Here are some questions based on last Sunday’s sermon text (Ecclesiastes 5:8-20), in case they’re helpful to you for personal growth or group discussion…

• [8] It has been said that Christians should be the “least shockable” people. We know what God says sinful people are like in a fallen world, so we shouldn’t be surprised when we see people doing terrible things. “If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter…” Why should you not be amazed when you see oppression and injustice in this world? Why are such things to-be-expected? Can you acknowledge that such things will be features of this world, and yet at the same time consider them to be unacceptable? How can the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice be addressed, if they are always prone to happen in this world?

• [10] “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money.” He who loves money believes that he will be satisfied with money, and lives as though he will be. Do you live as if just a little more would finally do the trick? Do you think “enough” has a certain price tag? Do you feel like you could achieve contentment with a certain level of income and standard of living? How is “the love of money” a “root of all kinds of evils” (1 Timothy 6:10)? In what ways can you see the love of money corrupting people? In what ways might it affect you? What kinds of misery does the love of money produce as seen in verses 11-17?

• [18-20] Ecclesiastes (and the whole Bible) says that true satisfaction in life is a spiritual matter, a matter of your relationship with God, not a matter of finances. Jesus and the Apostles talk about (and demonstrate) true contentment as something that anyone can have, regardless of how much money they have. This contentment is found in God, in receiving what we have as gifts from God with thanksgiving, in accepting our “lot” because it is what God has given us. And God has given us himself, his own fullness and joy. Do you have what you need to live? Have you ever gone a single day without food or clothing? Do you have Jesus? Do you have his Heavenly Father as your own? Are you filled with his Holy Spirit? Do you ever feel true contentment, true satisfaction in God? Is God “enough” for you in ways that free you from the love of money, from the compelling need for “a little more”?