We were driving down the road when we I saw the sign. I kept driving. Then I lifted my foot off of the accelerator. The car slowed. I pulled into the parking lot of the New World Electronics and turned around and headed back. I made another u-turn and pulled up next the the sign and took a photograph. Then I headed back down the road.
The sign has been rattling around in my pocket. I googled the name wondering if the church website might explain the moniker, but there was no website. I searched for the phrase “perfect alternative",” but didn’t find anything. I thought about the name.
At first, it appears that the church might be saying that it is the perfect alternative, that if you have been going to another Baptist Church down the road and it has been a disappointment then this is the church for you, its the ‘perfect alternative.” Sometimes people leave church when it is too imperfect for them. Sometimes they swap churches thinking they have found the perfect church. That is what I saw when I first looked at the sign.
Upon reflection, I don’t think that is what they are saying. I think they know that they are not perfect. You can clearly see the fence is broken, not perfect. The columns are splintering, the pain is peeling, and the sign is fading. I can’t imagine that the people in that building think they are better than other people. I bet they know that the church is filled with the broken, the discouraged and the disappointments of the world, because that is who sits in all the pews in all the churches. Only sinners populate churches.
I think the sign refers to Jesus. He was the “perfect alternative.” Jesus was without sin (I Peter 2:22, I John 3:5, Hebrews 4:15, Luke 23:41). He did not earn the punishment of God. He did not betray God. He was beautiful, loving and pure. And then he did the most unlikely amazing thing. He took our place. He became our alternative. Instead of us paying the penalty, Jesus paid for us. From the beginning, the sacrificial system was based on a substitutionary principle. The life of an animal, in exchange for ritual holiness (Romans 3:25-26). When our name was called, when our sin price came due, Jesus stepped up onto the cross into our place (Gal 3:13. 2 Cor. 5:21), he was the perfect alternative.
The church could easily have been called Grace Baptist Church, but this name so much more personal. The word ‘Grace’ has been diminished, we use it for so many things. We are rarely stunned by its majesty or are humbled by its implications. This church wants the people coming in the door to know they are not perfect, far from it, but Jesus is perfect. We should lower our expectations of every finding a perfect church. Instead, we have a perfect Lord who asks us to come follow him and every imperfection that we see in the church is evidence of the necessity of what Jesus did for us. The flaws remind us of what is real and can draw us together in our honest appraisal of each other. We all need the perfect alternative.