No Fear of God
Why do we do the things that we do? What motivates us?
You all came dressed to church? - no one came naked
Naked dress becoming a popular statement at red carpet events
Naked dresses, a fashion trend that utilizes sheer fabrics and revealing cut-outs to create an illusion of nudity, have been prominently featured at various events lately, especially on red carpets
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Here are some key examples of where naked dresses have been used recently:
Red Carpet Events:
Naked dresses were arguably the biggest red carpet trend of 2024, appearing at major events like the Academy Awards and the Met Gala.
This trend continued into 2025, with celebrities like Elle Fanning, Kim Kardashian, Doja Cat, Charlize Theron, Emily Ratajkowski, and Bianca Censori sporting the look at high-profile events.
Specific Examples:
2025 Grammy Awards: Bianca Censori wore a completely transparent mesh mini dress. Chrissy Teigen also embraced the trend in a Christian Siriano gown with a mesh corset.
2025 Met Gala: Celebrities like Halle Berry, Sabrina Carpenter, and Lisa donned sheer or barely-there ensembles.
2025 Vanity Fair Oscars Party: Julia Fox wore a sheer dress with strategically placed hair, while Olivia Wilde and Keke Palmer also opted for revealing looks. Zoë Kravitz made a notable appearance in a sheer gown.
2024 Met Gala: Emily Ratajkowski, Kim Kardashian, Brie Larson, and others wore varying degrees of sheer or revealing dresses.
Hebrews 4:13 (ESV)
13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Fear being exposed?
Review
Series on the Rebuilt Life – a look at Nehemiah
Nehemiah 5:1–5 (NLT)
1 About this time some of the men and their wives raised a cry of protest against their fellow Jews. 2 They were saying, “We have such large families. We need more food to survive.”
3 Others said, “We have mortgaged our fields, vineyards, and homes to get food during the famine.”
4 And others said, “We have had to borrow money on our fields and vineyards to pay our taxes. 5 We belong to the same family as those who are wealthy, and our children are just like theirs. Yet we must sell our children into slavery just to get enough money to live. We have already sold some of our daughters, and we are helpless to do anything about it, for our fields and vineyards are already mortgaged to others.”
Explain – The poor were getting poorer, the rich were taking advantage of their need – “Just business.” “I need to pay for my new boat”
People had been enslaved to others
HISTORY OF ISRAEL SLAVERY – Egypt, Babylon, now enslaving one another
Nehemiah 5:6-9
6 When I heard their complaints, I was very angry. 7 After thinking it over, I spoke out against these nobles and officials. I told them, “You are hurting your own relatives by charging interest when they borrow money!” Then I called a public meeting to deal with the problem.
8 At the meeting I said to them, “We are doing all we can to redeem our Jewish relatives who have had to sell themselves to pagan foreigners, but you are selling them back into slavery again. How often must we redeem them?” And they had nothing to say in their defense.
Couldn’t say anything – WE OFTEN SAY, “It’s just business… a guy’s got to earn a living.” – excuses we have for doing what we know is wrong.
Nehemiah 5:9
9 Then I pressed further, “What you are doing is not right! Should you not walk in the fear of our God in order to avoid being mocked by enemy nations?
NOT RIGHT! - the law forbid charging interest.
Leviticus 25:35–38 (ESV)
35 “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. 36 Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. 37 You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. 38 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.
Told to take care of “your brother.” – not permitted to charge interest
CAN charge interest to others
JEWISH TROPES – about Jews hungry for money
Some argue – “well many of the world’s richest people are Jewish.”
Trope – of Money Hungry Jews, Money grabbing Jews.
July 2025, 5 of the 10 richest people in the world are Jewish (Larry Ellison, Oracle; Mark Zuckerburg Facebook; Larry Page and Sergey Brin Google; Steve Balmer Microsoft)
Are they rich because they are Jewish? (conspiracies would have you believe it)
NO – 8 of the top 10 richest people are all about technology
If you make $100,000/year – you are in the top 5% of the world income!
The Poorest 20% of Americans Are Richer on Average Than Most Nations of Europe
Christian tend to be susceptible to conspiracy theories because we don’t trust the mainstream media – but then who do we trust?
Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram all based on algorithms to give you what THEY think you are looking for. Looking for conspiracy? They will give you more evidence of it.
SATANIC ATTACK ON THE JEWS:
How?
De-legitimize and marginalize
Bring in suspicion
RESISTING GOSSIP – cast doubt on the integrity of others
“Jews are good with money”
“Jews control the media and the banks”
Satan loves to take a kernel of truth and make a huge lie.
Approximately 20% of American Jews live at or below poverty level
(about 17% of black Americans live in poverty, about same for Hispanics,
9-10% of Asians live in poverty
11% of Americans live at poverty level
Approximately 22% of Nobel Prize Winners are Jewish – why?
Biblically, The Jews are God’s Chosen People
Deut 7:6–8
Isa 43:10–11
Exod 19:5–6
Jer 31:35–37
Rom 11:1–2
Ps 135:4
Amos 3:2
Isa 41:8–9
Deut 14:2
Zech 2:8
Jer 31:3–4
Exod 6:7
Isa 44:1–2
Deut 4:37
Psalm 135:4 (CSB)
4 For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself,
Israel as his treasured possession.
Jeremiah 31:35–37 (NLT)
35 It is the Lord who provides the sun to light the day
and the moon and stars to light the night,
and who stirs the sea into roaring waves.
His name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
and this is what he says:
36 “I am as likely to reject my people Israel
as I am to abolish the laws of nature!”
37 This is what the Lord says:
“Just as the heavens cannot be measured
and the foundations of the earth cannot be explored,
so I will not consider casting them away
for the evil they have done.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
SUMMARIZE
Romans 11:1–2a, 5b–6 (CSB)
1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew… there is also at the present time a remnant chosen by grace. 6 Now if by grace, then it is not by works; otherwise grace ceases to be grace.
Romans 11:11–12 (CSB)
11 I ask, then, have they stumbled so as to fall? Absolutely not! On the contrary, by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their transgression brings riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness bring!
Romans 11:25–29 (CSB)
25 I don’t want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you will not be conceited: A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
The Deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this will be my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.
28 Regarding the gospel, they are enemies for your advantage, but regarding election, they are loved because of the patriarchs, 29 since God’s gracious gifts and calling are irrevocable.
Sinful Nature of mankind to pursue money –
1 Timothy 6:9–10 (ESV)
9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
The tendency is to ridicule the wealthy as only focused on money (usually because we are envious of what they have).
James 4:1–4 (ESV)
1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Are you trying to be a friend of the world? – you are then an enemy of God.
Nehemiah 5:8-9
8 At the meeting I said to them, “We are doing all we can to redeem our Jewish relatives who have had to sell themselves to pagan foreigners, but you are selling them back into slavery again. How often must we redeem them?” And they had nothing to say in their defense.
9 Then I pressed further, “What you are doing is not right! Should you not walk in the fear of our God in order to avoid being mocked by enemy nations?
When we take advantage of a brother or sister, we act like we don’t fear God. We don’t think God sees all
Proverbs 5:21–23 (NLT)
21 For the Lord sees clearly what a man does,
examining every path he takes.
22 An evil man is held captive by his own sins;
they are ropes that catch and hold him.
23 He will die for lack of self-control;
he will be lost because of his great foolishness.
Are you honorable in your business? Do you take advantage of others when you have opportunity?
Do you live your life like God’s not watching or looking?
What if you left church today and you literally had Jesus walk alongside you everywhere you went for the next week? Would your behavior be different? Would you talk differently? Would you scroll on your phone differently? Would you spend your time differently?
Nehemiah 5:10
10 I myself, as well as my brothers and my workers, have been lending the people money and grain, but now let us stop this business of charging interest. 11 You must restore their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and homes to them this very day. And repay the interest you charged when you lent them money, grain, new wine, and olive oil.”
NEHEMIAH’S RESPONSE – give the $ back! Restore their fields, vineyards, olive groves, repay the interest
Nehemiah 5:12-13
12 They replied, “We will give back everything and demand nothing more from the people. We will do as you say.” Then I called the priests and made the nobles and officials swear to do what they had promised.
13 I shook out the folds of my robe and said, “If you fail to keep your promise, may God shake you like this from your homes and from your property!”
The whole assembly responded, “Amen,” and they praised the Lord. And the people did as they had promised.
They respond – we will do it!
Conviction
Accountability – if you don’t do it, may God shake you from your home!
Not enough to become hearers of the Word; we must become doers of the Word.
“hear” in the original language is also connected with obedience. Not enough to hear, we must take action.
Nehemiah 5:14-15
14 For the entire twelve years that I was governor of Judah—from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of the reign of King Artaxerxes—neither I nor my officials drew on our official food allowance. 15 The former governors, in contrast, had laid heavy burdens on the people, demanding a daily ration of food and wine, besides forty pieces of silver. Even their assistants took advantage of the people. But because I feared God, I did not act that way.
Nehemiah – didn’t take his allotted food allowance (he had the right, but the people were suffering, he didn’t need the money)
WHY? “because I feared God” –
Proverbs 9:10 (ESV)
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
Fear = respect, reverence, concern for what God thinks over what “man” thinks
Nehemiah 5:16
16 I also devoted myself to working on the wall and refused to acquire any land. And I required all my servants to spend time working on the wall.
Leaders lead by example – Nehemiah worked on the wall – could have just been a supervisor, but he was a super leader.
“Refused to acquire any land” – could have gotten rich.
He was there on a mission and the mission was not to build wealth, but to build a wall!
Nehemiah 5:17-18
17 I asked for nothing, even though I regularly fed 150 Jewish officials at my table, besides all the visitors from other lands! 18 The provisions I paid for each day included one ox, six choice sheep or goats, and a large number of poultry. And every ten days we needed a large supply of all kinds of wine. Yet I refused to claim the governor’s food allowance because the people already carried a heavy burden.
Nehemiah 5:19
19 Remember, O my God, all that I have done for these people, and bless me for it.
Hebrews 4:13 (ESV)
13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.