BECAUSE OF, OR IN SPITE OF?

The title of this message is, "BECAUSE OF, OR IN SPITE OF?"  I want to start off by giving you the definition of these 2 phrases.  According to Oxford, the phrase in spite of means-without being affected by the particular factor mentioned.  The phrase because of means on account of; by reason of.  I’ll come back to that later.

What is a Christian?  I’m sure we all have our own definitions, but I looked up the Oxford definition of Christian.  In this version, they list the formal and informal definition.  Here’s the formal definition: Noun-A person who has received Christian baptism or is a believer in Jesus Christ and his teachings.  Adjective-of, relating to, or professing Christianity or its teachings.  Now, listen to the informal definition: having or showing qualities associated with Christians, especially those of decency, kindness, and fairness.  Wow, that’s setting the bar high for us, right?

When I looked up the definition, I was also given some suggestions of “nearby words” associated with the word Christian...

Christ-Noun-the title, also treated as a name, given to Jesus of Nazareth.  (There was also a definition for the word used as an Exclamation for when people are upset, but I refuse to even acknowledge that meaning)

Another word, Christocentric (‘christ e’sentrik) means having Christ at its center.  Now that seems like a pretty important adjective, but if I’ve ever heard it before, I must not have been paying enough attention....HAVING CHRIST AS ITS CENTER.  Every act we do should be Christocentric.

Some derivatives of the word Christ are Christhood, Christlike, and Christly, and some derivatives of the word Christian are Christianization, Christianize, and Christianly.

What do all of these words have in common?  The root word is “Christ”.  What a wonderful word and name to associate ourselves with.  But this makes me think about what a strong responsibility we have to be Christ-like.  I’ve always heard the phrase, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”.  I don’t know if any of you have ever heard of David Gore.  He was a sheriff’s deputy who was arrested in 1983 for using his badge to draw women into his vehicle, then killing them.  In 2007, his son John, who was very young at the time of the murders, was interviewed.  He said, “It was pretty hard, everywhere I went when people found out my last name was Gore, people knew exactly who I was and exactly what my family's history was.” 

So what happens when people find out that we’re Christians?  Do they know exactly who we are?  Do people know that we’re Christians by our actions of decency, kindness, and fairness?  Or do we let Jesus down when our actions don’t coincide with the name we give ourselves?  I know we all fall short, but just in the past couple of weeks, I have realized that the people who disappoint me, or just really get under my skin the most are Christians.  I mentioned that in Sunday School the other day, and someone said that it’s because I expect better of Christians, which is probably true.  We SHOULD expect better of Christians.  Even so, it made me step back and take a look at myself.  Do I let people down?  Yes.  Are there things that I do INSPITE of being a Christian, instead of BECAUSE of being a Christian? We all fall short, and although we’ll never be perfect, I believe that we are supposed to be constantly striving for perfection.  Was Christ perfect?  Yes.  That means to be Christ-like, we should strive for perfection.

Matthew 5:48 says, “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect”.

1 Cor. 11:1 says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ”.

In 2 Cor. 13:11, “Finally, bretheren, farewell.  Aim to be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you”.

In closing, lets go back to my very first 2 definitions. The phrase in spite of means-without being affected by the particular factor mentioned.  Because of means on account of; by reason of.  So if we were to fill in the blank to fit this message and say...

1)The phrase in spite of means-without being affected by Christianity.

2)The phrase because of means-on account of Christianity, or by reason of Christianity. 

Which phrase do we want to live by?