I want to tell you a story about a young pastor. He finished seminary, and before he would serve in a church,

he decided, for his own reason, that he is going to be a policeman for a period of time. And so he went to

a police academy for six months, and then came the time for him to do the examination. So he passed

his physical exam, he passed his mental alertness exam, he passed his test of reacting quickly and

wisely in emergency, and finally came the oral examination. An examiner asked the question,

what would you do to disperse a frizzy

crowd? He thought for a moment and he said, I'll take up a collection. Now, I think the Apostle Paul

somehow understood that he did not want to disperse a frenzy crowd, and that is why he left

the issue of money giving to the last chapter, not the first. I think if he started with it,

people would have said, well, I don't want to hear that. Close the book. But he left it to the end.

But there is a serious side as to why the Apostle Paul left this all

important matter of stewardship, financial stewardship, all the way to Chapter 16. In fact, Martin Luther

said, the last part of the body that gets baptized is the pocket that contains a wallet. But here's why the

great apostle, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, decided to teach on giving immediately

after he was teaching on the resurrection of Jesus and our own resurrection.

As if he's getting ready to close the book, as he finished the epistle,

the apostle said, now concerning the collection.

You have to ask the question, why?

Why, after he reached heaven itself, why must he go back to the nitty-gritty

issues of money and giving of money? Why? And I'm telling you, that's a great question. I'm so glad

you asked it because the apostle is going to answer it.

Because heaven and money are interrelated. Heaven and money giving are intertwined. Heaven and money giving are intrinsically linked. Money and how you use money is closely tied

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