Much is being said these days regarding “our heritage.”  Those who desire to see the church become like the denominations consider the “heritage” of the churches of Christ to date back to the Restoration of the 19th and early 20th centuries.  Those who desire to see the church embrace denominational practices, those who wish the church of our Lord to be counted as a denomination among denominations often label many practices within the Lord’s church as “our heritage,” thereby salving their consciences by making (in their minds) matter of faith merely man-made tradition.  In so doing, these practices which are part of “our heritage” may be dismissed as matters of opinion rather than matters of faith.  Those who are seeking to change the church of Christ label such things as acapella singing, baptism for the remission of sins, partaking of the Lord’s Supper upon the first day of the week, etc., as “our heritage”.  Such thinking is despicable, deplorable, and an insult to Christians everywhere. 

Despite the unfortunate misuse of the term, the church of our Lord does have a distinct and glorious heritage.  Lest we think that the idea of our heritage is a term newly coined by change agents, it was God who first described the heritage of the Lord’s church: 

        No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and   

        every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou   

       shalt condemn.  This is the heritage of the servants of the       

       Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord                                 Isaiah 54:17   

Oh, what a glorious heritage that we as the church of our Lord do enjoy.  Satan uses weapon after weapon, device after device in his attempts to destroy the precious bride of Christ.  Through his influence, souls are drawn away from the Lord, conflicts arise within the church, and schisms form.  Yet Satan’s unrelenting efforts will not yield the results he desires.  When the smoke clears from this great battlefield, the church will follow her Lord into the everlasting bliss of that eternal day.  Satan and his evil minions may win a few battles here and there, but he is powerless to destroy the church!  

Every evil word, every unfounded charge, every unwarranted criticism brought against the church of Christ shall meet their doom at the hands of God’s word.  Those within the Lord’s body who wish to change the heritage of the church can huff and puff until they are blue in the face, because their words will never overcome the words of him who gave his life for the church.  All those who direct evil words at the precious body of our Lord shall have all eternity to regret those words unless they repent before their time upon earth is through.  

Our heritage in the churches of Christ goes well beyond the Restoration movement, even beyond the Reformation.  Our heritage can be traced back to the day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2, when the church of our Lord had her beginning.  Neither sticks, nor stones, nor evil words will ever destroy the church of our Lord.  This is our glorious heritage!