There’s no faith involved in counting heads and reckoning that a certain number of tithers in the church enables the drawing up of a budget. But faith is required when we trust that God will put it into the hearts of His people to give according to their means.
There is potential for a balanced economy in every local fellowship if the income that God has provided is shared to meet the needs of those who have little. Such was the case with the manna, which was supplied by God for the tribes of Israel and gathered daily (except on the Sabbath) and double the amount gathered on Fridays.
We should not link this with Karl Marx’s dictum: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” Marx was a Jew (albeit a non-practising one) and would have known well of the gathering of the manna in the desert, and how that, when gathered from each one and brought together, was sufficient for all.
That such collective efforts practised humanistically don’t often work is apparent in the disastrous intrusion of lying and deception, which is recorded in the fifth chapter of the Book of Acts. Human nature (referred to as “flesh” in the KJV) inevitably undermines idealism and brings God’s judgement.
Local Christian churches that are as willing to share with those who have not as they are to receive from those who have, stand in sharp contrast to the proven failures of historical and contemporary communism. In a time of need, the Early Church got it right (although lying to God by one couple for them ended badly).
Barnabas, for example, sold his land and laid the money gained from the sale at the feet of the apostles (Acts 4:36-37). Before his generous gift, “The multitude of those that believed were of one heart and of one soul; and not one of them said that anything he owned was his own: but they had all things in common.” (Acts 4:32)
No wonder that “the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power: and great grace was upon them all.” (Verse 33) Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as possessed lands or houses sold them and brought the money of the things sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according to his need.” (The “man” being the head of his own household.)
The chapter break between the two givings that separate those the giving that brought great power and great grace and the one where calculated sin interrupted — can cause us to note only the failure of Ananias and Sapphira in chapter 5 but miss the generous giving of the people, which is recorded in chapter 4.
As the money supply tightens due to the poor management of all three levels of government: local, state, and federal, elders of local churches need to loosen their grip on that part of the income set aside for building projects, and divert it to genuine cases of need that become apparent among their members. The church, after all, is an organism, not an organization. People are more important than things.
Those portions of scripture quoted above refer to the kind of “first flush” of giving that takes place when the Spirit of God moves on a city, a town or a local community in power and the grace of God becomes apparent. The key is the “one heart and one soul” that enables the Lord to bless with great power and great soul, resulting in generous, even sacrificial, giving by those whose hearts have been touched by the Lord Jesus.
That giving ought to be voluntary rather than legalistic. It’s the economy of God’s household, the Church, and it works well when not interfered with.