Passage: 1 Corinthians 3:18-23

The Big Idea

There are two towers built on two different foundations. The wisdom of the world is built on pride and self-sufficiency. The wisdom of God is built on humility and faith. They’ll never agree, and we can’t live in both. In Christ, all things are already ours, because we are united with Him. So stop striving for what you already have, and take refuge in His strong tower.

The Worldly Mind Can’t Make Sense of Grace

Our new identity in Christ doesn’t make sense to the worldly mind.

We just learned that we are God’s temple, and holy, by grace.
But we don’t always look holy or feel holy. So if we rely on our own reasoning, we’ll conclude that we aren’t holy, and that’s what we’ll believe about ourselves.
“I’m struggling with this sin or temptation, so that must be my identity.” I’m a sinner. I’m an alcoholic. I’m an addict. I’m ______ (fill in the blank with whatever you believe is just who you are).
Maybe it’s because of past trauma, repeated failures, or deep, secret desires that never seem to go away.
All that evidence tells my mind I’ve got a problem that needs fixing. And since God doesn’t seem willing or able to fix it, I’d better fix it myself, or I’ll never be free.
Or we give up on the idea of sin and holiness altogether. We call wrong right, invent our own morality, and decide that anyone who holds to God’s standards is the real problem.

That’s the wisdom of this world. It’s the natural way our minds work. It makes sense. But God’s wisdom is completely different. Contrary. Offensive to the natural mind. Foolish, as far as the world is concerned (1 Corinthians 1:18-25).

In one corner stands the world: all the wisdom, philosophy and answers people can come up with. In the other corner, the wisdom of God: the gospel of Jesus Christ. They’ll never agree. They’ll never make peace. We can’t have both.

We have to choose one or the other. And which one we choose will be the path of life or death, blessing or curse, joy or frustration.

Let’s put on our grace glasses and see how things really are.

The Text (1 Corinthians 3:18-20)

Don’t deceive yourselves. If anyone among you thinks he’s wise by this age’s standards, he should become a “fool” so he can become truly wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As Scripture says, He catches the wise in their own craftiness (Job 5:13), and the Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile (Psalm 94:11).

These two worldviews are as different as day and night. They’re like two towers built on different foundations.
The wisdom of the world is built on pride and self-sufficiency.
The wisdom of God is built on humility and faith in God.
Paul says the first is a deception. It’s foolishness in God’s sight. It’s crafty but wrong. It’s futile, weak and pointless.
Our thinking needs to be transformed, so we don’t fall for the deception (Romans 12:2).

Trust Instead of Lean

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Don’t be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil (Proverbs 3:5-7).

At every moment, we’re trusting either God or ourselves.
Test any thought. Test every thought. It belongs to one of the two towers.
This passage shows us what faith in God looks like: trusting God instead of ourselves.
“I think I need this, but I’m going to seek Your will instead. I’m going to walk Your path first. I’m going to honor You with my actions and thoughts.”
God promises to take care of you when you choose to trust Him.

Grace to the Humble

God gives more grace. That’s why Scripture says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).

God takes care of us by giving something called grace: His help, His power, His life, His joy and blessings, all given to us in a very real way.
We see the two towers here: humility versus pride. Depending on God versus depending on self.
Satan always pushes the lie that you need to listen to yourself and trust yourself. That’s his whole strategy. It’s designed to isolate you from the God who loves you and wants to supply your life as you depend on Him.

Grace is God’s wisdom. Self is man’s wisdom.

Grace is God’s life. Self is man’s sad attempt at life.

Don’t Boast in Men (1 Corinthians 3:21-23)

So let no one boast in people. For all things are yours: whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, the world or life or death, the present or the future, all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

Let no one boast in men. Man’s way, man’s philosophy, life in man’s tower. Don’t trust it. Don’t put your faith in it. It’s all a sad, scary deception.

Paul is telling his church family to stop looking to people, even people in the church, and to fix their eyes on Jesus alone. Everything they need is in Jesus.

He is the fullness of life. He is the life. There’s no life apart from Him. He breathed the breath of life into us, not so we could live independently from Him, but so we could live through Him and with Him.

“All things are yours”

What does that mean? This is everything included in the grace we’ve been given. All things.

Everything we could possibly need. Everything we could possibly need to become. Everything we could ever be called to be. Everything we could want or long for. It’s all given in Christ. All free.

So why do we keep striving for things we think we still need? We should rest in what we have. Rest is His grace. Rest from the self-life, and enjoy His grace-life.

Because of our union with Jesus, we have access to every spiritual blessing. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).

Every spiritual blessing includes wisdom, life, even victory over death. Paul is teaching us that our identity and worth aren’t tied to anything people can see, obtain or deliver. They’re found in a relationship with Christ.

“You are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s”

This describes our relationship with Jesus. We’re one with Him, just as He’s one with His Father. Jesus said that on that day, we would know that He is in His Father, and we are in Him, and He is in us (John 14:20).

Union with Christ

We call this union: united closeness. It’s the most important thing you can ever learn about the gospel. The highest treasure of wisdom.

Union with Christ is the truth most central to the Christian faith.

When we believe in Jesus, we’re spiritually united with Him. This isn’t just a metaphor. It’s a real spiritual reality. What happened to Him happened to you, and the other way around. He shares His life with you.
Paul describes it as being “one spirit with Him” (1 Corinthians 6:17).
This union means we’re inseparably connected to Christ, sharing in His life, death and resurrection.

Through this union, we’re given a new identity.

Our old self was crucified with Christ, and we’re raised to new life in Him (Romans 6:5-6).
We’re no longer defined by our past sins or failures, but by the righteousness of Christ. We’re new creations with a new heart and spirit (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ezekiel 36:26).

Being united with Christ means we’re seated with Him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6).

This spiritual position assures us of our closeness to God and our secure relationship with Him.
We aren’t striving to get closer to God. We’re already as close as we can possibly be, because of our union with Christ. So rest in it. Enjoy it. Believe it. You have to believe it.

This union empowers us to live the Christian life.

The Holy Spirit lives in us, guiding and empowering us to express the fruit of the Spirit every day (Galatians 5:22-23).
We aren’t left to our own devices. Christ in us continually supports and inspires us.

In summary: union with Christ is the foundation of our identity and life as believers. It assures us of complete forgiveness, a new identity, and an intimate relationship with God. It’s a gift of grace that transforms how we live and relate to God and others.

That’s His tower: the wisdom of God that we can choose to believe, follow and hide ourselves in. He has been a shelter for me, a strong tower against the enemy (Psalm 61:3).

Cracked Cisterns or a Fruitful Tree

God says His people committed two evils: they abandoned Him, the fountain of living water, and dug their own cracked cisterns that can’t hold water (Jeremiah 2:12-13).

And through Jeremiah He describes the two towers in another picture. Cursed is the one who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He’ll be like a shrub in the desert, living in a parched, salty land, never seeing good come. But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He’ll be like a tree planted by the water, sending out its roots by the stream. It doesn’t fear when the heat comes; its leaves stay green, and it never stops bearing fruit (Jeremiah 17:5-8).

Grace Takeaway

Every thought you have lives in one of two towers: pride and self-reliance, or humility and faith. Choose His tower. In Christ, all things are already yours. Stop striving, rest in your union with Him, and let Him be your strong tower.

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The Two Towers