“So that was a friendly Southern Baptist person?”
After making that statement, one of my coworkers—a divorced unbelieving agnostic man working two jobs a day to pay child support—tossed a credit card receipt with a circle around the subpar tip he had received from an individual that I had identified as a Christian, who just happened to be a Southern Baptist (I don’t think only Southern Baptists are Christians, nor do I think only Southern Baptists tip unfairly), sitting at his table. In fact, the tip was less than subpar…it was atrociously unfair—barely 10% on a $90 bill. I might have let his comments go in one ear and out the other if it was an isolated incident, but sadly it is not. I thought about ignoring him, but I have been attempting to share the gospel with this gentleman for quite sometime. So, I had to look this man in the face and say, “Not all Christian people treat others that way.”
I have been serving tables at a restaurant for several years in order to support my wife and children and to pay my way through graduate school. Over and over and over again I have observed Christian people (or people who identify themselves as Christian people) come in to the restaurant I work at, pray for their food after acting rudely toward their waiter, leave a 10% tip (give or take a few percent) with a gospel tract in the check presenter and then leave. The gentleman that I work with, like countless waiters around the country, interpret such actions (poor tips from alleged Christian people) as stingy-greed. So, though it may be unfair to some degree on their part, many waiters have identified the majority of Christians as a contingent of people who care little for others. Why? Primarily because they hear Christians promise them that God is just and fair, that he is a generousKing who is lavish with his mercy and kind toward others, and that the gospel is for all people right before that same Christian person metaphorically clinches their money in their fist and tips poorly; refusing money to laborers who are worthy of their wages (1Tim 5:18). Sure, believers and unbelievers can leave poor tips; believers and unbelievers can leave fair tips. But, the Scripture teaches that Christians, more than all people, should be a people characterized by generosity and love, not simply “fairness”, because they were first loved (1John 4:19) even though they were most underserving. It seems that the deeper issue is not a knowledge of what is culturally fair or economically acceptable. Rather, the issue is a lack of recognition by Christian people that they have received out of God’s fullness (John 1:16); that they have received because God generously provided his Son for us and for our salvation.
What Christians don’t realize is that they are abdicating their responsibility to the Great Commission (Matt 28:16-20) and compromising the gospel that they preach by tipping restaurant waiters poorly. Indeed, poor tips are the equivalent of what Moses teaches in Deuteronomy 25—muzzling an ox when it is treading out grain (Deut 25:4. Later, the Apostle Paul would say the same thing in 1Tim 5:18). It is abdicating responsibility to the Great Commission because the gospel is about grace. Of all the people in the world, Christians should be a people who understand that they are unworthy of the great mercy, grace and generosity shown them in Christ. Even an unbelieving person can tip fairly, but Christians should be more than “fair” tippers, they should be generous because God has generously provided redemption for them through his Son, Jesus Christ (see the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, Matt 18:21-35; Lk 7:47). So, to determine the tip percentage of your bill based on quality of service, whether one is a Christian or not, goes against grace and is a matter of greed. Most likely, no one who says to themselves, “The service was poor so I will leave a poor tip” would allow their boss to say, “You showed up late today for work and forgot to make copies or send an email so I plan to garnish your day’s wages.” Why? Because it is unethical for a supervisor to dock someone’s pay for the day because they had a bad day (though, that person may be in danger of losing their job). So it should be with waiters and their customers; they deserve their wages simply because they are working humans created in the image of God. The real heart issue when it comes to poor tipping by a Christian is a lack of awareness of how great and vast the debt was that God generously forgave freely because he loved.
Recently, on another occasion, a local pastor came in with his wife to eat and left a 13% tip, which made his bill an even number. Why would anyone want to go to his church or believe the gospel he preaches when the laborer, whose wages he has kept back for himself, cries out against him (James 5:4)? The woman I work with who served his table is married to a man she hasn’t lived with in over two years. She desperately needs the gospel, but she has identified the gospel that Christians preach with their greedy restaurant tipping. Again, it seems that the deeper heart issue in a moment like this, when a Christian defrauds a worker of their wages, is that they have deceived themselves into believing that this action is trivial and doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, that no one will ever see or know about how they defrauded another person. But that is not the picture that the Scripture paints—indeed, the Scripture teaches that Someone does see and hear and is paying very careful attention to all of the actions that we think do not matter in this life (Josh 7; 2Cor 5:10), whether one is a Christian or not.
When eating out at a restaurant there are two types of people serving as waiters: Christians and non-Christians. Both deserve fair wages simply because they are humans created in the likeness of God (Gen 1:27). The majority of waiters in the United States are people who make far less than minimum wage – about $2.13/hr in Kentucky where the minimum wage is $7.25 (with the exception of waiters in places which have unions that have enabled them to have a fair hourly wage because so many people listen to Suze Orman and tip poorly). Therefore, waiters are a group of employees who are totally reliant on fair wages to support themselves and their respective families, since their $2.13/hr does not even cover the taxes that are taken out of their check. When Christians sit at a restaurant table they assume the role of a master or boss; the Scripture commands that they treat their slave/waiter justly and fairly because they too have a Master in heaven (Col 4:1). This is the reason that restaurants ask, for a big party, if the check should reflect an 18% or 20% gratuity (formerly, restaurants asked if you wanted 15% added to the check). Due to the economy and cost of living, 18% is considered a fair wage for a waiter now. Just as minimum wage increases every once in awhile to accommodate for rising costs of living, so it is for waiters and the percentage that is considered a fair tip. But again, fairness is a standard that anyone can provide—even the Gentiles do this (Matt 5:46-48)—the Scripture calls Christians to be a people who are generous in hopes that by becoming all things to all people they might save some (1Cor 9:22).
Sadly, a large portion of the people that I work with have received less than minimum tips from many who have identified themselves with the gospel; as a result they distance themselves from the gospel preached to them by Christians. It seems that the only way that this will be rectified is if Christians recognize their position in Christ—they are the recipients of unmerited grace by a Generous God—repent of their greed, cling to their money loosely, store up their treasure in heaven and give generously so that others may know that our treasure is indeed found in Someone else—Jesus Christ (Matt 6:19-21).
