At a time when Christians glibly toss around the term “kingdom,” Dr. Tony Evans, in Kingdom Man: Every Man’s Destiny, Every Woman’s Dream, gives the kingdom of God flesh and blood and then shows every Christian man the dramatic implications it has for his everyday life.
Kingdom Man Vividly Portrays God’s Kingdom as a Literal Kingdom
Tony Evans is the first Black doctoral student to graduate from Dallas Theological Seminary, pastor of mega church Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, national radio and TV teacher, author of over 100 books and pamphlets, and the founder of The Urban Alternative. But first and foremost he is a biblicist.
Since the Bible has much to say about the kingdom of God (i.e., the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.”), Evans is right to make it a central emphasis in his ministry, especially in his ministry to men.
“God’s kingdom,” writes Dr. Evans, “transcends time, space, politics, denominations, cultures and the realms of society. It is both now and not yet (see Mark 1:15 and Matthew 16:28), close by and removed (see Luke 17:20-2 and Matthew 7:21). Governed by covenant systems, the kingdom’s institutions include the family, church, and civil government. God has given the guidelines for the operation of all three, and negligence to adhere to these guidelines results in disorder and loss” (p. 11).
Kingdom Man Reasons that if God’s Kingdom is a Literal Kingdom, then it Follows that All Christian Men are Literal Kingdom Rulers
By demonstrating how eschatology relates to practical theology, Tony Evans brings eternal heavenly truths into the temporal world and shows how they are critical for every man to know, believe, and live by. Thus Evans defines a kingdom man as a man who lives under the authority of God and who, therefore, derives authority from God’s created order.
“God’s kingdom consists of His comprehensive governance in all creation. His agenda is to advance His kingdom and, in so doing, to reveal His glory. God’s subjects have been put here on Earth to carry out His agenda. Therefore, a kingdom man may be defined as a man who positions himself and operates according to the comprehensive rule of God over every area of his life. And every area of life should feel the impact of a kingdom man’s presence” (p. 27, emphasis his).
The impact of a kingdom man that Evans is talking about, therefore, stems from his rulership. In fact, it is men’s abdication of appropriate rulership under God that people suffer at their hands in the first place. “The problem keeping many men in our culture from being kingdom men is that, either through silence or blame, they have relinquished their God-given right to rule, or lead” (p. 29).
Actually, rulership is more of a responsibility than a right, and Evans clarifies this later when he writes, “As a man, you are responsible. You are to take full responsibility to rule to the best of your ability for the betterment of yourself and all others within your domain. That doesn’t mean that you are personally obligated to solve every issue, but it does mean that you are obligated to oversee it being solved if it falls within your realm of influence and authority” (p. 35).
And finally, Evans goes on to make it clear that rulership does not give a man the right to dominate or oppress people. “Men, also remember that rule does not mean domination or control; it means leading with wisdom for others” (p. 35, emphasis his).
Kingdom Man has Dramatic Repercussions for all Christian Men and Everyone Around Them
- Kingdom Man elevates men’s identities.
The late Christian philosopher, Francis Schaeffer, liked to say that there can be no higher view of humans than the Christian world view. This elevated view of humanity is especially true of men.
Biblically speaking, Evans says, men are critical to the success of the kingdom of God on earth. Created in the image of God, but fallen, men’s salvation from the dominion of Satan and sin and transference into “the kingdom of his beloved Son” immediately assigns them the task of expressing and advancing the loving and righteous rule of God’s kingdom on earth.
A kingdom man, then, is a man who knows what his sin has done to others, and what his salvation means for the betterment of himself and others around him. Thus a kingdom man is responsible to God, his king, in the way he “rules over the dominion that God has given him.” No longer an autonomous man who merely lives for himself, doing “what is right in his own eyes,” now under God’s authority, a kingdom man lives for those God has given him the responsibility to rule.
- Kingdom Man strengthens and defines men’s roles in their families.
When it comes to the family, and specifically, to a Christian man’s wife, a kingdom man is to be her “savior, sanctifier, and satisfier.” A kingdom man is to be his wife’s “savior” in the sense that he sacrifices himself for her the same way Christ did for the church.
A kingdom man is to be his wife’s “sanctifier,” Evans writes, in the sense that he “sanctifies his wife over time through discipling her and providing a place where she is safe to grow and develop into the creation God made her to be.”
Evans goes on to say that a kingdom man “satisfies” his wife by allowing her to flourish, including, if she desires, in a career outside the home.
As for his children, Evans places great emphasis on “the family table.” “I have always made the family table a mainstay in our home. It was the place, when my children were growing up, where we met not only to eat, but also to engage each other according to the need of the moment” (p. 171).
- Kingdom Man reintegrates men into their churches.
If being a kingdom man is essential to manhood itself, then it is also essential for kingdom men to participate in the primary expression of God’s kingdom on earth: the church. “The goal of the church is to transmit a biblical worldview so men begin to think and function from a theocentric perspective…. Each church ought to make one of its primary priorities as having a men’s ministry that seeks to instruct, inspire, encourage, equip, and hold accountable its men to become kingdom men” (p. 183).
- Kingdom Man involves men in their communities.
One of the many things that I like about Kingdom Man is Evan’s emphasis on community involvement of Christian men. In “A Kingdom Man and His Community Life,” Evan’s devotes an entire chapter to this subject. A big emphasis in this chapter is the importance of men mentoring fatherless children in their communities.
“With the growing absence of fathers in our land — whether spiritually, physically, or emotionally — someone needs to step in as surrogate fathers to raise the next generation of men. And if we in the body of Christ don’t do it, then it will be musicians, entertainers, or peers that will fill that void” (p. 197).
Kingdom Man is Especially Relevant for Black Men and the Black Community.
Having grown up in a Black community in inner city Los Angeles myself during the 60’s and 70’s, I had the opportunity to watch firsthand the destruction of the Black family as a result of both liberal politics (i.e., Aid to Families with Dependent Children and LBJ’s “War on Poverty,” which replaced Black fathers with the federal government as the primary family provider) and conservative politics (i.e., No Fault Divorce, championed by Ronald Reagan, first as Governor of California and then as President of the United States, which led to a massive increase in divorce and family disintegration).
The following U. S. Census Bureau graph shows the impact these policies had on America’s families from 1968 to 2020. Note that all three major demographic groups in the U.S. saw an increase in fatherless homes, but the most dramatic impact was felt in the Black community. Among Black households, fatherless homes have risen from 30% in 1968 to 46% in 2020, a 50% increase.
In addition, as the following U. S. Census bureau graph demonstrates, the percent of fatherless children living with mothers who have never married is almost 50% (as of 2014).
The social gospel, so prominent in many Black churches for almost 100 years, while emphasizing social justice and liberation from racial oppression, failed to liberate Black men from slavery to sin, making them and their families especially susceptible to failed government policies. As the Exodus story teaches us, redemption from physical slavery is one thing. But redemption from spiritual slavery is quite another.
By calling Black men to faith in Christ and to personal responsibility and godly living as rulers of their God-given domains — including their homes, their churches, and their communities — and as conquerors over sin in their lives and over evil in their culture, Kingdom Man restores Black Christian men to their rightful place as joint heirs with Christ and equal members in the body of Christ. No wonder Dr. Evan’s church, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, with ten thousand members, is one of the largest churches in North America.
This post first appeared in NewCommadment.org.
Since 2003 New Commandment Men’s Ministries has helped hundreds of churches throughout North America and around the world recruit teams of men who permanently adopt widows, single moms and fatherless children in their congregations for the purpose of donating two hours of service to them one Saturday morning each month. We accomplish this with a free training site called New Commandment Men’s Ministry Learn how to mobilize your men’s ministry to meet every pressing need in your church at newcommandment.org.
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Learn how to form teams of men for every widow, single mom
and fatherless child in your church at NewCommandment.org.
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