Strengthening Wimps: The Importance of Pastors and Churches

The following quote grabbed my attention. I’m not sure you will find it in the online manuscript of Pastor John Piper’s message from yesterday. But you can hear it in the audio or video for sure.

I’m in the business of putting fiber in the backbone of wimps.

— John Piper

The context of that statement was yesterday’s sermon on marriage. And a big point from that sermon was that marriage is not just about love, it is about covenant keeping. When love is not there, we are still to keep covenant. It was a great message, and it will be concluded next week. I would encourage you to check Desiring God’s website today as the message will soon be available to read, watch, or hear. But I want to bring out a wider application from that quote.

This quote by Piper is a good summary of a pastor’s job description. Of course the “fiber” and the imparted strength flow not from the pastor’s ability to motivate nor from his “strong leadership”. It is not imparted on the basis of his masculine grit and determination. It comes from his faithful, careful teaching and preaching of the Scriptures. And it comes through the supernatual ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Everyone is, in one sense or another, a wimp. And we need strengthening. So we as people need to submit ourselves to local churches, which are communities of believers pledging to fight “the good fight of faith” together. Fellow believers will be able to lift up the hands that tend to fall down and encourage those who need help, see 1 Thess. 5:11-14 and this related post.

We also need leaders to watch over and care for our souls, see Heb. 13:7, 17. We need pastors to equip us for the ministry, see Eph. 4:11-14. We need to hear the Word of God preached so that we are built up and made strong, see Acts 20:32, Rom. 15:4.

So my simple yet important aim in this post is to remind us that we need fellow believers as well as church pastors and leaders to help us be strong. And it goes without saying that we have a need for strengthening.

So let us not just drift along with the tide. Rather let us be aware of our weakness, and take advantage of the God-ordained means to strengthen ourselves through interaction with the body of Christ—His people. Then, with the help of our fellow-believers, and with the encouragement of the Scriptures, and also by the strengthening of the Spirit, we will be able to obey the following instructions:

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

— 1 Cor. 16:13

May God strengthen us all and infuse “fiber” into our “backbone”!