Love the Sick, Hurting and the Lost @ UCLA

I wrote the email below to our students at Passion Church UCLA last week, I pray the stories below challenge you to go and love the lost with grace and compassion.....with love, this is a challenge not an exhortation.

Matthew 9:9-13
9 As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him. 10 Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" 12 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: "I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."


Dear PC,

I was also deeply humbled this past week. Last night, I was in a prayer meeting for my home church (HRC) that was at my house in Pasadena. During this prayer meeting, there were was a large group of us believers who have been Christian for years. But in walks this young man who came off the streets. He was a newer believer, didn't dress the same, look the same or talk the same. In fact, in the prayer meeting he was quite the distraction. We could all tell that he had demonic oppression and because he had brought some distraction to the prayer meeting the week before, the leadership asked him not to come again. But he came back again, because his heart was truly after God.

It got pretty bad, but some leaders were trying to explain to him why they needed him to calm down, submit, because he was manifesting and distracting others in the prayer meeting. He became very defensive, began to shout and almost got angry to the point of where it could get out of hand. What happened?

Four older Christian brothers took him outside. The USUAL way of doing things would be to look at his dysfunction and ask him to leave, to go to a "outreach cell group" but not this revival prayer meeting. Instead, I saw my brother Gabe Ahn do something that deeply challenged and moved me. He took him aside to the street and began to speak to him the truth, but in love. He counseled him for about an hour, I heard this young man yelling in anger, then crying because he just wanted to worship God and be a part of this prayer meeting, he had an orphan spirit and felt like he was rejected, that Christians didn't want him to be a part of the meeting because he wasn't rich, he didn't have nice clothes, he had been to jail, he was different, and honestly....

The reality in my mind at that moment, is that it would have been the easy way out to just say, "This guy has a unclean spirit, is being disruptive, and needs to be delivered before he can be accepted in our prayer meeting, or our community." How many times do we resort to the same manner of doing things, because its easier, convenient, we judge others by the outside but not by the intention of their heart. We may not see pass their hurt, their pain, their rejection?

To make a long story short, my brother Gabe surprisingly put his arms over his shoulders and walked up the driveway with this young man. He told him as long as he stayed quite, submitted to his leadership, he could sit with Gabe in the front of the prayer meeting and pray and worship with him. I was amazed. Moments before, I was on the sidewalk making sure this young man would not get violent and hurt Gabe, next thing I know Gabe walks up with this young man back into the prayer meeting where he was manifesting and being disruptive before, but in a totally different spirit. For the rest of the meeting, this young man submitted, sat next to Gabe in the front and prayed and worshipped with everyone else. Love overcame.

Did Jesus not leave the 99 to go after the 1 sheep? Are we willing to leave the 99 who are found and go after the one who is lost?

I wonder so many times, whether those who are not believers, those who are not the same as us would feel welcomed in our churches? Sadly, I talk to many friends who are not "Christians" and they tell me how they feel judged, disconnected and not accepted when they meet Christians. My heart breaks to think that our churches, our campus fellowships are not welcoming to those who are different, whether they believe or don't believe, this is a tragedy.

Jesus was hated by the religious and he was loved by the sinners. He lived in the radical middle. He spent most of his time with unbelievers, in fact, most of his friends were those who did not yet believe. He ate with them, lived with them, talked with them and loved them. He went to the lost, He didn't wait for them to come to Him. Do we love like Jesus? Religion says behave and then you will be accepted. Jesus says you are already accepted, believe this and you will naturally behave in a new way. Love is not passive, it is active. Love pushes us out of our comfort zones to embrace those we are not comfortable with. Love is what this world is searching for, we have it, will we go out and give it?

Daniel Lee and Paula told me after the prayer meeting on Tuesday night, they bumped into a young Asian brother on Bruin Walk. He seemed quite lonely and they tried to make friends with him. He rejected them, so they left. But they kept praying for God to open a door to his heart and show them a sign. As they walked back to the dorms the Holy Spirit spoke to them to "turn left" instead of going the usual way. They ended up bumping right back into this young man. They talked with him again, he shared that he was lonely, did not have many friends and didn't believe in God. But they made friends with him and convinced him to give them his number :) They ended up calling him up and he came with us to celebrate Rajan's b-day! That night, before we left the dinner he looked at me and said, "I don't believe in God, but thank you for letting me be a part of this I was deeply touched."

Passion Church - God has been speaking to me deeply that the Gospel is not meant for the rich, the well, the proud, but it is for the SICK, HURTING & the LOST! Please, I urge you, we will see true revival at UCLA and everywhere else when we love the least, the lost, the outcast those who are broken and poor in spirit, for they shall be filled. Revival is going to happen this year, I'm sure of it, but we must not only pray, but our prayer must move us to action or our prayers are nothing more than words that will fall to the ground.

PRAY TODAY FOR GOD TO GIVE YOU OPPORTUNITY TO LOVE WITHOUT FEAR, TO LOVE BOLDLY, TO LOVE COURAGEOUSLY, TO LOVE TILL IT HURTS, TO LOVE WHEN IT IS INCONVENIENT, TO LOVE THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER BEEN LOVED, TO SHARE THE GOOD NEWS THAT JESUS LOVES YOU AND SO DO I, ....

and you know what family? It's going to be tough, it's going to be difficult to love the hurting, the dying, those who need healing. But that is the cost of revival, that is the cost of love. But that is what the Gospel is about, it's not about us, it's about His love for them. And He will anoint us and give us the grace to do what is impossible in our strength, when we yield to His power and trust Him to love through us.

LOVE SOMEBODY WHO NEEDS LOVE TODAY.

Let your light breakout and shine like the dawn. Today is the day of salvation!

For the PC BBQ on Sunday Night. I encourage all of you to bring a lost friend. Someone who needs a family in this lonely city of Los Angeles, let's began to change the loneliness to LOVE. amen.

Isaiah 61:1-3
1 "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, 3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified."



blessings,
Jaeson

posted by Jaeson Ma @ 10/02/2007 01:42:00 AM