When the Lord Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman by the well, He said to her, "Yet a time is coming when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth (John 4: 23 & 24).
In the Old Testament tabernacle the priest was to burn fragrant incense in front of the altar on which was the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 30:7). The burning fragrant incense is a symbol of worship.
Two passages in the New Testament come to my mind in connection with the terms "worship" and "fragrant incense".
Romans 12 : 1 - Make a decisive dedication of your bodies - presenting all your members and faculties - as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.
When the Lord Jesus is on the throne of your heart and life - where everything He wills and desires becomes our will and desire - then our every thought, word, action, decision - everything, each time - becomes an act that glorifies and exalts Him. Our single minded focus is to let every member of our body become an instrument well pleasing to God. This act is our spiritual worship.
Ephesians 5:1,2 - Here Paul is exhorting the members of the Church, Christ's body, to imitate God and walk in love. Here Paul cites the example of the Lord Jesus showing how His love was an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant offering.
Paul's letter to the Ephesians dwells solely on God's magnificent purpose for us as a Church and how necessary it is therefore as members of the Church to love one another.
Be useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another [readily and freely], as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)
In Philippians 2:1-5 he writes, If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.
This sincere love for the brethren is what becomes a fragrant offering to God.
The above two forms of spiritual worship are in complete agreement with the two main commandments "upon which," Jesus said, "depends the whole Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40)
Oh that our worship would not be just in songs and hymns but in spirit and in truth. For it is the kind of worship the Father seeks.
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