OPEN: One of Dr. Seuss’s more famous poem is called “Yertle the Turtle”
“ On a far away island of Salamasond,
Yertle the turtle was king of the pond.
A nice little pond. It was clean. It was neat.
The water was warm, there was plenty to eat.
Until - one day - the king of them all
decided the kingdom he ruled was too small.
‘I’m a ruler of all that I see.
But I don’t see enough and that’s the trouble with me.’
‘With this stone for a throne I am too low down
I cannot look down upon the places beyond.’
So Yertle the turtle king lifted his hand,
and Yertle the turtle king gave a command.
He ordered nine turtles to swim to his stone
and, using these turtles, he built a new throne.
He made each turtle stand on another’s back;
and he piled them all up in a 9 turtle stack.
Then Yertle climbed up. He sat down on the pile.
What a wonderful view! He could see ‘most a mile!
‘All mine!’ Yertle cried. ‘Oh the things I now rule.
I’m king of a cow. I’m king of a mule!
I’m king of a house! And, what’s more, beyond that
I’m king of a blueberry bush and a cat!
I’m Yertle the Turtle! Oh, marvelous me!
For I am the ruler of all that I see!’”
As the poem progresses, Yertle wants to be more and more powerful. He wants to rise higher so that he can have more - to see and to rule over. Then, he notices the moon rising above him as the night approaching. And looking at the moon, he says:
“‘What’s THAT?’ snorted Yertle. ‘Say, what IS that thing
That dares to be higher than Yertle the King?
I shall not allow it! I’ll go higher still!
I’ll build my throne higher! I can and I will!
I’ll call some more turtles. I’ll stack ‘em to heaven!
I need ‘bout 5000, 600 and 7!’”
And then as he starts to get that done - in an echo of God’s statement that “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18) - the bottom turtle burps, and the entire tower of turtles come tumbling down leaving Yertle the Turtle as the King of nothing but mud.
APPLY: When you compare the story of Yertle the Turtle with the story told here in Luke 9 (the same story that is told in Matthew 18 and Mark 9) you find that the disciples had become Yertles. They are motivated by the same mindset that drives the king of the turtles.
1. Yertle the Turtle wanted to be the greatest in his kingdom. And the disciples wanted to be considered the greatest in God’s Kingdom.
2. Yertle didn’t care about the other turtles… they weren’t as important as he. And each of the disciples cared less for the others than they do for themselves, for they were more important (in their own eyes) than the others.
ILLUS: They were acting almost like a couple of Richard Nixon’s aides back in June 1974. Nixon’s administration was falling apart due to the Watergate scandal so, to divert everyone’s attention from that, he planned a trip to Russia and Italy and two of his closest aides came along… Alexander Haig and Ron Ziegler.
Even tho’ Nixon’s presidency was collapsing, these two men were concerned with which of them was the most important man in his administration. In fact, their rivalry became so intense that (during the trip) each of them had a team that actually measured, down to the inch, … the distance from THEIR beds to President Nixon’s! They figured that the closer they were to Nixon’s bed, the more important they were.
These men were both Yertles.
They both wanted positions of importance and influence, and they sought those objectives to the point of absurdity.
But as I was thinking about their story it suddenly occurred to me that Haig and Ziegler weren’t all the much different than many of you and I. Almost all of us want to be valuable, to be important, to have influence. And there’s not a thing wrong with that.
The problem doesn’t lie with the DESIRE to be valuable/ important/ influential. The problem lies with how we go about getting those things.
Look with me to Luke 9:46:
“An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest.”
Now notice what Jesus says at the end of verse 48 - “…he who is least among you all— he is the greatest.”
Or, as Jesus said in Matthew 23:11 “The greatest among you will be your servant.”
So, can you become a great person in the Kingdom?
(wait for response)
Yes, of course you can! Jesus said so.
You can have value/ importance/ great influence in the Kingdom of Heaven. But you can only have that if you’re willing to do it God’s way. OTHERWISE, you risk becoming a Yertle.
So, my point is this: there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be great in the Kingdom of God, but if we’re not careful, we can end up using others for our own ends.
There’s an old saying: “Absolute power corrupts, absolutely”.
It’s considered a true statement… because it happens so often to so many. You give enough power to any turtle, and eventually he becomes a Yertle. A person with unlimited power begins to think they can do whatever they want to do.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
And the way to avoid that trap is to learn the lessons of Yertle the Turtle.
What are those lessons?
1st –Yertle’s biggest problem was that he didn’t think anybody should be higher than he was. He looks up at the moon and he snorts: “Say, what IS that thing that dares to be higher than Yertle the King?"
HE WAS THE KING… and this was HIS kingdom.
Nothing, and no one, else was allowed to impose on his authority and power.
And amongst the disciples, there was a similar problem.
At a different time, James and John asked to sit on Christ’s right and left in His kingdom and the other disciples became angry.
You could just hear them as they complained: “Say… who are James and John that they dare to try to be higher than we are? How dare they usurp OUR power and OUR prestige. This is OUR kingdom they’re messing with."
In fact, when a competitor sets up shop down the road they get upset. In Luke 9:49 John complains "Master, we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us."
What was John upset about?
“He’s NOT ONE OF US! How dare he infringe on our copy write? It’s our kingdom… not his.”
Really???
Excuse me… whose kingdom is it? (It’s Christ’s kingdom)
It belongs to Jesus, not us.
This is such a significant principle in God’s kingdom that every position and role in the church should be undertaken with this thought in mind.
In I Peter 5, God talks to the Elders (thru Peter) and tells them:
“To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of GOD’S FLOCK that is under your care, serving as overseers— not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but EAGER TO SERVE; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.” (I Peter 5:1-4)
Their role was that of servant to God’s people, not as rulers and tyrants. It’s God’s flock, not theirs, and God was watching what they were doing in the hopes that when Christ returned He could impart to them a crown of glory.
But the church doesn’t belong to the Elders. It doesn’t belong to the Preacher. It doesn’t belong to a church board, or a group of influential members. The church (Christ’s Kingdom) belongs to Jesus. It’s His not ours.
I’ve seen people forget who the church belongs to.
o They don’t want certain things done in “their church”
o They don’t want certain people in “their church”
And their battle cry is “this is our church”!
ILLUS: I even heard one man declare before the entire church “you new people don’t understand how much OUR building means to us.”
What was he saying?
He was saying – “you new people don’t really belong here. This is ‘our church’ and it will never be yours!” (Or God’s for that matter).
But it doesn’t have to be just about church… it can be about other parts of your life as well.
• It can be about “YOUR home”
• Or “Your” job
• Or “Your” Business
• “Your” family
• “Your” possessions
• “Your” future - etc. etc.
But once you become a Christian that’s no longer true.
These things aren’t YOURS any more.
They no longer belong to you… they’re just on loan.
When you became a Christian you gave everything to Jesus… they’re all His now, not yours.
And that’s true, because, now you realize
• there is someone who is more exalted than you are
• there is someone whose throne is higher than yours
• there is someone who OWNS everything
And that someone is Jesus.
But Yertle didn’t think anybody was higher than he was - and that was his 1st problem.
And Yertle’s 2nd problem stemmed from his first.
He felt that what he had was his because he deserved it.
He was king by virtue of his own ability and strength of character.
He was king because he deserved to be.
And the disciples had gotten to believing that their position as Christ’s followers was deserved.
They were HIS disciples. I mean, He came and sought them out. He chose them from amongst everyone else in all of Israel. They were special. And they must be special because Jesus had seen in them abilities and powers beyond those of mortal men.
Or at least, that’s what they thought.
So Jesus set the record straight.
Look with me to Matthew 18:1-4 (which tells us a little more about this incident):
"At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
He called a little child and had him stand among them. And He said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
To become great in Christ’s Kingdom Jesus said we need to become like a little child.
But why would Jesus use that little boy for His lesson?
I mean, there wasn’t anything special about this little boy. He doesn’t seem to be rich, or wise, or important. He had no special abilities that we know of. So, why bring this little boy into the discussion?
Well, Jesus used this boy because he WASN’T that important. Jesus didn’t ask him over because of what he knew, or what he could do, or because of what he owned, or what he could give Jesus.
This boy’s value lay in his willingness to obey. He did exactly what Jesus told him to do. The little boy came to Jesus and allowed himself to be used.
When we’re willing to humble ourselves to the point where we think of ourselves as having little value within ourselves, but instead come before God with the gentle openness of a little child … then God can use us.
Jesus said: “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 14:11
One woman said it this way: “I’m just a pencil in the hand of God” (Mother Teresa)
In other words: I’m only useful as God uses me and writes His will with my life. I’m just a tool… and I pray that God uses me!
When we’re humble enough to look at God in that way then God can lift us up and make us a great people.
But how does God want to use me?
Look again at Luke 9:48
“Then he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all— he is the greatest.’”
Yertle type people aren’t interested in little kids. They’re ok to kiss on the campaign stops… but beyond that they’re not of much use to important folks.
ILLUS: At one church I know about, some of the church members complained about the wear and tear that the youth group activities was having was on the basement carpet.
Why were they upset?
It was their money that paid for the carpet… not the kids.
Essentially – it was their carpet… it belonged to them, not the kids. The kids hadn’t contributed anything to the purchase or installation of that floor covering. They were 2nd class citizens.
But God tells us that if we’re going to impress Him, we need to be servants.
• Servants to people who can’t contribute anything to make the church strong & influential.
• Servants to children who are too young to fix things, or teach, or lead singing
• Servants to widows who are too poor to contribute to the church budget
• Servants to anyone who is too weak or crippled or handicapped to be able to repay our kindnesses.
Ruth Harms Calkin wrote a beautiful poem that says:
You know, Lord, How I serve You with great emotional fervor in the limelight.
You know how eagerly I speak for You at a Women’s Club.
You know my genuine enthusiasm at a Bible study.
But how would I react, I wonder, if You pointed to a basin of water
and asked me to wash the callused feet of a bent and wrinkled old woman
day after day, month after month, in a room where nobody saw and nobody knew?
Philippians 2:3-5 tells us that Jesus is our example in this:
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
That’s the example of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
He was exalted to the highest place and given a name that above every name… but first He set us an example that this kind of glory is preceded by humility and servanthood. He became our servant. He humbled Himself to die on a cross in our place. And if we truly want to be valuable, important and of influence in the Kingdom of heaven, this is what we need to become like.
And God’s promise to us is that when we humble ourselves as Jesus did… He will lift us up.
