July 1, 2026

Hearts Of Stone From Worshipping Idols Of Stone
“Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all?"
Ezekiel 14,3 NIV

A Heart Of Flesh Is A "Heart" That Is Born Again From Above. This New Heart Replaces The Stony Heart Of Idolatry:
"I will cleanse you from the taint [personal faith adult baptism] of all your idols . 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone ["dead" idolatrous physical heart] from your body and give you a heart of flesh."  
Ezekiel36,25 NEB

"All flesh is not the same... 40 There are also heavenly bodies [Spriritual flesh, the only flesh Jesus has now] and there are earthly bodies..." 
1Corinthians15,39-40 

"Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”  
John6,53-58 NIV 

Lord's Supper Is A Spiritual Sacrifice
"you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
1Peter2,5

Adult Baptism Is A Spiritual Sacrifice 
"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."
Romans12,1 ESV

The Apostle Paul's Gospel Preaching To The Gentiles Is a  Priestly Spiritual Sacrifice
¹⁵But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God ¹⁶ to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit."
Romans15,16 ESV

Apostle Paul Warning Corinthians That Despite Having Been Baptised Into Moses And Fed Supernaturally In The Desert Many Israelites Missed Salvation By Their Idolatry: So Watch Out You Who Are Better Baptised Into Jesus And Have Communion With God Through the Blood and Body Of Christ

Idolatry of The Body (Sexuality) And The Belly (Pagan Worship Eating Meat Offered to Idols 1Corinthians8,10) Is Messing Up The Spiritual Fellowship Of Spiritual Blood And Body Of Christ    
"Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud [the miraculous presence of God that saved them from the sun] and passed in the sea [Israel saved by the miraculous parting of sea while in flight from the Egyptians]. All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and the sea. 3 All ate the same spiritual food. 4 And all drank the the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock followed them, and that Rock was Christ [out of whom flowed the everflowing Spiritual water and Spiritual saving blood of Calvary John19,34]... ... 6. Now these things became our [ Christian] examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things [idols that lead for example to promiscuity around the golden calf] as they also lusted. And do not become idolators [those who worship idols of stone and wood etc] as were some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play ["party"]. Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; ⁹ nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; ¹⁰ nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. ¹¹ Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion [Gr. koinonia, sharing, supernatural fellowship] of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?"
1Corinthians10,1-16 NKJ    

The Spiritual Milk Of The Word Contains The Holy Spirit- So Even The Blessed Bread And Wine
"As newborn babes, desire the pure [Spiritual] milk of the word, that you may grow thereby." 
1Peter2,1 NKJ

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom [unlike us humans] there is no variation or shadow of turning." 
James1,17 NKJ

"Whoever eats any [physical] blood, that person shall be cut off from his people.” Leviticus7,27; Genesis9,4; Leviticus17,10-14; Deuteronomy12,23-24.

Perfect Gifts Of God From Above?
While this is a Table of the Lord Meditation- number 44 but who is counting- the Lord wants me to take a little different introductory tact by noting James1,17- by asking what are some of the perfect gifts of God from above and then applying this down from above gift standard to the Lord's Supper. 

We all know just how hard it is to find a "good" gift for someone. Some people seem to have everything and getting a them even a good gift  would be difficult. And getting them a perfect gift- would be well nigh impossible.

But our God is a God of the impossible. He doesn't have any problem giving perfect gifts to us (like who wouldn't want another good friend or the perfect equally yoked Christian spouse).

What are some of the primary or most important perfect gifts of God- from above?    

Three come to my mind. The first is the Holy Spirit of God- or God's grace- without which humans would not even have been able to hear and write down the Word of God- which is the second perfect gift come down from above.

John1,14 tells us that the Word of God was with God and is God, and that the Word became flesh- in the person of our savior and Lord Jesus. How did God who is Spirit- from above- make Jesus, Immanuel, God with, and for us? 

The Spirit sent down His Holy Spirit conception miracle, another perfect gift from above, for Mary, mother of Jesus. Luke1,34-38: “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said, 'Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.'  And the angel departed from her." ESV

The Spirit of God- the first perfect gift from above- then the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament- the second perfect gift from above. The Word made flesh, Jesus, flesh full of the Spirit, God with us before and after death- messiah of Israel and Savior and Lord of all humankind. This God with us, incarnated in the first Spirit filled flesh, and first born of the dead, Revelation1,5; Colossians1,18 our redeemer- this is the third perfect gift of God from above.

Ephesians4,18 tells us about more gifts from above:"When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people."

And Ephesians4,11-13 says these gifts will help bible based churches organize and govern themselves: 
"So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up  until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." NIV 

So the Apostle Paul was given the extraordinary gift- the office of an Apostle (in addition to the twelve apostles chosen in the ordinary course)- even when he hadn't seen or served Jesus until he was blinded by the light and the risen Jesus brought him to faith per Acts 9. 

Paul's Extraordinary Apostolic Gifting Is Challenged By The Great Need In Corinth For Foundational Truths Of The Faith 
Paul went right to work this important gift- that of a prophetic gospel catalyst- making sure the core foundation of our gospel faith- gets securely planted in various locales and across various regions. This catalystic and foundational gospel planting is the essence of being an Apostle up to the present day. We still need apostles and prophets and their core gospel priorities more than ever. We know this now that pastorianity and self focused evangelism leaves us caught up a a little short on priorities and direction and faith maturity.

About 20 years after His salvation in 33-35 AD, Acts 18,11 tells us Paul "stayed a year and a half in Corinth, teaching them the Word of God." 

So the Apostle Paul used the primary three gifts mentioned above- and his anointed gift of being an Apostle- to teach the whole gospel- all the perfect gospel gifts from above- wherever he went.

His challenge in Corinth was considerable- the church was predominantly gentile, non Jews, not overly educated, so many were not coversant in sacred history and the Hebrew scriptures and the strict and holy sacrificial faith approach of biblical Judaism. As a group they were also prone to personality driven factionalism, "I like this leader one and you like that one" sort of thing and to widespead and thriving sacrificial idolatry of the Greco Roman pantheon, ie the worship of false gods (like Aphradite in Corinth) and the ritual feasting that went with this, 1Corinthians8,10. 

Therefore, they were communing with demons, as practiced at the false god feasting tables of the Greco Roman Empire:
"Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?  Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants [supernaturally fellowshipping] with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.  Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?"
1Corinthians11,18-22 NIV

Furthermore, they were living in a promiscuous city, known for "Corinthian women" a euphemism for prostitution and the idol of libertine sexuality, the idol of the body. 

So at the very least there was considerable idolatry of the belly- the cultic feasting- and idolatry of the body- in the libertine sexuality of the time and place.

And amidst these radical spiritual and moral and faith changes and challenges these same gentiles were now celebrating a very sobering and holy public worship known as the "Lord's Supper." This required all to fully participate worthily- ie to be repentant and holy- from the inside out- at least without unconfessed sin on their souls (cf Ryrie study bible note at 1Corinthians11,27 explaining why folks were getting sick and even dying from "unworthily" participating in the Lord's supper.)   

Even Perfect Core Foundational Gospel Gifts Can Be Messsed Up By Us Humans
The Lord's Supper- along with adult baptism- were central foundational gospel gifts, perfect gifts from above, to all the churches. The supper was a thanksgiving offering, what some might know as a "eucharistic offering" (cf Lv7,11-12), a sacrifice not for guilt or sin but for meant to show gratitude to God, to praise Him for benefits received (JBC 1990 Levitcus7,12-15), and to effect communion, supernatural fellowship, with God and others at the this spiritual sacrifice.

So it's known by many varied names, a communion sacrifice, a fellowship sacrifice, a praise sacrifice, a peace offering.

But the Lord supper is not a temple sacrifice where something living gets slaughtered- it is a spiritual or living sacrifice- ie no animal dies, and no physical blood is flicked by a separate and distinct priesthood on any altar or table but it does provide us with appropriate food for our bodies- which are anointed and filled with the Holy Spirit after personally faithful adult water baptism and Holy Spirit baptism ("baptisms" Hebrew6,2; Acts2,36-39).

At this supper bread and wine are offered and blessed- and the bread is broken by our new gospel priesthood and then faitfhully eaten by all of us. These personally faitfhully and priestly cultic acts are also covenantal acts and unifying acts and as such they call down and bring God's supernatural blessing into the bread and wine and bring us communion of God, sharing, or fellowship with Gof who is altogether Holy in Spirit and in deed. 

Jerome Murphy O'Connor notes that this sharing depicted in 1Corinthians10,16-18, derives from "the one life-source, the loaf, that is the body of Christ" as reminscent of Hebrew sacrifcies of Leviticus 3 and 7. He further notes that this "sharing was understood to create a [Spiritual] bond between all involved." (JBC 1990 p. 808)    

So here the Apostle Paul was for eighteen months doing his best to lay the core foundations of our updated and fulfilling gospel faith. And after this time it became clear to him- while he was in Ephesus in 53 AD- that he had to write 1Corinthians to build up this local faith community to some greater degree of knowledge and a better introductory understanding of the core principles of their new found faith.

Why Such A Need For Basic Christian Teaching?
Again, many of the converts to Corinthian Christianity were still steeped or influenced by gentile idolatrous worship practices- and the pagan idolatry feasting and libertine sexuality and strong man personality cults- all of which were in conflict with the holiness and repentant faith requirement of the sanctified fellowship at the table of the Lord.

Moreover, as we know from our own experience it may take some time of faithful and devoted study and celebration of this spiritual sacrifice of the Lord's supper to understand that we are not just playing church. Instead we are actually calling down the Holy Spirit and facilitatinhg an interaction between our spirit and God's Spirit, calling down and sharing supernatural fellowship with the risen Jesus, and with the Father according to 1John1,3, by calling down the blessing of God on the bread and wine, as Jesus' new gospel priesthood 1Peter2,5. 

The first things all priests do is bless things. The second thing we do is sacrificially offer things. "Quorban" in Hebrew means to bring something valuble close God (cf Sam Peake, God's Learning Channel), offering it to God. And at the table we bring the bread and wine close to God, to the Lord's proprietary table, his table, close to our High Priest Jesus Christ, and we all faithfully bless the bread and wine, and break the bread- hoping and trusting God will be present and mutually bless the bread and wine and share in our personally faithful and Spiritually sacrificial worship.

The broken bread offering represents our human side of the covenantal sacrifice and also God's side such as at Genesis15,8-21 between Abraham and God. At that sacrifice all the sacrificial animals were split in two, and while Abraham was waiting for God to sanctify and bless and ratify his faith covenant with him (on behalf of Israel), he fell asleep between the two sides of the sacrificial victims, when he was awakened and terrified by great and powerful prophetic words of God. Then God brought the fire of holy Ghost rushing between both sides of the sacrifice- Abraham's side and God's side. In this supernatural way a covenant was struck, and blessed and ratified by the Holy Spirit. 

At the table- with the Holy Spirit of God in us- we offer our gifts of bread and wine to Jesus, and then bless them- not that He needs them for food and drink- but that we need them, his risen Spiritual flesh and blood, for Spiritual food and drink for sustenance and strength to live how he wants according to his Spirit and Word and doing His will. 

Ezekiel36,23-27 is a prophecy of God's perfect gift of the Spirit- as did some of the Jewish faithful received at Pentecost according to Acst 2. These vesres from Ezekiel36 tell us that by this perfect gift of the Spirit from above- we will be given a 'heart of flesh' to replace our often idolatrous hearts of stone, hearts of idolatry, that plagued Israel's faith, and plague our Christian faith today precisely because many of us have not fully received the perfect Spirit of God inside us.

We Christians gratefully receive this fleshly heart when we have God's Spirit fully inside- ie when we born again of water and Spirit (John3,5), which gives to us the perfect gift of a heart of flesh, a Spiritual heart, a human heart that has God fully in it. 

A heart of flesh is a Spirit filled heart- a gospel bearing heart- a heart capable of winsome witness that was the purpose of Israel, and we also per Acts2,39, were promised this heart of flesh:

"I will hallow my great name, which has been profaned among those nations. When they see that I reveal holiness through you [faithful Spirit filled people], the nations will know that I am the Lord, ...  I will take you out of the nations and gather you from every land and bring you to your own soil. I will sprinkle clean water over you, and you shall be cleansed from all that defiles you; I will cleanse you from the taint [by personal faith adult baptism, remision of sins] of all your idols . 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone ["dead" idolatrous physical heart] from your body and give you a heart of flesh."  NEB   
With this Spiritual heart from above, this heart of flesh we can better understand what Jesus mean by John6,53ff:
"Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”  
John6,53-58 NIV 

It also helps us understand 1Cothinthians15,39-40: "All flesh is not the same... 40 There are also heavenly bodies [Spriritual flesh, the only flesh Jesus has now] and there are earthly bodies..." 
1Corinthians15,39-40 

And we are doing these spiritually sacrificial faith acts as a memorial- a Spiritual sacrifice- of Jesus' saving work on Calvary. We must do this with an ongoing personal repentant faith, and with the one bible faith of God's church, so that we can fully trust God will always show up and ratify our blessing with his fiery covenantal blessing at the table. 

Our completion of the Spiritual sacrifice involves our communion, eating and drinking our perfect heavenly real food and drink (John6,55) by eating the holy and blessed bread and drinking the blessed wine. This bread has been offered and blessed by Jesus' new universal priesthood- and thus it too now contains Jesus' risen Spirit. The cup and its contents are also offered and blessed, blessed with his risen everflowing blood Spirit as depicted in the post death vision of John19,34.

The only body and blood that we can partake of and have communion with is Jesus' risen body and blood. He has no physical human body any more, his flesh now is only a heavenly flesh, also a gift from above, his blood is everflowing Spiritual blood of John's vision after Jesus died and was pierced by the Roman soldier.     

Romans12,1-2 (and 1Peter2,5) tells us what we are doing at the table of the Lord. We are offering a spiritual or "living" sacrifice- ie nothing dies and there's no physical blood on an altar or table.  

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." 

(The same body problem of libertine sexuality in Corinth is the same body problem in Rome. God gave us adult baptism to take care of our body problem, which by personal and repentant faith makes us temples of the Holy Ghost. Adult baptism is a Spiritual sacrifice.)

The spiritual sacrifice of the Lord's Supper is for people who have been through the spiritual sacrifice of adult baptism. 

The New Covenant bible exhorts us to make spiritual sacrifices whereas Jewish men were required in the Hebrew scriptures to attend and participate in the yearly the three major temple sacrifices in Jerusalem.

Jesus told us to do the Lord supper- "do this"- Mark14,22, Luke22,18-20, 1Corinthians11,23-25- this spiritual sacrifice in memory of Him and what he did on Calvary for all of us. Thus, all of us Christian faithful are required to celberate this spiritual sacrifice- no exceptions.

He and His apostles also told us about adult baptism, a spiritual sacrifice, no exceptions (Acts2,36ff, Matthew28,19-20).

These core foundational acts of faith unify all of us by a covenantal bond that keeps us focused and strong in our faith pilgrimage toward Jerusalem: "As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools." Psalm84,6 NIV  

In the meantime and before the rapture (1Thessalonians4,16-17) then heaven for a bit (Daniel9,27 seven year tribulation), then we come back according to Zechariah14,6 with our Lord Jesus and "all His Holy Ones" to reign with our Lord Jesus, Lord of Lords and King of Kings in the millennial Kingdom of God (Revelation20,4).

1Corinthians11,26-30 makes clear that the Lord's Supper is a serious and solemn matter.
"So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸ Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. ²⁹ For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. ³⁰ That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep."
1Corinthians11,26-30 NIV

Conclusion:
So while Paul is rightly concerned about the unity at the table and discerning the need of the whole body to be fed at the pre supper community meal per 1Corinthians11,26-30, the main focus of his foundational teaching about the Lord's Supper is 1Corinthians10,1-16 and verse 16 in particular. This verse and this unit of scripture clearly concerns the solemn supernatural quality of the blessed cup and contents and the broken bread which the new testament priesthood has has just sanctified by and with their own personal faith blessing and God's mutual blessing.

The solemn and sacred and supernatural quality of our communion with God and each other- by our our drinking his risen blood and eating his risen body- in the form of bread per 1Corinthians10,16 is in pointed contradistinction to the sloppy idolatry of supernaturally fellowshipping with demons by some so called "strong" members of the Corinthian community as warned about at 1Corinthians10,8 and 1Corinthians10,14 and 1Corinthians10,21-23.

Whereas, 1Corinthians11,26-30 is about some in the Corinthian church who had lost any focus on the Lord's Supper holiness by their careless and selfish approach to the pre-supper meal, thereby joing the so called strong in making an idol of their belly.

Idolatry is the root and principle problem tainting the perfect gift of their holy communion fellowship of 1Cothinthians10,16 and 1Corinthians11,26-30 the church at Corinth. 

Perhaps, in the back of Paul's mind, full of holy and restrained consternation, and trying his considerble apostolic patience in the face of the church in Corinth messing up the perfect gift of the Lord's Supper, is Paul's understanding that he was intrepidly asking- mostly new convert gentiles- to paradoxically bring a bit of Hebrew Temple type respect for the sanctity of the Lord's Supper and its ain of holy fellowship with God and all in attendance.

This Temple type of sanctity would be in line with the cultic purity of Israel at Leviticus22,10 that specifies "no lay person may eat anything holy."

Whereas, now in Corinth church even gentile lay folks were not only eating the very holy things of the Lord's Supper- but they were themselves blessing the cup of of blessing and its contents and the bread and breaking it in two as a Spiritual memorial, a Spiritual sacrifice, by them as God's new gentile and Jewish gospel priesthood celebrating all the blessings and benefits of Jesus' last physicasl blood sacrifice on the cross of Calvary.     

And this cup is not only the cup of blesing which we all bless- part of a table of the Lord Spiritual sacrifice- it is also the cup of salvation, the cup of the New Covenant at Luke22,20 (and 1Corinthians10,16):

At The Table We Raise The Salvation Cup Of New Covenant
"In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 1Corinthians11,25  NIV;

And We Raise The Prophesied Salvation Cup Of The Lord's Table:
"What return can I make to Yahweh for his genrosity to me? I shall take up the cup of salvation and call on the name of Yahweh." Psalm116,12-13 NJB

This is what we do in joy and thanksgiving at the Lord's Supper when we bless and raise this cup at the supper. 

Raising This Salvation Cup Also Points To Raisng The Victory-Salvation-Cup In The Kingdom of God
"and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom,30 that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Luke22,29-30 ESV

Praise God- perhaps the ever humble Apostle Paul-  not a temple priest- but no stranger to Spiritually sacrificial apostolic service- was only the person with the requisite love and patience- and sufficiently creative faith- to launch into teaching the fledgling errant and idolatrous Corinthian flock about the supernatural fellowship and covenantal nature and high Spiritual sanctity of the New Testament Lord's Supper that 1Corinthians10,16.

This supper both challenges and reveals the Spiritual state of our faith fitness. It also reveals our born again from above need for Jesus' Spiritual body and blood, for his real food and drink, for Spiritual strength, for supernatural bonding, for a greater measure of redemptive infilling of the Spirit, for unity in His body, the church, for hearing from God in our personal and church communion, and to stoke the fire of our gospel service here and now and points us to the future joys of millennial kingdom fellowship- that Jesus will be leading.  

Br. Tobin Hitt
Connecticut USA