"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase"
1 Corinthians 3:6
A Message From the Horne of Africa
Nick at Nite
02/15/2009
In the evening, Channel 38 in Kerrville, TX is known as "Nick at Nite." Right? Hmm, that set me to thinking about that expression, "Nick at Nite [Night]." When my grandson was born on July 9, 2001, his parents, Steve (my son) and Erin, named him "Nicolas"-- spelled just like one of the first deacons selected in the Jerusalem church, Acts 6:5. That's "Nick" for short on happy days, but incurs every syllable of "Nic-o-las" when he doesn't "hear" a parental directive. When that happens, he knows that means business! But, then, our dear little Nick made his debut at night; in fact at ten minutes past six that night in Fort Worth, Texas. Does that mean he can lay claim to the title "Nick at Nite?" He is often more entertaining than TV anyway!
But there was another Biblical "Nick at Nite." Can you guess who? You give up? Why, it was Nicodemus of John 3. He was a conservative (a Pharisee) who had achieved a high profile among the Jews as a member of the Sanhedrin, John 3:1. Guess what he did? He came to Jesus at night! He was probably the first "Nick at Nite." When I study Biblical characters, they become more real to me when I think of what their mothers may have called them. Nicodemus could so easily have been just plain ole "Nick." "Zack" was probably how Zacchaeus, Luke 19:1-10, was summoned to supper by his mom. You see, Jesus had encounters with real flesh-and-blood people "just like us," (see James 5:17 about Elijah). Just as Jesus went to lodge with Zacchaeus, he took time for a study with Nicodemus.
Jesus shared some of the greatest Biblical truths with these ordinary people. That is what the preacher Charles Hodge calls "the glory of the ordinary." Zacchaeus had an exclusive on the mission of the Master--"to seek and to save the lost," Luke 19:10. The Samaritan woman at the well got a preview of how the long-awaited Messiah defined worship. It had to be "in spirit and in truth" for those were "the kind of worshippers the Father was seeking," John 4:23-24. Then Nicodemus got the scoop on "the new birth," John 3:3-5. The words "you must be born again" is thrown around a great deal today, but many fail to understand the dynamic of those words. It means we must have a new beginning. Upon our faith, it is necessary to go through the ceremony of initiation into salvation and the kingdom of God. Just as the candidate is dipped (baptized) in the waters of salvation, there is an action of the Holy Spirit which coincides with that to give life to a dead (a separated-from-God) sinner. He goes down into the water a sinner, see Romans 3:23, and comes up a saint (one who has a new relationship with God), Romans 6:4. That is what Jesus meant when he said, "no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the spirit," John 3:5. Accordingly, no one is a Christian unless he is "born again." There is no such thing as a Christian who is not "born again." If this directive by Jesus is not obeyed, then the unbaptized "believer" is not yet a Christian. See Mark 16:16, too.
Guess what? That last event happened to the original "Nick at Nite." Sometimes the incredible light in God's word is shed on us in the dark of night, so that we may ever "walk in the light as he is in the light," 1 John 1:7. In that dark night, Nicodemus heard for the first time the subsequently most quoted verse in the Bible--John 3:16. Nicodemus again visited the crucified Christ to minister to his slain body, John 19:39-41. In three days and three nights, Jesus would again arise triumphant over the grave. The lesson is that we need not wait until night to come to Jesus, for any time is a good time. His door is always open to those who love Him and seek Him. Let's be sure to do it in the "nick of time!"
Love you all,
Al--"the Horne of Africa"