Pobody’s Nerfect

This week the sermon at Parkdale was on 1 Peter 2:13-25. This is a great passage about Christ’s perfect life and his great substitutionary sacrifice. As a part of the sermon the deacon (our Pastor is on vacation) shared a story.

The story is told by a well-known pastor (unfortunately I don’t remember his name). It is from a church where one particular member approached the pastor to suggest there was too much emphasis on Christ’s death in the teaching–Christ’s life should be remembered, and highlighted, the man thought. By bringing more attention to the life of Christ as a good example it may lift the morals and ethics of body, and make life a little better.

The pastor asked the man, “if I preached of the goodness of Christ’s life would you follow him?” The man thought and answered, “yes, I think I would.”

The pastor asked the man, “Christ lived a perfect life, committing no sin. Would you follow Christ and live yourself without sin?” Without hesitation the man responded, “no–I could not go a day without sin let alone a lifetime!”

“Then I think you need a saviour before you need a good example,” the pastor concluded.

I think this is a great story that really drives home an important distinction: Christ’s life was not a good example, it was perfect and it was sacrificed for you because no other life could be. This is important.

There are those funny hats and t-shirts with the slogan “pobody’s nerfect”; this is exactly why we need Christ as our saviour long before he acts as our perfect example.