A Little Bit Never Hurt Anybody

A Little Bit Never Hurt Anybody

4/21/2002 Proverbs 1:8-19 Matthew 26:6-13

Have you ever heard those life-changing words, “A Little Bit Never Hurt Anybody?” You know that what is being offered is something you should say no to, but somebody says, “Oh go ahead and try it, a little bit won’t hurt.” People’s lives and futures have been forever altered, because they believed this lie. It is one of the earliest lies used by Satan.

Let’s go back to when Adam and Eve were perfect and lived in a perfect situation. God had provided them with everything they needed. He gave them one commandment. Eat from every tree in the garden that you see except for the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If you eat from it you will die.

Satan showed up in the garden, and he looked mighty fine. His good looks and smooth talking convinced Eve, “girl I’m on your side and I just want you to experience all of the good things of life. He let her know that even though God had told her not to eat the fruit from the forbidden tree, eating just a little bit would certainly not cause them to die. Eve believed a little bit probably wouldn’t hurt anybody. She ate and sin came into the world, and all the rest of us have been under Satan’s influence since then.

Most of us are not going to just run and jump into doing wrong. We are going to think about it, and say it’s not worth it. But then we will open ourselves to little possibilities and situations, and start telling ourselves, a little bit never hurt anybody. I’ll only do it this one time. Will just one time matter.

Yes, meet one of our young girls who grew up in the church and was protecting her virginity. She really thought she might have been missing out after listening to her friends talk about sex. She decided, “I’ll only do it this one time.” She believed, the lie and in that one first time she got pregnant. Her life and that of her family changed course.

In our reading in Proverbs this morning, the Bible warns us, that when others tell us to join in and do what we know we should not do, do not go along with the crowd. As much as they tell us, “a little bit never hurt anybody” remember this is a lie. Look in the paper where a little drunk driving takes away the life of an innocent father of three who simply was on his way home from work.

Let’s look at a rather famous biblical character and see how the belief that a little bit never hurt anybody, changed the ending to his life. When he was born, no doubt he was the joy of his family. His parents were very proud of him. When they decided to choose a name for him, they looked for something special. They chose a name which meant, “the praise of the Lord.” They wanted their son’s life to be a witness of what God can do in a person’s life.

The young man grew up to be very smart. He had a good mind for financial record keeping and probably could have gone into business. He had the ability to influence other and quickly gain them to his side of an argument. He could speak passionately about meeting the needs of the poor. He probably would have made a good politician. He was a very likeable guy. He was the kind of person you just felt like you could trust.

As he was thinking about what to do with his life, he ran into the preaching of Jesus Christ. He had never heard anyone preach like Jesus before. Jesus spoke of how God loved people and wanted them to enter into a personal relationship with him.

Jesus would refer to God as His own Father. Jesus had a compassion for people and would heal them of all kinds of sicknesses and disease. Jesus would forgive people of their sins no matter what they had done. Jesus spoke with such authority that it was amazing.

Now here’s someone that he could listen to for days. He knew he could learn a lot from Jesus. He introduced himself to Jesus and got a warm welcome and embrace. He asked “ well, Jesus do you mind if I just kind of follow you around a lit bit and ahhm learn a little more from you.” Jesus probably said, “Sure, just hang with the rest of them. The group keeps getting larger and larger each day.”

Jesus knew that He needed a small group of people to teach and to train so that when he was gone, they could continue in the leadership role in his ministry. So he went up on the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer. That morning he and the other disciples were on the mountain. Jesus told them, “I’ve spent the night in prayer because I have a special assignment for 12 of you. You are to become my apostles. When I call your name, I want you to come up here with me.”