Spartan Christianity

I. Introduction

You’ve been told if you work hard at something, find a calling, uncover your purpose, or other plethora of vague predictions that your work and life will have meaning. You will be peaceful, fulfilled, and happy with what you put your hand to do. 

This is not necessarily the case. 

We have to work. The Bible tells us that we don’t eat [2 Thess 3:10]. That’s the main idea there.

What it doesn’t tell us is that “true meaning in life is found in work”. While work is necessary, there is no guarantee that you will find any meaning or purpose in it. 

How many people do you know who work difficult manual labor jobs?

Do you think they wake up excited to go break their backs for another 12 hours?

Maybe a handful of them but most do the work they have to do for no other reason than they have to do it. 

Many people in the undeveloped parts of the world still live very difficult lives. they work long, hard hours just to barely scrape by and survive.

With as much progress as humanity has made in the past centuries, it’s absolutely amazing that some countries still exist like this. 

Do you think people who live there have meaning and fulfillment in their work?

Or are they simply doing what’s required to survive?

Even in the advanced and developed parts of the world, we continue to work to survive.

We work to earn money so we can spend it on survival. Whatever money is left we spend to distract ourselves from the meaninglessness of that endless cycle of work, earn, spend. 

No matter what part of the world you find yourself in, you will find people doing the work they don’t want to do to pay for lives they don’t want to live. 

Yet every now and then someone will come along and tell you that you can find worth and meaning in what you do.

That may be true for some people, but it isn’t true for all people.

The way Solomon describes work casts some doubt on the idea of purpose and fulfillment being found in our work.

II. The Burdensome Nature of Work

 “And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised.”

Ecclesiastes 1:13

In the first chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon jumps head first into describing work as a “burdensome task”.

Why is it burdensome? It is simply in the nature or work. It is inherently difficult by design. 

Working will challenge your mind and body, leaving you mentally tired and physically exhausted. 

Perhaps you want to work to be free one day. You want to escape the endless cycle of work, eat, sleep and repeat.

It is hard to break this cycle when the very thing you are trying to escape absorbs all your physical and mental energy.

It makes it difficult to make any progress outside your day job. It becomes difficult to even find peace in your off hours [as Solomon will confirm in a moment].

If work was fulfilling and purposeful, why would it leave you feeling defeated and exhausted at the end of each day?

And it’s not the exhaustion you feel after doing something effortful that actually provides results like training, but it’s simply exhausting.

III. The Vanity of Labor

“I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.”

Ecclesiastes 1:14

“Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.”

Ecclesiastes 2:11

“Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the 

Ecclesiastes 2:17

“For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.”

Ecclesiastes 2:23

After identifying the burdensome nature of work, Solomon states that all the work done under the sun is vanity.

It’s an attempt to grasp the wind.

A meaningless expense of effort. 

Solomon tries to put this realization out of his mind. When he does so he then puts himself to work.

He works himself to the bone, building an incredibly rich empire with all the luxuries a man could dream of having. 

But as our Ecclesiastes 2:11 passage tells us, when he put down his tools, when he stopped working, when he popped his head above water to look at what he had done, he found it empty and meaningless. 

All the accomplishment and success in the world was not enough to make him feel fulfilled.

And you would think that if anyone could accomplish enough to make them fulfilled, it would be Solomon.

His laundry list of accomplishments plants him as one of the best monarchs in known history.

Yet despite all this success, he was still empty inside. 

Why?

Because work does not fulfill.

Accomplishment does not fulfill. 

After this realization, Solomon hates life [Ecc 2:17]. 

Why does he hate life?

Because his work is distressing. That’s what the verse explicitly states.

The stress of work robbed Solomon from the ability to enjoy life.

Even the highly successful king of Israel with every luxury, convenience and pleasure available to a person was not able to find fulfillment in this physical life. 

He later would find out what most people experience: the loss of sleep from work stress. 

Loss of Sleep

Ecclesiastes 2:23 is where Solomon expounds on the days of the working man. All his work is empty, his work is distressing, it makes him hate his life, and then even in the night he can find no rest and no peace from this stress.

It is never ending. 

Despite this clear teaching from Solomon, people still believe in the fulfillment of work.

Solomon tries to teach us by repetition that “all is vanity”. 

The Brevity of Satisfaction

Maybe you’ve had the experience of working extremely hard only to have no satisfaction in your work day.

I remember once at a hospital I worked at where we were supposed to treat 10 patients each day.

I kept working harder to see more people each day and then one day was able to double to my caseload and see 20 patients.

I remember walking out of the building with a feeling of satisfaction at 4:00 PM. And at 4:03 PM that feeling of satisfaction was gone. 

It sprouted wings and flew away.

I could work as hard as I wanted, it would never be enough. No sense of satisfaction would ever remain. 

This is the modern experience of work. 

IV. The Restlessness of Work

This next passage speaks about the life of the working man. 

“For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.”

Ecclesiastes 2:23

Some talk about their head hitting the pillow after a hard day of work and being able to go right to sleep. This is a luxury.

For most people, when their head hits the pillow, they are dreading the next day’s work.

They know what is coming for them. Another 8, 10 or 12 hours of the same exhausting, repetitive, meaningless tasks. 

Many experience the dread of work. “Sunday Scaries” is the new term for it. Why create a term for a phenomenon unless it was widespread? 

Endless goals.
Unfulfilled ambitions.
The waking realization that they might never be able to retire or achieve their financial goals despite years of toil and sacrifice.

This is what keeps people up at night.

This is why “even in the night their hearts take no rest”. 

V. Practical Implications

Solomon’s observations teach us important lessons: that there is more to life than work, that if we look to work for any form of fulfillment, we will be sorely disappointed, and that work is little more than a necessary evil we have to endure while we are here.

But that is the story of humanity. We have to endure struggles and difficulty while we are here in exchange for what we hope will be a great reward. 

That is more fear-provoking than it is meaningful. 

VI. Conclusion

Solomon’s message is simple: work is burdensome and unfulfilling. It is something to be tolerated while we live on the earth.

While his messages change from time to time and he states men are to “enjoy good in their labor”, he is simply talking about enjoying the results of the work, not the work itself. 

Don’t put too much stock in your earthly career.

It won’t bring the meaning or fulfillment that you think it will.

One of the biggest struggles men have is coming to the realization that they will have to work for their entire lives.

They will have to spend the majority of their lives in a cubicle doing something they do not want to do and aren’t interested in doing.

Many men get stuck here because they put themselves in a Position where they have no choice but to work.

It’s not work done from their own free will, it’s work done to survive. Men sell their hours for dollars that they then spend on survival.

All the while they question if survival is worth it in the first place. 

Every man goes through this period of difficulty.

If this is you, don’t worry. This is normal.

Even the wisest man to have ever lived, Solomon, experienced this phenomenon and outlined it in the book of Ecclesiastes. 

While traditional Christian thinking tries to teach young boys that work is all about finding some “purpose” and “fulfillment”, Solomon teaches [through inspiration from the Holy Spirit] that work is a “burdensome task”, a task that “Robs sleep”, and one that is “vanity”. 

“And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised.”

Ecclesiastes 1:13 (NKJV)

“I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.”

Ecclesiastes 1:14 (NKJV)

“Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.”

Ecclesiastes 2:11 (NKJV)

“Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.”

Ecclesiastes 2:17 (NKJV)

“For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.”

Ecclesiastes 2:23 (NKJV)

“For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.”

Ecclesiastes 2:23 (NKJV)

In the end all our work means nothing. All of our work will fade into obscurity.

It might have helped us and our family survive, which itself is noble, but that is where the benefit stops.

Even workers who built something that lasted centuries are quickly forgotten.

How often have you thought about the builders of the Coliseum, the Sistine Chapel, or the Notre Dame Cathedral?

This idea of “Purpose” and “True Fulfillment” that circulates in Christian circles is most likely a Myth. 

Another myth commonly propagated in the church is this idea that if you work, somehow you will stumble on “true fulfillment” and “It will all be worth it”.

Not only can Christian men not define what “fulfillment” even is, but they certainly can’t tell you how to get it.

Even when they can define it, it is very clear that “fulfillment” to them is an emotional state. 

As far as “It will all be worth it” is concerned: understand that this is a complete myth.

Your human nature won’t allow for anything to be worth it. And the “It” is “all that work”.

We can prove this quite easily.

Have you ever noticed that no destination is ever as enjoyable or as exciting as the journey to get there?

No vacation is as exciting as planning for the vacation and the excitement that leads up to it. 

This is by design. 

Our neurological pursuit systems are stronger than our reward systems for some reason. This is not an accident, but something God put within us to ensure we are continually pushing towards some goal. 

Understanding that, we can easily see how nothing is ever truly “Worth it”.

That’s a depressing reality, but it is reality nonetheless. 

No accomplishment will ever be worth the work it took to get there. 

It will only disappoint.

If you find yourself working a day job, being unfulfilled, and coming home every day dreading the next day, you aren’t alone. This is the nature of mankind.

Your job will never be what you wanted it to be.

You will never be as excited about your work as you were when you were a kid and were in such a hurry to grow up and be something.

If you want satisfaction in work, you have to create your own kind of work.

You have to create work where you can do something you semi-enjoy, while being compensated well, while also not having to spend many hours doing that work. 

It’s a tall order, but this is the age of opportunity.

You can research and find ways to accomplish this.

I truly believe that only when you free yourself from the modern slavery that we create for ourselves by the endless pursuit of material gain [while mindlessly following the traditional 9-5 pipeline] can you ever hope to find any happiness or fulfillment. 

You’ll be far happier removing something you hate that you will from adding something you might enjoy. 

Nothing will ever be as enjoyable as its opposite is painful. 

So get rid of the pain. 

Free yourself. 

Conduct yourselves like men

Proverbs 10:10 is a powerful verse that warns against two specific vices: malicious secret communication and foolish speech. 

“He who winks maliciously causes grief, and a chattering fool comes to ruin.”

Proverbs 10:10

The Malicious Wink

In this context, the “wink” is possibly talking about secret, or other forms of deceitful communication.

It’s a subtle form of deception, where one person conveys a hidden message or intention to another, typically with malicious intent. 

Gossip.
Defamation.
Character Assassination

This could involve winking to signal a lie, making a sly gesture to mock someone behind their back, or using other covert means to spread gossip or slander.

Examples of malicious winking leading to harm and grief are abundant throughout history.

A betrayal signaled by a wink could lead to the downfall of a trusted friend or ally.

Gossip and rumors spread secretly can ruin reputations and fracture relationships.

The proverb serves as a clear warning against participating in such underhanded behavior. 

Deceit and malice, even when conveyed subtly, are antithetical to wisdom and inevitably cause grief and harm to others.

The Chattering Fool

The second vice addressed in this proverb is that of the “chattering fool.” This refers to someone who speaks excessively and without wisdom, allowing their words to flow unchecked and unfiltered.

Such a person is characterized by a lack of self-control and a disregard for the consequences of their speech.

These types of people are very common. Words are plentiful in the modern day. 

The proverb emphasizes the importance of controlling the tongue and speaking prudently. 

Words have power, and those who fail to exercise wisdom and restraint in their speech often find themselves suffering the inevitable consequences. 

Contrasting the Two Vices

While the malicious wink and the chattering fool may seem like distinct vices, they share a common root: a lack of wisdom.

The malicious wink involves deceitful non-verbal cues, while the chattering fool engages in unrestrained speech, but both stem from a failure to exercise wisdom and discernment.

Moreover, both vices cause harm to others and ultimately bring ruin upon the perpetrator.

The malicious wink sows seeds of mistrust, grief, and division, while the chattering fool’s words can wound, betray, and destroy relationships and reputations.

“A man of great wrath will pay the penalty, for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again.”

Proverbs 19:19

Dealing with Hot-Tempered People

This proverb teaches a simple lesson: it’s a waste of time to try to help or rescue someone with an uncontrolled temper.

Such a person is prone to repeating the same mistakes and getting into trouble again and again due to their lack of self-control. 

If you assist them, you will have to repeat this assistance until the end of time. 

The key lessons here are: 

1. Anger Leads to Consequences: A person with a “great wrath” or hot temper will inevitably face negative consequences or “pay the penalty” for their unrestrained anger. We understand this: no one makes wise decisions while under the influence of anger. 
   
2. Temporary Relief: Even if someone intervenes to “deliver” or rescue the hot-tempered person from the consequences of their anger, it is only a temporary solution. 
   
3. Recurring Pattern: The hot-tempered individual will likely repeat the same angry behavior, requiring repeated interventions or “rescues” from the consequences. At some point you have to let people do what they are going to do and suffer the consequences of their own actions. Without this, they will never learn or change their behavior. 

The proverb suggests that personal development requires personal responsibility and self-discipline.

Merely shielding someone from the consequences of their anger does not address the root issue of their lack of self-control. 

Practical Application

1. Avoid Enabling: Constantly rescuing or enabling someone with anger issues can reinforce their behavior and prevent them from learning self-control. Just as God lets us use our free will and then suffer the results of that free will, so we also must let others suffer the consequences of their actions without trying to shield them. 
   
2. Allow Consequences: Sometimes, it is necessary to let people face the natural consequences of their actions, as this can motivate them to change. God does this to us all the time. God will allow is to suffer the consequences of our own actions if it will make us better.
   
3. Encourage Rational Thought: Instead of constantly intervening, encourage the hot-tempered person to reflect on their behavior and take responsibility for their actions. Teach them to use their minds and try to think in advance before making poor decisions. 

The proverb teaches us that true growth and change come from within, not from external interventions that shield individuals from the consequences of their actions.

Let people pay the price for what they do.

This applies even to yourself.