Ron Dunn Podcast - The Infant Christian

Episode Date: March 12, 2025

God will never detour around the growth process.

Now, I'd like for you to open your Bible to 1 Corinthians, the third chapter. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, and I'll read the first four verses. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 1 through 4. We're going to be reading several other passages in the course of our study tonight. We'll be reading out of Romans 14 and 15, out of 1 Corinthians 8, out of Ephesians chapter 4, and out of 1 John chapter 2. And so that will give you an idea of the ground that we want to cover, but we'll be looking into various passages tonight that relate to the central theme about which we're speaking. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, the first four verses.

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. For I have fed you with milk, and not with meat. For hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal. For whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For whilele Paul is identifying two kinds of church members, two kinds of Christians. Those that are spiritual, as we saw Sunday night, those that are spiritual, those who are mature, those who have grown in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, those that are spiritual, and then those that are carnal. And usually we divide the class of Christians into those two categories. You're either carnal or you're spiritual.

Sometimes it's hard to tell. But I think the significant thing, the important thing for us to understand tonight and what I want to deal with about in this session is that there are not just two kinds of Christians mentioned in this passage, but rather there are three kinds. The division is not simply spiritual and carnal, and by carnal we mean that person dominated by the flesh, living like a lost man.

Nothing good can be said about him. All he receives is a rebuke. But there is a third person mentioned, And the key to this is found in the two words carnal. Now, it doesn't come out in your King James Version, but in verse 1, the word translated carnal is different from the word translated carnal in verses 3 and 4. Two different Greek words altogether. Now you'll notice at first Paul is not rebuking these Corinthians.

He says, and I, brethren, could not speak unto you. And he's referring to possibly and probably his first mission among them. They were new converts. He said, I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual. Now this did not mean they were backslidden. This did not mean they were not devoted or not zealous or not enthusiastic. It simply meant they were not mature. They were babes in Christ.

They were new Christians. He said, I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, which is what you would feed a baby, and not with meat. For hitherto ye were not able to bear it. Now, so far, so good. The next statement enters the rebuke. Neither yet now are ye able, for you are still carnal.

There comes the rebuke. There is no rebuke in verse 1 and the first part of verse 2. Now, the word translated carnal in verse 1 is the Greek word sarkonos. I'm sure you immediately recognize that word. The word translated carnal in verses 3 and 4 is sarcocos. If you wanted to spell it or transliterate it, it'd be S-A-R-K-I-N-O-S. That's in verse 1. But in verses 3 and 4, instead of N-O-S, it's K-O-S. And the two words mean something different the first word carnal is I think I will just say and translate it fleshy the new American standard version I believe renders that men of flesh

and it simply refers to the material of which you're made. It simply means to be made of flesh, to be a human being, and you are made of flesh. All of us are made of flesh. It refers simply to the material out of which your life is made. You are flesh. You are a human being. You're made of flesh. You're fleshy. Nothing wrong with that. A man cannot help being made of flesh. He is flesh, and he can do nothing about that. Now, the next word, though, translated carnal in verses 3 and 4, I will translate fleshly, f-L-E-S-H-L-Y, fleshly. And that word means characterized by the flesh or dominated by the flesh. You see, the first word simply refers to their physical makeup. They are flesh. The second word refers to their ethical and moral makeup. They are fleshly. They're dominated by the flesh. The first word refers to the material of their life. The second

word refers to the manner of their life. The first word refers to what they are. The second word refers to how they act. The first word, they can do nothing about it because they are new Christians and they have not had the time to acquire the truth and the knowledge to come unto full maturity. They cannot help being fleshy. None of us can help being fleshy. When a person is newly saved, he is carnal. He is a babe in Christ. The word indicates weakness, suggests weakness, such as a babe in Christ, and that is absolutely normal. He can do nothing about it. The carnal Christian, the fleshly Christian, the worldly Christian is one who has had time to come under the dominion of the Holy Spirit, who has had time to do something

about it, but has done nothing about it at all. Let me illustrate it this way. The first word, the fleshy Christian, is a five-year-old acting like a five-year-old. I never will forget, you know, there are little things that stand out in your mind in your childhood that really don't make much difference or sense anybody else but for some reason they they lodge in your mind I think I must have been about nine or ten years old and I don't remember what had happened but I think I'd been arguing with my mother about something we were standing in the kitchen and my mother said you act just like a 10-year-old boy. And I said the most profound thing I've ever said.

Well, I am 10 years old. I never understood how else is a 10-year-old boy supposed to act. She said, you're acting like a 10-year-old boy. I was driving down the street the other night. I'd been here at the office, and I was driving home, and behind me I kept hearing brakes and squeals and, you know, something going on. And when I came to the four-way stop, a carload of kids pulled up, and they were burning rubber and just making, you know, all kinds of stuff.

And I said to myself, acting just like kids. And they were because they were kids. They were kids. They were acting just like kids. And they were because they were kids. They were kids. They were acting just like kids. A fleshy Christian is a Christian who is five years old acting like a five-year-old. The fleshly Christian, the carnal Christian that we normally designate as carnal, is a 50-year-old acting like a five-year-old. And there's a vast difference. So, there are three types of Christians, really. There is the spiritual Christian, that mature Christian. At the other end of it, there is that new Christian, the babe in Christ.

Paul identifies who these carnal ones are in verse 1. I had to speak unto you as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. They are the immature. They are the infant Christians. They are new babes, newborn believers. They have not had the time or the experience to acquire spiritual maturity. There's no rebuke, nothing wrong with that.

That is absolutely normal. There is the third kind of Christian, and he is what we normally designate as the carnal Christian. He is the fleshly Christian. He is the one who has had plenty of time to grow and mature, but he, by a deliberate rebellion against the will and word of God, has refused to grow, has refused to bring himself under the dominion of the Holy Spirit. Now, this carnal Christian may have never grown any, just always stayed as he was, or he may have grown but reverted back to his childish state. But a carnal Christian, the fleshly Christian, is that Christian who has had plenty of time and experience, who ought now, as Hebrew says, ought to be teaching

others, but still himself needs to be taught. Ought to be able to digest the meat of the Word, but you still have to deal with the milk of the Word. In other words, the basics, trying to get him right with God and keep him right with God. Now, tonight, I want to talk about the fleshy Christian, the new Christian, the babe in Christ, the infant Christian. Now, I want to emphasize again, there is nothing wrong with being a babe in Christ. There is nothing wrong with being immature in the Lord. There's nothing wrong with being an infant in Christ. It is normal. It is natural. And it's where every Christian starts, for he is born of God and he is born a babe in Christ. Now, one of the most important things that you and I need to understand is this idea of growth in the Lord Jesus and growth towards spirituality, growth towards maturity. It is a process that involves, and you'll notice I continue to use this phrase. It is a process that involves time and experience.

You do not immediately become full grown and mature in the Lord. A misunderstanding of this has caused a great deal of frustration and disillusionment in the body of Christ. There must be, there always will be the growth process. God will never, God will never detour around the growth process and make you mature overnight by any one experience or by any one act of dedication. It is a time that involves, it is a process that involves time and experience. I think one of the greatest illustrations is in the Lord Jesus Christ. My soul at 12 years of age, he mystified the professors by answering and asking questions they couldn't answer.

Most of us would have said, man, you're 12 years old, why don't you go on the road and become a preacher? Until Jesus was 30 years old. He did not minister. He performed no miracle. He did no teaching. Most of us would say, you're wasting your time. Man, the world's going to hell.

Time is short. You need to get out. And regardless of what your folks say or anything else, you're wasting time. And the amazing thing to me is that God took 30 years to prepare Jesus for a three and a half year ministry. Now, by our standards, we would say that would be a waste of time and bad planning. But the gospel of Luke says that

during that time, Jesus was doing what? He was growing in stature and in wisdom, and get this, in favor with God and with man. The growth process. Let me read you a verse in Mark chapter 4, verse 28, that I think illustrates this. Jesus is describing what the kingdom of God is like, and he's saying that the members of the kingdom are like this. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear,

after that the full corn in the ear. Now that's the way God works. It's a process. When God wants to grow fruit, when God wants to have a harvest, first there is the blade, just the blade. Then there is the ear, and then there is the full corn in the ear. You'll find these three same stages of growth over in 1 John chapter 2. Listen to 1 John chapter 2, verse 12. I write unto you, little children,

because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because you have known the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because you have known the Father. Now, the word translated children in verse 12 is a different word than the one translated children in verse 13.

When he says in verse 12, little children, he is referring to all of us who are saved. But when he says little children in verse 13, he is referring to one class of believers. Now, notice the stages of growth. There are little children and there are young men and then there are the fathers. The fathers are the spiritually mature. The children and the young men are the babes in Christ. Now we start off as a babe in Christ, as a child. But as we grow, as we grow, we become young men. Now, we're not as immature as we were as a babe, but we still are not yet mature. But we're making progress.

We're growing. Children, young men, fathers. And so this is the process by which God works out his will in our life. Now, the purpose of the study right now is to positionize ourselves. You remember from Sunday morning, we want to find out where we are. Now, later on, we're going to be discussing how we grow and what are the factors and the means that God uses to grow. But tonight, I want to share with you the characteristics of a babe in Christ, because what you need to do is to positionize yourself. Are you a babe in Christ? Are you a

spiritual person? Are you mature? Are you a carnal Christian, a fleshy Christian that is dominated by the flesh? We must positionize ourselves. So let me share with you four or five characteristics of the infant Christian, of the babe in Christ. Number one, the babe in Christ has a tendency to be legalistic. The babe in Christ has a tendency to be legalistic. The babe in Christ has a tendency to be legalistic. He'll kill you with his scruples. He doesn't understand

your liberty in Christ and he has so many scruples and so many do's and don'ts that he'll kill you if you're not careful. He has a tendency to be legalistic. Listen to what the Apostle Paul says and how he describes it. In Romans chapter 14, verse 1, him that is weak in the faith,

not saying rebellious in the faith, but weak in the faith, an infant, and the word fleshy indicates a weakness because of youngness. Him that is weak in the flesh receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. Don't argue about it. What's there to argue about? For one believeth that he may eat all things. Another who is weak only eats vegetables. Now, Paul goes on to describe that there was a controversy going on in the church that centered around eating meat offered to idols. Let's suppose you were an idolater,

a pagan, and you wanted to go down to the temple and offer your sacrifice. And so you would take the calf, the bull, or whatever it was, the lamb, the goat, whichever was specified for your particular need, and you would give it to that temple. It would be offered as a sacrifice to the pagan god. But let's make ever any count, those pagan priests in the pagan temples then would take what was left of that sacrifice and they would sell it in the marketplace because it was good meat. Well, some Christians had some scruples. They said, now, wait just a minute. If we happen to buy in the marketplace some meat that was offered in a pagan temple, well, then we're sinning against God. Paul says no, meat perishes with the using.

God made the meat for stomach and stomach for the meat and there's no such thing as an idol anyway and it's not going to hurt you to eat meat that's offered to idols. And he says a fellow that believes and a fellow that is fully mature and understands the life of faith, he can eat anything he wants to. He doesn't have that legalistic view. But there are some young Christians who are legalistic and have scruples, and they believe that it's wrong for you to eat meat that's offered to idols. So the first characteristic of a babe in Christ is he has a tendency to be legalistic. He will evaluate his own spiritual standing

by ceremonies, rituals. Now, I advocate, advocate strongly, reading your Bible every day. But you can get legalistic to this point, and if you happen to read five minutes shorter than you did yesterday, you might think that you're backslidden. Or if you don't pray a certain amount of time, or if you do not witness a certain amount of times every day, you feel like then that

you have backslidden on the Lord. And there is a tendency to be legalistic. There is a tendency to judge other people according to your standards. One person, I remember in a one church I pastored, there was a young lady there, a young mother, who believed it was a sin to wear makeup of any kind. And she taught her girls it was a sin to wear makeup of any kind. She was legalistic. You know, you're always making boo-boos. One day, these young girls in this class were asking me after church one day. I was new on the field. I didn't know anything about the ideas of this young teacher. And these girls were saying, Brother Dunn, do you believe it's a sin for a girl to wear lipstick? I said, well, no, I think every old barn needs painting up once in a while. I was weak in the faith. I lacked discernment. I turned and lo, standing behind me

was this young teacher who I forgot to mention was a deacon's wife. And I dug up for myself no little trouble there. Now, she was legalistic. A babe in Christ has a tendency to be legalistic, to evaluate his spiritual life by rules and regulations. Don't do this and don't do that. All right, second characteristic of a babe in Christ, and we don't have a great deal of time to spend on all these. I'm just going to have to mention them, and I hope that you will look them up and be encouraged enough to study them some more on your own. Second characteristic is that he is not completely free from the past. 1 Corinthians 8 and verse 7.

Speaking now again of the weak brother, the young Christian who still has these scruples and this idea of eating meat that's offered to idols. And the Bible says he lacks knowledge. He hasn't yet come to the liberty that is in Jesus Christ. Many times a new babe in Christ will still react as the world reacts. He will still think and figure as the world thinks and figures. He's not completely free from the past, and you will see manifested in his life so many times some of the hangovers from the former life. He hasn't yet completely been weaned from the past. A third

characteristic, he is easily offended. Because he has a legalistic view of the Christian life, he is easily offended. Let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 7. Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge. What knowledge? Well, the knowledge that we're free in Christ, the liberty that is ours in Christ. For some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled. But meat commendeth us not to God, for neither if we eat are we the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse. You see, a young Christian wouldn't agree with that. This babe in Christ, he's legalistic.

But take heed, lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak. For if any man see thee which hast knowledge, sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols? And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish or be injured for whom Christ died. Now, this passage

in Romans 14 and Romans 15 indicates that the weak Christian, the babe in Christ, is easily offended. He's easily offended. The shocking thing to some is to discover the identity of the weak brother. Now, I want you to listen to me very, very carefully. Normally, this person thinks that he is strong and spiritual because he is thus offended. But in reality, he is weak. Now, this young lady that I was referring to was offended when she saw other ladies in the church wearing makeup. Now, she thought that this meant she was more spiritual than they. The truth of the matter is she was weak or she would not have been offended. I had a friend

some years ago who was so legalistic, had such scruples, that if he was in a room of people and somebody lit up a cigarette, he'd walk out that room. He would not stay in a room where anybody was smoking. He didn't want to be contaminated. Now, he thought he was more spiritual than that fellow smoking. The fact of the matter is, he was weak. He was weak. Somebody says, your mustache offends me.

And they think they're more spiritual. They're weak. They're weak. They're easily offended. You see, the more you mature in Christ, the harder it is to offend you. I love what it says about Jesus. He was not offended.

He was not offended. Now, this is why the Bible says a bishop, a preacher, or a deacon ought not to be a new Christian, ought not to be a novice. I have seen more than one young, energetic, enthusiastic, hot-hearted, devoted Christian offended and hurt because he was put in a position that he was too young and immature to take. Because, you see, a fellow who's young in the Lord, he believes that everybody's perfect saint. I mean, you know, this church is perfect. Did y'all know that? This church is perfect, and this pastor's perfect, and everything that goes on in this church is just 100% perfect. And sometimes a fellow may be made a deacon. He's a novice. He's a new Christian. And suddenly he discovers that everything isn't perfect.

He discovers that people do have faults and people do disappoint you. And you know what happens? He is offended. He is hurt. He is wounded. He is offended. Not because he's strong, and most of the time he thinks it is because he's strong. His virtue has been outraged at what this person has done, and he thinks that then he is stronger. But the truth of the matter is, he is weak. I was a teenager, and somebody told me, the requirement of being a pastor

is to have a heart as tender as the Redeemers and a hide as tough as a rhinoceros. When I first became a pastor, well, it never occurred to me that the whole world didn't love me. I mean, you know, it would just never occur to me that not everybody would be 100% in favor of everything I thought and did and wanted to do. And the first few times, the first few years, not the first few times, the first few years that I discovered somebody didn't like what I was doing or they didn't think I was doing, man, I tell you what, it just used to drive me into the ground. I, you know, resigned every Monday morning to myself and I'd quit the ministry and oh I just couldn't stand it

I still don't get a great deal of pleasure out of it I mean I'm not that old but it doesn't offend me anymore it doesn't offend me anymore. It doesn't offend me anymore. There are still times when I am not as mature as I ought to be, and everybody will have overlapping tendencies, and some of these things will crop up. And I know that when I take offense at what somebody said or somebody has done, I know then that I'm manifesting the characteristic of a babe in Christ. He's easily offended. I would like to labor this point because I think it is extremely important in our church

and in any church for us to be aware of this, to be aware that a new Christian, we ought never to ordain any man to a deacon just to pay him an honor, just because he's zealous, just because he's enthusiastic. He must be, he must have some degree of maturity. He must not be a baby in Christ. He is too easily offended. He will be hurt. All right, another characteristic, and this is all we'll have time for, another characteristic of a babe in Christ is they are vulnerable to deception. They are vulnerable to be deceived. Ephesians chapter 4 points this out.

Verses 13 and 14, Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, the word perfect means mature, under the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. It's easy to deceive a little child. And a new Christian or even an older Christian who has not grown as he ought, it's easy to deceive him. They're like children tossed to and fro,

carried about by every wind of doctrine. Why? Because they lack the one characteristic of spiritual maturity. They lack discernment. If they see a miracle, they immediately think that miracle has to come from God. They lack discernment. They don't understand that not everything supernatural is necessary of God, necessarily from God. Easily carried away, easily deceived, unable to discern as they ought. And so when a new doctrine comes up, new preacher rolls into town, a new thing here, a new thing there, a new idea here,

you see people, you know people like this. We've all been like this. This is not to condemn. We've all been like this. Man, we'll run over here for a while. We'll run over here for a while. Man, we'll hear about this thing happening. We'll run over here for a while. We'll run over here. And we'll be carried away. Every wind that blows, we blow with it.

We just yield with it. Every wind. We're like a leaf or a little stick of wood on the ocean. Every which way the wave goes, that's the way we go. We're a child, easily deceived, easily deceived. Now, let me close this

by giving to you the church's responsibility to babes in Christ. And let me mention again that there is no sin in being a babe in Christ. There's nothing wrong with being immature. It's normal to be easily offended in a young Christian. It's normal to be legalistic. It's natural for a child in the Lord to be legalistic, for a child in the Lord to be easily offended, for a child in the Lord to not be able to digest the real meat of the Word, but has to be fed on milk. Nothing wrong with that at all, as long as you don't stay that way. Now, what is to be our responsibility? All right, Paul tells us,

Romans chapter 14, verse 1, him that is weak in the faith, receive ye. That's our first responsibility, receiving, accepting. The word receive is a very strong word that means to receive to oneself as if precious. Accepting. Read on down verse 3. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not. You see the one that eats, he is the knowledgeable Christian. He's the older Christian, the more mature Christian. And he looks at this young Christian who, man, he passes up a great steak just because it's offered to some idol. Don't despise him. Don't put him down. Don't be critical of him. And let not him which eateth not judgeth him that eateth.

The young Christian has a tendency to judge the others because they don't march to the same drumbeat that he marches to. Notice, for God hath received him. God's received him. God's accepted him.

You accept him. Don't turn him off. Don't turn him away. Don't put him down. But you receive him to yourself as though he's very precious. You accept him. The second is that we are not to criticize or to argue with his convictions. Notice in that first verse, him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. The idea there is not arguing about his convictions. You never argue anybody out of their convictions.

When you do that, you only confirm them in it. As this young believer grows in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus, these wrong convictions will fall away. Now he is intolerant and legalistic. Now, but let him live long enough to know that he himself cannot even practice what he is preaching now. Let him experience failure. Let him, like Simon Peter, fall and deny his Lord. Then he will be not so quick to criticize his fellow disciples. Don't try to argue with him. Don't criticize his opinions. Receive him and respect his views. Now Now the third responsibility you'll find in chapter 15 of Romans and the first verse. We then that are strong ought to bear

the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Oh my, why does the Lord have to put those things in there? But do you know, any parent, the minute a little baby comes into their home, they must stop at that moment thinking of themselves first of all and stop trying to please themselves. They have no right being a parent if they're not going to bear the infirmities of that weak one.

So the Apostle Paul is saying, you receive him, you respect his viewpoints, don't argue with him, don't try to change him. He says, you look upon him as your responsibility. You take the burden

of that young Christian on your own heart. And you do what pleases him, not what pleases you. Now, that doesn't mean that we are to serve every little whim and fancy of the young believer because he tells us in the second verse, let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. In other words, we are to take this young Christian, this young believer, and we are to get him on our heart and we are to bearification. In other words, we are to take this young Christian, this young believer, and we are to get him on our heart, and we are to bear him. He is to be our responsibility and

our burden, and we are not to please ourselves, but we are to do whatever is necessary for his good to build him up in the faith. We're to be a good example to him. Paul says, as we read a moment ago, he said, if meat offends my brother, I will not eat meat as long as the world stands. Don't you run roughshod over a young Christian, and he may be wrong in his ideas, and he may be wrong in his legalism, and he may be wrong in his conviction but don't you run over him now i've heard a lot of people and you have to say well i gave up the church and i quit going to church because i had a bad experience they were weak they were easily offended but jesus says woe to them by whom the offense comes now in in closing, let me just identify

and define this offense. What does it mean to offend? You see, if you're not careful here, if you don't understand what it means to offend a brother, man, you can get all, you can really get into some real trouble here.

I mean, somebody may come up to you and say, hey, you're wearing a sports shirt on Sunday night offends me. Well, does that mean now you're to wear a tie? You say, okay, I'll wear a tie and a suit next Sunday night. And the next Sunday night, the fellow comes up, young fellow comes up and says,

hey, you're dressing up like that on Sunday night offends me. Well, what are you to do? Now, when they say that, when they say that offends me, what they mean is that offends my taste and I don't like that. The word offend means to cause to sin. To cause to sin. To lead into sin. Now, I am not to do anything that would lead anybody else into sin. But that does not mean that if the way I

dress or the length of my hair offends you, just offends your taste, then I'll run out and get a burr. Because then others would be offended at that. That would offend the taste of others. You see, we have sometimes interpreted this to mean, well, if I don't like it, then you ought not to do it. That's not what it means at all. That's not what it means at all. What it means is, I am to do nothing that would lead another person into sin, that would destroy his convictions.

And so a weak brother is easily led into sin. He's easily offended. He's easily discouraged. And we are to bear his weakness as our own burden and do whatever we can, whatever is necessary to build him up in the faith. Nothing wrong with being a babe in Christ as long as you don't stay a babe in Christ. So some of us tonight in this place are babes in Christ. We're new Christians. That's only normal. That's only natural. And I hope that the things we've said tonight will help you because you'll be able to recognize them. And you'll say, well, I know what's happening this doesn't mean i'm not spirit filled this doesn't mean that i'm not a good christian this doesn't mean i'm not devoted this just means i'm still a young christian some of you are young

men you've had a measure of growth you're strong you're getting stronger and stronger and stronger, young men. Others of us, others of you, rather, are fathers, mature. Now, all of us will have overlapping. Some of us will have characteristics of the father and the young man and the child all at the same time. Well, how then do you know which you are? It's that which is dominant in your life. The child in Christ, the young in Christ may have some characteristics once in a while of a mature Christian, but the dominant theme of his life, the predominant thing of his life is that he is still young in the Lord, still a babe in Christ. Even a mature Christian,

some of you that have been saved for as long as I've been alive, and you've grown in the Lord, and through time and experience you have come to discern there'll be times when you will act like a child in the Lord. Shame on you.

Does this mean you're not mature? Not at all. It simply means you threw a temper tantrum and you acted like a child. You recognize it. You rebuke yourself and the Lord rebukes you. You confess it and you come back. Nothing wrong with a new Christian acting like a new Christian.

Five-year-old acting like a five-year-old is normal. Fifty-year-old acting like a five-year-old is shameful. Where are you? What is your position? Are you a babe in Christ? Still, after all these years, Are you a babe in Christ? Still? After all these years? We'll talk about you next time.