The examples of the earliest saints are recorded for our instruction. There are surely some patterns, some steps and structures to be discerned in Scripture. They do not form the essence of the church. They do not make life within the church meaningful, desirable, or attractive to outsiders. If God's word is our pattern, it of necessity is rigid, not flexible.
Rigidity suggests an unbending and inflexible quality of something.
God intended that all men of all ages agree with His revealed word. Cultural differences grow out of geographic and seasonal differences. God knew before He started creation that His creation would cultivate diverse cultural mores. Still He intended for all these dissimilar cultures to be led by only one revelation. While we recognize biblical provision for cultural differences, by no means ought that be permitted to spawn an unholy disposition toward the divine blueprint that is fully and finally revealed by God.