Dealing With Babes With Christ In Your Church

It would be important to really know how to deal with babes in Christ.  What we must understand is that although Christians are saved from sin, there is still the flesh nature that remains.  1 Corinthians 3:1 has Paul calling the new believers as sarkinois (fleshen) because they were still new, and even if they have abandoned a sinful life but there's always sin in their life, it must be dealt with as hindrance but never the final end of their ministry as they cannot completely fall away.  They were yet to fully understand the full spiritual concept.  Although they already had a sense of right and wrong, they were starting to live right but there were still other issues that were hindering them from being more fruitful.  They started bearing fruit but they had some lifestyle issues namely strife and division within their assembles.

Whether you like it or not, God does not make a Christian pure and sinless the moment they are saved for a reason.  Although true believers are expected to to endure to the end but we can compare the Christian life to like a line graph... it goes up and down, up and down until it reaches the finish line.  Although even immature believers may start enjoying fellowship with other believers, they will no longer live corrupt lives and they will start to grow by God's grace but you cannot deny that even the most mature believer suffers from struggles (Romans 7:13-25).

Let us think about it in John 15:1-11 about the vine and the branches.  Remember there is the purging so it will bear more fruit.  What Christians must remember is that sometimes they can temporarily fall away from their fellowship.  Even if a Christian may not go like that wacko who killed a lot of school children and claimed himself to be a Christian, but they are still sinners... but the difference is they are already saved by grace.  A young plant will soon start to bear fruit but it needs to be tended properly and with care.  Fortunately God Himself is merciful enough to restore fellowship.  The only branches that are thrown are the unsaved people.

What must be done with babes in Christ?  Reading through 1 Corinthians 3, it's necessary that they must be rebuked in season and out of season.  Hebrews 12:5-7 mentions that God chastises those who are His.  Christians who are still new in Christ must be guided accordingly and their spiritual maturity is to be checked accordingly.  Above all, prayer for newborn babes in Christ is needed aside from instruction that they may mature all the more.

Matthew 18:15-20 writes what must be done when a brother in Christ.  It must be time for the mature believer to rebuke their newborn brethren between them alone.  Christians are still sinners and imperfect people, only that they are sinners and imperfects who were redeemed and saved by the grace of God, destined to perform good works (Ephesians 2:8-10) but they are also people who will every now and them stumble.  Although they are destined to reach the finished line but they will stumble at any point so it's best to monitor and help them whenever possible.