The Misconception of Christianity

By Pastor William Cunningham
(c) 2005 all rights reserved

I heard a lady ask a question one day about a sign she saw. The basic question was, “Why are Christians bad tippers?” or something to that affect. I was very interested in what the answer is. She said that she did a search on the Internet and found several articles about it, though there were other articles about other groups being the worst tippers.

I became very curious about this myself and decided to look it up on the Internet. I found an article that discusses this very topic. You can find the article at http://www.guymalone.com/tipping.htm. The following is an excerpt from the article.

“I am both a Christian and a Server at a downtown Nashville restaurant. One of the most personally embarrassing ordeals I ever go through at work is when there is a large, highly publicized Christian event, and "my people" come out en masse to eat. Only because I walked into the break-room during a gripe session and found her in mid-sentence, a fellow server asked me an honest and long-deserved question, "Why are religious people the worst tippers?"

It’s true. As a whole, Christians are thought of by restaurant workers to be among the absolute worst tippers of any single identifiable group. “

This is very interesting to me, but not because of the general question. It is interesting to me because of what people deem a Christian is and how one identifies a Christian. Consider the first question.

“Why are religious people the worst tippers?”

Religious people are thereafter correlated with Christians. It amazes me what people think of Christians. Most people don’t know what a Christian is. They think, as the author of the article, that a Christian is merely a type of religious person. Consider what the Bible says.

John 3:16 (NKJV) 16For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

First and foremost, belief in Jesus Christ is the determinant for a Christian. A Christian is one who believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. A Christian is one who has put his or her faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. A Christian is not one who goes to church, goes to a religious event, or says he or she is a Christian.

The subject article is quite amusing because the definition of a Christian is one who is religious or does religious things. I wonder if the woman waitress really knows what a Christian is based on her comments. She uses the term, “my people” to mean fellow Christians when actually it appears that a more appropriate rendering or understanding would be given as, “my fellow religious people.”

I have found that most people do not know what a true Christian is? The world is so full of self-righteousness that it assumes that every “faith” is self-righteous as well, i.e., religious. It is also rather amusing that for some reason it is expected that Christians should follow the norm in an organization and tip generously in an effort to create an opportunity to share his or her faith. Well as we discussed already the only faith that would be shared is religion, which is bondage.

Earned Grace

The article goes on to discuss the fact that the expected minimum gratuity is 15% of the total bill. Now I am aware of that, but I also do not follow that protocol at all times. Sometimes I give much more than 15% only because I felt like it. Sometimes I give less because of the service. In any case, it seems to be quite contradicting to say that there is an expected gratuity. She goes on to say that giving a nice gratuity though not earned is similar to God giving us salvation, which we have not earned.

Gratuity: A favor or gift, usually in the form of money, given in return for service

First of all the tip is a gift. It wasn’t earned so why should it be expected. Now I am not trying to present the argument that the waiter does get paid by the establishment so why should they get tips. However, I was a waiter once and I can tell you that the waiter does not get a large wage so tips are very important to him or her. My point is to stress the idea of gratuity being expected. Gratuities should not be expected even though they are. This is only because of an accepted protocol or custom. The correlation between giving waiters gratuities to God giving us salvation is preposterous.

To make a correlation of a waiter receiving a tip with us receiving salvation from God would be like me saying that God should save me because he is God and I don’t deserve it. Why wouldn’t a loving God just give me salvation even though I don’t deserve it? It is true that God has provided salvation for all people in that all we need do is believe in Jesus Christ. However, I can’t reject Jesus my entire life and then at the judgment argue that I should receive the expected gratuity because you are God and you should save me even though I don’t deserve it. Here I refer to deserving it in terms of believing in Christ or not and not in earning it as one would earn wages. The Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (See Romans 3:23).

What is a Christian?

A Christian is not one that simply goes to church. A Christian is not someone that merely attends “Christian” events such as concerts or workshops. A Christian is one who has received forgiveness of sins from God through faith in Jesus Christ. A Christian is a Christian in the heart. However, too often I hear people talk about Christians as though Christianity is some type of religious club or religious organizations.

The Greek “Christianos” originally applied to the slaves belonging to a great household. It came to denote the adherents of an individual or party. A Christian is an adherent of Christ; one committed to Christ; a follower of Christ. The word is used three times in the New Testament

Acts 11:26 (NKJV) 26And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

Acts 26:28 (NKJV) 28Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”

1 Peter 4:16 (NKJV) 16Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.

A Christian is one who follows Christ, even a disciple of Christ. All those who attend churches and “Christian” events are not disciples of Jesus Christ. Consider the following scripture

John 8:31 through John 8:32 (NKJV) 31Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

A disciple of Christ is one who follows Christ and therefore abides by what he said and taught. A Christian is therefore one with the truth. Jesus also told us that there would be many imposters and even those who are not on the way. Consider the following scriptures.

Matthew 7:13 through Matthew 7:14 (NKJV) 13“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Matthew 7:21 through Matthew 7:23 (NKJV) 21“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

You cannot determine a Christian by his or her church attendance or by the religious events that he or she attends. A Christian is one who believes in Jesus Christ. A Christian is not obligated to tip a certain way. Whether or not a person tips one way or another doesn’t manifest the Christian way. The Christian way is not concerned with mere tipping a waitress or other such good deeds. A Christian is just by nature, though people are not just all of the time.

People think that Christians are supposed to be these real nice people that walk on clouds on the earth. They tip nicely because they want to share the gospel according to the subject article. However, as I have said many times already, people have the wrong conception of Christiainity. Unfortunately there is nothing that we can do about it. The only thing that can be done, I suppose is to educate the world on what Christianity is by simply spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ and associating ourselves with that instead of trying to be religious.