SERMON TITLE: Our Circumstances, God’s Faithfulness
SCRIPTURE: Malachi 3:13-18 (ESV)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 11-15-26
Sermon Discussion Guide
Take notes here
As always, it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time or if you’re joining us at our North Main Campus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.
We’re continuing our series in the book of Malachi this weekend. We’ll be in Malachi chapter three — looking at verses thirteen through eighteen if you want to open your Bible there. That’s Malachi chapter three — beginning in verse thirteen. There we read…
Malachi 3:13–18 ESV
13 “Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ 14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? 15 And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’” 16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. 17 “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.
When life doesn’t go as we hope it would, Christian or not, we’re tempted to measure God’s faithfulness by our circumstances. And this often leads us to make all kinds of assumptions, like…
Now our passage doesn’t offer an explanation for every hardship we experience in life. Instead, our verses challenge the conclusion we often reach: That our present circumstances reveal the real truth about God’s character.
Now I want to set our expectation: Since our verses don’t explain the reason for every hardship we experience, this sermon isn’t going to either. Instead of explaining why we experience hardship, we’re going to focus on how we respond to these moments of life.
And I want to be clear that suffering — or even asking God why we’re suffering — isn’t sinful. The spiritual danger our verses reveal is when we treat our present circumstances as more true than what God’s revealed about himself in his Word to us. And, if you’re suffering, being discouraged is understandable. Being discouraged when life’s hard isn’t the danger — allowing your discouragement to turn into distrust of God’s faithfulness is where the danger lies.
To say it one last way. There’s a difference between “I don’t understand why God’s allowed this, and I’m struggling to trust him” — and — “God hasn’t given me what I deserve, so trusting him is pointless.”
That’s the difference we’re focusing on today. And if you’re here today and you wouldn’t call yourself a Christian — or maybe you’d say “I used to be a Christian” — I can imagine that somewhere in your story God didn’t do what you thought he was going to do for you. You may never have taken time to think about it like this. But, more common than not, when I hear stories of people who’ve given up on Christianity — usually somewhere is the idea of “I’ve given the 'god thing' a try before, and it didn’t result in the outcome I hoped for. So I figured, ‘Why bother?’” And if that’s you, I hope this sermon answers that question for you. Because though we tend to think our circumstances define God’s character, what we’ll see today — Christian or not — is that God’s faithfulness, not our circumstances, is the foundation of our hope.
But let’s begin by examining the circumstances the people in Malachi’s day were experiencing. We’re back in verse thirteen. There we read…
Malachi 3:13–15 ESV
13 “Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ 14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? 15 And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’”
It's counterintuitive to recognize how gracious God is to the people when he gives them these hard words. But here’s God’s grace to them and to us: He confronts their mistaken conclusions about him rather than letting their mistaken conclusions go unchallenged.
Many people have a hard time with the God of the Bible because he’s so demanding. His standards are high. His commands require change. And, as soon as you get one change going, here’s something else you need to work on.
Or we put expectations on God, and he doesn’t come through. We thought we were returning to our homeland to experience the restoration of our nation — that’s what the Jews were thinking — and yet, none of their expectations had come true. I’m sure you can relate.
And my concern isn’t that we have these thoughts; my concern is how we let our disappointments become a false verdict about God and his character. The Israelites aren’t just describing the difficulties they’re experiencing — they’re drawing conclusions about God and his character based on their circumstances. We see this in their questions…
Malachi 3:14 NLT
14 “What’s the use of serving God? What have we gained by obeying his commands or by trying to show the Lord of Heaven’s Armies that we are sorry for our sins?
I have no idea what you’re going through — I know what some of you are going through, but not everyone — but here’s what I’d suggest you ask yourself. Ask yourself, “Have I begun to interpret who God is through my circumstances, disappointments, and experiences rather than interpreting my circumstances, disappointments, and experiences through what God’s revealed about himself in his Word?
And here’s what happens when, instead of interpreting who God is by our circumstances, we interpret our circumstances by who God is: We start to see our circumstances through the lens of grace. I’m not saying that what you have or are experiencing is easy — and I’m not saying what you were hoping would come true was wicked, evil, or bad. But what I am saying is that when we interpret our circumstances through the truth of who God is, we find assurance because we know he’s using everything in our lives to shape us into the men and women he created us to be. And that’s grace. That’s grace both when our experiences go the way we hoped they’d go, and even when they don’t.
And God’s even being gracious to us when he challenges our view of who we think he is or should be. Meaning, when God doesn’t meet our expectations, he’s gracious towards us because he’s setting us straight about who he is. God doesn’t want our circumstances to define who he is or who we are. And, often, that’s exactly what we allow our circumstances to become. More than just a teacher — for life experiences do teach us much — but our experiences don’t have the final word in defining who God is or who we are.
Think of it this way. Imagine a husband and wife are having a difficult time in their marriage. Everything’s just off. Intimacy’s off. Communication’s off. Their schedules are off. They’re just out of sync, and it’s causing them to be disappointed with each other.
This is what the people in our passage are doing with God. And that’s what we so easily do to God in our relationship with him, too. We think our circumstances reveal who God is, when, more often than not, it’s our interpretation of our circumstances that’s defining who God is to us.
I wonder what conclusions you may have about who God is that are based solely on your interpretation of your circumstances?
This doesn’t mean we can’t bring our disappointments to God — we can! It’s called lament in the Bible. Lament sounds like this.
Psalm 73:1-2, 13-14, 21-28 NLT
1 Truly God is good to Israel, to those whose hearts are pure. 2 But as for me, I almost lost my footing. My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone…13 Did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason? 14 I get nothing but trouble all day long; every morning brings me pain…21 Then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside. 22 I was so foolish and ignorant — I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you. 23 Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand. 24 You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. 25 Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. 26 My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. 27 Those who desert him will perish, for you destroy those who abandon you. 28 But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.
If you go back and read the entire psalm, you’ll read questions about why the wicked find success, much like the question in our passage. But notice that — even though there’s sorrow, unanswered questions, trouble, and pain — the psalmist ends by letting the truth of who God is define his circumstances —and not his circumstances defining for him who God is.
If you’re here today and are discouraged, have your circumstances begun to carry more weight in your life than God’s promises to you in his Word? If so, I plead with you to take Psalm Seventy-three and let it become your prayer during this season of discouragement. And may you find encouragement and hope in knowing that, through faith in Christ, you belong to God. He holds you in his right hand. He’s leading you to a glorious destiny. And that he is yours forever.
None of us like it when people define who we are based on their interpretation of something we did or didn’t do — especially when we didn’t meet their expectations. If we don’t like it when people do this to us, let’s not be so quick to do this to God. Instead, let’s have God define who he is to us.
Which leads to God’s faithfulness to his people. We’re in verse sixteen.
Malachi 3:16 ESV
16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name.
Here we switch to a different group of people. This group is made up of “those who feared the Lord and spoke with one another.” So it’s here, in this verse, that we discover there are two groups of people who are talking with each other.
The first group talks to one another, spreading doubt and disappointment in and about God. They’ve focused on what they haven’t received for serving God. But not this second group. Those who fear the Lord also speak to one another — and they do so esteeming God’s name. For what they’ve focused on isn’t what they did or didn’t get for serving God — no, they focused on the truth that they belonged to God.
We’ll get to their belonging to God in a moment, but for now I want us to focus on the phrase “they esteemed his name.” This phrase helps us understand what they were saying to each other. They weren’t questioning the raw deal they thought they were getting — even though I’m sure some of them had questions, since their circumstances weren’t aligning with what they thought they’d experience. But instead of questioning God, they honored him in how they talked about him.
Again, we have no reason to believe that the people in this second group didn’t have disappointments similar to those in the first group. All of the Jews had great hopes for the restoration of the Temple as they returned to their homeland. Every one of them remembered the promises they thought were about to be fulfilled as they returned to their homeland having lived in a foreign nation for decades. My point is this: People in both groups were feeling let down by their circumstances. But while the first group allowed their present circumstances to cause them to doubt God’s faithfulness, even though we don’t know exactly what the second group said to one another, whatever they said, they did so fearing God and esteeming his name.
To fear God can mean just that: the fear of God. Here, the Bible scholars I looked at all believe the fear being described was a high reverence for God. To revere means to deeply respect, to hold in honor, to be in awe of, or to worship. So even though this group was experiencing the same circumstances as the first, instead of doubting God’s faithfulness, they honored him and worshiped him.
This is even clearer because they esteemed — or highly regarded — God’s name. Biblically, God’s name represents who he is on his terms. So, again, though this group was experiencing the same circumstances and I’m sure had similar questions as the first group — like, “why aren’t things turning out the way we thought they would” — this second group didn’t allow their circumstances to define for them who God is. Instead, they let who God is be the anchor that kept them steady in the midst of their uncertainties and doubts.
And that’s what I believe this second group was speaking to each other: They were reminding each other of who God is despite their circumstances. And this is so practical for us today. For when life’s disappointing, we all too often seek out people who’ll validate our frustrations. There’s a place for sympathy and lament when life’s disappointing, but there’s a danger we need to be aware of: We need to make sure that our speaking to one another — especially in these kinds of times — doesn’t cause each other to doubt God’s faithfulness or come to other untruthful and unbiblical conclusions about God. Instead, our obligation to each other — as the people of this faith family — is to help one another interpret difficult circumstances through the lens of God’s Word — especially by reminding each other who God is as he’s told us in his Word.
And look at what this second group experienced: The Lord paid attention and heard them.
Some of us, because of the hardships you’re experiencing — or have experienced — need to hear that there’s an infinite difference between God’s silence and his absence. I know you’ve prayed and prayed and prayed, and it’s hard not to interpret God not answering your prayer as meaning he’s abandoned you or hasn’t heard you. But God not answering and him not hearing are very different, even if what we experience is still the same. Where God abandoning us or not taking the time to hear us would leave us feeling cursed — that doesn’t have to be the case when he doesn’t answer our prayers the way we hoped. For we’ve still been heard. And, as any parent knows, sometimes we don’t give our children what they ask for because we love them. And if that’s true of us, surely it's true of our loving Father in Heaven. Him hearing us, even when he doesn’t answer the way we want, is still a blessing.
But that’s not the only blessing in our verse. For there’s this imagery of a book of remembrance. Now, God doesn’t need help remembering things, so this imagery isn’t for his sake. The book of remembrance is for our sake. It’s meant to give us confidence, as it conveys the idea that God will not forget his people — those who fear him and esteem his name. He can’t forget us. It’s like a book is open in front of him full of the names of his people. Not being forgotten by God is a blessing to his people.
And now, we move from blessing to hope. Our only hope, in fact, the only lasting hope any of us will ever discover. We’re in verse seventeen.
Malachi 3:17–18 ESV
17 “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.
Here’s where hope’s found. God’s people aren’t promised that our faithful service will result in us receiving something from God. There’s no such guarantee in the Bible — for that would make our relationship with God transactional. “I’ve done this for you, God, so you owe me that.” That’s not Christianity.
Instead, the hope of our verses — the hope of the Christian faith — is not that we’ll receive something from God for our faithfulness — no, our hope is that we belong to God.
As it’s been asked, What is our only comfort in life and death? The answer? That I am not my own, but belong — body and soul, in life and in death — to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. (Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 1)
And though there are many places in the Bible that stress how we’re servants of God, another aspect of our relationship with him is put on display here: that we’re his treasured possession. Often this idea is described as us being God’s children. You see, we’re not merely servants working to earn a wage. If you believe in Jesus, you’re God’s treasured child who receives his fatherly compassion. We belong to God.
You may have wondered what I set on this stool when I came out on stage. I brought out a puzzle. This puzzle has very little earthly value. It’s not even that great of a puzzle. In fact, it’s the only non-Ravensburger puzzle we own because my wife’s a puzzle snob. And you better believe I asked her for permission to say that last sentence.
But you can’t put a price tag on this puzzle that’ll match its value to me. Why?
Because this was a puzzle I grew up putting together when I visited my grandparents during summers growing up. I grew up in Florida, and they lived in Tennessee, so I only saw them a few times a year. But I have sweet memories of doing this puzzle during my childhood summers.
Years ago, I did both of my grandparents' funerals, and after both had passed, my aunt took me over to their house and asked me if there was anything I wanted from their home. This puzzle was on my very short list. As silly as it is, it’s a treasured possession.
Life has a way of beating people up. Many people see themselves as pretty invaluable. You’re no Ravensburger — you’re more like this puzzle. But I want you to know that, if you believe in Jesus, you are priceless to God. You’re his treasure. His treasured child — his treasured possession. And no matter what this world tries to tell you you’re worth, remember, if you believe in Jesus, you belong to God.
Sometimes we can become so focused on what we hoped God would give us — a spouse, a child, healing, for that person to say they’re sorry — we can become so focused on what we hoped God was going to give us that we lose sight of the glorious truth that we belong to him. In the New Testament we read that Jesus…
Titus 2:14 NLT
14 gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.
Some Bible translations, instead of “make us his very own people,” say “to make us his own possession.” This means that our confidence — your confidence in your belonging to God isn’t in your circumstances and isn’t even in what you do — your confidence in your belonging to God is in Christ’s work on your behalf — his faithfulness to his Father in Heaven and to you, whom he loves.
The greatest blessing you’ll ever be given isn’t something from God; it’s the blessing of belonging to him. Your greatest blessing isn’t the life you dreamed God would give you; your greatest blessing is that, through Christ, you are God’s treasured possession.
God’s faithfulness, not our circumstances, is the foundation of our hope.
When life’s circumstances confuse you, refuse to allow your present circumstances to have the final verdict on God’s faithfulness to you.
At all times, fear the Lord and esteem his name. Don’t treat God as if he’s accountable to you and your demands — that’s not the posture of someone who fears him. Instead, treat God as if you’re accountable to him and his commands — for that’s the posture of someone who — not only fears him — but loves him and wants to honor their Father in Heaven with their life.
Encourage the discouraged Christian. Don’t just be an ear that they vent to — remember, lamenting is biblical — but lamenting without hope isn’t Christian lament. So speak truthfully about God to one another. Remind each other of who God is, his faithfulness to his people, and how his silence doesn’t mean he’s absent. I wonder who God might bring to mind, even right now — someone you can help remember God’s faithfulness to them?
And as a tease for what’s to come next week, our verses end with a final promise. It’s found in verse eighteen.
Malachi 3:18 ESV
18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.
A distinction will be made between the righteous and the wicked — between those who serve God and those who don’t. What that distinction is — what the difference is between the fate of these two groups — is what we’ll look at as we finish our time in the book of Malachi next week. Let’s pray.
Our Father in Heaven, thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for revealing who you are to us in your perfect Word. Thank you that, through our faith in Christ, we belong to you and are your treasured possession.
Holy Spirit, for those who are discouraged among us, for those who are disheartened, for those who feel beat up by life — may you take the truth of your Word to us and sink it deep into their hearts. And may it produce hope, joy, and faith.
Jesus, our blessing of belonging to God is a gift to us from you. A gift you love to give. May you draw many to you, even right now, may some among us turn from their circumstances and sin and self-reliance as they turn to you in faith. Give them assurance in knowing that you hear them. And that you know their discouragement. You know their disappointments. You know how exhausted and hopeless they feel. And that you care.
Father, Son, and Spirit — help us to fear you and to esteem your name. To speak to each other about you in a way that builds each other up in our faith as we speak truthfully about you. May your Word to us have the final word in all of our lives. And we pray all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
May you remember and live in light of this truth: God’s faithfulness, not your circumstances, is the foundation of your hope. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.
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