Why Am I A Methodist? Social Holiness (Matt 5:13-16)

Snippet of Sermon by Rev Dr Daniel Koh

In several of his hymns, John Wesley mentioned that there is no holiness but social holiness. There is no isolated believer. On top of works of piety, he believers that personal redemption includes works of mercy, attending to the poor and the powerless. While he was still in Oxford with his brother, they regularly visited the prison as part of their spiritual discipline. In "Use of Money" sermon, he mentioned a few times how important it is "to earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can." He gave clear lessons on how our lives may affect our response to God's word and concerns for the welfare of th epoor. He  shared tht we are not licenced to enrich ourselves and be consumed by material pursuits. There are standards that we have to follow. When he says, "Save all you can", he is not advocating that we store up treasures for ourselves to gain admiration for ourselves.

"Give all you can" part of his admonition is hard for Singaporeans to follow especially when we often feel that "Money no enough!" for personal use. It is important to critically examine and assess what is happening in the world at large and not simply buy into the ideology of our day. John Wesley kept 28 pounds for his own expenses and gave the rest of his pay packet away. He continued this practice even when his salary was increased over time. For so many of us, it is so easy to spend more on ourselves when we have more.

He saw how many people were continually poor and powerless because of the structural limitations in his society. He was anxious that to bring long term changes society, to the prison inmates so that they can come out of their poverty. He spent his life-time establishing schools to build the character of poor children. His dream was to see a multi-functional society where all have learnt to read the Bible for themselves.

We need to get ourselves acquainted with our Methodist beliefs and not gloss over or neglect to draw lessons on how to practise social holiness. We are spiritually deformed if we live our faith for our personal benefit and see only the private side to our redemption.

His faith and understanding is biblical, wholesome and social. We are invited to follow in his footsteps to reach out to the poor and the powerless in Singapore and practise social holiness. James 1:27 says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."