Skip to content

Add your phone number?

Optional. Nothing is sent unless you choose it.
The Historic Faith
Sign in

Jumpstarter 7 of 10

Ideas to help restart your discussion
Christian Citizenship  /  Separation from the World  /  Discussion Questions
All Questions
Question 7
The Apostolic Constitutions calls secular trades “secondary employment” and says worship is the “primary vocation,” yet also condemns laziness and commands working to support the needy; how would you redesign a normal week (time, energy, attention) if you truly treated worship and the kingdom as your main business while still working “with all appropriate seriousness”?
Another way to ask: The Apostolic Constitutions says worship is the main calling, but it also says don’t be lazy and work to help the needy. What would your week look like if worship and the kingdom were your top priority while you still worked seriously?

Direct Answer Based on Bercot’s use of the Apostolic Constitutions, a redesigned week would treat worship and serving God’s kingdom as the central commitment, while keeping secular work purposeful, limited to real needs, and aimed partly at helping the needy rather than chasing status.

Support from Transcript:

  • Apostolic Constitutions: if someone uses work “as an excuse for neglecting worship,” he is “a despiser offering pretenses for his sins.”
  • It explicitly ranks priorities: “The trades of the faithful are our secondary employment. The worship of God is our primary vocation.”
  • It still commands labor: “Follow your trades…to maintain your livelihood.”
  • It rejects laziness: “Attend to your employment with all appropriate seriousness…so that you will always have sufficient funds to support both yourselves and those who are needy…that you will not burden the church.”
  • It gives examples of ordinary work: “Some of us are fishermen, tent makers, and farmers so that we may never be idle.”
  • Bercot summarizes the “balance”: work hard and provide, but “don’t make your…secular occupation, your main vocation…give your primary energy and time…to serving the kingdom of God.”
Discussion Follow-ups What would you need to cut back (overtime, side hustles, leisure) so that worship and kingdom service aren’t what’s “left over”?

Jumpstarter 7 of 10
Back Questions Next