And that’s why it’s called good news.” We didn’t deserve it and God sent Jesus to die for us. Romans 5:8 “God has shown us how much He loves us.  It was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us.” God does not say, “Clean up your act first and then come to Me.”  God says, “Come to Me Now! I’ll clean you up!”  Some of us think we will wait until we can make God happier. We can’t. And God says to us “I love you because you’re my child.” There is no better time to come than Now! This week when you feel tempted to pretend to be something so others will think more highly of you, would you pause and let God say to you, “you don’t have to do that, I love you as you are.” When you’re feeling a need for love and you think, “If I put on a big show my neighborhood will think I am special.” Would you just let God say to you, “you don’t have to do that, I love you as you are.” And if you’re feeling a little empty this week for love and you think, “If I could just go out and have some pleasure then I will feel good about myself….” Would you just let God say to you, “you don’t have to do that, I love you just as you are.” There’s a God in heaven who loves you. Whether you know it or not, whether you deserve it or not, He’s crazy about you. Some of you may not want to admit it, you may think you don’t need it, but you have a deep need to be loved and especially the deep need to be loved by God.