Acts 2:42 “They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
BEFORE Jesus departed from His disciples, to return to His heavenly kingdom, He gave them a FINAL instruction:"Go and make disciples of ALL the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." ANYTHING else would be secondary....leadership, status, church dogma, church denominations, biblical translations, finance etc.
For the FIRST 1000 years the Christian church carried out the PRIMARY objective of the church as a unified body...the GREAT COMMISSION of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19)...converting sinners to Christianity, teaching them about the NEW covenant ( A covenant is an agreement between two parties); between God and humans in THIS case. God sets the terms, HE makes the offer (John 3:16), and WE respond to it with either cooperation OR resistance.
Between 1378 and 1429 the focus of the church started shifting AWAY from religious and spiritual matters to worldly matters. Power struggles and politics became the primary objective of the church and its leadership. The latter caused division and BITTER rivalry between the Western and Eastern Christian churches. THIS eventually led to DIFFERENT factions and denominations WITHIN the church. Christ was NO LONGER the CENTRE of the church, and HIS teachings was OFTEN wrongfully interpreted to JUSTIFY secularism and the ambitions of power hungry church officials.
Christ's teaching was NOT inspired by academics, status, wealth, tradition,culture OR politics,but by His obedience to the will of God.He was humble and loving in His leadership.He NEVER attacked the sinner,but appealed to his conscious with the parables he taught. It was NEVER his mission as the head of the church to BE served,but to serve."... whoever wishes to be FIRST among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to BE served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." ( Matthew 20: 27-28). Furthermore he NEVER used the church as a platform to exercise oppressive authority and power.
In Mark 7:1-13 the theologians and teachers of the law of Moses...the untouchables and leaders of the church of the time, pointed their fingers at Jesus' followers and said to Him: “YOUR disciples are NOT honoring the traditions of the elders. They DON'T follow our ceremonies and ways!” Instead of subjecting himself and His followers to the traditions and customs of the time,as the church expected of Him,he disagreed with them.In fact,He insulted their leadership and rejected their accusations.
The modern church is a DIVIDED church with secular foundations. EACH denomination follow its OWN interpretations of the Word of God and the teachings of Christ, in order to hold on to its OWN dogma. They have omitted the primary objective of the church from their doctrine and follow the ceremonies and ways of the secular world. The church should NOT be ruled by THESE disciplines and secular principles, but by the Spirit of God. It should be a unified body with Christ as the HEAD of THIS body, exempted from denominations, denominational dogma and denominational doctrine.
