"Sacrifice describes the essence of the Church’s mission in the world:
“You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy
priesthood, to offer up Spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus
Christ.” (1 Pet. 2:5). Notice how similar this is to Paul’s description of the
activity and life of the church in Philippi. He calls their work “the sacrifice
and priestly service that arises from your faith” (Phil. 2:17). The language
of sacrifice is used as a description of the Christian life (Rom. 12:1). The
fact that Paul speaks of “living sacrifices” should alert us to the fact that
there is a positive dimension to the sacrificial ritual in addition to the idea of
penal, substitutionary execution. The self-denying, generous lives of
Christians are sacrifices. The author of Hebrews admonishes the church,
“But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is
well pleased” (Heb. 13:16). This life of love is a sacrificial life that we live
in union with Christ’s sacrificial offering, according to Ephesians 5:2: “And
walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an
offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” Augustine’s
way of linking Christ’s actions and ours is to remind us that the totus
Christus (the “total” or “whole Christ”) includes Head and Body or
Husband and Bride, if you will (Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:12, 27: Eph. 5:23).13
We can therefore say that both Christ and those united to Him as His Body
offer sacrifice. We are priests “in Christ” (Rev. 1:6; 5:10; 20:6). We
sacrifice “in Christ” (Rom. 12:1; Heb. 13:5)." (Jeffrey Meyers, The Lord's Service).
