The Credibility Gap

“What I did on my holidays”.

There was one thing that came up for me a number of times, in various forms. It is not profound. We all understand it, but it is troubling. I’ve called it “the credibility gap”, and I hope it doesn’t offend you.

We went to quite a few cathedrals. They are often magnificent buildings highly decorated with paintings and sculptures and ornamentation. One in particular was St John’ Co-Cathedral in Malta. It was just extraordinary! For 270 years, Malta was ruled by the Knights of the Order of St John (the Baptist) – the great-great-great grandfathers of the Order of St John who provide ambulance services, but that is another story. They built this cathedral. Every square centimetre, it seems, is covered by gold or paintings or marble columns, or statues. There are approximately 400 intricate, inlaid marble tombstones in the floor emblazoned with the crests and coats of arm and epitaphs of the knights buried there. Around the sides of the church are 12 chapels, most of them honouring one of the different divisions of knights. In those chapels there were huge memorials to many of the Grand Masters who had been the leader of Malta for a period. Many of those elaborate memorials had been commissioned by the Grand Master himself before he died, ensuring that he was remembered and honoured.

The Cathedral was crowded with tourists. I wondered what impression of Christianity they got.

They might have gone away impressed by the dedication and sacrifice of these people who had poured so much into a cathedral built to honour God. They might have even learnt a little bit about the gospel – certainly about John the Baptist. Supposedly much of the artwork was designed to present the biblical story visually to a people who were largely illiterate. Maybe.

But my fear is that they might go away thinking the church is all about military and political power. Some of what was portrayed was the knights vanquishing their enemies in war. They might have seen wealth and grandiose self-promotion. They might have seen pride and extravagance and self-centredness.

None of those words describes Jesus. Jesus was more about simplicity, serving, humility, selflessness, a rejection of military and political power.

In that cathedral, do people see Jesus? Or do they see the opposite?

In Geneva, we went to St Peter’s Cathedral where John Calvin was pastor. I think the pulpit there now is the same one that John Calvin used. I imagined him passionately proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ – salvation through faith alone. His actual chair was there. I reverently touched the arm of the chair where John Calvin’s arm had rested.

Then I read a book by Kristin Jack. Some of you might have known Kristin. He lived in Dunedin and was involved in Youth For Christ and Leith Valley Church. He died two years ago of lymphoma but while he was sick, he researched and wrote a book, Fire And Faith. It is an historical novel about Sebastian Castellio who was an understudy of John Calvin’s. Over time Castellio began to have doubts about aspects of Calvin’s teaching and about the way Calvin treated anyone who disagreed with him. Their relationship deteriorated. Calvin isolated Castellio, put financial pressure on him, publicly criticised and mocked him. Castellio was a brilliant scholar, but everything had to be approved by Calvin who refused to let him publish his work. Ultimately, Castellio was driven out of Geneva, could not get work in any city because Calvin’s influence extended everywhere, and was charged with heresy.

In other words, the way the story is told – and I think there is a firm factual basis for it – John Calvin was a tyrant who would not tolerate any dissent and used his influence to destroy anyone who disagreed with him or questioned him. It was his way or the highway.

We could say that is how it was in those days. We could say that Calvin had to maintain strict standards; the stakes were too high, there could not be cracks in the team that was fighting for the biblical gospel against a corrupt church.

The problem was that while Calvin held very strongly to some parts of scripture, there were other parts that he ignored or rationalised away. What about Jesus saying we are to love our enemies? What about Jesus’ refusal to use violence? What about what Jesus taught and modelled regarding forgiveness?

When we look at John Calvin, do we see some things that are just the opposite of Jesus?

I have had great respect for John Calvin. I used to be the minister of a church named after him! He stood up for what the Bible teaches against a formidable enemy in a corrupt church. That remains true, but in other ways, his witness was very un-Christ-like. Some people will dismiss Calvin completely because his behaviour doesn’t match his words. There is a credibility gap.

Third example: I had various conversations about Evangelical Christians in the United States of America, some of whom who align themselves devotedly to the Republican Party and the current President. The reality is: A lot of people do not see Jesus in that. They do not see compassion. They do not see humility. They do not see love or forgiveness. They see a lust for power and control. They see hatred of some segments of society. They see arrogance and harshness.

They are not seeing Jesus. Even if some of what the Republican Party and the more right wing of the church stands for is good, there is a credibility gap. These repeated examples troubled me.

There are pressures on us too. We live in an age of outrage. The algorithms tell us that those who disagree with us are our enemies, and it is OK to be nasty because we are standing up for the truth. And yet Jesus wasn’t nasty. What would Jesus do? Love your enemies. Turn the other cheek. Serve.

There is an irony here, isn’t there? Here I am criticising people. Am I equally un-Christ-like? We have to ask ourselves that all of the time. “Am I behaving the way Jesus would? How would Jesus respond?”

I have spent a lot of my ministry involved in the sexuality controversy in the Presbyterian Church. How Christ-like have I been? How compassionate have I been? How forgiving? How well have I listened to others? How have I treated the people I disagree with? Have people seen Jesus in me?

Around the time of the January 6 Capitol invasion in 2021, I had a conversation with someone about President Trump. At one point I said, “But look at the way he acts. Look at his record of immorality. Look at the arrogant way he talks about himself. Look at the way he talks about others, insulting and mocking. None of that seems very Christ-like to me.”

Her response was, ‘Oh, so we are comparing him to Jesus now are we?”

Actually, yes. If he claims to be a Christian, the expectation is that he reflects Jesus. Even if he doesn’t claim to be a Christian, if we want to understand goodness, we look at Jesus.

God’s plan is that His people look like Jesus. Jesus said His followers will become like Him.

Romans 8:29   For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son,..

Luke 6:40        The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.

1 John 2:6       Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

Let’s look at the other side of this coin.

Stephen was one of Jesus’ earliest followers, one of the men chosen in the early church to distribute food to the widows. As we read, please interrupt when you spot something that is exactly like Jesus.

Read Acts 6:8-15

Stephen was asked to answer the charges against him. He recounted Israel’s history – God’s goodness and provision but the nation’s disobedience. He accused the leaders of being exactly like their disobedient ancestors, to the point of now having killed the Messiah.

Read Acts 7:54-60

6:8 – full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people

6:9 – faced opposition from the Jews – just like Jesus

6:10 – they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke

6:11 – accused of blasphemy – just like Jesus

6:12 – on trial

6:13-14 – falsely accused of speaking against the Temple and the law

6:15 – they saw the face of an angel. It doesn’t say he looked like Jesus, but they saw something supernatural

7:54 – outrage from the Sanhedrin

7:59 – no backlash or reprisals; no hatred

         Lord Jesus, receive my spirit cf “Into your hands I commit my spirit”

         Prayed ‘Lord, do not hold this against them”

Stephen was facing false accusations, his life was in peril and, at the end, he was being pounded by the rocks thrown by his accusers. Pressure reveals who we really are. Under pressure, what was Stephen like? He was like Jesus. We can be like Stephen.

A few chapters earlier, in Acts 4, Peter and John were on trial They answered graciously but firmly. “The lame man in the Temple was healed by Jesus, whom you crucified but God raised from the dead. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”

Acts 4:13 says, “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realised that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” Peter and John had been transformed from uneducated Galilean fisherman to men who were courageous, wise, knowledgeable, and gracious. What conclusion did the leaders come to? They had clearly been with Jesus. They saw Jesus in them. Jesus had rubbed off on them. They saw Christ-likeness.

We recognise the credibility gap that exists when people’s actions undermine their claims. None of us want to be those people. We want our lives to reveal what Jesus is really like – the real Jesus. We want people to see Jesus in us. Gentleness, servant-heartedness, compassion, forgiveness, led by the Spirit…

Like the disciples, let’s spend time with Jesus, open to the Holy Spirit. We don’t have to try hard. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to grow us. We just have to cooperate; be open to Him.

Last week, Gareth talked about making disciples, not just converts. What is the difference? My definition: a disciple is a student of Jesus, learning from Him how to be like Him in thought, character and action.

Two weeks ago, Graham talked about the damage done by joyless Christians. People who talk about good news, but have long faces. There is a credibility gap.

Three weeks ago, Paul asked, ‘When people look at you, what do they see in you?”

May people see Jesus in us, just as they saw Jesus in Stephen. By the grace of God, may we be like Jesus.

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