What Can That Boy Tell Me?

When H.B. Charles, Jr. was just seventeen years old his Los Angeles church called him to succeed his father as the senior pastor. The younger Charles had been called into the ministry and been preaching locally for several years, but when his father died unexpectedly, he was little prepared for the task at hand. To be sure, the church wasn’t exactly unanimous on handing the reins to this boy so wet behind the ears. He was, in fact, too young to even cast a vote for himself since only members at least eighteen years of age could vote.

At his installation service the man who brought the message titled his sermon, “What can that boy tell me?” He said he had heard whispers around town and around the church that Charles was too young to be able to tell them anything about marriage, parenting, or a host of things he had not personally experienced. In his book On Pastoring, Charles describes the message that night, and how it laid a solid foundation for his future in the ministry. Here is how he describes that landmark morning: 

“Pastor Hill methodically worked through several passages of Scripture, arguing for authority from God’s Word for each one. After preaching for an hour, he climactically stated, ‘So what can that boy tell me? He can tell you whatever the Word of God tells him to tell you!’” 

There is so much truth in that statement. When I spoke at my first marriage conference I had only been married for two years. I jokingly told the attendees that if they put what I said into practice, maybe they could make it as long as we had. But the reality is that I was not there to speak on the authority of my experiences and successes, but to speak from the authority of the Word of God. I haven’t yet had the joy of raising teenagers, but that doesn’t mean that I cannot give biblical advice to those parents who are. We need to have a high view of the supremacy and inerrancy of Scripture, and that will lead us to find God’s truth, not man’s opinion. 

I want to be clear: we can absolutely gain help and insight by listening to the testimony of others. Part of our story involves sharing what God has done through us, or how we have learned from our mistakes and triumphs. At the end of the day, though, our experiences are only that. One does not need to be a licensed counselor or ordained minister to be able to learn and apply the Bible, and to be able to pass that truth along to others.  We must always be people of the Good Book, letting its timeless truths govern our modern problems. It isn’t about you or me, or who has the most recognizable name; if a person is rightly dividing the Word of Truth, we should all listen.