Pastor's Update
Who Cares?
By Rev. Dallas E. Henry
Jun 12, 2009 - 10:00:00 AM

Satan has a tool in his arsenal of weapons and he’s really been making good use of it in America and here in Maine. The tool is the spirit of Apathy.

In a university library, - on the walls - in bold, sprawling letters, there appeared two 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.

The 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!  It took him several years, however, to come to that conclusion!  He was assigned to teach a course filled to the brim with students who did not want to learn.  In fact, it was one of those classes where the students 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 care less what the subject was.

The high school teacher finally got fed up with their apathy!  One day 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 is a problem in so many areas of life and people may not even realize that some of the problems they’re facing today are the direct result of Apathy.  People just don’t care about much anymore, unless and until it directly affects their own personal comfort zones.

How can you tell if Apathy has set in at church?
- God’s work is being neglected
- God’s people are content and bored
- God’s people make excuses

When God’s work is neglected, when God’s people are contented and when God’s people make excuses for not doing what God wants them to do, you have the unmistakable evidences of spiritual apathy.

There is nothing more insidious or more destructive than the spirit of Apathy.  It causes depression, stifles creativity, stunts spiritual growth, and drains energy.  It can take hold in every area of life where it is allowed to grow, and it can completely immobilize individual believers, families, and also churches.

As just one example, when Apathy infects a marriage, life becomes boring and routine, and the couple loses the joy they had when they first wed.  The marriage relationship is robbed of passion and meaning the couple’s love is neither hot nor cold.  When the husband becomes indifferent to the needs and desires of his wife, (and vise-versa) communication breaks down, and living is reduced to the mundane, day to day activities with no direction and no celebration of life.  Once the man no longer cares about serving his wife, it’s not long before this spirit of indifference overwhelms her too, because apathy feeds on itself.  Selfishness becomes the norm, boredom and depression come in.  Soon the couple starts to wonder what it’s all for and whats the meaning and purpose of life is.   They wonder if there isn’t something more.  Then, those often-heard words are uttered, the ones that are heard in so many divorce attorneys offices, “I just don’t care anymore, I just don’t love you anymore.”

Apathy can affect us all, no matter what age, regardless of our education or income level.  Kids stop caring about their school work or their parents rules.  Apathetic teens tend to not care about much at all.  Employees can be indifferent about the quality of their work and the level of their service.  The wealthy are unconcerned about the poor, and the poor are indifferent toward the wealthy.

Apathy can affect all areas of a person’s life, from the value placed on health, nutrition and exercise, to time spent with family, to cleanliness of the home, to tidiness of one’s front yard, to the condition of one’s financial state, to one’s responsibility to their fellow man and to God Himself.

As human beings, we are created to care.  We’re created to care for the people in our lives, as well as all the things God has blessed us with.  We are designed to be His caretakers.  When we stop caring and become apathetic and indifferent, life loses its meaning and purpose. 

God hates indifference.  In Revelation 3:15-17, we read, “I know you well. You are neither hot nor cold; I wish you were one or the other! But since you are merely lukewarm, I will spit you out of My mouth!  You say, ‘I am rich, with everything I want; I don’t need a thing!’  And you don’t realize that spiritually, you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.”

That Scripture describes more Christians today than we may realize.  The statement, “I am rich, with everything I need” describes a happy American comfort zone.  Just give me my remote control and a bag of chips and don’t bother me - I don’t care!

No where is apathy more evident, today, than in the American church.  Those who call themselves Christians can be the most difficult people in the world to motivate.

For example, while the enemy motivated some to remove God from our public schools in the 1960s, legalize the killing of innocent unborn babies in the 1970s, normalize homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle in the 1980s, provide equal marriage benefits for those who embrace that lifestyle in the 1990s, and attempt to ban the words “Under God” and have the Ten Commandments outlawed in 2003, Christians were largely indifferent, unconcerned, and apathetic.  And now we have Homosexual Marriage as the law of Maine.  We were warned, but no one was listening and perhaps no one cared.

Christians, today, give little more than lip service to pro-life issues, family values and bringing God back to the public square.  And after decades of talking about these issues, we’ve lost valuable ground that may never be recovered this side of Christ’s return.  And meanwhile, souls are being lost, God’s missionaries and ministers are not being supported in their work.  While many say they are concerned, if there’s a good show on TV tonight they really don’t want to miss it.

How sad!  A few are beginning to realize that it’s time Christians do something.  It’s time we move from saying were concerned to really doing something!

The Scripture in Revelation chapter 3 goes on, in Verse 20 to say, “Look! I have been standing at the door and I am constantly knocking.  If anyone hears Me calling him and opens the door, I will come in and fellowship with him and he with Me.”  And verse 22, “Let those who can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”

That’s a solemn statement: “Let those who can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” Many believers have gotten really good at ignoring the One at the door.  That seems to be the whole problem; God’s people aren’t listening.  Many are busy with their own lives and interests, and can’t be bothered.  We should keep in mind that God doesn’t force His way in.  He doesn’t break and enter.  He knocks and it is up to His people to either open up the door of their hearts and allow Him to bless them - and others through them - or to decide otherwise.

We all suffer from Apathy to some degree.  It’s another one of the weeds Satan sows in our lives that we need to identify and then pull out by the roots because this weed is especially poisonous.

If we open the door and turn to Him, the Holy Spirit will break the spirit of Apathy that has taken up residence in us, bring back our motivation and get us moving again. 

We can’t expect the Spirit to do this if our door remains closed.  Again, He doesn’t force His way in.  He knocks.  Our job is to open the door.

One of the important things churches can do right now is get involved in overturning the recently passed Homosexual Marriage Law here in Maine by getting signatures on petitions to allow Mainers to vote on the issue.  Congregations can set up petitions in their church as well as provide an opportunity for their people to gather signatures in the community where they live.

I have volunteered to be a county coordinator for the distribution of petitions.  I’ve done it for all the former people’s veto campaigns.  Churches are getting petitions and setting them up for their people to sign.  Petitions are also available for individuals to collect signatures.  For anyone interested in getting petitions and the training on how to collect signatures, click [HERE].  You can also call the Catholic Diocese of Maine at (207) 773-6471.

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