Unlike the Old Testament which was filled with sacrifices and offerings, feast days and sabbaths, and so many other monotonous tasks required of the people of Israel under the Law of Moses, the New Testament is very different, for the former things were done away with by Jesus’ fulfilling of the Law and prophets according to Matthew 5: 17: Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. Instead, we have been charged by Christ to keep three very specific ordinances as an outward expression of Christ’s sacrificial work for us on the cross of Calvary. These three ordinances are water baptism (Matthew 28: 19; Acts 2: 38; 1 Peter 3: 21), communion (1 Corinthians 11: 23 – 34), and foot washing (John 13: 2 – 17).
