What role does God have over believers who trust in the finished work of the cross?
For believers who trust in the finished work of the cross, God is their partner and overseer. He is over everything they say, think, and do, and He owns them by the redemption price of His shed blood. They are His workmanship, His husbandry, and God's building.
Les explains that Paul writes to the Corinthians so they not become discouraged. Though they are carnal and still babes in Christ, they labor with the Eternal Sovereign God. God wants to use every last one, whether weak and a babe, perhaps a little carnal, or further up the ladder and more spiritual than average. Paul says, "we're laborers together," and then, "you are God's husbandry. You are God's building." The possessive term is with God; He is the owner of everything, not just the cattle on a thousand hills. He owns every one of us by virtue of the redemption price of His shed blood. The preaching of the cross gets people into this position, and nothing else will do. So as believers in the finished work of the cross, God is our partner, God is our overseer, and He is the one over everything we say, think, and do. We are His workmanship, Ephesians says; we are His husbandry; we are God's building. Les then pauses the building aspect because verse 12 deals with building materials, and he wants to come into verse 10.