Eph 1:1+2 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are also faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We continue, this morning, with our consideration of the grace of God as given freely and wholly unto the church, the full creation of God in His wisdom. As we stated last time, as the entirety of creation watches the true church becoming the pure and spotless bride of Christ, it is witnessing the dynamic and omniscient power of God’s grace and wisdom in action. To understand a bit of the depth of the tremendous work of God’s grace seen in His wisdom, we have dealt with many scriptural contexts of the great distinction between relying on the wisdom of God and the so limited wisdom of man. Our desire is to gain a greater comprehension in the innermost part of our beings as to the Grace of God’s wisdom expressed in our lives. We ended last time in consideration of the Apostle Paul’s Letter to the Church at Corinth.
Let us read, then, 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 But I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as men of the flesh, as babes in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not ready for it; and even yet you are not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving like ordinary men? For when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apol'los," are you not merely men? What then is Apol'los? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apol'los watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are equal, and each shall receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. 
There are some very important truths in these verses that need to become solid, foundational reality within the church. Primary is the fact that God’s wisdom has been established and needs to be honored by all the members of Christ’s Body. All the members of the church, individually and corporately need to grow up in the ways of the Lord. We see this in the opening aspects of the Corinthian passage. It is a vital part of the church’s development, to set aside all the petty and mundane worldly characteristics of this age, and to find everything centered in Jesus Christ, our Head. In that regard, the Holy Spirit works, and works most effectively to establish the members of the church in a solid trust in God as everything. This means the complete and absolute reliance upon Him to provide everything necessary for the church to be the true and faithful bride of Christ. It is no coincidence that the greatest growth into the truth of God’s sovereignty is developed under the harshest and most vicious persecutions targeted at those who call upon the name of Jesus Christ. It is in that time of earthly turmoil and strife that the church blossoms with an unhindered, trusting, and thankful heart unto God. 
This growth is not limited just to the corporate church. As James writes in Chapter 1:2-5 Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him. 
As is true in our own lives, we turn most fervently and trustingly to the Lord when we are in those times of the absolute need for God’s intervention. We often wait until we are at the end of all our efforts, resources, abilities, and determination. It is then that we call out to the Lord for His divine intervention, and wisdom in our strife, and He always lovingly, completely, and powerfully proves Himself, over and over again. As we grow in the Lord, we become reliant, utterly, and completely reliant upon Him at all times in all things. That is by His loving grace and wisdom at work in us, day after day after day.
This is part of the aspect of His wisdom in grace that brings forth the growth of the members of His Church unto the maturity as men and women of God. There is a continuing and on-going development that must become part of the church which is only put into place through the perfect work of God. Let us return to the manner in which the Apostle Paul describes it. I planted, Apol'los watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The true growth of the spiritual body is not dependant upon the words and actions of its ministers. It is fully dependent upon the work of God. That work is manifested in ministers and teachers who are hungry after the things of God in order to bring that spiritual food of God to nourish the body. That activity is not by the minister, but by God. He is the One who gives the growth. 
It is as we grow up, together into the head, Our Lord Jesus Christ, that we become rock solid in our foundation that is built upon Him. It is as we learn to more and more rely upon the wisdom of God and not our own understanding that we will be brought into a greater maturity in Christ. Eph 4:15+16 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love. Yes, we thank the Lord for those ministers and teachers who were and are the instruments through whom the things of God are brought to our attention and discernment. That is right and proper. 
But, much more we need to thank the Lord for the manner in which He works to establish His life in the Church. We must thank Him for the ways in which His wisdom reveals the truth of scripture into our hearts and lives. There is a tremendous difference in an instrument and the One who effectively, efficiently, and perfectly uses that instrument to bring forth the proper work of grace and peace within the Church.
Consider the fact that a plow is simply an instrument. It can do nothing of itself. If left completely alone, it will simply sit and rust away in decay. But, when that plow is put to use by the farmer, it slices through all the hardness of the ground and opens up fertile land to be planted and tended and harvested. By itself, an instrument is worthless, can do nothing. But, when it is put to use by the Lord, it becomes an implement for goodness and righteousness. It is the Grace of the Lord God Almighty who causes all things to be the instrument of His glory as we are told in Rom 8:28-30 We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified. Notice throughout, it is God who does the work, it is God who makes everything work together for good, it is God Who calls us, it is God Who conforms us to the image of His Son, it is God Who justifies us and it is God Who glorifies us.  I planted, Apol'los watered, but God gave the growth… you are God's field, God's building.
The value of what an apostle, a minister, a preacher, or a teacher of the Word shares is only found as the Holy Spirit validates it with power and with continuing growth into Jesus Christ. We must never base our beliefs only upon that which we hear, but upon that which we take before the Holy Spirit to validate, to water, and to develop. As we hear a message being shared, let us always seek the Holy Spirit to register in our hearts the truth of the message, as it is fully in line with God’s Word. True ministry is simply service unto the Lord and unto the flock in seeking the Lord to bring forth His truth of Jesus Christ. That truth must be fully, deeply, and consistently expressed in scripture, a living force of spiritual growth in the church by the work of God. Any part of the church that is based upon the work, the eloquence, or the magnetism of a man or woman will never reach full maturity. It is the Lord Who gives the growth, not man. It is God’s grace alone that works to establish His wisdom within the body of believers. 
The Apostle Paul follows through with this certainty by stating He who plants and he who waters are equal, and each shall receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. It is the Grace of God that supplies those who are earnestly seeking to give forth that alone which is life and truth in accordance with the Word and the guidance and wisdom of the Holy Spirit. 
There is a great promise held within this chapter that is then brought forth in the continuation of verses 18-23 Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their craftiness," and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile." So let no one boast of men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apol'los or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours; and you are Christ's; and Christ is God's. This is the possessive, we belong to Christ and He belongs to God. Oh the joy that should well up within our beings as we truly seek after the Lord to establish this certainty in our hearts and lives as His Church. 
In line with the fact that we are God’s building of Grace and Wisdom, let us look at the three manners in which the growth into Christ is described in most practical terms within the final chapters of Ephesians. We begin with the accuracy of the description of Christ and His Bride as stated in Eph 5:24-33 As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church; however, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. 
We have heard, at almost every wedding ceremony centered in Christ, this passage used to encourage the new bride and groom in the life that they are establishing in the vows of their marriage. It is right and proper to do so, but there is much more in this than simply trying to live together in harmony. Many couples consider the height of their married experience as evident in the fact that they were able to work together in relative harmony, with limited discord, and with mutual interests. But marriage has far greater and much higher nobility than just longevity. Our earthly marriage is a type of the marriage of Christ and the Church. Those who are partakers of this earthly marriage should know that our marriages are being viewed by all of creation as the nature of God’s love established in the church through Jesus Christ. That is why the Apostle Paul so forcefully proclaims this in Ephesians 5. Christian marriages are to be reflective of the heart of love that God has for us and we for God. 
In nowise am I stating that earthly marriage is perfect, but it does represent, to some unfathomable degree, the perfect union of God’s Beloved. Our marriages do share the relationship of Christ and His church. As our husband, He laid down His life for us, His Bride. And we, the Church, the Bride, must lay down our lives for Him, our Husband. That is the mystery of the creation of the Beloved of God that is evidenced in the Church.
Because we are presenting the heart of God to this creation in our marriage vows and lives, we must very carefully guard our hearts and thoughts and desires from becoming polluted by the filth of this age. This world is doing everything it can to attack and to demolish marriage. It has even labeled it as an institution, making it something that can be cracked asunder and violated, as with any human institution. It is seen as a pact between two people who can choose to go their separate ways when that pact no longer seems to serve its purpose. That is not God’s view of marriage. In Christ, marriage is a new life. Two become one new person with their hearts set upon the Lord as the every force and focus of the new life that they live. Just as we have a new life in Christ, so the same is the type of a true marriage before the Lord.
That new life has an eternal purpose that extends far beyond us, even as husband and wife. There is the testimony of the Lord that is seen by our children. We need to be established in the Lord for their sake. Our lives need to be so filled with the grace and the wisdom of God in our every dealing with each other and with our children, that they will desire to know the One by Whom we live, Jesus Christ. We want them to be able to endure all that life throws at them in the strength and the protection and the wisdom of the Lord. 
Eph 6:1-9 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother" (this is the first commandment with a promise), "that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth."  Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. 
That is why the church is evident in true marriage and in parenting, why marriage and family are so precious in the eyes of God. The church is seen in the type of the family unit. As we have already seen, it is the new life of a husband and wife, representing our new life in Christ as His Church. It is also in evidence in the parent child relationship of love, the most practical love, that establishes the heart of the parent into the child and on and on for generation after generation. That is the type of the mystery and why the church is a living family in the household of God. This is the basis of all relationships created in the union of love and with the purpose of utmost praise unto Our Lord Jesus Christ. 
Also note that, as children, we are to honor our fathers and mothers. There should be an attitude from within us that speaks forth the thanksgiving unto God for the parentage that He has ordained for us. Sure they make mistakes, but they are specifically chosen to be our parents by the Omniscient Lord of All Creation. Just as we are a gift to them, they are a gift of God’s love to us. And please note something that is crucial to our interactions with each other – parents and children. There is no age limit to this relationship. The common law of today is 18 years old and that’s it. Not with God. Forever we will be their children and they will be our parents. The honor in our hearts for mother and father is eternal, just as being the example of Christ’s love in our parenting never ends.
As well, it is vitally urgent, that as our children step forth from our homes, they know, they have learned, they have seen the testimony of lives dedicated utterly to the Lord in the parentage that God has given them. It is as they have witnessed the complete marriage of father and mother into one in Christ that they are taught to know the truth of marriage. They will see it, not as so falsely presented by this world, but as the true type of Christ and His Church. That is when the charge of Deut 6:5-7 is fulfilled and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 
This is the witness, the testimony that our children should see in our homes. Sure, we make mistakes, we are not perfect parents. Only our Heavenly Father is perfect in all the manners in which He deals with us. But, we can rely on Him to show forth His way and His love in the homes that we have dedicated unto Him. We can trust Him to bring forth the truth of Prov 22:6 as the heart with which we lovingly deal with our children. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. This is the heart of a Christian parent. It is the heart that knows that the Lord is in charge of our sons and daughters as they step forth and become godly parents themselves unto our grandchildren and great grandchildren, generation after generation. It is a family with God as its single-hearted and most cherished heritage.
As well, the Apostle Paul shows us the manner in which we are to be seen by those in authority over us and those who witness our walk as they work with us. While the following segment dealt with the slaves of the Israelites, Romans and Greeks, it still contains the most important truth of being the witness to Christ, no matter where we are stationed, at work, at school, at play, wherever we are found. Slaves, be obedient to those who are your earthly masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as to Christ; not in the way of eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever good any one does, he will receive the same again from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. Masters, do the same to them, and forbear threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him. 
The most key aspect of this passage is that we are to be doing everything as unto the Lord. No matter what it is, we are servants unto the Most High God and that should be witnessed in our actions and reactions. There is no other course for our lives than that we live unto God Alone. Our every interaction with anyone, especially including family and fellow believers, needs to be from that heart that knows the grace and the wisdom of God, Who so loved us that He called us unto Himself. Our lives are no longer our own. As His Bride, we have laid them down unto Him. We belong to Jesus Christ and our daily witness should be completely in line with that fact. 
This should be absolutely prevalent in our dealings with one another. There is no excuse for not being the witness of Our Lord Jesus Christ, especially with other Christians. Listen as Paul addresses a beloved brother in a desire to dissuade him from punishing a run away slave who is also a Christian. Philemon 7-9 For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you - I, Paul, an ambassador and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus – For love’s sake, I appeal to you. This is done with a heart of love for both of the members of the Church. It is an appeal to treat each other in love, not is retribution, or in revenge, or in self justification. Let the love of Christ guide us in all our actions and reactions to one another.
We end, this morning with the manner in which we are to triumph in each of these three relationships. The Lord did not just give us a charge with nothing to help us through. He tells us exactly how we are to become spouses, parents, children, bosses, fellow workers and fellow saints, one with each other in Him. He expresses the manner in which we live that shows forth His mighty power of grace and wisdom. Eph 6:10-18 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints …
	Note that the key of our lives and relationships is not centered in our power to do anything. It is all centered in the Lord. We are called to stand, to withstand, and to stand girded and shielded in Christ. We are not called to march forth to challenge and to avenge. We are told to be strong in the Lord, shielded with His Word. We are covered by His protective armor of righteousness and faith. We stand strong in Him and count on Him to be everything. We rely on Him. We trust Him. He is our confidence. The shield of His faith deflects all the fiery darts of this world’s accusations, suspicions, doubts, worries, and insecurities. Stand strong, men and women of faith, girded in the whole armor of the Lord God Almighty. It is His grace, evidenced in His wisdom and strength that cements our perfect, eternal establishment as His Church, His Bride, His Beloved, to the Glory of His Wonderful Name. May God, Our Savior and Life, be praised and honored in His church forever and forever for all He has done in Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are also faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

Our benediction is 2 Thess 2:15-17 So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. Amen