Maybe Christian Art Should Be Free
Or, "On Trusting God With Worth and Wage"
This essay is also available in an (AI-free) video format here.
Would Jesus charge for a book He had written?
For months, this question nagged at me, but not because it was hard to answer, but because it was so easy.
Oh sure, we can say something like, “he did write a book, it’s called the Bible, and I bought mine for $19.99”, but that’s just an immature response that misses the point of the question. Plus, we honor organizations who work to give Bibles away for free because we know, deep in our souls, that God is pleased.1
No, Jesus would not put a monetary barrier between Him and His people, in any way, shape, or form. If he had written a book of parables, no one would be required to pay for it.
What nagged at me—what was driving me semi-crazy—wasn’t really about whether or not Jesus would have people pay for a book He’d written (or an admission for a sermon, or a healing, or whatever else). No, the reason I kept coming back to this was because I knew I wasn’t like that. I hadn’t conformed to Him in that way.
You see, I would tell you the Lord had given me a book to write and He had helped me write it. I would tell you the novel I wrote was something God had commanded for me to do, then supported me through it.
But if you wanted to read it, you had to pay.
An Ultimatum of Sorts
Let me use my own testimony as a template for a moment.
In June of 2025, Living Room Disciple launched our book imprint: Living Tome Publishing. A few weeks later we launched our first novel, The Tragedy of Oli Ricker. It went on sale on Amazon and other eBook distributors for $9.99, and a few months later was in print for about $18.99.
It would be about three months or so before the thought struck that… maybe Jesus wouldn’t charge for this book.
Oh, I feel the book is worth that much money, for sure. But I also felt that:
I wrote the book out of an obedience to the Lord to write.
The Lord gave me the wisdom, talent, and endurance, to write and edit the book.
The Lord provided community to bring the book to excellence.
That those who read the book will become (in a very small way) more like Jesus.
And, that God is my actual provider.
When all of these factors came together… something started to rise up in the bowels of my soul that I couldn’t silence. And it took the form of the question, “Would Jesus charge for a book He had written?”
At first, I hated the question because I knew that whatever answer I was led to, I would need to follow that or make a conscious decision to do something Jesus wouldn’t do. In other words, if Jesus wouldn’t charge for a book, I shouldn’t either.
And that terrified me.
So I did what anyone would do. I vocalized my thoughts to those I love and trust in the hopes of someone giving me the justification needed to avoid the end I was so scared of.
One particular counter-point was faithfully brought up.
A Worker. His Wage. Our Lies.
“A worker deserves his wage.”
This often quoted passage is seen twice in Scripture. The first time, Jesus is speaking to His disciples and is sending them out as forerunners of His ministry to go and proclaim His coming and to heal the sick. He is telling them to travel with functionally nothing, and to accept the hospitality of a family in the town they are to go to. The “wage” the worker is given is simply the food provided by the family (and the place to sleep).
Here is the full passage so you can see for yourself.
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.
“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
Luke 10: 1-12 NASB
What is so interesting in this passage is that the “wage” is paid by one family in the town, and the ministry of healing and teaching is given to all.
Jesus is not saying they should charge for their ministry (i.e. host conferences with fees at the door or write their message down and sell it, etc.). Jesus is saying that His disciples should trust that God will provide for their needs through the generosity of others, and that they shouldn’t feel guilty or ashamed for accepting such generosity. They are working for the Kingdom, and the King is paying them a wage… through the generosity of others.2
I’m bringing this up for a very important reason. If I were to say, “[name of famous Christian author] should give away their books for free,” then someone may reasonably say, “no, because a worker deserves his wage.”
Except, that’s not how Jesus seemed to intend that verse. Jesus was not telling His disciples to charge for their ministry, He was emboldening his disciples to receive the generous donations of others and do the work for free.
A worker does deserve his wage. But if we work for the Kingdom, our wage will be paid to us from the King.
This isn’t me saying it is a “sin” when a Christian charges for their art, only that we need to take a deep breath and prepare for some more nuance. Maybe charging isn’t the only way. Maybe it isn’t even the best.
How Else Can We Pay the Bills?
Practicality shouldn’t be ignored, it just also shouldn’t be prioritized.
Many people gave financially to Jesus’ ministry. He and his disciples had a moneybag.3 But financial support was given, it seems, as a response to Jesus’ ministry.
Ministry first. Financial support second.
That means that, surely, Jesus sometimes did miracles, taught, and ministered without any financial compensation. Other times, it’s conceivable that the family of a healed person gave a financial contribution to Jesus afterward.
I think us Christian artists may do well to expand our imaginations wide enough to actually believe that the Spirit still works in this way. That maybe, just maybe, we can use our gifts as an act of service and love first, then trust our Father to provide financially.
I think of an organization I respect deeply, the BibleProject. They create animated videos, high quality podcasts, and virtual classes. Everything they do is expensive. Animation specifically is very expensive.
And they have never charged for any of it. Ever. They don’t even run ads on their YouTube videos.
And God has seen fit to bless their work and financially provide for them.
What if we viewed God as big enough to do the same for us an our art? What if no Christians put helpful Substack articles behind paywalls? What if authors had free versions of their books available? What if we put our work on YouTube ad free, or even paid money to give our work away.
What if we actually thought God was big enough to pay our bills despite our reckless generosity?
Some Nuance.
We know that God’s people have participated in the marketplaces in which they have been called since as long as the Church has been around. Buying and selling goods has never been a sin, though there are sinful ways to do it.
Still… art and other works of ministry stand apart in my mind.4
One of my dear friends, Michael Rosado, performs music under the name Wind Words. He never charges for his music because he feels its a gift to be given. That isn’t because it’s free for him to make it, and it isn’t because the music is “worthless”. It’s very expensive for him to produce his songs, and it requires much time and emotional energy… it’s genuinely worthy. Worthy of your time, your attention, and your money. He just refuses to put finances up as a barrier.
Through him I’ve met a whole community of artists who seemingly just look for ways to give away what God has given them. Artists like Kevin Schlereth, who never charges for music or admission to his shows.
None of these artists are rich in material goods, but I suspect the wealthiest artists in the world today will look upon the riches they will receive in the Kingdom to come and realize only then how God’s economy actually works.
And that is the crux of it all: God’s resurrection economy.5
One day I will die and one day I will rise again. On that day of resurrection, I will face judgment. My sins are covered by the blood of Jesus and I will not receive the punishment that I deserve for my sin, but I will still face a reckoning for how I lived as His disciple. And that reckoning will determine my “treasures in Heaven” and is when “the last will be first”.
And honestly, I don’t think I could handle the idea that maybe, just maybe, God wanted me to give my story to someone… and I put a stumbling block in the way. This doesn’t mean He couldn’t overcome that block, only that I would be ashamed to have placed it there to begin with.
But all of this only matters if I truly believe that God is Provider.
And perhaps that is the next stage of my own growth, to allow myself to be pushed to the point of desperately giving away all that God has given me, and believe beyond doubt that my King will ensure his worker is paid the wage he is due.
And if that wage is not paid in this life, all the better. The next one will be longer, by far.
Starting Today
So, starting today, electronic versions of every book I write will be made freely available to all who want it.
The books will still be available for purchase at major retailers for those with means who would like to support, but that will not be required any longer.
Our Substack will stay free, forever, but we will still graciously accept financial support from those God calls.
What that practically means is:
Is this commitment from me life altering?
Probably not for you, but it is for me. It’s a small way for me to join my brothers and sisters who were already here—believing they are called to be generous and God will provide. It’s a way for me to say to my Father, “I trust I’m your worker, and you’ll pay my wages.”
Regarding LT Publishing
My commitment is personal and bound up in certain convictions that I do not believe I should put on others. As a publishing company, authors will never be pressured into following suit. This means not all the books that we publish will be released for free.
So… Should All Christian Artists Do This?
I don’t know.
Still, I can’t personally imagine that there will be a follower of Jesus who gives their art away and, at the resurrection, will hear God will say, “Well, John, really wish you would have tried to sell more copies of your book. I’m really disappointed in you. I had so many blessings you could have had if only you’d hadn’t been so generous.”
But it should be noted, I’m surely wrong about a great many things. But if I am going to get something wrong, I want to choose the safe side of failure. I want to throw myself so thoroughly before the Lord, and have my failures come from good intent and too much naivety.
In other words, God may not be requiring me to give away the books I write. But He is also not sitting in Heaven biting his nails and wondering why I’m screwing up so bad and how He could possibly redeem this situation. No, I think it is far more likely that He is smiling.
And to make Him smile, I will do anything.
All that I am for all that You are, my Lord
All that I have for all that You are6
Personally, I would not advise anyone to model themselves (or their imaginations) after the Bible-for-profit industry.
The second time this phrase is used, Paul is quoting Jesus in a letter to Timothy. He is giving Timothy instructions about the way the Church should function, and is writing about what qualifies a widow and an elder for financial support from the Church. In his letters to Corinth, he talks about how he refused this right for financial support from them in order to demonstrate the authenticity of the Gospel he preached.
We know this because Judas Iscariot was stealing from it (see John 12).
Perhaps I am wrong, but I see all art as a spiritually formative ministry.
I have a whole article on this titled “Resurrection Economy” that flushes this out more.
“All That I Am” by Rend Collective
This reminds me of Keith Green when he released his album So You Want to Go Back to Egypt. It had no set price. You could choose to pay any price for it, or get it for free. (I paid more than the going price for albums to help susidize those who could not pay.)
Making a podcast or substack free makes perfect sense - so does monetizing it with ads.
Physical art, like books and paintings, have inherent costs to produce. Giving them away can be irresponsible. I had a friend who spent so much on tracts that she couldn't afford rent. (Not art, but you get the idea.)
Art is a luxury, rather than a necessity, so those who choose to avail themselves of it make the implied choice to support it (there's always the library). Even with necessities we don't expect the farmer to provide free food, or the builder to provide a free roof.
Paul preached for free and paid for himself because he wanted to and because he wanted to reduce blocks to the gospel, but also said it was right to pay preachers. It sounds like you may be going the way of Paul. 1 Corinthians 9
My only concern: please make sure you’re doing it out of cheerful giving and not because you feel pressured or guilty. At times in this article you sounded like one, at other times you sounded like the other and I couldn’t get a read.
God might not be biting his fingernails thinking ‘oh no! I wish he wasn’t so generous.’ But he might be sighing saying ‘why is he loading burdens on himself? Doesn’t he know my yoke is light? Doesn’t he know his sin is paid for and he’s already welcome in my kingdom as my son? Doesn’t he know his work is worth so much more? Doesn’t he know that when he undervalues himself he’s undervaluing someone I love as my adopted son?’