Next Sunday

Despite the meaninglessness and seemingly random nature of all things under the sun, the Preacher of Ecclesiastes is certain that wisdom is better than folly. Our passage this week (Ecclesiastes 9:13-10:15) provides numerous proverbs which drive home this conclusion. For example, the words of a poor wise man deliver a meagre city besieged by a…

When one observes life ‘under the sun’ it is easy to think that good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people. To the Preacher such events seems to be unavoidable and random, a matter of time and chance. However, he is aware that such events are in the hands of…

Details to come

This week we hear from the Preacher of Ecclesiastes in the second half of Chapter 7 who, having searched high and low under the sun, seeking wisdom, righteousness and ‘the scheme of things’, comes up empty handed. ‘Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins,’ he remarks. Aware…

Through confronting questions, wise counsel and striking proverb the Teacher continues to probe the perplexing issues of life: existence, death, grief, pride and anger, living in the past and struggling with the sovereignty of God. No simplistic answers here, but neither is there a giving way to godless despair. In the gospel the Spirit indeed…

Can I encourage you to come this week, ‘guarding your steps’ and being ‘ready to listen’, as the Preacher of Ecclesiastes takes a break from his commentary on life under the sun, and for the first time in the book, admonishes his readers directly. In fact, in Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 he instructs us on how life…

The Teacher looks out upon the world and sees many human illustrations of the meaninglessness that pervades ‘life under the sun’: the suffering of the powerless that have no one to comfort them, the envy and jealousy that drives people in their work and careers, the foolishness of those who destroy themselves by opting out…

This week James Krieg will be bringing the message from Ecclesiastes 3. He writes: “In Ecclesiastes chapter three the Teacher calls us to wrestle with one of the Big issues – the seeming inevitability of all that happens under the sun. ‘For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.’…

In the second chapter of Ecclesiastes, Koheleth, the Preacher looks at three particular aspects of life in his quest for meaning and gain: he ‘tests’ himself with pleasure; considers wisdom; and then reflects upon all his toil. He found that none of these could satisfy, nor could they offer any lasting substance or meaning to…