When Jesus prayed that all who believed in Him would have the same unity that He had with the Father (John 17:20-21), He revealed that having many denominations would create unbelievers! A simple computer search will show that in America there are between at least 20,000 different denominations. It shows just how little unity exists in “Christendom” today. There is no way this situation is like the unity of Jesus and His Father.
One of the reasons such division is a commonly held practice is to change the church to fit into the mold in our world. Denominations are in great turmoil over the acceptance of transgenders, appointing homosexual clergymen, and the basic organizational structure of the various religions. It is even divided over how to be saved from our sins.
However, the world in which the church entered was even more diverse than our own. Every Gentile region had its own gods and how each god was to be worshiped and served. Even Judaism, which worshiped God, was in turmoil. The Sadducees had decided that God did not want men to believe in angels, eternal souls or the resurrection. The Pharisees had changed ancient Judaism and added their own rules so much that Jesus said they had made God’s commandments void (Mark 7:9). The Jewish nation had failed to follow God as He had revealed and because of them “…the name of God was blasphemed among the Gentiles” (Rom. 2:23-24). They exalted their own religious ideas above what God said.
How did the church adapt to change the first century world? They did not change the church Jesus established. It did not make any difference if they were in Africa, Arabia, Turkey, Asia, Rome, Corinth, Europe or anywhere on the earth. Paul, who traveled and established churches in so many places, said he preached the same doctrine in every church (1 Cor. 4:17). Corinth had changed the Lord’s supper to be more like pagan feasts, and Paul said they were no longer partaking of the Lord’s Supper but your own Supper (1 Cor. 11:20-21).
Paul established the church at Ephesus and preached there for three years. What happened when he left? They drifted so far away from what he taught them that Jesus was about to remove His recognition of them as the church of Christ (Rev. 2:1-5). What solution did He give them? It was not to change the church to fit better into the society at Ephesus! It was to repent and return to what they had been taught.
The church in every place should be no larger than what the faithful preaching of the gospel will bring. We are not to change the church but to change the world!