iPhone Remote App + AirPort Express with AirTunes = Awesome

I just setup the Apple AirPort Express with AirTunes(802.11G version). Combined with the Apple Remote application on the iPhone this is very, very, very cool.

Now, from anywhere in the house, you can control the iTunes library stored on your computer from the iPhone and stream the music to your home stereo system. The Remote application can even control which set of speakers to send the music to- the computer speakers or the AirTunes one.

No more being limited to the music on the iPhone. Ours is 8Gb.
No more having to plug the iPhone into speakers, especially since this one has the recessed headphone jack.
No more having to control the iPhone/iPod by walking up to it since it's hardwired to the speakers.

Now if only the Remote application could control the iTunes library and stream your music to the iPhone.

Anyways, setting up the AirPort Express with Windows wasn't exactly straightfoward. I had to muck with the PC's network settings, then set them back.

Otherwise, this is awesome. My wife was duly impressed but in the next breath said, "What about FM radio reception?" Guess I'm going to go buy an AM/FM antenna tomorrow. At least I can listen to the Giants then.

iPhone OS 2.0

iPhone OS 2.0 was unofficially available yesterday, but not yet officially available via iTunes. So I d/l'ed it and try to install it on G's iPhone. I already installed the required iTunes 7.7 a few days earlier.

July 10, Thursday night-
The iPhone OS 2.0 download was ~250 Mb! Wow.
Plug-in iPhone to computer, hold down Shift key and click the "Update" button to choose the v2.0 bundle. Otherwise, iTunes would just report that the iPhone is up to date.

iTunes backed up the iPhone before it began installing the new OS. This is a good thing.

Installing the OS is fairly painless, but loading the data from the back-up hung halfway through. iTunes would show that the iPhone is being synced, but the iPhone would pop-out of the "syncing" screen to normal mode. "Hmm wonder if something is wrong, or if it's just taking a long time?"

After a few iterations of this stop and starting this cycle (stop/re-install/restore) I decided to let it run through the night thinking it's not hung, but just taking a long time.

July 11 morning-
Nope. It's stuck where it was at when I went to bed.

Ok, let's do it again. Now (!), v2.0 shows up as official update via iTunes. It downloads the 250Mb bundle - again. I have cheap AT&T DSL so this takes a while. =/ But wait, this time it asks me to accept the license agreement. I take this as a good sign, something is going right now.

Alrighty, v2.0 OS is installed and we're good to go! The iPhone is now basically completely wiped aside from the new OS install. Next, iTunes will automatically re-activate the phone. But... Apple's iTunes iPhone activation servers are down because of the huge crush of people activating the new 3G ones in-store not only all across the country, but around the world.

By the now, G's got to leave the house to take the kids to VBS, and I should be getting to work. I give her my phone to use while I finish this up. (haha, yeah right) Being an engineer, I do the "let me try just one more thing..." which I hope will take just 15 minutes, but this is like hitting the snooze button again... "just 15 minutes" becomes a number of hours.

ITunes finally gets through to the servers and begins to restore the phone. After many trials of restoring, I know this takes forever. Is it my computer? Is it the USB cable? And why does it need to ping the iTunes servers before the restore starts?! I think it is to check whether the OS version is up to date.

I bust out my ThinkPad so I can get some real work done as I'm unintentionally unofficially working a 1/2 day from home now. Fortunately, work isn't super busy right now.

After what seems like a couple hours, the restore is finally done. But... all the music, pictures, videos etc., the bulk of the data, was not part of the restore. Now it has to sync all that stuff from the computer back to the iPhone. Aw man... so it's got to push nearly 7 Gb of stuff over. Rrrrrgh! But before if does that it backs-up the iPhone again. Better safe that sorry I suppose, but can't we do this later?

Sync is done, but the Apps I downloaded last night weren't synced. There are about 12 apps which are <= 1Mb each, but this takes about 1/2 hr to sync.

Finally it's all done. What should have taken about an hour or so took many hours. Oh well.

Galatians 2

Paul's defense of his apostleship and testimony continues in Galatians 2. Paul has been talking about the gospel that is from God and not from man and that he is a messenger from God, not from man, to present the gospel and that he is to please God, the sender of the message. So far Paul has not spelled it out how the gospel was being perverted in Galatia. In chapter 2, he gets down to it.

After fourteen years away from Jerusalem, Paul returns "because of a revelation" (2:2). It's not quite clear what this revelation was, but Paul earlier said that he received the gospel through a revelation of Jesus Christ. I would believe that the Spirit revealed to Paul that he should go to Jerusalem- a revelation of God not of man. This journey to Jerusalem is recorded in Acts 15.

So how was the gospel being perverted? In Acts 15:1-

1Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."

Paul and Barnabas were in Antioch at the time and Jews ("from Judea") came down an preached a false gospel. They turned a gospel of grace into a gospel of legalism and works- you had to do a specific work in order to be saved.

Acts 15 and Galatians 2 records the same story- one from the Luke's historical perspective, and other from Paul's personal perspective. Paul says he submitted to those "of reputation" the gospel which he preached among the Gentiles, for he feared that he might be running in vain. Paul went to Jerusalem, directed by the Spirit, to submit the gospel he had been preaching to the elders at the Jerusalem church for approval or endorsement.

Note in 2:1, Paul makes a point to mention that Titus, a Greek (2:3), went with him to Jerusalem and that not even he was persuaded to be circumcised. Paul mentions Titus thirteen times in his epistles and was one of his closest brothers.

Remember that the early church came out of Judaism. God commanded the Israelites to circumcise baby boys as a sign of the the covenant made with Abraham. (Genesis 17:10-14) Now, some Jews who had become Christian were teaching that one had to be circumcised to be saved. The gospel was now going out to the Gentiles so this was a sensitive issue, to say the least. Note what Paul says about these "false brothers" in 2:4-

4But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage.

Note the terms "secretly," "sneaked in," and "spy." This was an intentional covert operation to cast lies in the gospel. Remember these were Jews from Judea who travelled up to Antioch! Antioch is about 300 miles north of Jerusalem. Perhaps the Jews did not want the Gentiles to enter into the Kingdom.

How do we handle people who teach lies? Do not yield; not even for an hour! 2:5-

5But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In 2:7-10, we see that the Peter, James and John accepted Paul into their fellowship and saw that Paul had been redeemed by grace. In effect, Paul defends his apostleship by equating himself to Peter. Peter, an apostle, who brought the gospel to the Jews, the circumcised equated to Paul, an apostle, who brought the gospel to the Gentiles.

But even apostles sometimes err, and Paul calls out Peter(Cephas) here. Peter used to eat with the Gentiles, but when "certain men" sent by James came, he would distance himself from the Gentiles, "fearing the party of the circumcision." Paul calls out Peter for his hypocrisy. Jews were not to associate w/ Gentiles or they would be considered "unclean." (Acts 10:28) For Peter to eat with Gentiles, it was likely that he was eating non-kosher food. Yet, when those Jews were around he'd withdraw, probably avoiding eating with the Gentiles.

In Galatians 2:14-21 Paul quotes his rebuke of Peter. What is he saying here?

"If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?" (2:14)

14"If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jew?

Paul points out Peter's hypocrisy.

15"We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles

i.e. Jews follow the Law, whereas Gentiles (sinners) do not, but...

16nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.

Paul is saying, "Even though we are Jews and followed the Law(v15), we know that man is not justified by following the Law, rather man is justified by faith in Christ."

Paul actually repeats himself here to get the point across. Three times in the same verse he says that man is not justified by the works of the Law (highlighted in red) and three times he says that justification comes through faith in Christ (highlighted in green).

17"But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be!

Even though we are justified by faith in Christ (building upon v16), we still sin, but that doesn't make Christ a "minister of sin."

18"For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.

The works of the Law by the flesh is what has been destroyed and we should not go back to them (rebuild). If we do, then we are proved transgressors.

19"For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God.

We are dead in our sins in the Law. "So that"- We had to die in our sins to the Law so that we could be alive in Christ (because there is no life in the Law.)

20"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

We identify with Christ in his death on the cross, for He died for our sins. It is we who should be on that cross, yet He took our place. As Christ died on the cross, so did our life by the Law. In Christ's resurrection, we now live by faith because He rose from the dead and He now lives in us, the believer.

21"I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."

Living by the Law nullifies the grace of God; meaning- if we life by the Law, then God's grace is worthless to us because we have rejected grace for works. If we reject salvation, the Christ died needlessly. Suppose you bought a gift for your friend. But when you present the gift freely to your friend, he refuses it and insists on paying for the item himself. Paying for it himself requires his own money from his paycheck from his job. Now suppose this gift can not be purchased for one's self, but only purchased to be given away. This is what Christ did for us. Salvation is offered to us by grace. There's nothing we can do to earn it. Trying to attain salvation by works, in the case of the Jews this meant adhering to the Law, is futile. In Paul's time, the Jews tried to impose circumcision on the Gentiles. "Believe in Christ and be circumcised, then you are saved." Today, this legalism can be seen wherever we add things to the gospel- how many times have you done your daily devotions this past week? how much have you given in offering? are you "doing your part" at church? Notice that legalism usually amounts to something that is measurable.

Paul says we are dead to all that, for salvation in Christ is by grace. No more works by the flesh (spiritual dead), rather the life we live in the flesh (physical bodies) is by faith in Christ. Unfortunately, I can't say it any more eloquently that Paul said it himself in Galatians 2:20-

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

1 Timothy 4

Chapter 3 concluded with Paul's purpose for writing to Timothy and a six line presentation of the life of Jesus Christ-

14I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long;

15but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.

16By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness:
He who was revealed in the flesh,
Was vindicated in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Proclaimed among the nations,
Believed on in the world,
Taken up in glory.

It is key that Paul writes about the church being the pillar and support of the truth, for he continues to write in Chapter 4 about those who "fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons." Essentially, people will fall away by following false teachings.

Where are these false teachings coming from? v1-3 is a little hard to parse out in the NASB due to the long sentence. I will try to diagram it here:

1But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith,

paying attention

to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,

2by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,

3men who forbid marriage and

advocate abstaining from foods

which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth.

People will fall away from the faith because they are following false teaching from "deceitful spirits" and "demons." This sounds otherworldly where we may be thinking that this would never happen to us or in our church, or in a modern day church. People following the teachings of evil spirits and demons? Yet, in the very same breath, Paul puts these men teaching false doctrine and alongside the spirits and demons. Apparently some men were forbidding marriage, which is very odd since God instituted marriage in the very beginning with Adam and Eve!

The false teaching of abstaining from certain foods was a key issue in the early church. The Law had strict guidelines as to what the Israelites were allowed to eat and what not to eat. We see this today in our supermarkets where foods are labeled as kosher. In Acts we see the Gospel going out to the Gentiles and in Acts 9 and 10, God leads Peter through a series of incidences where He shows him the Gospel is now going out to the Gentiles. The most famous incident is in Acts 10:9-19 where Peter falls into a trance and sees a sheet filled with unclean animals descending from the sky. Unclean meaning non-kosher. The Lord commands Peter to kill and eat, but Peter resists, saying that he's never eaten anything unclean. But the Lord says, "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy." (Acts 10:15) Also see Galatians 2 where Paul mentions this in another context.

While these men weren't teaching something radical such as worshipping Satan, but the false teaching was a teaching of legalism. I won't get into it here, but Paul chastises the Galatians for turning away from a life of grace and liberty in Christ and returning to a life of bondage in the Law from which Christ set us free. This legalistic false teaching can very easily seep into our lives in the way we think and live out or Christian faith.

One thing to note about the false teaching is that it takes what is intended to be good into something a sin. In v3, Paul writes that food and marriage was created by God to be "gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth." Note the end of the verse- "by those who believe and know the truth." This is in direct contrast to the false teachers! Those who believe and know the truth get to enjoy marriage and food while those who believe in the lies are deprived of that enjoyment.

Paul here shows Timothy the strategy to address false teaching which is to point it back to God, the source of truth!

Continuing on, Paul tells Timothy that if he points out these things (the truth vs. the lies), then he "will be a good servant of Christ Jesus." And a good servant of Christ Jesus is "constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following." Timothy, as pastor of the Ephesian church, was to be a man of the Word and sound doctrine, teaching it to his flock.

Additionally, Timothy was to "discipline" himself "for the purpose of godliness... since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come." Paul emphasizes the importance of this statement by saying "It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance." (v9)

v10 Paul again presents the gospel in short form- "For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed out hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers."

1 Timothy 4:6-10 are crucial to having a Biblical understanding the life of a pastor and his and the churches goal. According to the Apostle Paul, a pastor is to be a man of God's Word, continually nourising himself on it. (4:6) He is not to have anything to do with "worldy fables" (4:7) The pastor himself is to "discipline" himself "for the purpose of godliness" because godliness holds promise for this life and for the life in heaven. (4:8) And why is the pastor to do all this? For he is to be an example to the believers.

Without 4:10, the preceding verses are just "a good thing" to do. In 4:8 and 10, Paul gives the whole reason for ministry! 4:10-

For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.

Yes, this is the gospel in short form as I mentioned earlier. But here, Paul is giving one of the main reasons for the church ministry- to discipline(train) believers for the purpose of godliness because it "holds promise" in this life and in the afterlife in heaven. Why? v10, because of our hope in God who saved us.

Paul is coming back to what he started with in Chapter 1. Recall 1 Timothy 1:5-

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith

He continues to urge Timothy through the rest of Chapter 4-

11Prescribe and teach these things.

12Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.

13Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.

14Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.

15Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.

16Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.

Paul focuses on what Timothy what must do - "Prescribe and teach these things." Timothy is to keep on prescribing and teaching the truth. Note Paul uses two words here "prescribe" and "teach." Another word for prescribe is command. The Greek word here is "paragello"-

Paraggello:

1. to transmit a message along from one to another, to declare, announce
2. to command, order, charge

In effect, Timothy was to prescribe the Word that people would "take the prescription" so to speak. Just as a doctor writing a prescription for the patient, the presumption is that the patient will take the medicine and take it according to the instructions. So Timothy was just not to teach the Word and people could take it or leave it, but he was to charge them with the Word.

In all Timothy did, he was to show himself an example to those who believe- in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity. (4:12)

He was to "give attention to"- (4:13)

• the public reading of Scripture
• to exhortation: "paraklesis"
  
• teaching

Going on, Paul instructs Timothy to not neglect the spiritual gift in him.

4:15 is very interesting- "Take pains with these things, be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all." These things Paul is instructing Timothy to do are not going to be easy things to do (take pains), yet he is to "be in them" (absorbed in them) to, again, be an example for others.

Finally 4:16, "Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you." Paul was warning against false teaching entering the church and causing believers to fall from the faith. After quickly showing Timothy how to fight lies with the truth from God, he instructs Timothy primarily in what he is to do as a pastor: Teach the Word and be focused on God's Word for himself for the purpose of godliness. Further Timothy, by being immersed in the Word, teaching the Word, nurturing his spiritual gift, being a godly man by example in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity will be an example to his flock and then will ensure the salvation both for himself and for those who hear him(v16).

Paul repeatedly urges Timothy to teach the Word:

v6 "In pointing out these things..."

v11 "Prescribe and teach these things...."

v13 "public reading of Scripture... teaching."

v16 "pay close attention ... to your teaching"

Paul also says twice that Timothy, the pastor, is an example to others...

v12 "show yourself and example..."

v15 "... so that your progress will be evident to all"

Paul's direct instruction to Timothy here is not telling Timothy how he should execute the ministry; i.e. "do this, do that, don't do this, don't do that." Rather Paul's focus is on Timothy, the pastor. The pastor need do only a few things. First is to continually teach the Word to the believers. Second is to be example to the believers of the Word which is alive and at work in him. This is how the gospel message is secured in each persons heart and will not be seduced by false teachings. Lastly note in v16 at the end, that in doing so, Timothy will ensure salvation "for those who hear you." Remember in v1, Paul said the Spirit revealed that in "later times some will fall away from the faith." In v16, Paul has just concluded instructing Timothy in the priorities of a pastor but how to keep people from falling away from the faith.