EM Worship Service (8/26/18)

[Summary]
Sermon Passage: Colossians 2:13-15 
When we look at this passage, we can feel various kinds of emotions and we might be able to see the amazing grace of God as well as the sacrifice of Jesus. But what we often do not see is the genius of the writer, namely, Paul. Paul was an educated man and he was very intentional with his words. so to see what he really intended, we need to study his grammar and syntax. 
The passage starts with the direct object of the main verb "to make alive with". And the direct object is in an unusually place for emphasis. Paul, before he proclaims the amazing work of God through Christ, reminds us that we were wholly, entirely dead. We were dead in our trespass and also our uncircumcision of the flesh. Then, Paul explains what God did. He makes sure we know that God is the doer. God is the subject of all the verbs we find in this passage. God is the initiator of our salvation. It's solely because he chose to save that we are saved. He loved us first. And Paul, then, reminds us that God did his working through his son Jesus Christ. And what Christ did, Paul explains in verses 10-12 before our passage. and we can clearly see that Paul is drawing our attention to the direct object of the verbs that we mentioned already. YOU. You are the object of God's love, grace and mercy. You are the reason Christ died, was buried and was risen again. And so you are made alive with Christ. It's all God's doing. It's all through Christ. But you are the object of all his grace, love, mercy. We just sit here and receive. How amazing is his love.