MEN: Be a Psalm 128 Man

Welcome Men. In his book ‘Kingdom Man’, Tony Evens says God has given us Psalm 128 as a benchmark passage for manhood, and this could be your path to a better life. Check it out below:

Psalm 128

Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him.

You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.

Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the Lord.

May the Lord bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life.

May you live to see your children’s children— peace be on Israel.

You may have noticed that Psalm 128 covers 4 areas of a man’s life;. Verses 1, 2 & 4 talk about a man’s personal life. Verse 3 talks about his family life. Verses 5 & 6 talk about his church life and his community life. God wrote this beautiful passage to show us how to function as a man.

Psalm 128 Man & His Personal Life

So what is a ‘Psalm 128 Man’? He’s a male who demonstrates the rule of God under Jesus Christ in every area of his life. Our personal life starts with the fear of God. When we fear God and walk in His ways, the Bible says His blessings will flow through us and to others. In other words, we can be a conduit of blessing from God to others, not a cul-de-sac.

If you want to be blessed, take every opportunity to fear God both privately and publicly. When you do, you will be blessed. Fear of God shows up everywhere in every way and everything and is reflected through your honor and respect for Him.

Many men will give God the leftovers and then they wonder why God’s not blessing them. We tend to give Him our leftover time, service, and money. We don’t need to openly despise God to despise Him. God asks us to give Him our first fruits.

Tony says our soul has the capacity to think, feel, choose, and desire beyond time and into eternal life. To save your soul, you need to do the following; deny yourself and take up your cross daily (Matt. 16:24) and be a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1). In other words, you need to die to your will, wants, and desires and instead, live in God’s will, wants and desires.

Psalm 128 Man & His Family

Psalm 128 moves from a man’s personal life to his family which is the divine order of creation. Adam had to establish his own authority before expanding his family. Before God created church and government, He created family. The majority of problems in our culture stem from the breakdown in the family.

Since getting married can be the most important decision in your life, enter into it with much preparedness. When a man is successful as a husband and father, it will help his family and others to fulfill their destinies.

Many view marriage as a social contract to receive love and happiness. Marriage is more than that. It’s a sacred covenant. A contract is a legal agreement with no spiritual component. A covenant engages God in relationship. Remember, love is a choice not a feeling and more than a contract.

Psalm 128:3 says your wife is like a fruitful vine. To care for a vine, you need to do 3 things. . .

1. Elevate it and tie it to a post for security: The same is true with your wife. You need to provide a place of security for her so she can cling to you.

2. Allow the vine to climb so it can receive nourishment: Your wife must be allowed to grow and receive nourishment also.

3. Let it produce fruit: After you elevate her and allow her to climb, your wife will start to produce fruit that will not only benefit her, but you and those in her arena of influence.

She will become a fruitful vine like the verse stated, but it starts with you.

Being a Psalm 128 husband starts with being responsible. Ephesians 5:25 says “Love your wife like Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Christ sacrificed His life for his bride and for her well-being. You should do the same.

Ephesians 5:26 asks husbands to sanctify their wives. To sanctify means to set apart as special or unique. A Psalm 128 Man sanctifies his wife by providing her a place where she can grow into who God has created her to be.

Finally, Ephesians 5:28-29 asks husbands to satisfy their wife. Whatever you do for yourself, you ought to do for her too. Always think in terms of two people, never in terms of one. The best interest for a husband is to love his wife.

When a wife is given the right amount of nourishment, she will flourish. You don’t need to be a Bible scholar, but you do need to be intentional about leading your wife in spiritual growth. You do that by creating spiritual oneness. Understand her, get to know her, complement her, let her know she’s valued, and pray with her regularly.

Our family should be a reflection of God to the world. Satan is working hard to destroy that. God created Adam and then Eve, the first family. When Satan showed up he caused Adam and Eve to sin. What God creates, Satan hates. That includes you and your family. He’ll do anything to destroy your relationship with your wife and your children.

He who owns the family, owns the future. As we stated above, satan hates what God creates. God created both the family and the church. We must guard against Satan’s attack.

That was Hitler’s tactic during WWII. Hitler felt that if he could control the youth he could control the country - and he did. Today the culture is influencing our world as it redefines family contrary to God’s original design.

Psalm 128:3 says your children are like an olive plant, not a tree. Trees take about 15 years to fully develop. Olive plants can produce olives for 2,000 years if properly nourished. We need to start nourishing the next generation by being Psalm 128 Men.

Jewish fathers always sat at the dinner table not just to eat, but to feed the family spiritual ‘food’. He would teach, listen, learn and lead his family.

So, men, do not neglect your table. Intentionally make yourself a consistent part of your family. The benefits will be generational as you make your family a priority - not a second thought.

Tony Evans says most of our boys and young men spend a large amount of their life with women. For example, they start in their mother’s womb, then with female babysitters, female elementary teachers, female nursery workers, Sunday School teachers and so on. The value and influence of moms and women is important, but a child’s view of God is largely dependent on their view of dad.

Psalm 128 Man & His Church Life

A ‘Psalm 128 Man’ moves from the fear of the Lord to his family and then outward to his church and community. Psalm 128:5 says ‘the Lord bless you from Zion’ which means the church. The church exists to display God’s glory, impact the culture, restore lives and advance God’s Kingdom. The church is to bring glory to humankind. Unfortunately, we have marginalized the churches authority inside and outside of its walls.

Zion can be considered a mountain where God’s presence is found, or Jerusalem which is the City of David where God dwells, or the temple in Old Testament culture. In biblical times, Zion connected the family to something bigger than self.

Tony states in his book that women were created for relationships and men to govern. The temperature in most churches is set for women and a lot of men sit cold. The churches priority should have a men’s ministry that disciples men by instructing, inspiring, encouraging, equipping, and holding men accountable to become ‘Psalm 128 Men’.

There should be a process of discipling men from spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity so that those discipled can repeat the process with someone else. This discipleship process should enable men to overcome wrong cultural influences. We should be putting more thought into where we go to church than buying a car.

In Biblical day, boys looked forward to their father’s blessing. The father would put his hands on his son and transfer his blessings to the next generation. Every man should have a spiritual father to guide them into being a spiritual father to someone else. Men also need spiritual brothers who will walk with them as the world tries to walk on them.

Many Christian men today are spiritual orphans because they have no family relationships. Children develop best in families when they are connected. If you are a disconnected Christian man, you are living outside of God’s blessings.

Psalm 128 Man & His Community

The church is like a huddle in football. What you do when you break from the huddle in your community and nation shows team strength. The ‘Psalm 128 Man’ begins with his personal life, then it extends to his family, then to his church and finally to his community and nation.

Malachi 4:6 tells us to restore the hearts of the fathers to the children. In Biblical days, men lived for blessing. The blessing was not only tied to who your are but who you were destined to be. Our current generation of young men are missing their blessing, because the previous generation failed in part to receive theirs. It’s similar to running a relay race with no baton.

The lack of ‘Psalm 128 Men’ is the scourge of the day. It leads to poverty, drop out rates, imprisonment, divorce, delinquency, crime, abuse, drug use, suicide and has caused a spiritual void.

When we see men live by God’s precepts, we will see transformation in our culture. ‘A Psalm 128 Man’ has royal blood in his veins. We need ‘Psalm 128 Men’ to step up and be surrogate fathers to the next generation of men. There is no greater need than being a father to the fatherless.

In conclusion, a ‘Psalm 128 Man’ has the capability to impact the next generation and leave a lasting legacy. Leading well means loving well. Knowing God means helping others. God offers the structure to address our social ills. Men, get involved by connecting, serving, leading mentoring, praying, teaching and training. When we reach our youth, we reach our families, our churches, our nation and the world.

Be a ‘Psalm 128 Man’!