"Basic Nature of the Church"

    “What, then, is the basic, fundamental nature of the church? To serve itself and its own self-centered interests? Or even first of all to serve others? No, it fundamental character is to belong to God. In this passage Peter says that we are ‘a people for God’s own possession’ (Hebrew am, Greek laos).
    The language ‘people of God’ presupposes an Old Testament background of the exodus from Egypt led by divine power and a call to be the covenant people of God at Mount Sinai. The living transcendent God came to claim Israel as His special possession, an act that prefigured the Spirit’s coming at Pentecost to make the church the new people of God. Peter squelches the idea that the church has a right to exist for its own egocentric interest and comforts. It exists for God, and He in His infinite majesty lives in it as a troubling, transforming, barrier-breaking presence.”

C. John Miller, Outgrowing the Ingrown Church, p. 43.