One of the oddest phenomena in sports is the slump. The word "slump" is usually used with baseball players, and it happens to even the best hitters. One month Buster Posey is hitting the ball all over the park, and then for no reason at all he can't seem to hit the ball out of the infield. The same batter who is leading the league in home runs suddenly couldn't get a hit if he was playing slow pitch, church league softball. And the harder the batter tries to get out of his slump, the more he thinks about it and the more effort he puts into it, the worse the slump gets.

Have you ever gone through a slump? Maybe it was at work, where it just seemed that everything you did turned out wrong, no matter how hard you worked, how well-intentioned you were. Maybe it was an emotional slump, where you just seemed emotionally and psychologically stuck, where all the life and energy and joy was drained out of you and you didn't know how to get it back. Or maybe it was a relational slump. Maybe it was even that most intimate and fulfilling of all relationships, your marriage. The fact is -- and I imagine every one of you who are married would agree with me on this -- that all marriages go through slumps, even the very best of them.

One of the oddest phenomena in sports is the slump. The word "slump" is usually used with baseball players, and it happens to even the best hitters. One month Buster Posey is hitting the ball all over the park, and then for no reason at all he can't seem to hit the ball out of the infield. The same batter who is leading the league in home runs suddenly couldn't get a hit if he was playing slow pitch, church league softball. And the harder the batter tries to get out of his slump, the more he thinks about it and the more effort he puts into it, the worse the slump gets.

Have you ever gone through a slump? Maybe it was at work, where it just seemed that everything you did turned out wrong, no matter how hard you worked, how well-intentioned you were. Maybe it was an emotional slump, where you just seemed emotionally and psychologically stuck, where all the life and energy and joy was drained out of you and you didn't know how to get it back. Or maybe it was a relational slump. Maybe it was even that most intimate and fulfilling of all relationships, your marriage. The fact is -- and I imagine every one of you who are married would agree with me on this -- that all marriages go through slumps, even the very best of them.

Every year major companies all across America spend hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to recruit talented, skilled, educated employees. A company's most important asset, it is said, is its employees. And so companies pay headhunters and recruiters large sums of money to go out and find the best and the brightest to come to work for them. A while ago the Wall Street Journal carried an article about a new phenomenon in headhunting. These headhunters are not out and about looking for the best employees they can find. Instead, these headhunters have been hired by CEOs of major corporations to find these executives best friends. The executives claim they are simply too busy to make friends of their own, so they have decided to use the one thing they do have in ample supply -- money -- and use it to obtain what they most want -- friends.

Every year major companies all across America spend hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to recruit talented, skilled, educated employees. A company's most important asset, it is said, is its employees. And so companies pay headhunters and recruiters large sums of money to go out and find the best and the brightest to come to work for them. A while ago the Wall Street Journal carried an article about a new phenomenon in headhunting. These headhunters are not out and about looking for the best employees they can find. Instead, these headhunters have been hired by CEOs of major corporations to find these executives best friends. The executives claim they are simply too busy to make friends of their own, so they have decided to use the one thing they do have in ample supply -- money -- and use it to obtain what they most want -- friends.

So how cool is it when Jesus, the Son of God himself, gives you a compliment! And that's exactly what he does in our text this morning. This fall we are studying Jesus' best known sermon, the Sermon on the Mount. Two weeks ago we got started by taking a brief look at what we call the Beatitudes, which you can read in Matthew 5:1--12. Today our text is from Matthew 5:13--16; listen to what Jesus says:

You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:13--16)

Now we're going to explore what all this means this morning, but here's the first thing I want you to notice. Notice that Jesus does not say, "You should try to be the salt of the earth." He does not say, "If you work really hard and pray really hard, maybe someday you can be the light of the world." Jesus looks at his followers -- who are very young, very poor, uneducated, who have very little influence in their world -- and he pays them a sincere compliment. Jesus says to them, "You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world."

So how cool is it when Jesus, the Son of God himself, gives you a compliment! And that's exactly what he does in our text this morning. This fall we are studying Jesus' best known sermon, the Sermon on the Mount. Two weeks ago we got started by taking a brief look at what we call the Beatitudes, which you can read in Matthew 5:1--12. Today our text is from Matthew 5:13--16; listen to what Jesus says:

You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:13--16)

Now we're going to explore what all this means this morning, but here's the first thing I want you to notice. Notice that Jesus does not say, "You should try to be the salt of the earth." He does not say, "If you work really hard and pray really hard, maybe someday you can be the light of the world." Jesus looks at his followers -- who are very young, very poor, uneducated, who have very little influence in their world -- and he pays them a sincere compliment. Jesus says to them, "You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world."

Well good morning Cornerstone it is always a pleasure to address the entire congregation. It seems I am called upon when Craig is out of commission. The last time I spoke he had surgery number one on his hip and now it appears that he is moving along well in the healing of his latest procedure. Please continue to keep him in your prayers, as I know he misses being up here so much more than we could ever imagine.

Well good morning Cornerstone it is always a pleasure to address the entire congregation. It seems I am called upon when Craig is out of commission. The last time I spoke he had surgery number one on his hip and now it appears that he is moving along well in the healing of his latest procedure. Please continue to keep him in your prayers, as I know he misses being up here so much more than we could ever imagine.

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