Sermon Study Guide | Series: Let’s Be Honest |
Sermon: Week 7 - The Nones/Agnostic | Scripture: Romans 1:16–17; Isaiah 53:5; Colossians 2:13–14  | Date: August 9, 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 ways you have tried to “pay” God; through spiritual discipline, serving, generosity, good behavior, or even worry. When do you most feel as though you need to prove that you belong with him? Share about a time when faith felt more like a transaction than a relationship. What would it look like to stop reaching for your spiritual wallet and simply receive what Jesus has already given?

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 Romans 1:16–17, Colossians 2:13–14, and Ephesians 2:8–9 together, then discuss:

• The message described every other worldview in the series as a transaction in which value moves upward toward God. How does the gospel different from that direction?
  
  
• What is the difference between earning a wage and receiving a gift? Where do you still relate to God as though salvation were a wage?
  
  
• Colossians says we were dead in our sins, not merely weak, confused, or behind. How does that description sit with you? challenge the idea that we can climb our way back to God?
  
  
• The message said, “A bribe can get you in, but it can never make you belong.” Why is belonging different from simply gaining access?
  
  
• Consider the four-part gospel story: creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. Which part is easiest for you to understand? Which part do you tend to overlook?
  
  
• The message identified three distortions within Christianity: grace without truth, truth without grace, and a cultural faith with neither. Which distortion are you most likely to drift toward?
  
  
• John describes Jesus as being full of grace and truth. Why do we often treat grace and truth as competing values rather than qualities that are fully present in Jesus?
  
  
• The message described the life produced by the gospel as “cheerful confidence and cheerful humility.” Which of those is more difficult for you to embrace?

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.

• Identify your version of the “parking meter”—the habit or behavior you use to reassure yourself that God will continue accepting you. Name it honestly in prayer.
  
  
• Begin each morning this week with open hands and say, “Jesus, I receive your grace. I have nothing to earn and nothing to prove.”
  
  
• Read Colossians 2:13–14 each day. When shame resurfaces, remind yourself that the record of debt was canceled and nailed to the cross.
  
  
• Examine whether your faith has begun to depend on an enemy, a political identity, material success, or a cultural label. Ask God to restore both grace and truth.
  
  
• Tell a trusted friend about one way you have tried to pay God. Invite them to remind you of the gospel when they see you returning to striving.
  
  
• Think back over the series and identify the worldview whose deepest question connected most personally with you. Write down how Jesus answers that question.

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 that you did not wait for us to climb our way to you. You came down to us, entered our brokenness, carried our sin, and paid the debt we could never afford.

Forgive us for the ways we continue trying to purchase what you have already given as a gift. We confess that we often pray, serve, give, or perform because we are afraid we do not belong. Help us put down every bribe and open our hands to receive your grace. Fill us with truth that gives us confidence and grace that keeps us humble. 

Protect us from using faith as a way to gain power, avoid suffering, judge others, or preserve a label. Make us people who are sure enough to be kind and humble enough to be unafraid. Teach us to live in grateful response to the words you spoke on the cross: “It is finished.” 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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