Are you hip to the form, or just hipster?

There are a few new attitudes today’s “must be relevant” crowd push within the church, to the detriment of the church.

One of them is their attitude of living entirely spontaneously … no rules, tenuous structure, all freedom. They disguise as “hip” a revised version of circumstantial theology: they’ll tweak their theology according to circumstances to appear culturally hip and relevant.

They attempt to follow Christ without form.

In the beginning, the world was without form, and God changed that. Being without form was a starting point for God to create a masterpiece, it wasn’t the way the world was to remain!

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be …'” Genesis 1:1-3a.

From a formless and empty beginning, God layered on detailed design and order to the world and filled it with life. He gave form to the earth, and all that filled it.

He’s done the same with our new life in Christ. Having been buried with Christ in baptism, He has not raised us to the newness of a formless life. Quite the contrary. The Apostle Paul gives us a picture of the church — and each one of us as part of it — taking on the form God has designed:

“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love,” Ephesians 4:11-16.

“But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image,” 2 Corinthians 3:16-18.

Just as “… the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters …” ready to participate in creation in the beginning, God has given us His Spirit to bring form to our lives, to fashion us into the likeness of His Son.

What form are you growing in, one that reflects the glory of the Lord, or one that reflects the culture around you?

Scotty