Category Archives: Topical

Ecclesiastes, Money

Ecclesiastes 5:1-6:6 – Greed is idolatry

Discussion question:

What’s something in this life that you might like to save up for?

Read Ecclesiastes 5:1-6:6

Context

The premise of the Teacher’s lessons is that life under the sun is empty – misty. We do not improve this earth by our existence, and we do not create more joy than what God has already gifted to us to begin with. Life as gain is disappointing (to say the least) but life as a gift is where joy can be found. We do not orchestrate time and the best we can do under the sun is to enjoy our labour, to live in community and to learn to fear God. Wisdom is better than folly but both will return to dust in the end. Humans are no better off than animals under this same measure. We thank God each lesson for the greater Teacher who reveals eternity for us.

Chapters 1-4 have laid down the foundation for the rest of the book. We’ll hear things we’ve already heard in this chapters but the Teacher will explore them more deeply and include more wisdom for us to listen to and learn.

Observation

Structure

  • (5:1-7) Fear God.
  • (5:8-17) Forget money.
  • (5:18-6:6) God gives…

(5:1-7) Fear God.

“Guard your steps…” This has the sense of being watchful of how you proceed. Psalm 119:59, 101, 105. The wisdom to watch your feet will parallel the wisdom to watch our words in Verse 2.

“…when you go to the house of God.” The Temple is unique in all the world as the one place authorised to bring sacrifice to God. 1 Kings 7:12 use the phrase ‘house of God’ to mean Temple. Christians do not have a building that equals this because Jesus is the Temple and we are the Temple where God dwells. So, join the dots and work out when should a Christian guard their steps?

“Go near to listen rather than…” Proverbs 29:20; 18:13. A fool presumes to know what life is about and what everyone expects. A fool feels they need no education. A fool is not educated about what they do wrong. Many sinners will step foot in church and never believe that they need forgiveness. 

“God is in heaven and you are on earth…” Here is the distinction between our vision versus God’s. We live life with only knowledge of what happens under the sun but God is in heaven and has wisdom to teach us, if we would listen. This is why the Bible is so very, very important. General revelation (what we can observe and conclude from our senses and logic alone) is limited and does not teach us anything about God in real detail. But God has spoken to this world and our place is to listen to Him. Those who do not are rightly defined as foolish.

“A dream comes when there are many cares…” The meaning of Verse 3 is unclear except that the ‘dream’ is not positive. One might interpret the definition of ‘dream’ as an inspired answer or revelation from God but that doesn’t fit the context. Verse 7 uses the word ‘dreaming’ negatively. Verse 1 describes approaching the house of God in order to listen. Verse 3 has a parallel sense to it which matches the second half: “…many words mark the speech of a fool.” The verse, then, is about the fool with all his/her concerns under the sun when what they really ought to do is stop and listen to God who is in heaven. What do we know? The dream could be disturbed sleep due to the cares of the world. It could be wishful thinking or planning your way out of the world’s cares. NB: a good rule with scripture is that when a sentence is difficult to nail down, then look at the context and lean on that for your answer. I don’t see this as promoting the reading of dreams because of the context.

“…a vow to God…” This simply means a promise that is made especially in prayer.

“Do not let your mouth lead you into sin.” Guard your mouth as much as you guard your step.

“Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore fear God.” See above on dreaming. This is the conclusion: attempts to get out of strife in this world is foolishness – be still and know that God is God – fear Him. The fear is demonstrated by listening.

(5:8-17) Forget money.

“…do not be surprised…” What is described in Verses 8-9 and further is the power of money and the pyramid of success. Those at the top are benefitting from what is below. Do you think the bottom of the pyramid is filled with winners? Do you think that those at the top are innocent and pure? The Kingdom of God is the only exclusion to this logic – it defies logic like this – the least will be first and the first last!

“…wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners…” We are left to imagine why this is harmful. The hoarding implies no sharing and no good use for the wealth – see Verse 11b – its only use is to be looked at. It is not others who are hurt by the hoarding but the owner. 

“…or wealth lost through some misfortune…” The second misfortune is money that was intended to be used for the next generation but it is lost through financial misfortune.

“Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart.” You can’t take it with you so why live like money is the answer. The Teacher has outlined a number of ways that faith in money will ruin us: It creates oppression in the world (8-9); We lose sleep trying to accumulate it (10-12); We hope in it only to have it taken from us through misfortune (13-14). The only content person is the one who works for a living in order to eat and sleep (12a). Better to stop worshiping money.

(5:18-6:6) God gives…

“This is what I have observed to be good…” The Teacher makes some conclusions in this whole section.

“…this is their lot.” The conclusion embraces the limitation of our existence. We do not plan when to be born or when to die. Our existence is fleeting and we take as much out of life as we brought into it. But to eat, drink and find some satisfaction in what we do, rather than in the wealth we gather, is good. We may even sleep soundly for it rather than be troubled by dreams.

…when God gives…this is a gift of God…God keeps them occupied…” Godliness with contentment is great gain, says Paul to Timothy in 1 Tim 6:6. It is the life of the wise person who has approached God to listen to him rather than to pursue wealth – God may well have blessed a person like that with wealth. The money is not evil but the love of money is. Notice the grace of God to provide and it is in hands really.

“…occupied with gladness of heart.” A good phrase for contentment.

“…another evil…meaningless…a grievous evil.” The opposite of ‘good’? Verses 6:1-6 describe this grievous evil. It is better to not have experienced life at all than to have everything your heart desires and yet no joy in them – they die before they can enjoy it. Working in order to enjoy retirement – if that is the point of life – that is a tragedy. 

Suggested questions for running this study.

Q1. Discuss the content and meaning of verse 1 (5:1). How do Verses 2 to 7 expand on this?

Q2. How is life under the sun described in Verses 8-9?

Q3. What does the pursuit of wealth bring us? See 10-12; 13-14; 15-17.

Q4. What is the difference between the rich fool and the wealthy person blessed by God? (see 5:18-20 compared to 6:1-2). Read Luke 12:13-34 to remember the tragedy of the rich fool.

Meaning

Listen to God and stop pursuing the wealth of the earth. We brought nothing into this world and will take nothing out of it. The toil of life ought to do no more than give us food, drink and rest. Life and prosperity are a gift from God – a need to listen to him carefully and be thankful is our lot.

Application

Challenge#1 Listen to God – really.

Do you have an eagerness to listen to God through his word? He has spoken to us clearly and with a very rich resource for knowledge and life. How often it is that we ignore it, presume we have already learned enough from it, or think we know it when we really don’t know half of it! Let’s get rid of our apathy toward God’s word and act as though his word is life.

Challenge#2 To spend or not to spend

What is it that you are saving money for? It’s up to you what you do with your money but the Lord has given us more than enough warnings to consider what we do with it. This challenge is an opportunity to ponder where your heart is and to reflect on money wisely. Have you considered what happens once you’re gone?

Challenge#3 A world of oppression without wisdom.

Life as gain creates a pyramid of oppression where only the person on top is not oppressed and yet they are tortured by their own wealth through lack of sleep and the futility of losing it all – or the worry that they might! It is a disastrous view of life but this is the world we live in. Imagine if people were freed from this? The gospel gives people freedom from being slaves to money. God calls us to free people from this slavery. It begins with people listening to God – that’s the break in the cycle – to listen to God. Perhaps you are the mouthpiece of God to help somebody! (Luke 12:13-34)

Ecclesiastes, Judgment

Ecclesiastes 3-4 – Eternity in our hearts

Discussion question:

What is something that you hope for?

Read Ecclesiastes 3-4

Context

The Teacher is the King of Israel who has set out to test the fruit of life. What is it all about? Who wins in the end? He has done this by observing the world around him (Chapter 1) and the pursuit of pleasure (Chapter 2). His conclusion so far has been that God is the giver of everything and nothing that we do can be called new or forever ours. We do not create. We do not keep. But what this world cannot give us, God gives freely: wisdom and contentment.

Observation

Structure

  • Regarding time: 3:1-8 A time for everything and everything in its time.
  • Regarding humanity 3:9-22
    • 3:9-15 Humility lesson#1: Eternity in our hearts.
    • 3:16-17 God is the only righteous judge
    • 3:18-22 Humility lesson#2: No different to animals.
  • Regarding community 4:1-16
    • 4:1-3 Better off dead!?
    • 4:4-12 The relationship between toil and people
    • 4:13-16 Nobody ever comes out on top

Regarding time (3:1-8)

This well known poem which was famously set to music back in the 60s, can be seen with two lenses. Lens one is the rose-coloured type: how beautiful is the symmetry of life and how wise is it to recognise the time for this and the time for that. Wisdom helps us to identify which is which and be content with that. But this is not the correct lens to where.

Lens two is the one that reads this poem in the context of Ecclesiastes. What is the Teacher trying to teach us? Meaningless! Everything is misty!

God is sovereign over every time and we are not in control of any of it. Especially the time to die! No amount of toil will put us in control of these things. We are subject to the authority of God. Time is determined by God.

Regarding humanity (3:9-22) 9,15,18

3:9-15 Humility lesson#1: Eternity in our hearts.

“He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” These two clauses summarise Verses 9 to 14. Somehow, God has implanted in our minds the idea of forever, but we have no way of accessing this timeline. It is God’s. He owns it. We are here for a short while to toil and enjoy what beauty is given in its time. We enjoy the gift of life that God gives to us – for our time – and we are given the concept and wonder of eternity but only a temporary role in it. And what’s the point? So that we would learn to fear God.

“Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before;” See Ecclesiastes 6:10 and 1:9. There is nothing new under the sun. We are very constrained as humans.

“…and God will call the past to account.” This has some translation difficulties as you’ll see if you compare different versions. The NIV leads us to hear God as the judge of all events. But the ESV and others, ‘God seeks what has been driven away’ which sits parallel to the first part of Verse 15. That is, God brings about what has already been.

In one sense it doesn’t matter. The judgement of God becomes clear in the following verses and what Verse 15 proclaims is that God sits above the events of time.

3:16-17 God is the only righteous judge

“And I saw something else under the sun…” This refers to the realm of life in this world. The ‘under the sun’ phrase occurs 29 times in the book. 5 times are in Chapters 3 and 4.

“…wickedness was there…” To the Teacher, judgment and justice does not occur with righteousness in this world (under the sun) but wickedness is there.

“God will bring into judgment…” The Teacher believes in a time for judgment from God for all people. We will see in the next section that the Teacher does not know or declare when that will take place. Barry Webb suggests this may be similar to ‘setting eternity in our hearts’ with respect to time. Righteous judgment and justice will occur – but the details are not forthcoming.

3:18-22 Humility lesson#2: No different to animals.

“As for humans, God tests them so that they may see…” We have seen the humility of our power over time and events. And we’ve seen our humility under God as the only righteous judge. Now we will learn that, under the sun, there is no difference between humans and animals. All things being equal, we are no better off than the axolotl. 

“Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?” As we examine biology, who knows? This is the ‘under the sun’ point of view. Later, in 12:7, the Teacher will declare that our spirit returns to God who gave it. So, there is more to say than what the Teacher says in Verse 21 but external observation gives us no clue. Do animals have spirits? I remain agnostic. The word for spirit is interchangeable with breath. We need not put special significance on a rhetorical question.

“So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work…” Verse 22 caps off this chapter well. There is a time for humanity between ones birth and ones death. All of the toil under the sun is in the sovereign hands of God. Who knows but the Lord what comes after.

Regarding community 4:1-16

4:1-3 Better off dead!?

The Teacher describes the injustice that occurs under the sun and declares it as evil. Better than a dead person is one who never entered the world at all. The Teacher speaks wisdom and logic. Whether he feels depressed about it or not is unknown. Life on earth is full of unfairness. He simplifies people into one of two categories, you are either the oppressed or the oppressor. The notion of equity is absent in his view.

4:4-12 The relationship between toil and people

“…all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another.” This is quite stark isn’t it? What drives a person to success, according to the Teacher, is not self motivation or self improvement but the desire to be better than others. Envy is a hurtful motivation that wants another person to fail because they have what you want.

Verse 4 opens a series of observations about how humans relate with one another.

Verses 5-6: Firstly an idle person will fail, but a simple helping will suffice. The other extreme is to be too greedy – the effort is not worth it. Work because you must but don’t over do it!

Verses 7-8: The story of a single man who works and works but is never content. Who does he share the wealth with? Who does he share the toil with? Both of these problems are explored in the verses that follow.

Verses 9-10: Two people in business or partnership have one another’s backs. This is a good thing.

Verse 11: Regarding a marriage, this seems comfortable. (A hot water bottle is nice too).

Verse 12: In battle, teamwork is the better. Two is better than one and three is really good.

NB: Verses 11 and 12 are often joined together but I see no need to do this. The theme or the illustrations are different. When joined together, the inclination is to make the third cord God and so a marriage with God is strong. This is true but I don’t see this jumping out off the page.

4:13-16 Nobody ever comes out on top

These verses are tricky. We have the subject of a young person and a king. Verse 13 seems easy enough to grasp on its own. Then there seems to be a narrative about an upcoming ruler, the youth who rises from poverty and is followed by many. He seems like someone worth supporting, not this old foolish king who no longer heeds warning! But the reality is that this is a repeating narrative. Verse 16 says that there is a long history of youths who were elevated to king. And the story goes that this youth-become-king is eventually rejected as people are not pleased with them. This is the story of rise to power and the conclusion is: meaningless!

Suggested questions for running this study.

Q1. What is pleasing about the poem in Chapter 3 Verses 1-8? Is it a hopeful poem or a hopeless poem? Discuss.

Q2. Looking at Verses 9-15, what are all the things that God has done?

Q3. Verse 22 brings the chapter to a blunt conclusion. What is Chapter 3 teaching us about life under the sun? 

Q4. Look at the various wisdoms of Verses 4 to 12. What do they say about human relationships?

Q5.  There is mention of judgment in these chapters (see 3:17) but no certainty of when or how. There seems to be a time for everything under heaven but when is the time for righteous judgment? Revelation 20:11 onwards has an answer to that! But let’s turn to Mark 14:17-25. What injustice under the sun is referenced here? Compare Mark 14:21 with Ecclesiastes 4:3 – what is the irony of this comparison?

Meaning

Life under the sun is filled with toil and tears. A time for everything but all of it is outside the power of humanity. God ordains the years and everything that happens within them. God is greater than all of us and yet there is much injustice in this world. Thanks be to God that there is a time for judgment and the time has been allotted by God. Thanks also be to Christ who underwent the greatest injustice the world has ever seen or known and all so that we can be raised up with him at the end.

Application

Challenge#1 Responding to injustice

What does the gospel teach us about injustice? The most mistreated person in all of history must be God himself. Ecclesiastes reminds us that this life contains many accounts of oppression and injustice but the gospel reminds us that all justice will be served in the end and it will fall on the hands of the perfect and just God. There is a time for justice and the bible reminds us even to leave vengeance to God.

Challenge#2 What time is it?

There is a time for everything under the sun. Half of the things listed in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 are negative things. They are not given to us because of karma but simply because this is the time and the will of God. Not every day we live is a walk in the park. Often it rains. As God works in us, he reminds us that our hope is not for suffering to end quickly but that we will grow from it. Romans 5:3-5.

Challenge#3 What hope do you have?

When you encounter someone suffering depression or hopelessness, is there any wisdom from Ecclesiastes 3 and 4 that you can see useful? One might talk about the changing times and that these moments pass. One might talk about the benefit of friends, that if someone falls down, there are others to help them up. Or we might talk about the expectation of injustice in this world – but that there is an invitation by God to look to the kingdom of God for a new future. Revelation 20:11:21:5

anxiety, Ecclesiastes, Sanctification/holiness

Ecclesiastes 2 – We gain nothing – God gives everything

Discussion question:

Laughter is the best medicine. Do you know a joke you could share?

Context

The Teacher of the assembly began by stating that everything around us is meaningless. That is, no matter how much you put in, you gain nothing. The world, on the other hand, under God’s rule provides and never ceases to provide. So, what is the point of our life? The Teacher decided to put their wisdom and understanding to use and experiment. Although the conclusion looks grim, the Teacher sets out to explore what to make of this world and this life.

Read Ecclesiastes Chapter 2

Observation

Structure

  • 1-9 The project of pleasure
  • 10-16 Poetry – The result of pleasure and wisdom
    • 10-11 Nothing to show for pleasure
    • 12-14 Better to be wise than a fool
    • 15-16 No better being wise than a fool
  • 17-23 The great despair of nothing gained
  • 24-27 The gift from God

1-9 The project of pleasure

“I said to myself…” The ESV says, “I said to my heart…” The meaning of the NIV is right but the word ‘heart’ helps us see where the Teacher is going. He wants to know what he longs for and what drives his life. He isn’t referring to a textbook on the matter but asking himself what is it all about. Note later the phrase, “…my mind still guiding me with wisdom.”

“I will test you with pleasure…” The first test will be to go where the heart desires and see what that produces. He will list out laughter and cheer before moving on to projects that are self-rewarding.

“…what is good…” Verse 1 and 3 have this same reference point. But what could he mean? The sense of worthwhile and profitable is probably in mind. Not a question of good verses evil but a judgment on what is useful and worthwhile doing.

“Laughter…is madness.” Again, a word to suggest an action done for no reason or benefit. True enough. A robot might ask that question.

“And what does pleasure accomplish?” He doesn’t seem to answer that question. Are we to assume nothing? As we continue through this chapter, we’ll find that some things can’t be concluded as bad or madness purely because it doesn’t produce anything. The Teacher is asking what progress do we make through pleasure. The answer is, ‘no tangible progress.’ But that doesn’t mean that pleasure is useless. He calls it pleasure and cheering himself. This is beneficial in the moment. But the question still remains, what real gain are we making through this?

“…cheering myself with wine…” We’ll likely cover alcohol later in the book but we will be sensitive for the moment on this topic. In the current context, the cheering through drinking achieves no profit. It is not condemned here but neither is it prescribed for better living. More on this will come.

“My mind still guiding me with wisdom.” Verse 3 and 9 have the same condition. The Teacher is on a project of understanding. The drinking and the folly was kept in check to observe the benefits. He did not cease his project of exploring the meaning of life. While pursuing pleasure, he was mindful of the process.

Verses 1-3a Describe his intention and the starting point was folly. Pleasure through madness. Unprofitable. But desirable. He then turns his attention to a different kind of pleasure: project management!

“I undertook great projects…” Verses 4-9 outline the exploration of putting his hands to work – not out of service to others but for self gain. Houses, vineyards, gardens and parks; servant breeding and stock, silver and gold and personal entertainment. The whole list of things are for himself. This is why this falls into the category of pleasure rather than of work. We certainly work for pleasure when it is achieving our goals and dreams. He was acquiring “…the delights of a man’s heart.”

10-16 Poetry – The result of pleasure and wisdom

After the decision to explore the fruit of pleasure through self indulgent pleasure and project management for wealth and leisure, the Teacher gives us some conclusions through poetry.

10-11 Nothing to show for pleasure

“I denied myself nothing my eyes desired…” The boundary of his experiment was wide.

“My heart took delight in all my labour…” I suggest he means that he put his hand to nothing except what he delighted in. As listed already, the outcome of all his work was for self.

“Yet when I surveyed…nothing was gained under the sun.” The conclusion is that he has nothing to show for it all. Remember that in chapter 1 he had concluded that our life comes and goes and you are left with nothing but the sun goes round and round without us. When we are done, our stuff will belong to someone else. He will take us to this point later.

“…this was the reward for all my toil.” Verse 10d is interesting. While life is meaningless and all the projects leave us with nothing, we still have the pleasure in the process. What is the reward? “Delight in all my labour.”

12-14 Better to be wise than a fool

“…to consider wisdom and also madness and folly.” This is an experiment of comparison. Is it better to be wise or foolish? To live life with understanding or without.

“What more can the king’s successor do than what has already been done?” This is not to be read as a universal question but specific to the outcome of this experiment. The present king has put his hands to everything he can find to do. Houses, vineyards, wealth and prosperity. What could the next king possibly do? I love the arrogance of this statement! Consider for a second, the Christian perspective on this. If the great Teacher and Kind is the one we ought to listen to: what on earth can we do that is greater than what the King of kings has done. Please forgive me. I’m not trying to jump too quickly to a hyper-Christian response. But the word of God here is for you and for me. I certainly can’t do what the Teacher has been able to do in his experiment. But take it even further and ask, what can we do that God has not already done?

“…wisdom is better than folly…” Having eyes to see is obviously better than not. The Teacher doesn’t seem to go further than saying that obviously it is better to be wise. But…

15-16 No better being wise than a fool

“…the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered…like the fool, the wise too must die!” This is the real measuring line. What is profitable? What is worthwhile? What is measurably good? Well, if death is the end for everyone irrespective of wealth or poverty, wisdom or folly, then what’s the point? The Teacher will begin the next section with much depression. The phrase “…the days have already come…” remind us that our days are numbered. Death is not an ‘if’ but a ‘when’.

17-23 The great despair of nothing gained

“So I hated my life…” Has the lessons from the Teacher started depressing you? Well, that was his journey too!

“…the work…was grievous to me…” Not pleasurable anymore since the final word is death which resets all gains.

“…I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish?” Even if we think of our lives as a baton race where we help build for the next generation, even that is folly. It strikes me how every generation elements that we have done poorly and hope that we can leave something better for the next generation – when the reality is that they will grow up to lament their efforts also.

“For a person may labour with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it.” A great effort in this life amounts to…? Just note that the Teacher is not saying we should give up on life – bear with it – but what is the profit of life? What’s in it for me really? Depressing?

24-27 The gift from God

“…this too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?” Depression is replaced with contentment. The profit of wisdom, knowledge and skill is nothing. We gain nothing from any of it in the end. But the pleasure we receive in the process is God’s gift to us. The very presumption of the experiment is the gift from God. The fact that any pleasure can be received is God’s gift. Our emotional ability is God given. We can’t even produce that from nothing!

“…God gives happiness…” Godliness with contentment is great gain, says Paul in 1 Timothy 6:6. The ‘happiness’ is not simply pleasure or laughter but relief from the pains of gaining nothing. Relief from depression! True contentment is a gift from God. It doesn’t come from gaining through this life but through learning how to please him – to enjoy God and to know him. This is the fruit of the Spirit – to know God in truth and to be sanctified through a growing knowledge of God.

“…but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over…” To the one who strives to gain, they lose everything. But to the one who will pursue God, they gain contentment which is the gift from God. As Jesus once said, “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it!” Mark 8:35

Suggested questions for running this study.

Q1. Verses 1-9 describe the Teacher’s plans to test pleasure. What types of pleasure does he describe? What is the difference between the pleasures of Verses 2-3a and the pleasures of 3b-9?

Q2. Verses 4-9 describe the endeavours of a king. How far away is our lifestyle to his? 

Q3. The poetry from Verse 10 is a reflection of his findings. What does he conclude?

Q4. When he contrasts wisdom and folly in Verses 13-16, which ends up the winner? Discuss the despair that results in Verses 17-23.

Q5.  How does the Teacher resolve his depression in Verses 24-27?

Q6. Look up one or more of these New Testament passages to discuss. Matthew 6:25-34; 1 Timothy 6:6-11; Romans 8:5-11.

Meaning

Pouring our energy into this life for the sake of gain is fruitless. We can certainly try but the end will be the expected result. Both the foolish and the wise will die. Our day is coming. But to the one who turns to God and lives for him, they receive contentment as their gift. In this life, we gain nothing except vapour. But with God, we receive the gift of living.

Application

Challenge#1 Seek first the kingdom of God

Matthew 6:19 onwards illustrates Jesus’ perspective on all of this. Even Solomon, in all of his glory, had nothing more than what God provided for him. We are in a more privileged position than Solomon. We have the benefit of his wisdom as well as Christ’s wisdom. This world will give us thrill if we chase it and we will be left with nothing in the end. But with Christ, seeking His kingdom first, we get wisdom, contentment, and eternity. The bible talks about ‘chasing after’ the things of this world like the pagan does. That is foolish. The wise person looks at the logic: we can add nothing to this life but God can give us everything we need and more. Shall we seek first our kingdom or Gods?

Challenge#2 How much is too much?

Whether that question is about alcohol (v3) or prosperity and ambition (v9), in God’s wisdom we are required to be sober minded about everything. To keep wisdom with us (v3 and 9). The bible does not forbid alcohol (it endorses it at times 1Ti5:23) but it certainly condemns the foolishness of excess (Proverbs 23:20). The bible does not condemn making money (it endorses it at times 1Thess4:11; 2Thes3:10) but it certainly warns of the dangers of wealth (Matt19:24). The question is not, how much is too much, but why are you even asking the question? See Challenge#1

Challenge#3 Preach Ecclesiastes to your neighbour

The book of Ecclesiastes is an excellent text for discussing with our neighbours. All the work and toil that goes into this life and for what? So we can enjoy a long weekend at Bonny Doon? What if life was already handed to us? What if everything our heart desires has been offered to us through Jesus? Could it be possible that all our efforts are in vain? Could it be possible that if we lost our life and surrendered our efforts and attention to Jesus, we would receive much, much more than we could ever give up? Mark 8:35-38 challenges us to leave everything in faith and follow Jesus. Romans 8:30 tells us what we get when we turn to him (Romans 8:28-32).