Babes in Christ I Cor. 3:1 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

Paul wrote to the Corinthians and called them babes in Christ. That is derogatory because they couldn’t tolerate meat – he had to still feed them with milk when they should have been grown enough to handle meat.  The truth is that babes in Christ do need milk because they are babes. The characteristics of babes in Christ are:

They cannot feed themselves – 1 Cor 3:2 “I have fed you with milk”

They think they know more than they really know – 1Cor 3:18, 1 Cor 8:2 “he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know”

They need someone to clean them up – 1 Cor 1-16 – Paul wrote this first epistle to straighten out many messes in Corinth – divisions – fornication – lawsuits – marriage – idols – ministers – men and women under Christ – Lord’s supper – members of the body – charity – tongues – resurrection – and so forth.

They make silly mistakes – Peter fell in the water and denied Christ – James and John wanted to call down fire, wanted the thrones on either side of Christ’s throne, slept in Gethsemane – the disciples fled – but look how they turned out – Mark defected but then he was profitable to Paul.

They are easily tossed to and fro – Eph 4:14 – they are tossed by winds of doctrine.

They don’t think long-term – 1 Cor 3:11-15 – they don’t consider the judgment seat of Christ – one preacher said that you won’t know how the “kid” turns out until he is 40 years old – we should grow up to be oaks – but some never grow up.

Conclusion: If you are saved, you need to grow up to be an oak, not a scrub oak and so you have to put away childish things and if you are lost you need to be saved so that you can become a babe in Christ.