Thread by @TNTJohn1717

Christians Who Want a Crown Without a Cross

Glory comes after suffering, not before.

Introduction

There is a brand of Christianity in this generation that wants the applause of heaven while living like the world. It wants the crown but not the cross, the reward but not the reproach, the shout but not the shame, the resurrection power but not the dying daily. It wants a Savior who carries everybody and a Christianity that never cuts, never confronts, never crosses the flesh, and never costs anything. That religion sells well, fills buildings, and makes men rich, but it does not make saints strong. It produces Christians who are offended by trials, confused by opposition, and shocked when obedience gets expensive. They thought the Christian life was a cruise ship. God wrote it as a war. “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12).

The Bible never promised you a crown for smiling in a pew. It promised you a cross for following Christ. It never told you that suffering means you missed God. It told you suffering often means you hit the target. The Lord Jesus Christ did not come down here to show you how to avoid pain. He came down here to show you how to obey the Father when pain is the price. “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). That verse wrecks the soft religion of comfort. If the spotless Son learned obedience through suffering, what do you think God is going to do with a spoiled Christian who thinks holiness should be convenient?

So this essay is for the believer who keeps trying to crown himself in the mirror while refusing to crucify the flesh in the closet. It is for the church crowd that wants victory without battle, reward without labor, revival without repentance, and glory without suffering. God’s order has never changed. The cross comes first, then the crown. The grave comes first, then the resurrection. The suffering comes first, then the glory. “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him” (2 Timothy 2:12). Not if we pose, not if we perform, not if we complain, but if we suffer.

1. The Cross Is Not Optional

The first thing the Lord said about discipleship was not comfort, it was a cross. “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). That is not a suggestion for the extra dedicated Christian. That is the entrance requirement for following Christ. Deny yourself means your feelings do not get the vote, your pride does not get the microphone, your appetite does not get the steering wheel, and your convenience does not get to be king. A cross is not a decoration, it is an execution. You do not carry a cross to improve your life. You carry a cross to end a life, the old life that wants to run the show.

This generation has been trained to treat the cross like jewelry and treat the Christian life like a social club. They hang crosses on walls, wear crosses on chains, put crosses on logos, then live like the devil Monday through Saturday. They want Jesus as a brand, not Jesus as Lord. But Jesus did not die to become your mascot. He died to become your Master. “Ye are not your own… For ye are bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Bought people do not get to rewrite the terms. The cross means God gets to tell you no. The cross means God gets to offend you. The cross means God gets to put His finger on what you love and demand you surrender it.

And the moment you accept that, you find out why so many Christians are weak. They are trying to live a crucified life without crucifixion. They are trying to walk in the Spirit while feeding the flesh. They are trying to have peace while refusing repentance. They are trying to have power while avoiding the price. The Lord said it plainly, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it” (Luke

9:24). A crown without a cross is a lie. It is spiritual theft. It is trying to cash a check you never earned.

2. The Crown-Now Gospel Is a Counterfeit

Any message that promises you the crown now is a counterfeit gospel for carnal people. It sounds good because it strokes the flesh. It sounds spiritual because it uses Bible words. It sells because it promises what sinners already want. But it is the same lie Satan used in Eden: you can have the blessing without obedience, the reward without submission, the glory without God’s order. The devil always offers a shortcut to the throne. He even offered it to Christ. He showed Him the kingdoms of the world and said, take them without the cross (Matthew 4:8-10). Christ refused because He will not reign without righteousness and He will not take what the Father has not given. The shortcut is always satanic.

The crown-now gospel produces Christians who measure God by circumstances instead of Scripture. If the bills are paid, they think God is good. If trouble comes, they think God failed. That is childish. The Bible says, “We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). The Bible says, “In the world ye shall have tribulation” (John 16:33). The Bible says, “Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you” (1 Peter 4:12). Not strange. Normal. Expected. Scheduled. So when a preacher tells you God’s main job is to keep you comfortable, he is not preaching Christ, he is selling a product.

The truth is that God will let you hurt because He loves you. He will let you be pressed because He is shaping you. He will let you be opposed because He is proving you. If you could get everything you wanted with no resistance, you would never pray, never fast, never study, never repent, never depend on God, and never grow. You would become a religious spoiled brat with a Bible in your lap and hell in your heart. That is why God says, “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord… For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth” (Hebrews 12:5-6). The crown-now gospel hates chastening because it hates anything that crosses the flesh. But the Father does not raise soldiers with candy and cartoons. He raises soldiers with discipline.

3. Christ’s Pattern Is Suffering Then Glory

If you want God’s pattern, look at God’s Son. The Lord Jesus Christ is not only your substitute, He is your example. He is not only the Lamb who died for you, He is the Captain you follow. And His life had a clear order: humiliation, then exaltation. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus… he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him” (Philippians 2:5-9). The word “wherefore” matters. Exaltation came after humiliation. Glory came after obedience. The crown came after the cross.

Paul understood that order and preached it without apology. He said the Spirit testified that bonds and afflictions waited for him (Acts 20:23), and he did not treat that as failure. He treated it as normal Christian service. He called his sufferings a fellowship. “That I may know him… and the fellowship of his sufferings” (Philippians 3:10). Fellowship means participation. It means you are walking where He walked. The American church wants fellowship dinners and conference selfies. Paul wanted fellowship with Christ in suffering. That is why Paul had power. Weak Christianity hates suffering. Strong Christianity uses suffering as a ladder to deeper communion with Christ.

And when believers complain that suffering is unfair, the Lord points them to the cross and says, look again. You were not promised fair. You were promised faithful. You were not promised easy. You were promised eternal. “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory” (Romans 8:18). Notice the comparison. Present suffering, future glory. That is God’s

order. You can reject it, but you cannot change it. The cross is not an interruption of the Christian life. It is the center of it. If your Christianity has no cross in it, it is not Christianity, it is a club.

4. Crowns Are Earned in the Furnace

God does not hand crowns to spectators. He crowns overcomers. The Bible says, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). Faithful unto death is not a casual phrase. That is endurance under pressure, fidelity under threat, holiness under temptation, truth under ridicule. That is a saint who refuses to bow because he already bowed to Christ. James says, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life” (James 1:12). Crowns are connected to trials. If you hate trials, you are hating the place where God prepares rewards.

A lot of Christians want to talk about their “calling” while avoiding the furnace that proves the calling. They want to be used by God but never wounded by God. They want to lead but never learn. They want platform without pressure. But God does not entrust His work to soft men. When a man cannot endure correction, he cannot endure ministry. When a man cannot endure hardship, he cannot endure leadership. That is why the Holy Ghost told Timothy, “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3). Not as a spoiled child, not as a church tourist, but as a soldier. Soldiers get bruised. Soldiers get tired. Soldiers get tested.

And the furnace does something the spotlight never can. It exposes motives. It burns off hypocrisy. It proves whether you love Christ or love comfort. When everything is going well, anyone can “praise the Lord.” When the bills hit, the health breaks, the friends leave, and the door closes, then you find out what you really worship. Job said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15). That is crown talk. That is cross talk. That is a man who fears God more than he fears pain. The Christian who wants a crown without a cross is basically saying, Lord, reward me without proving me. God does not run His kingdom like that.

5. The Flesh Hates the Cross, So It Invents Excuses

The reason people chase a crown without a cross is simple. The flesh hates crucifixion. The flesh will do anything to avoid dying. It will dress cowardice up as wisdom. It will call compromise “love.” It will call laziness “rest.” It will call disobedience “boundaries.” It will call surrender to sin “struggle.” The flesh is a lawyer. It argues. It negotiates. It bargains. That is why God never told you to educate the flesh. He told you to crucify it. “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:24). Not comforted it. Not managed it. Crucified it.

So when the Lord puts a cross in your path, your flesh starts talking. It says, you deserve better. It says, that is too extreme. It says, nobody else does that. It says, God understands. It says, you have been through enough. And if you listen to it long enough, you will start thinking disobedience is self care. That is demonic psychology. The Bible says, “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh” (Galatians 5:17). That is a war inside you. If you pretend it is not a war, you will lose by default.

And here is the dangerous part. The flesh will even use Bible words to protect itself. It will talk about grace while refusing holiness. It will talk about liberty while feeding lust. It will talk about mercy while dodging repentance. It will talk about forgiveness while refusing to confess. But God’s grace is not permission to stay carnal. “For the grace of God… teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly” (Titus 2:11-12). Real grace teaches denial. Denial is a cross word. If a man says he loves grace but refuses denial, he loves an imaginary grace that

the Bible never preached.

6. The Cross You Carry Becomes the Witness You Leave

A Christian who carries his cross is a living sermon. The world can argue with your words, but it cannot argue with your endurance. When believers suffer well, they preach loud without speaking. That is why Peter told suffering saints to rejoice, not because pain is fun, but because pain can be a testimony. “Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings” (1 Peter 4:13). Partakers means you are sharing in it, joining in it, representing Him. There is a kind of Christian joy that only shows up when the world thinks you should collapse. That joy is supernatural, and the world notices it.

The cross also purifies your witness. A man who will not pay a price for truth is not really committed to truth. A man who bends every time it costs him something is not a disciple, he is a consumer. But when a saint stands firm, when he refuses to lie, when he refuses to compromise, when he refuses to bow, and he suffers for it, the devil learns he cannot buy him. The world learns it cannot intimidate him. And weak Christians learn there is still a spine left in the body of Christ. “But none of these things move me,” Paul said, “neither count I my life dear unto myself” (Acts 20:24). That is cross language. That is crown preparation.

And the cross keeps your eyes on eternity. People who chase crowns now are usually blind to the judgment seat of Christ. They think life is about building a reputation on earth. But the Bible says every believer will give account. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10). Every hidden motive, every wasted day, every compromised moment, every fear of man, every surrendered conviction will be reviewed. And the only thing that will matter then is what you did for Christ. “If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved” (1 Corinthians 3:15). A saved man can still suffer loss. That loss is often tied to avoiding the cross.

7. The Day of Crowning Is Coming, So Do Not Quit Now

There is a real crown. There is a real reward. There is a real day when God will honor what men mocked. The Christian life is not endless suffering with no purpose. It is suffering with an appointment. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Affliction works for you when you endure it in faith. It builds something eternal. That is why Paul could say, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:8). Laid up. Stored. Reserved. Waiting. Not handed out in this life as trophies for popularity, but prepared for faithful endurance.

So do not quit because you got tired. Do not quit because you got lonely. Do not quit because you got wounded. Do not quit because people misunderstood you. If you are carrying a cross, people will misunderstand you. If you are standing for truth, people will call you extreme. If you are separating from sin, people will say you are judgmental. If you are preaching the Book, people will say you are old fashioned. That is the price of discipleship. “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13). Hate is not a sign you failed. Sometimes hate is a sign you hit the nerve.

And remember the Lord’s warning and promise. “Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown” (Revelation 3:11). That verse assumes a crown can be lost in the sense of reward forfeited. You cannot lose salvation if you are in Christ, but you can lose reward. You can trade eternal honor for temporary comfort. You can sell your crown for a bowl of soup like Esau, and plenty of Christians do it every day with their eyes open. They take the easy road, keep quiet, blend in, stay neutral, avoid confrontation, avoid sacrifice, avoid prayer, avoid holiness, and then expect God to crown them like conquerors. God crowns fighters, not fakers.

Conclusion

If you want a crown without a cross, what you really want is Christianity without Christ. You want the benefits without the Person, the reward without the relationship, the glory without the God who owns it. But the Lord settled it long ago. “Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27). Cannot means cannot. It is not complicated. It is just offensive to the flesh. The flesh wants to be praised. The cross demands you die. The flesh wants to be comfortable. The cross demands you obey. The flesh wants to be seen. The cross demands you follow Christ even when nobody claps.

So the call is simple and it is sharp. Stop crowning yourself in a world that is dying. Stop chasing applause from people who will be gone in a hundred years. Stop building a comfortable religion that cannot withstand pressure. Take up your cross. Deny yourself. Obey the Book. Stand for truth. Live clean. Pray hard. Love Christ more than your reputation. If God puts suffering in your path, do not call it strange. Ask what He is forging in you. Ask what He is burning out of you. Ask what kind of weight of glory He is building through that pain (2 Corinthians 4:17).

And if you are saved, remember this. You are not suffering to earn heaven. You are suffering because you are headed there, and this world is not your home. “For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come” (Hebrews 13:14). The crown is real, but it is not here. It is ahead. The glory is real, but it is after. So do not envy the crown-now crowd. They may have their reward. But when the smoke clears and the books open, the Lord will honor the saints who carried the cross without flinching, and the glory will come exactly the way God promised, after suffering, not before. “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory” (Romans 8:18).