Romans 14:19, the WORD says, “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” As brothers and sisters in Christ, we are meant to walk together in the love of GOD. The WORD says in the book of 1st John 4:21, “…Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”… And how we love each other is by encouraging each other, building each other up. 

The definition of encouragement is to fill with courage, strength, and purpose. Going further, as brothers and sisters, we ought to built each other up, promote spiritual growth in each other, in the love of GOD. So we are meant to promote spiritual growth by encouraging and strengthening each other but not in the means of putting each other down. 

And sometimes, a rebuke can also be strengthening a brother and a sister in Christ. How? By exposing the sin and leading them to truth of Jesus Christ. Any rebuke that is to be done, in love, I believe, should always lead the brother or sister to Christ Jesus. It should always lead them to the truth of what is right and what is wrong. 

It should lead them to walk and desire more of the knowledge of GOD, that mentions that according to the new testament that if you are living in sin, you will not inherit the kingdom of GOD. We who are in Christ are called to spiritual maturity, as the Father makes us to become like Christ, Romans 8:29. So rebuking a brother and sister in Christ should never lead them to condemnation but to the truth even if it hurts, but let it be the hurt that leads to repentance, Romans 2:4. 

Peter, in the book of Acts 2, through I believe the Holy Spirit, spoke a rebuke to the those who witnessed the Pentecost, by hearing the disciples speaking in their own language. Remember that GOD’s kindness, via His salvation, saved us, delivered us and redeemed through Jesus Christ. This redemption is for us to not conform to the patterns of this world, where we were enslaved, following the flesh with its passion and desires. This redemption led us to life and life in abundance, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death, meaning that we no longer ought to follow the flesh but to abide in the Spirit, Romans 8: 6-8. 

Remember, we are who we follow, so if we follow the flesh, we are doing whatever the flesh desires us to do, but if we walk in the Spirit, then we please the LORD because we do not walk in the flesh, but rather, we worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. Therefore, if we follow the flesh, then we are walking in idolatry, not worshiping GOD but worshipping a person, place, or thing. 

So where am I going with all of this? 

I am highlighting sexual immorality as a sin. This is not to say that sexual immorality is the only sin, but in this time and place, my task is to encourage and rebuke a brother and sister that is walking in this to run away from this sin and come to know the LORD more by loving Him so that you walk right before Him. 

In the book of Galatians 5:19, sexual immorality is listed as the acts of the flesh. Whether it is sex before marriage or anything outside of marriage, between a man and a woman, this act is labeled as a sin because that is walking in sin. That is you being enslaved in sin. 

This rebuke is made in love because I am encouraging those living in sexual immorality, who is a brother and sister in Christ, to run away from it.

Your life is more than a fleeting thing. Your body is more than a fling. 

What is being done is being done outside of marriage,  which  is not in GOD’s covenant between a man and a woman IN marriage. 

If the LORD were to tell you to stop  doing something but you are still doing it, that is idolatry, rebellion. In sexual immorality, if you are still doing it, knowing that it is not right nor correct, then you are walking in idolatry. Your flesh is now who you are following, being enslaved again in the flesh when you were made free in Christ Jesus our LORD! 

In Christ Jesus, you were set free from that, now what you need to do, as well as we all should do day & night, is to grow in the knowledge of GOD, growing and getting to know Him better and better so that you we know how to walk in His good, pleasing, and perfect will with clarity, Romans 12:1-2. 

Your body is designed to be holy before the LORD, and by living in sexual immorality, your body is not being holy before the LORD nor are you being built to be made pure before the LORD. We are called to worship the Father in Spirit and Truth. Paul mentions that don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? 

Don’t you know that the power of GOD works within you to will and act in order to fulfill HIS purpose? 

You are a daughter/son of the most High GOD and walking in this path is not what you were called to. You are not called to worship self, flesh, person, place, or thing. You are called to Worship the LORD. 

Repent before the LORD, come back to Him and you shall live, because He is faithful and just to forgive you of all your sins and cleansing you from all unrighteousness. 

Also, it is better that a part of you, whether an eye, a hand, or a foot, be thrown in hell, than your whole body be thrown in hell. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of GOD is eternal life in Jesus Christ our LORD, Romans 6:23.