Why Our Christian Heritage Matters

“Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee. When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.”

Deuteronomy 32:7–8

Heritage is something of value that has been passed down from generation to generation. As Christians we are called to create and pass on the heritage of our faith.

We must learn about our Christian heritage so that we can:

• earnestly contend for our faith (Jude 3);
• establish character, lives and families based upon Christian principles (Joshua 24:15); and
• teach the next generation so our Christian heritage can be preserved (1 Peter 2:9).

Heritage is important to God

God said, “I am the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.” Our Heavenly Father speaks in terms of generations. He speaks of fathers who pass on their spiritual heritage from generation to generation. Why? Because He is establishing a heritage of faith.

The opening passage of the New Testament begins, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1). God is so interested in heritage and ancestry that He devotes the first eighteen verses of the New Testament to this very subject.

This is a memorial of faith for us today; something for us to remember. Throughout the Holy Scriptures God’s people set up memorials to remember His goodness, His deeds and His deliverance.

The hand of God on our land

As well as bringing convicts to Australia, the First Fleet brought the Word of God and the English form of Christian government. The Bible had finally arrived in the Asia–Pacific region under the providential hand of God.

Have you ever wondered why Indonesia, India or one of our other near neighbours did not claim Australia for their own? The Chinese were among the great explorers and traders of their day, colonising most of South-East Asia, and maps from ancient China showed the north coast of Australia — yet they never tried to settle here. The Hindus colonised Bali, only a few hundred kilometres away. Why didn’t they sail on and claim Australia as well?

Could it be that God had been preparing this land since time began — that He chose this nation as the launching pad for the Gospel into Asia, the Pacific, and the world? Amid a virtual sea of Buddhist, Islamic, Taoist and Hindu peoples, God was establishing a Christian democracy which He would use in these last days. Remember, God makes no mistakes.

Australia is founded on Christian principles

The opening sentence of the preamble to our nation’s Constitution states: “Whereas the people of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania, humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God, have agreed to unite in one indissoluble Federal Commonwealth.” These words were adopted by our forefathers in 1901.

One of Australia’s greatest public figures, Alfred Deakin, was the man mainly responsible for the passage of the Australian Constitution through the English House of Commons. He became Australia’s second Prime Minister after Edmund Barton, who himself was inspired to enter politics by his Presbyterian minister, Dr Robert Steele.

Nurtured in his faith by a godly mother, Deakin kept a spiritual diary, and from 1884 to 1913 wrote a book containing nearly four hundred prayers — many relating directly to major decisions in his public life and revealing his utter dependence on God. He prayed over the proposed Australian Constitution continually, and was delighted when the Constitutional Convention unanimously carried the preamble inclusion, “humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God.”

Many of our forefathers were Christians

Famous names such as Captain James Cook, Charles Sturt, Edward John Eyre, Flynn of the Inland, Governor Macquarie and Caroline Chisholm are but a few of our forefathers who were men and women of faith. Many of our most famous explorers, founding fathers, politicians and educators were believers who had accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and were openly vocal about their faith. These are the heroes of our Christian faith.

On 13 May 1787, eleven ships making up the First Fleet sailed out of Plymouth bound for Botany Bay. Amazingly, not one ship was lost on the monumental journey. As the fleet arrived, Judge Advocate Captain David Collins recorded that the Lord had blessed the voyage: “Thus under the blessing of God we happily completed in eight months a voyage which, before it was undertaken, the mind had ventured to contemplate, without meeting any accident in a fleet of eleven ships.”

With them came a man of God to deliver the Word of God — the Reverend Richard Johnson. On Sunday 3 February 1788, Johnson preached his first sermon under a great tree to a congregation of troops and convicts. The text he chose for the first message preached in this new nation came from Psalm 116:12 — “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?”

We must never lose sight of the fact that Australia is a Christian country founded on Christian principles. This is the very foundation, the heart of Australia.

The danger of forgetting our heritage

It has been well said that “if you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything.” We stand at a critical time in our nation’s history. If we fail to reflect on the godly memorials set in place by our forefathers, then we — individually and as a nation — will drift off course and go astray.

These memorials are for the future, as they provide a secure foundation from the past. Any nation that loses or forgets its heritage is like a ship without a rudder.