TRUE PROPHETS RECEIVED NO MATERIAL REWARDS FOR THEIR WORK
The following stories are clear examples of prophets who did not do their ministry for wages.

COMMENTARY: Samuel is an example of a good discipler. He claims that he has not received any goods or taken any bribes from the people. The people affirm that he did not take anything from them. This should be the attitude and reputation of all who would presume to disciple others.

ELISHA
2 Kings 5:1-27: Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man with his master, and highly respected, because by him the LORD had given victory to Aram. The man was also a valiant warrior, {but he was} a leper. 2 Now the Arameans had gone out in bands and had taken captive a little girl from the land of Israel; and she waited on Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “I wish that my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his leprosy.” 4 Naaman went in and told his master, saying, “Thus and thus spoke the girl who is from the land of Israel.” 5 Then the king of Aram said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” He departed and took with him ten talents of silver and six thousand {shekels} of gold and ten changes of clothes. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, “And now as this letter comes to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy.”When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, ” Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man is sending {word} to me to cure a man of his leprosy? But consider now, and see how he is seeking a quarrel against me.” 8 It happened when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent {word} to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Now let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.”9 So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots and stood at the doorway of the house of Elisha. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ” Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you and {you will} be clean.” 11 But Naaman was furious and went away and said, “Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.’ 12 “Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. 13 Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, ” My father, had the prophet told you {to do some} great thing, would you not have done {it?} How much more {then,} when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and dipped {himself} seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean.15 When he returned to the man of God with all his company, and came and stood before him, he said, “Behold now, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel; so please take a present from your servant now.” 16 But he said, ” As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will take nothing.” And he urged him to take {it,} but he refused. 17 Naaman said, “If not, please let your servant at least be given two mules’ load of earth; for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering nor will he sacrifice to other gods, but to the LORD. 18 “In this matter may the LORD pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the LORD pardon your servant in this matter.” 19 He said to him, ” Go in peace.” So he departed from him some distance.20 But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, thought, “Behold, my master has spared this Naaman the Aramean, by not receiving from his hands what he brought. As the LORD lives, I will run after him and take something from him.” 21 So Gehazi pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw one running after him, he came down from the chariot to meet him and said, “Is all well?” 22 He said, ” All is well. My master has sent me, saying, ‘Behold, just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothes.’ ” 23 Naaman said, ” Be pleased to take two talents.” And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags with two changes of clothes and gave them to two of his servants; and they carried {them} before him.24 When he came to the hill, he took them from their hand and deposited them in the house, and he sent the men away, and they departed. 25 But he went in and stood before his master. And Elisha said to him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” And he said, ” Your servant went nowhere.” 26 Then he said to him, “Did not my heart go {with you,} when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to receive money and to receive clothes and olive groves and vineyards and sheep and oxen and male and female servants? 27 “Therefore, the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever.” So he went out from his presence a leper {as white} as snow.

COMMENTARY: Gehazi is another example of a servant who is more interested in financial reward than ministry. The rebuke he received from Elisha is the rebuke that all religious leaders who receive payment for ministry should receive. Furthermore, the consequence (leprosy) that Gehazi received should be a warning for those who do receive financial reward for spiritual services.

ISAIAH
Isaiah 20:1-6 1 In the year that the commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and fought against it and took it, — 2 at that time the LORD had spoken by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loose the sackcloth from your loins and take off your shoes from your feet,” and he had done so, walking naked and barefoot– 3 the LORD said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Ethiopia, 4 so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians captives and the Ethiopians exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. 5 Then they shall be dismayed and confounded because of Ethiopia their hope and of Egypt their boast.

COMMENTARY: It is apparent from this scripture that Isaiah was in the habit of wearing sackcloth instead of fine clothing. Sackcloth, of course, symbolizes humility and is not representative of cheap clothing. Nevertheless, we see in Isaiah a model of humility that strongly suggests that he was not a man of means or reputation to protect. If that were not so, he would not have been willing to go naked for three years as a prophetic act.

In addition to the weight of his prophecies, the main thing to learn about Isaiah is that he was not concerned for his own interests. Going naked for any amount of time would earn any person a negative reputation that would turn people away from him rather than toward him. We know nothing about how Isaiah supported himself, but it seems a fair speculation that he did not receive any financial support from adoring followers or the king. More likely, he would have been regarded as a religious nut.

These speculations are worth considering in the context of commercial religion because modern day religious leaders cannot afford to be regarded as religious nuts. They must have good reputations or they will not be able to attract the kind of financial support they require to continue their ministries.

Isaiah reminds us of Jesus who, for our sake, became poor and made himself of no reputation. He did not withhold telling the truth to the religious leaders even though doing so would precipitate his death.

Neither Isaiah nor Jesus reminds us of contemporary religious leaders who become rich (more or less) with good reputations (more or less) in the religious community so that they may live comfortable, material lives while fulfilling their self-professed “calling” to preach, or teach or whatever niche ministry they can fabricate for themselves. They take no risks and make no compromises on the truth because doing so would mean loss of status and financial death for them.

AN ANONYMOUS PROPHET
1-Kings 13:1-10 And behold, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the LORD to Bethel. Jerobo’am was standing by the altar to burn incense. 2 And the man cried against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josi’ah by name; and he shall sacrifice upon you the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you, and men’s bones shall be burned upon you.'” 3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the LORD has spoken: ‘Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.'” 4 And when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Bethel, Jerobo’am stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Lay hold of him.” And his hand, which he stretched out against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back to himself. 5 The altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD. 6 And the king said to the man of God, “Entreat now the favor of the LORD your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” And the man of God entreated the LORD; and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as it was before. 7 And the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.” 8 And the man of God said to the king, “If you give me half your house, I will not go in with you. And I will not eat bread or drink water in this place; 9 for so was it commanded me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘You shall neither eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way that you came.'” 10 So he went another way, and did not return by the way that he came to Bethel.

COMMENTARY: The man of God was on a mission to tear down places of false worship that the king had sponsored. He was obedient to God’s commands to utterly destroy enemy religious nations in the promised land. Even though the king wanted to kill the man of God, he healed the king. The king offered a reward which the man of God refused because he knew that it was a trap about which God had warned him.

All true prophets (men of God) are (or a least should be) on missions to tear down places of false worship. That mission, however, does not deter them from another mission which is to bring healing to spiritual leaders even though they are leading the people into false worship. The prophets, must be careful to avoid receiving any rewards or bribes that might compromise them in their mission to destroy places of false worship.