God's Precious Treasure
Pastor Tan Thai · Oct 15, 2017
This sermon from Malachi 3:13-17 examines two contrasting attitudes: the people who spoke against God, calling His service worthless, and those who feared Him and were recorded in His book of remembrance. God declares that those who truly love and serve Him will become His precious treasure on the day He acts.
This sermon was delivered on Sunday, October 15, 2017 — a national church day set apart to honor those who serve God. The pastor introduces the context of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, written during a dark period in Israel's history marked by failed harvests, economic collapse, disregard for marriage, and widespread contempt for God's name among both the people and the priests. After this book came 400 years of divine silence, until Jesus Christ — the great Light — came into the world.
The first part of the sermon focuses on the words spoken against God in Malachi 3:13-15. The people did not dare speak openly, but privately concluded that serving God was useless and profitless, and that the proud and wicked seemed to prosper more than those who obeyed the Lord. The pastor clarifies that the problem is not the question itself — Psalm 73 shows the psalmist wrestling with the same struggles — but the attitude in which the question is asked. The people of Malachi had already reached their conclusion without seeking an answer, while the psalmist asked in order to find understanding and finally received clarity when he entered the sanctuary of God.
The pastor also expounds the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 to show that everything we have — material possessions, abilities and spiritual gifts, time, and opportunities — is entrusted to us by God, and all of it is meant to profit the Master. The transactional mindset — that obedience and service must be rewarded with material blessings — is the foundation of the prosperity gospel, a gospel that demands no sacrifice, loss, or difficulty.
The second part of the sermon presents God's precious treasure according to Malachi 3:16-18. Alongside those who spoke against God, there were those who feared the Lord and spoke words that pleased Him — encouraging one another, praying for each other, and persevering in service despite hardship. God listened attentively and commanded that their names be written in a book of remembrance before Him. He declared: these shall be Mine, My own possession, My treasured jewels on the day I act.
The sermon closes with a practical challenge: today it is difficult to distinguish those who truly love God from those who merely profess faith with their lips, but on the day God acts, all will be made clear (1 Corinthians 13:12). The pastor calls the congregation to desire to have their names written in God's book of remembrance and to become His cherished treasure — an inheritance more precious than all the wealth the world could offer.