Introduction
"How many of us use AI?" Tim Cornford, one of the pastors at St Peter's, in the Campbelltown Anglican Churches, opens this evening message with a game: the whole congregation stands up, hands on heads for "real human," hands on tails for "generated image." Very quickly, no one can tell the difference anymore.
His conclusion is simple: "When you know the truth, it is very easy to spot what is false." But when you don't know it, you get fooled. So, as these technologies advance, how can the Church fight lies and promote the truth?
The pastor finds the answer in 2 John, one of the two shortest books of the Bible, which "packs a punch." Three means emerge from it: knowing the Word of God, loving one another, and not welcoming false teaching.
Outline of the Message
1. When You Can No Longer Tell True from False
- In the game, two images show a church member on a motorbike and with a bun hairstyle. Everyone knows they are fake: he doesn't ride that brand of motorbike, and those who know him know he would never style his hair that way. You spot the fake because you know the real thing.
- The preacher cites a case reported by CNN: in Hong Kong, a finance department employee was trapped by fraudsters who, using AI, posed as his colleagues and his superiors during a video conference. He transferred 39 million dollars.
- This technology allows almost anyone to fabricate elaborate lies or half-truths. Tim Cornford believes it can serve the purposes of Satan, "the father of lies" (John 8:44).
- The first means, already seen in 1 John 2:14: the young men have overcome the evil one because the word of God abides in them. "When you know the Word of God, you can smell from a mile away what isn't true." Study the Word, study sound doctrine, know your Bible.
2. The Elder, the Chosen Lady, and Love in the Truth
- The letter comes from "the elder," with no other name. The readers probably knew who it was, just as a congregation would know at once who was writing if it received a letter from "the archbishop."
- "The chosen lady and her children" could refer to a real family. But the impersonal tone and the commandment of verse 5 lead most readers, and the preacher with them, toward a Church and its members. "You don't have to agree with me," he adds: the message about truth and love holds in both cases.
- John loves these believers "in truth." Yet truth is not first of all a thing but a person: "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).
- Being in the truth means being in Jesus: following him, being forgiven by him, obeying him, believing that he came in the flesh, that he died and rose again, and that salvation is granted through him.
- "Not only I, but also all those who know the truth": every disciple of Christ loves the other disciples. They may be annoying, may not see what you see or think what you think, but faith in Jesus unites us. It is even one of the signs that you are a Christian (1 John 2:10).
3. A Truth That Abides Forever
- Verse 2: we love one another because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever. Christ lives in us through the Holy Spirit, and this love never ends.
- Truth and love go together "like a horse and carriage." The pastor quotes John Stott: "The more we hold fast the truth, the more we love."
- He tells a story drawn from the Australian writer Tim Winton. When he was five years old, his father, a motorcycle policeman, was seriously injured in an accident. This strong, proud man could hardly move anymore.
- A stranger, hearing about the accident, came uninvited to offer his help. Every day, he came to lift him up, take him to the toilet, wash him and care for him. He was a quiet Christian, a man who knew Jesus.
- Over time, through this otherwise inexplicable sacrificial love, both of Tim Winton's parents saw the truth of the Son of God nailed to the wood and gave their lives to Christ. What drove this stranger? One single word: Jesus, the truth.
4. Walking in Truth, Walking in Love
- Verse 4: "I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth." Walking in truth means living with Jesus as Lord, obeying his commandments, loving God and loving others.
- It is a walk: continuous, slow, careful. It does not chase after new ideas about Jesus or about doctrine. It rejoices in the fundamental truths of the faith and hungers for the Bible.
- This fills the elder with joy. Leaders of children, of young people, of house groups, parents, pastors: "Nothing gives us more joy than to see those we walk alongside growing in love of Christ, maturing in faith, walking in truth."
- Verses 5 and 6: this is not a new commandment, let us love one another. And John makes clear that love consists in walking according to the commandments. 2 John is like a summary of 1 John: there he said "walk in the light," here "walk in truth" and "walk in love."
- "Wouldn't it be beautiful if people said of you: this is someone who walks in love?" Truth and love do not go without each other.
- The pastor asks the question: which way do you lean? Solid doctrine and the Word, or compassion and kindness? You need both, of course, but we all lean to one side, "like a drunk farmer on his donkey." It is better to know your natural slope so you can correct the balance.
5. "Because": Love Protects From Deception
- For Tim Cornford, the most important word in the letter is in verse 7: "for." Love one another, for many deceivers, who do not confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, have gone out into the world.
- Christian love therefore protects from deception. Since it is commanded, it is not first of all an emotion: it is obedience, a deliberate orientation of mind and heart toward the good of the other, founded on the truth shared in Christ.
- The pastor says he loves John Piper, whom he has never met and with whom he doesn't agree on everything, because this man loves God, Christ and his Word. This should not seem strange: it is the language of the Bible.
- "Christian love is not soft." It is a soldier who stands next to another and fights through prayer and through the Word in the other's life. We will not let anyone be torn away by sin or by error, and we will not let any newcomer be ignored: "That's not our DNA."
- How do we treat the 16-year-old at youth group, the 66-year-old at the 8 o'clock service, the 6-year-old child or the 36-year-old adult? Will we talk about Christ and his Church, or only about the Knights and the Roosters? "There is nothing wrong with talking about the Knights and the Roosters," but let us do what is best for how we treat one another, talk to one another and commit to one another.
- "Isolation is the soil where deception grows." Don't isolate yourself from the Church and don't let anyone isolate themselves. He draws on John Piper again: shared life in Christian love is a great protection against deception.
6. Watch Out: Don't Welcome False Teaching
- Verse 8: "Watch yourselves, that you don't lose the things which we have accomplished, but that you receive a full reward." This reward is eternal life. What is at stake is eternal life, and also the members of the Church whom you love.
- Hence the reading of Deuteronomy 13, "nothing like a good Old Testament judgment passage to wake us up on a Sunday evening." The pastor is clear: this is not about killing anyone. We are not under that law: the wages of sin is death, and Christ paid the price in his body on the cross (Romans 6:23).
- This text shows the seriousness of false doctrines. If Deuteronomy 13 seems harsh to you, look at what is at stake: God is seeking to save his people from the eternal condemnation to which false gods lead.
- Verse 9: whoever goes on ahead and doesn't remain in the teaching of Christ doesn't have God. Jesus said it in John 15:6: whoever doesn't remain in him is thrown out as a branch and withers. "Fear God, yes, but see the reverse as well": whoever remains in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
- The word "teaching" comes up twice: good teaching matters. Verse 10: if anyone comes without bringing this teaching, don't receive him into your house, for whoever greets him participates in his evil works.
- False teaching can be blatant, like denying that Jesus came in the flesh. It can also be subtle: not remaining in what Christ taught. You can put "Christian" on the cover and a cross as a symbol without obeying Jesus or considering him Lord.
- The preacher makes it clear: this is about false teachers. A person of another religion or an atheist is welcome. Only someone who seeks to teach error or to lead others astray is not.
7. A Serious Joy
- However serious all this may seem, you need to know the author: John is full of love. "He is very serious, but he is not grumpy. He is seriously joyful."
- Verses 12 and 13: he would rather come and speak "face to face" than write with paper and ink, so that joy may be complete. You can hear him longing to see these believers, to talk with them, to pray with them, to laugh with them.
- Seeing some of them walk in truth already gave him joy. Seeing the whole Church do so would make that joy complete, filled to the brim.
- In conclusion, the pastor returns to the three calls: do not fear false doctrines, hold fast to the Word of God and to Christ our Savior; love one another so as to keep one another in the truth; reject false teaching, found "in every second YouTube video." And do it together, with a serious joy.
Key Takeaways
- You spot the fake when you know the real thing: knowing the Word of God is the first protection against lies.
- Truth is a person, Jesus. Those who are in him love one another because the truth abides in them forever.
- Walking in truth and walking in love go together; each person must know their natural slope in order to keep the balance.
- Love for one another is commanded, and it protects: isolation is the soil of deception.
- False teaching about Christ must not be welcomed in the Church, and this fight is carried out with a serious joy.
Personal Application
- Do you know the Word of God well enough to spot teaching that departs from it, even if it has a cross on the cover?
- Which way do you naturally lean: solid doctrine or compassion? What can you do this week to correct the balance?
- Is there someone in your church, young, older or new, who is isolating themselves? How can you stand beside them?
- What do you talk about with your brothers and sisters after the service: Christ and his Church, or only everything else?
- Is your seriousness about the truth marked by John's joy or by harshness?
Verses Cited
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is "the chosen lady" in 2 John?
It could be a real lady and her children, a small family or a house church. But given the impersonal tone of the letter and the commandment of verse 5, Tim Cornford, like most readers, sees in it a title for a Church, and in her children the members of that Church. He points out that the message about truth and love holds in both cases.
Why does love for one another protect from deception?
In verse 7, John ties the commandment to love one another to the presence of many deceivers. Christian love is not first of all an emotion: it is obedience, an attitude of the heart turned toward the other on the basis of the truth shared in Christ. For the preacher, isolation is the soil where deception grows; loving one another, talking with one another and seeking the truth together protects from error.
What does "do not receive him into your house" mean in 2 John 10?
John is targeting those who come to spread false teaching about Christ, for example by denying that he came in the flesh. Tim Cornford points out that this does not concern a person of another religion or an atheist, who remain welcome: only someone who seeks to teach error or to lead others astray is not welcomed.