Children’s Sermon

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Growing Up

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1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Growing Up

By Lois Parker Edstrom

Objects suggested: An infant’s bottle of milk and/or jars of baby food.

Today let’s talk about babies. Aren’t they adorable? How many of you have younger brothers or sisters? Do you remember what they were like as babies?

What is a baby’s first food? Yes, they drink milk. Why is that? That’s right; they don’t have teeth to be able to chew. In the beginning they aren’t able to manage solid food. When they get a bit older they begin to eat soft foods such as cereal, mashed bananas or applesauce. Little by little, they start eating the foods that other family members eat. Often they end up with much of it smeared on their faces.

In the Bible the Apostle Paul speaks of new Christians and he says, “I fed you with milk, not with meat; for you weren’t yet ready (for solid food)” (3:2).

This does not mean that he actually fed them food. Paul uses food as an example of being fed God’s word – hearing and learning about God’s love and wisdom.

When we first receive God’s love we usually don’t know much about our faith – the inner part of ourselves where we feel and think about God. Paul says we are like babies and we learn about God slowly, little by little.

If we were to hear a lot of fancy words and new ideas about God all at once, we might have difficulty understanding how God’s Spirit works in our lives.

As we grow and study and pray we become stronger and are able to receive more ideas about God’s love.

We all start out as babies and we all grow – our bodies grow and our faith in God grows. Paul says it is “God who gives the growth.”

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible

Copyright 2010, Richard Niell Donovan