A Waiter in God’s Café

01.30.13

Acts 6.5c ... and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. (NIV)

Nicolas, was apparently a Greek from Antioch. The name Nicolas means loosely: victory people or the victory of the people or victorious people. Nicolas had converted to Judaism. I’m guessing, but I think he saw the marvel, the mystery, and the majesty of the God of Israel and wanted to be a part of that. I’m also guessing Nicolas to have been searching for something that Greek Mythology just couldn’t deliver with its hero worship and gods that acted a whole lot more like mere men than deities without any kind of beneficial power to change people’s lives. So, Nicolas, the Greek, became a Jew.

I really think Nicolas was on a journey of sorts and he was looking for truth. I think his journey led him to Judaism with its rigorous laws and rituals and feasts and liturgy. But I think he was still hungering for more: obviously because he ended up becoming a Christ-follower. Whatever Judaism offered to him it wasn’t quite enough and he just happened to be around when the Infant Church was born and he’d witnessed the changed lives of those who’d given themselves to follow the apostle’s teaching and to proclaiming the Lordship of Christ.

Nicolas wasn’t the first Jew (born into or converted into Judaism) to convert to Christianity. The book of Acts says that many Jewish priests converted because in Christ they finally saw and understood the purpose and plan of God to redeem men from Adam’s fall. The inconsistency of Judaism was,it offered a way of life that was ultimately not much different from Greek life: it didn’t hold any power to change a man’s heart. It really boiled down to the rest of life: keeping the rules or facing the consequences for failure.

Call it being in the right place at the right time, or whatever, but Nicolas got saved and found himself a part of the thriving and growing church in Jerusalem that worshiped and witnessed for Christ; the Kurios: the Lord. And Nicolas found himself being named a deacon (which from the Greek world meant: "servant", "waiting-man", "minister" or "messenger") in that church because he met the apostolic criteria of being “…known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.” (Act 6.3b NIV) Nicolas’ early-life journey led him to the ultimate life-journey: following and serving the Lord Jesus Christ. All this and becoming a waiter in God’s café…

All roads lead to Christ. It doesn’t matter one’s family, heritage, education, vocation, nationality, personality – all roads lead to Christ. It doesn’t matter one’s religion, philosophy, perspective, dogma, doctrine: all roads lead to Christ…even if you’re a Greek converted to Judaism. Nicolas found Jesus and his life was ever changed because he was ultimately a man known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. Nicolas through his life-journey met Jesus and was convinced that his whole purpose in life was to serve only Him…even if it meant dishing up plates of spaghetti in a church kitchen in the early first century. Nicolas had found his mission and his Lord.

It makes me think of my own journey and my going off to work in a hardware store in Baker City, Oregon. It makes me think of my life here and my church and reaching out to those who maybe, like Nicolas, are searching for truth and trying everything they can to find it – and just need someone to introduce them to Jesus, so that they may see and know and follow and serve. Lord, as Nicolas found You and became one of Your own, may I too see the Nicolas-es around me, in whatever package they show up in, and, as someone did for him, lead them to You. I remain Your waiter in the ACE store…and in Your church. Amen.