diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/apache/beam/gradle/BeamModulePlugin.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/apache/beam/gradle/BeamModulePlugin.groovy
index fe0f1ab8bc91..fb4d99c29fe8 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/apache/beam/gradle/BeamModulePlugin.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/apache/beam/gradle/BeamModulePlugin.groovy
@@ -1565,7 +1565,6 @@ class BeamModulePlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
             "UndefinedEquals",
             "UnescapedEntity",
             "UnnecessaryLambda",
-            "UnnecessaryMethodReference",
             "UnnecessaryParentheses",
             "UnrecognisedJavadocTag",
             "UnsafeReflectiveConstructionCast",
diff --git a/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/TextIOWriteTest.java b/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/TextIOWriteTest.java
index 2f965c8e5b9d..8d33cfbdf87c 100644
--- a/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/TextIOWriteTest.java
+++ b/sdks/java/core/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/TextIOWriteTest.java
@@ -328,12 +328,11 @@ public void testDynamicDefaultFilenamePolicy() throws Exception {
             StreamSupport.stream(
                     elements.stream()
                         .filter(
-                            Predicates.compose(new StartsWith("a"), new ExtractWriteDestination())
-                                ::apply)
+                            Predicates.compose(new StartsWith("a"), new ExtractWriteDestination()))
                         .collect(Collectors.toList())
                         .spliterator(),
                     false)
-                .map(Functions.toStringFunction()::apply)
+                .map(Functions.toStringFunction())
                 .collect(Collectors.toList()),
             String.class);
     String[] bElements =
@@ -341,12 +340,11 @@ public void testDynamicDefaultFilenamePolicy() throws Exception {
             StreamSupport.stream(
                     elements.stream()
                         .filter(
-                            Predicates.compose(new StartsWith("b"), new ExtractWriteDestination())
-                                ::apply)
+                            Predicates.compose(new StartsWith("b"), new ExtractWriteDestination()))
                         .collect(Collectors.toList())
                         .spliterator(),
                     false)
-                .map(Functions.toStringFunction()::apply)
+                .map(Functions.toStringFunction())
                 .collect(Collectors.toList()),
             String.class);
     String[] cElements =
@@ -354,12 +352,11 @@ public void testDynamicDefaultFilenamePolicy() throws Exception {
             StreamSupport.stream(
                     elements.stream()
                         .filter(
-                            Predicates.compose(new StartsWith("c"), new ExtractWriteDestination())
-                                ::apply)
+                            Predicates.compose(new StartsWith("c"), new ExtractWriteDestination()))
                         .collect(Collectors.toList())
                         .spliterator(),
                     false)
-                .map(Functions.toStringFunction()::apply)
+                .map(Functions.toStringFunction())
                 .collect(Collectors.toList()),
             String.class);
     assertOutputFiles(
diff --git a/sdks/java/harness/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/fn/harness/CombineRunners.java b/sdks/java/harness/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/fn/harness/CombineRunners.java
index 718fe7ee8b67..65e7e85c2812 100644
--- a/sdks/java/harness/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/fn/harness/CombineRunners.java
+++ b/sdks/java/harness/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/fn/harness/CombineRunners.java
@@ -123,11 +123,11 @@ void startBundle() {
     }
 
     void processElement(WindowedValue<KV<KeyT, InputT>> elem) throws Exception {
-      getGroupingTable().put(elem, output::accept);
+      getGroupingTable().put(elem, output);
     }
 
     void finishBundle() throws Exception {
-      getGroupingTable().flush(output::accept);
+      getGroupingTable().flush(output);
       groupingTable = null;
     }
   }