By Rev. Thomas Lau

Continuing from our series on "Spreading Scriptural Holiness", Rev. Thomas Lau answers some questions on the issue and its implication for Methodists today.

What did John Wesley mean by Holy Living?
John Wesley (1703-1791 A.D.) lived in a very challenging context. Mark A. Noll observes in his book Turning Points, that: The world of eighteenth-century Europe was no longer the world in which the Protestant Reformation was born … Now Christendom was an increasingly beleaguered concept, beset on the one side by Christian sectarians who were willing to give up Christendom in order to save the church and on the other by a growing number of secularists who wanted to give up Christendom in order to escape the church … Now Bible reading was rapidly becoming a solitary activity that divided, rather than united, communities … [Even] innovative secular interpreters were beginning to question the unique divine authority of Scripture … Now great cities had become a magnet for spiritual, as well as economic, innovation, and the landscape was dotted with increased numbers of growing towns … [As a result] evangelicals and pietists were busy with two tasks… [that is] retrieving elements of the Protestant past---especially Sola Scriptura, an emphasis on grace, and priesthood of all believers (p.235-237).

In 1738, Bishop George Berkeley (1685-1753 A.D.) literally declared that religion and morality in Britain had collapsed “to a degree that was never before known in any Christian country”. Donald Drew, in his article entitled “England before and after Wesley” depicts such spiritual and moral quagmire explicitly:

First, by and large the clergy of the Church of England were corrupted and that corruption then spread from top to bottom of the populace … [A]rchbishops and bishops lived luxuriously, neglected their duties, unashamedly solicited bishoprics and deanery for themselves and their families … Secondly … The barbarities practiced in industry were bad enough, but those carried out in slave ships end then in plantations, chill one’s blood … Thirdly … In politics, nepotism, place-seeking, bribery were the order of the day especially at election times … Fourthly … [I]n the treatment and mortality of children … between 1730-1750, three out of four of all children, born to all classes, died before their 5th birthday … Fifthly … the 18th century in England is known as the ‘Gin Age’ … And of course the inevitable evils followed: poverty, violence, prostitution, murder … Sixthly … the perverted conception of sport, which, like alcohol, brought attendant evils in its train, such as further coarsening of the personality, cruelty and gambling … Seventhly, gambling was, for all classes, a national obsession, bringing appalling ruin to thousand upon thousands … Finally … for lawlessness: thieves, robbers, highwaymen, footpads abounded throughout the length and breadth of the land; as Horace Walpole observed in 1751, "One is forced to travel, even at noon, as if one were going to battle".

John Wesley, an Anglican priest and a graduate of Oxford stepped into this predicament. His heart was “strangely warmed" in a Moravian service on May 24, 1738, that is, transformed by the justifying grace (he wrote, "I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation") as well as the regenerating grace of God (he wrote, "And an assurance was given me, that Christ had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death").

From then on, Wesley did his best to inspire as well as to bring men and women into an authentic and deep experience of God’s abundant saving grace and holy love. His earnest cry to God was:

Thy kingdom come - May thy kingdom of grace come quickly, and swallow up all the kingdoms of the earth: may all man-kind, receiving thee, O Christ, for their king, truly believing in thy name, be filled with righteousness, and peace, and joy; with holiness and happiness, till they are removed hence into thy kingdom of glory, to reign with thee forever and ever! (Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, p.37)

His constant emphasis in preaching and disciple-making was: [H]oliness of heart and life, inward and outward conformity in all things to the revealed will of God … in a steady imitation of Him they worship, in all his imitable perfections; more particularly, in justice, mercy, and truth, or universal love filling the heart, and governing the life. (Works VIII, p.352)

His conviction was: Religion itself … we define, "The loving God with all our hearts, and our neighbour as ourselves; and in that love abstaining from all evil, and doing all possible good to all men … [Such] love we believe to be the medicine of life, the never-failing remedy for all the evils of a disordered world, for all the miseries and vices of men. Whenever this is, there are virtues and happiness going hand in hand. There is humbleness of mind, gentleness, long suffering, the whole image of God, and, at the same time, a peace that passeth all understanding, and joy unspeakable and full of glory. (Works VIII, p.472, 474)

His wise and practical discipleship method was that he encouraged converts towards holy being (i.e. pursuing “entire sanctification” in which pride, self-will, anger, and love of the world would be purged out by the mighty Spirit) and holy living by organising them into “United Societies”, “classes”, and “bands” through which, he hoped that:

[T]hey may help each other to work out their salvation … [particularly] First: By doing no harm, by avoiding evil of every kind … Secondly: By doing good; by being in every kind merciful after their power; as they have opportunity, doing good of every possible sort, and, as far as possible, to all men … Thirdly: By attending upon all the ordinances of God; such are: the public worship of God; the ministry of the Word, either read or expounded; the Supper of the Lord; family and private prayer; searching the Scriptures; fasting or abstinence. (Works VIII, p.269-271)

Admittedly, Wesley’s vision of and the Methodists’ commitment to both holy being (i.e. believing that one’s heart can indeed be delivered from the guilt, power, and even being of sin, by faith in Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit) and holy living (i.e. Christians’ individual and corporate dedication to personal as well as social holiness) had reformed his nation and spread Scriptural-practical holiness over the land. In Wesley’s own words: "He that treats of faith and leaves out repentance, or does not enjoin practical holiness to believers … he does not preach Christ!” (Explanatory notes upon the New Testament, p.885)

In the light of this, it is no wonder that the renowned scholar Mark A. Noll, a Reformed evangelical Christian points out that the tenth decisive turning point in the history of Christianity is none other than: “The New Piety: The Conversion of the Wesleys” He wrote, “[T]he Wesleys’ work kept alive the message of God’s grace and greatly broadened its outreach”. (Turning Points, p.223)

Is Holy Living practical to us in the current time? How?
"With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible!" (Mt. 19:26) God Almighty, who had enabled John Wesley and the people called Methodists "to reform the nation, particularly the Church; and to spread scriptural holiness over the land," is still sovereign, gracious, and at work today. Therefore holy living is practical even in current times.

The testimony of brother Richard, the lay leader of CAC, (available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bwFJyS2cGE) shows that Wesleyan vision of holy living, in a world that struggles with the pressures of S.P.M. (sex, power, and money), remains practical. Richard experienced God’s amazing grace and holy love in his business by providing his daily needs on the one hand, and keeping him from the temptation of bribery and corruption on the other hand. As he determined not to give in to corruption, he experienced the goodness and faithfulness of God in making a way out for him. Has not God of Abraham, Joseph, and Daniel promised, "Those who honour me I will honour"?! (I Sam.2:30b)

According to John Wesley, the practice of holy living needs: First, "faith which worketh by love---All inward and outward holiness"; second, fellowship of Christians that exhorts one another to faith, love, and good works; and third, faithfulness to the calling of being the light and the salt in the world, at all costs, for the glory of God. Wesley’s conviction is expressed in his essay "A Blow at the Root":

"Without holiness no man shall see the Lord, no man shall see the face of God in glory … [N]one shall live with God, but he that now lives to God; none shall enjoy the glory of God in heaven, but he that bears the image of God on earth; none that is not saved from sin here can be saved from hell hereafter; none can see the kingdom of God above, unless the kingdom of God be in him below. Whosoever will reign with Christ in heaven, must have Christ reigning in him on earth. He must have "that mind in him which was in Christ", ena-bling him "to walk as Christ also walked". (Works X, p.364)

What are the challenges in Holy Living?
The challenges in living holiness include: identifying our personal and social predicament or quagmire clearly and reflecting on them in the light of the Scriptural truth.

Interceding unswervingly for both personal and social transformation, remembering the words of Wesley, that is, "Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on earth. God does nothing but in answer to prayer".

Imitating Jesus Christ’s incarnation model in living holiness, particularly, together with other disciples who also have the God-given similar spirit in combating corruption of all kinds.

Implanting the vision of holy being and living as well as a biblical worldview in the younger generation. 

Inculcating in all Christians the powerful theology, conviction, and courage of John Wesley, that is, "God works, therefore I can work; God works, therefore I must work!" (Works VI, p.511)

What are the fruit(s) in churches with the practice of Holy Living?
The fruits include: growing experiences of God’s preeminent, convincing, justifying, regenerating, assuring, sanctifying, and entire sanctifying grace in daily lives; glowing as the authentic light and the influential salt of the world, enabling the world to see wonders in Christ through our sufferings, perseverance, and godliness; going as a convert - winning and disciple-making community, opening the eyes of the world to see: "The best of all, God is with us!"

Rev. Thomas Lau Sie Ngiu serves as a Lecturer in the Methodist Theological School, Sibu.