The Gospel in a Nutshell

The Gospel in a Nutshell

Conciseness is what people with busy lives like nowadays. “Sound bites” are used by politicians to gain publicity. Children like” bite-size” topics in their studies. People’s eyes are often  glued to their mobile phones as they read their text messages.

There are adages describing concise conversations, speeches, lectures, sermons etc. Take, for example,  the clichés “to the point”, “short and sweet, “to cut the long story short”. The one I like is “in a nutshell”. It implies a certain topic  is full of meaning yet is concisely presented.

This expression has been used to summarise the Gospel message. “Gospel” means “good news”. Good news in this context is that God loves everyone. This is seen in the famous text found in  the Gospel of John chapter 3 and verse 16 which  reads, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”.

 In Sunday School I used to  sing,

 “Twenty five words in John three  sixteen
No greater text has ever been seen.
Twelve about God and twelve about me.
“Son”, is the centre, of John three sixteen”.

On the one hand we see God demonstrating His love to us by having His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die  for us on the Cross at Calvary. On  the other hand, we must believe that this is the case. Those who do not believe will perish.