The story is told of a university library, where there appeared - on the walls - in bold, sprawling letters, about 12” high…two (2) words of graffiti - "APATHY RULES!" Perhaps those words were written by a disillusioned student - a student who has spent endless hours in the pursuit of some intellectual study - only to realize how futile the entire project was.
Bitter is the disillusionment of those who come to the end of their academic pursuits - only to make that discovery - "Apathy Rules!"
Another story is told of a high school teacher who taught high school just long enough to realize that he should not have been teaching high school in the first place! He was assigned to teach a course filled to the brim with students who did not want to learn. In point of fact, it was one of those classes where the student had to arrive early in order to get a back seat! A few of the students got there so late, that they were stuck in the front row! There they sat in their cutoffs and sneakers without sox; and, they could not care less what the subject was.
The high school teacher finally got fed up with their apathy! He grabbed a piece of chalk, whirled around to the chalkboard; and, began to slash away in big, foot-high letters, "A-P-A-T-H-Y!" He underlined the word twice; then, slammed an exclamation point on it that broke the chalk as he hammered it against the chalkboard! One of the dull students up front frowned as he struggled to read the word. Unable to pronounce it, he tilted his head to one side as he started spelling it aloud, "A-P-A-T-H-Y." He mispronounced the word as "A-paythee." Then, he leaned over and muttered to his friend, "What in the world is ’a-paythee’?" His friend yawned back with a sigh, "Who cares?"
Apathy rules and nobody seems to care!
The late American journalist, "H.L." Mencken said; "The basic fact about human experience is not that it is a tragedy, but that it is a bore. It is not that it is predominantly painful; but, that it is lacking in any sense."
Nobody ever said it better than the late philosopher, Henry David Thoreau, "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation."
We simply do not want to believe that! Motivational speakers, people who cheerlead seminars all over this great land of ours, hope that we will not believe it - why?
Because it would blow a hole in their business! The last thing that we are supposed to realize is that we have been lied to most of our lives!
I can right off the top of my head think of at least three falsehoods that many people still call the truth today:
1. "Every day in every way our world is getting better, better, better."
I sure would like to meet the person who first wrote those words, wouldn’t you? I would string him or her up before sundown. What a tragic, disillusioning dream!
2. "There’s a light at the end of every tunnel."
Keep hoping for it - keep looking for it! Murphy was right when he said that the light at the end of the tunnel was really "the headlamp of an oncoming train."
3. "Things are never as bad as they seem. So dream, dream, dream."
This one comes from the pop music world of yesteryear! Things are not really as bad as they seem - they are often worse - and, dreaming won’t make them any better!
I read this past week of a man who looked like he lived every day of his life on top of all circumstances and he never appeared to have a bad day. People who worked with him were often jealous of him and finally one day at a coffee break a co- worker said; “say friend just yesterday I discovered why you are always so happy and on top of things. As I was driving home yesterday I passed you and I saw you sitting there with this beautiful lady whose back was to the street at this romantic “sidewalk café” you and she were sitting so closely and you were listening so intently. The guy leaned over and said; “sir let me tell you the truth. That young lady was really my wife who was telling me that she was leaving me and what looked like a sidewalk café was really our furniture out in the street.
Things aren’t as bad as they seem are they…no there are worse!
So tell me, "Why do they keep telling us those lies? Why do they keep telling us to look for the light at the end of the tunnel?
Why do people conduct great seminars - all around the globe - telling people to smile more - to believe that "there is a bright, beautiful tomorrow" - just grab for it - go for the gusto - hitch your wagon to a star - you will make it someday somehow!"?
Well, there is one simple answer: it is to make us believe there is purpose and happiness if we simply keep on hoping!
However, my brothers and sisters, listen to me closely this morning…hope cannot exist in a vacuum - where facts are ignored!
The fact is that the world is not wonderful! The world is wicked, full of sin, corrupt; and, depraved!
Work is not enriching - work is not fulfilling - work is tiring - work is futile - and, work blows up in your face!
People are not kind - people are not generous - people are selfish - people are cruel!
Life on the "Great Planet Earth" is not a great big bowl of cherries - it is the pits! It is boring, it is empty, it is a grind, it is "spitting in the wind." And, to make matters worse, "Apathy Rules!"
I’m here to tell you this morning, that it is true whether you are educated or whether you are untaught! It is true whether you are young or whether you are old! It is true whether you are a professional person or a "blue-collar" worker!
It is true whether you live in a penthouse or a little second-story flat! And, my brothers and sisters, know that it will not be any different if your circumstances change!
Don’t believe me, believe Almighty God! Instead of blaming Him, realize that He had a reason for our "self-sufficient lives" being so void of purpose!
Many years ago, King Solomon decided he would write in a journal (Ecclesiastes) what he had discovered about life!
His father, King David, had left him a rather large estate - placing it in his care! His father had fought the battles; and now, the son, King Solomon, enjoyed peace - in fact, peace had reigned supreme for forty (40) years! Can you imagine being free of war for four (4) decades?
Here we are, today, having been at war for almost a decade with Islamic terrorists; Israel & Ahmad are fighting and, the economy is in a disaster – layoffs are occurring, plants are closing, the stock market is tumbling, the price of gasoline last year peaked at just over $4.00 a gallon and now it seems to be back on the rise again - causing everything to rise in price - as money continues to be poured into the war machine!
But King Solomon used his peacetime profits to finance his pursuits to discover life!
And after the pursuit was over and done with, he sat down with a pen in hand and wrote in his journal the truth about all that he had discovered! There is not a single lie in his Book!
Let me pre-warn you, however, that Ecclesiastes is not your basic "Here’s How to Be Rich and Famous" book, however, it is trustworthy information that the entire world needs to read - it is change that people worldwide can believe in!
Ecclesiastes, the journal of King Solomon, has one basic premise - he does not make us wait until the end of the Book to read it - He says it right up front - from the very beginning –
Lets look together this morning at chapter 1…from the message
1These are the words of the Quester, David’s son and king in Jerusalem 2 -11 Smoke, nothing but smoke. [That’s what the Quester says.] There’s nothing to anything—it’s all smoke.
What’s there to show for a lifetime of work, a lifetime of working your fingers to the bone? One generation goes its way, the next one arrives, but nothing changes—it’s business as usual for old planet earth.
The sun comes up and the sun goes down, and then does it again, and again—the same old round.
The wind blows south, the wind blows north. Around and around and around it blows, blowing this way, then that—the whirling, erratic wind.
All the rivers flow into the sea, but the sea never fills up. The rivers keep flowing to the same old place, and then start all over and do it again. Everything’s boring, utterly boring— no one can find any meaning in it. Boring to the eye, boring to the ear.
What was will be again, what happened will happen again. There’s nothing new on this earth.
Year after year it’s the same old thing. Does someone call out, "Hey, this is new"?
Don’t get excited—it’s the same old story. Nobody remembers what happened yesterday. And the things that will happen tomorrow? Nobody’ll remember them either. Don’t count on being remembered. 12 -14 Call me "the Quester." I’ve been king over Israel in Jerusalem. I looked most carefully into everything, searched out all that is done on this earth. And let me tell you, there’s not much to write home about.
God hasn’t made it easy for us. I’ve seen it all and it’s nothing but smoke—smoke, and spitting into the wind.
15 Life’s a corkscrew that can’t be straightened, A minus that won’t add up. 16 -17 I said to myself, "I know more and I’m wiser than anyone before me in Jerusalem. I’ve stockpiled wisdom and knowledge." What I’ve finally concluded is that so-called wisdom and knowledge are mindless and witless—nothing but spitting into the wind.
18 Much learning earns you much trouble. The more you know, the more you hurt.
So, King Solomon was, in effect, placing an exclamation point in his prose, in order to emphasize the fact that "Apathy Rules!"
Life is super vain - completely empty - and, there is nothing to it! Life appears to have substance; yet, when an individual digs right down into it, he or she finds that there is nothing there!
Life holds out hope that it is a bright, warm dream; but, when you go for it, you stumble into a cold, dark nightmare.
Now…Don’t forget, my brothers and sisters, this is "under the sun" counsel - it will not satisfy nor will it work!
King Solomon even asks the question, "What advantage does man have in all his work...which he does under the sun?" That’s a good question!
Let me say this morning if you are here and If you are married - and, your only focus is on the "self-sufficient life" - that is to say, that you are not living "above the sun" - then, and God is not involved in your marriage…the chances are good that your marriage is on its way to failure! The tragedy of it all is that you don’t even realize it is happening!
If you are here this morning and you are operating your business with your own human strength - in your own wisdom and might - (and Almighty God is absent) - you can absolutely forget about lasting satisfaction!
You will most certainly not know permanent fulfillment!
If you are pursuing an education and you have gotten this degree and you are going for another degree and you have all these people around you telling you, "It’s worth it; you can do it!" and it is all being pursued for selfish purposes and strictly with your own goals in mind; and God hasn’t been figured into the equation…I have some disappointing news for you - you are going to wind up being bored and frustrated!
It was Hugh Prather who wrote, "If I had only forgotten future greatness and looked at the green things and reached out to those around me and smelled the air and ignored the forms and the self-styled obligations and heard the rain on my roof and put my arms around my wife...perhaps it’s not too late."
We who worship our work and play at our worship, we have gotten things all fouled up!
Let’s take an honest look at ourselves this morning church…
If our office is like most, the "in-box" is overflowing - it looks like "The Leaning Tower of Pisa," in Italy! Am I right about it?
We never finish.
On top of that, our best laid plans collapse right in front of our very eyes! To make matters worse, the partnership that we began so happily ends in a premature and offensive manner.
Our financial savings, decrease in value, rather than increasing.
We toil for a raise and the person in the cubicle next to us gets the promotion. Promise for relief from the government fails.
Our ship has not come in – as a matter of fact, the ship sank and never will come in! There is nothing left - there is no advantage!
Sounds a lot like today’s situation, doesn’t it? Are you getting the picture? Did you see it? Were you listening?
Why does the one of the founders of Lehigh walk in front of a train and end it all…I’ll tell you why… Depression is everywhere and "Apathy Rules!"
You see up to this point king Solomon has been living his life; “under the sun”….in fact you might say that his life to this point has been dedicated to all earthly desires…listen to what he says…..he’s been there, he’s tried it….he’s had all the wealth….it didn’t satisfy…
He’s had all the women….yet he was left empty and unhappy…
He’s tasted all the wines and the champagnes….and all he has is headaches and a hangover...
In fact he says in effect….if you think the answer to life is some high powered position in a fortune 500 company or making seven digits a year, or even scoring the game winning basket….someday you will wonder why it was all such a big deal….years from now, they wont’ remember your name….
someday you will wonder why it was all such a big deal….years from now, they wont’ remember your name….
This morning I am looking into the faces of some of you who are at this exact spot in your life.
Lets face it, the presents you got for Christmas just two weeks ago are already boring and maybe even obsolete.
Somebody at work got a fancier cell phone, they got a faster laptop, and they got better wii games…they got a blue ray when you just got a DVD; they got an mp3 player with games…
Your here this morning and your life is empty…in fact you may be the kid who wrote in the library…Apathy Rules in your life, and it even rules in your walk with Christ…
If that’s you this morning please listen…know that when we remove Jesus, from the center of our lives, we are headed for ultimate disaster!
What King Solomon teaches us is that the only way to find satisfaction and relief from boredom is through a relationship with the living God!
Apart from Him, we are returned to the graffiti on the university library wall: "Apathy Rules!"
King Solomon has been there - Kingdom Solomon has done that - and, we ought to take his advice!
Two (2) ideas emerge from between the lines of King Solomon’s journal - the Holy Bible - the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes:
(1) If there is nothing but nothing under the sun, our only hope must be above it! Get God involved in your life today!!!!
(2) If a man, who had everything, investigated everything visible...then the one thing needed must be invisible!
Solomon had it all, yet he found no satisfaction….it only makes sense doesn’t it then that the satisfaction he was longing for will come only from that which is invisible….
By believing in the invisible Almighty God, that’s the only way that we can find satisfaction in life! Jesus Christ wants to rule our lives through the Holy Spirit!
Tell me, "Why should apathy rule if Jesus, the Christ, is available to everyone?"
Listen dear friend each and every one of us is one heartbeat away from dying! And by the same token each and every one of us is one prayer away from living forever with Almighty God!
I’m speaking this morning to some of the worlds most beautiful people…you look good,
you’ve got great potential,
you’ve got a great education,
you live a decent life.
You even dress stylish,
You drive a nice car…and your bills are paid…
but this morning you are as empty as empty can be….and you have allowed Satan to convince you that it is the next promotion that will bring you joy, or the next car or the next house, or the next relationship….so you keep shall I say “spitting in the wind”….but never getting satisfaction…
If that is you this morning I am here to tell you that’s nothing more than a handful of lies….there’s no life there….the only way you are ever going to find true happiness is by trusting in Jesus Christ.
If you have not done so, won’t you make that prayer today - none of us are promised tomorrow!
Once we are dead, it is too late; the commitment to a relationship with Almighty God can only be made while the blood is still running warm in our veins!
Why should apathy rule as long as He is available?
Much of this message is taken directly from Rev. Swindolls book.
