Sermon Study Guide | Series: Let’s Be Honest |
Sermon: Week 6 - The Nones/Agnostic | Scripture: Matthew 7:21–23 |
Date: August 2, 2026

For this series we’ve developed a Let's Be Honest — Resource Guide

CONNECT - “A Personal Reflection”

This section is designed to help you relate personally to the theme of the sermon. It encourages you to reflect on your own life experiences and how they connect to the message.

Think about the standards you use to decide whether someone is a “good person.” Where did those standards come from, and how do you know when someone has done enough? Consider your own relationship with God. Are you more likely to point to what you have done for him or to the ways you are learning to know and trust him? Share about a time when your accomplishments looked strong, but your relationship with God felt distant or thin.

ENGAGE - “Exploring the Scripture”

This section invites you to dive into the biblical passage, discuss its meaning, and apply it to your life through thoughtful questions.

Read Matthew 7:21–23, Mark 10:17–22, and John 10:14–15 together, then discuss:

• The rich young ruler had an admirable spiritual résumé, yet Jesus told him that he still lacked one thing. What was missing?
  
  
• Before challenging the man, Jesus looked at him and loved him. What does this teach us about holding grace and truth together?
  
  
• Jesus said, “No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18). How does that challenge the way we casually define ourselves or others as good?
  
  
• Why can personal goodness become an obstacle to recognizing our need for God?
  
  
• In Matthew 7, the people confronting Jesus point to prophecy, miracles, and other impressive spiritual works. Why does Jesus refuse to grade their résumés?
  
  
• Jesus says, “I never knew you.” What is the difference between knowing information about Jesus, doing things in his name, and actually knowing him?
  
  
• The message described goodness as a moving target because we often compare ourselves with people we consider worse. Where do you notice yourself grading on a curve?
  
  
• How can church participation, service, generosity, or biblical knowledge become substitutes for a growing relationship with God?
  
  
• John 10 describes Jesus as the Good Shepherd who knows his own and is known by them. What does it look like to be personally known by Jesus?
  
  
• How would you explain the difference between being admired for your goodness and being saved through a relationship with Jesus?

APPLY - “Putting the Scriptures into Action”

This section challenges us to take what we’ve learned and implement it in practical ways in our daily lives.

• Set aside ten quiet minutes each day this week with no agenda beyond being present with God. Speak honestly, listen, and resist the urge to turn the time into another task to complete.
  
  
• Identify one accomplishment, role, habit, or moral strength that has become part of your spiritual résumé. Ask God whether it is helping you know him or helping you avoid your need for him.
  
  
• Stop comparing your life with someone else’s. When you notice yourself grading on a curve, thank God for his grace and ask him to reveal what is true in you.
  
  
• Read Matthew 7:21–23 slowly and ask, “Jesus, do I know you, or do I mainly know about you?”
  
  
• Share one unpolished part of your life with a trusted friend. Allow yourself to be known instead of managing how you are perceived.
  
  
• Have an honest conversation with a friend who identifies as agnostic, spiritually uncertain, or simply a good person. Ask what they believe makes someone good, and listen without trying to win.

PRAY - “Seeking God’s Guidance”

This section offers a short prayer to help us center our hearts and invite God to work in our lives through his scripture.

Jesus, thank you for loving us enough to tell us the truth. Forgive us for the ways we have relied on our goodness, accomplishments, religious activity, or reputation instead of relying on you.

We confess that we often compare ourselves with others and move the standard until we feel secure. Help us put down the résumés we have spent so long building. Teach us not only to know about you, but to know you personally and allow ourselves to be fully known by you.

Protect us from doing things in your name while becoming distant from your heart. Give us grace and humility as we love friends and family members who are uncertain about faith. Remind us that you are not waiting to admire our performance; you are inviting us into a relationship. Amen.

FIVE-DAY DEVOTIONAL

DAY ONE: THE RÉSUMÉ

Read Mark 10:17–22.

A sincere and morally serious man approaches Jesus with an impressive record. He has kept the commandments since his youth. Before Jesus challenges him, the passage tells us that Jesus looks at him and loves him.

Jesus does not deny the good in the man’s life. He also does not allow that goodness to hide what is missing. The man has built a résumé, but he is not willing to release what keeps him from following Jesus. His achievements are not the doorway into eternal life. Jesus is.

The most difficult things to surrender are often not obviously bad things. They may be the strengths, successes, or identities that make us feel secure without God.

Reflect: What are you holding so tightly that you might walk away from Jesus rather than release it?

Pray: Jesus, show me what I am trusting more than I trust you, and help me open my hands.

DAY TWO: THE MOVING RULER

Read 2 Corinthians 10:12.

Paul warns against measuring ourselves by ourselves and comparing ourselves with one another. Comparison gives us the illusion of certainty because we can nearly always find someone whose choices make ours look better.

The problem is that a standard we create for ourselves will keep moving. We become the student, the teacher, and the grader. We choose the questions, change the passing score, and select the person standing beside us.

God’s truth does not exist to crush us. It frees us from the exhausting task of constantly redefining goodness so we can feel secure.

Reflect: Whom do you compare yourself with when you want to feel like a good person?

Pray: God, take the ruler out of my hands and teach me to receive your truth and grace.

DAY THREE: “I NEVER KNEW YOU”

Read Matthew 7:21–23.

The people in this passage are not indifferent to religion. Their spiritual résumés are filled with prophecy, power, and mighty works performed in Jesus’ name. Yet Jesus does not evaluate the quantity of their activity.

He says, “I never knew you.”

These words confront the possibility that someone can be active around the things of God without being in a relationship with God. Religious activity is not the same thing as intimacy. It is possible to speak about Jesus, work for Jesus, and still rarely speak with him.

Let the warning lead you toward Jesus rather than away from him. His invitation is not to work harder so he will finally notice you. It is to know him.

Reflect: Is your life with God primarily a relationship, or has it become a collection of religious responsibilities?

Pray: Jesus, do not let my activity for you replace my relationship with you.

DAY FOUR: KNOWN

Read John 10:14–15.

Jesus describes himself as the Good Shepherd: “I know my own and my own know me.” The opposite of “I never knew you” is not “I was impressed by you.” It is “I know you.”

You were not created to impress God from a distance. You were created to be known by him and to know him in return. He already sees your strengths, failures, motives, fears, and unfinished places. He does not ask you to hide them behind a polished résumé.

Being known can feel vulnerable, but it is also where real love begins. Jesus does not love a carefully managed version of you. He loves you.

Reflect: What part of your life are you most tempted to hide from God?

Pray: Jesus, help me trust your love enough to let myself be fully known.

DAY FIVE: THE OLDER BROTHER

Read Luke 15:25–32.

The older brother never leaves home. He works, obeys, and builds a strong record. Yet when the father celebrates the return of his younger son, the older brother remains outside. He is physically close to the father but relationally distant from his heart.

His goodness has become a transaction. He believes his obedience should earn him something. His résumé is full, but his hands are too occupied with what he deserves to receive what the father is freely offering.

The father goes outside to him too. Grace pursues the rebellious child who ran away and the responsible child who stayed while becoming a stranger.

Reflect: Where has obedience become a way of proving what God owes you?

Pray: Father, free me from keeping score. Help me put down my record, receive your love, and come home.

If you have feedback on this guide or ideas that would help your group engage more deeply, we’d love to hear from you. 

Your insight helps us continue growing as a church that wrestles honestly and walks faithfully together. Contact msummers@menlo.church

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