Hot Takes | Are You Addicted to Escaping Your Own Life? | Pastor Lisa Seaton

- Well, good morning, city first fam. It is so good to be here today in church. Turn to your neighbor and say, "I'm ready." Turn to your other neighbor, your second favorite and say, "I'm really ready." We're ready because God is gonna do something great. We hope that you've been enjoying this series hot tape so far. Where we're discussing AI, aliens, apocalypse in a world that is getting weird. When I encourage you, come back next week, bring somebody with you. Pastor Jeremy's gonna continue this message series. But the reason we're doing this is we wanna address from a biblical perspective what's being talked about in your offices, in your lunch rooms, in your group texts and on social media. And I was scheduled to speak this particular Sunday, many, many, many, many, many, many months ago. Before Pastor Jeremy had decided, it would be during the hot take series. So a few months ago, Pastor Jeremy sent me a text and he was like, "Hey, for October 25, "do you wanna talk about aliens, the apocalypse, "AI or escapism?" I was like, "I don't really wanna talk "about any of those things. "But let me just clarify, when you say escapism, "are you talking about people getting stoned, "but not like in the Bible where rocks are thrown at them?

"Like we're talking about cannabis, THC gummies, "marawana, California, sober." He was like, "Exactly." I was like, "Okay, sign me up. "Let's talk about escapism." So church, we're diving in today. Because chances are that in some way, you are interacting with this topic, you're bumping into it, especially if you're driving around in Illinois, you are smelling it, right? Like it is everywhere. And so we wanna look at, from a biblical perspective, what does God have to say about this? Now here's the thing, the topic of escapism is not isolated to just a substance, okay? So although we're gonna address substances, we're gonna have an elevated conversation that's gonna apply to each and every one of us. So before we dive in and we open up God's word, I just wanna take a moment and open us up in prayer. 'Cause here's the thing, you didn't come to church just to attend a service. You showed up today to encounter a living God. You're not here today just to be informed in a message. You're here today so that we can experience transformation that only God can do. And so if you wanna receive everything God has for us to encourage you, get your heart ready. Would you join me in prayer?

Maybe even wanna just turn your palms up. It's an outward expression of an inward posture. I've been ready to receive from you today, God. So Heavenly Father, we just come before you as a church family. God, we thank you for who you are. We thank you that you hold all power, all authority and all might. God, I thank you that every person who's here today is not here on accident, but that you've brought them here on purpose and for a purpose. God, I pray that your Holy Spirit would minister to each and every person exactly where they're at. God, that we would be open to receive what you have for us today. Lord, I pray that you would help me to get out of the way so that you can say what you wanna say, that I would be a vessel for your honor. We love you, God, and in your name we pray. If you agree, would you say amen, amen. All right, well, I grew up in the great decade of the '90s, okay? Brought a family photo. I'm the girl with the side pony. I think we got this photo taken at J.C. Penny, 'cause we were fancy back then. But the '90s were simpler times, right? When we didn't have iPhones, streaming services, we barely had internet. If you grew up in this decade, people might today be like,

you're a really patient person. You're like, yeah, 'cause I grew up with dial-up internet. Like I had no choice but to learn to be patient. And I remember one day during this era, my older sister who was in the center who kind of had the bad hair, she decided that she was going to be angry at my parents for parenting her. And so she barges into our room. We shared her room at the time and she gets out her little suitcase and she's packing up her stuff, like her Game Boy and some candy. And I was like, what are you doing? She's like, I'm running away from home. Don't tell mom. And I was kind of scared of my sister. So I was like, I won't. But as soon as she left the house, I was like, mom, Dana ran away from home. And my mom just calmed. She was like, okay, give it like 10 minutes. I was like, okay. Well, sure enough, about 10 minutes goes by and the phone rings. So I answer the phone, it's for my mom. So I like pull the cord, you know, from the kitchen into the living room. whose daughter is best friends with my sister. And she was like, "Hey, your daughter showed up at her house. She said she's running away. She came to hang out here with my daughter. And my

mom was like, "If you're okay with it, let's just leave her there for a little bit, and then I'm going to come and get her." And after that happened, I was like, so she ran away, but she only went three doors down. And my mom was like, "It's like she wanted to run away, but she also wanted to easily be found." And maybe you growing up had a moment where you ran away from your home too. You wanted to escape those circumstances, but maybe you never really stopped running. Yet you're here today because I believe that you still want to be found by God and experience all that he has for you today. And so we're going to be diving into this topic of escapism. And what is that really mean? Well, as I've been researching, I found an article from 1954 from the great evangelist and preacher Billy Graham. In 1954, he wrote an article called "How Shall We Escape?" And he said that there's a brand new word that is entered into our common language and common practice. And that brand new word in 1954 was the word escapism. Now, when we look up what escapism means, this is a definition here. It says escapism is the habitual diversion of the mind or behavior to imaginative activities, entertainment or distractions as a way to avoid or find relief from unpleasant, boring or stressful realities. So in short, it's saying when life gets hard, we look for a way out. We do this through any diversion that will help us escape our current reality. My sister wanted to escape the reality of being parented so she ran away from home, but there's different ways that we try to escape our realities. And the diversion opportunities have greatly multiplied since Billy Graham first talked about this in 1954. In 1954, gas only cost 29 cents a gallon. Wouldn't that be nice? In 1954, they didn't have iPhones to scroll. They didn't have Netflix asking if you're still watching. They didn't have DoorDash or THC gummies readily available for purchase. They didn't have algorithms specifically designed to keep you coming back for more content. What I'm saying is we have more ways to escape now than perhaps any generation that has ever gone before us. And at the same time, we have unprecedented access to the things that make us want to escape. Do you know that there once was a time when you left work, you actually left work. Now work follows you in email and text message notifications. There was a time when you carried your own problems and maybe the problems of your friends or family or neighbors. But now you carry your problems. And before breakfast, you know all the problems that are happening all over the world. And you get notifications about every horrific thing that's happening through your news app on your phone. There is a time when parents just worried if their kids were safe at a playground. And now parents are navigating whether our kids are safe

online, what they're being exposed to, who they're talking to, and what social media is doing to kids. And as a result of all of this information and all of the accessibility is we find ourselves overwhelmed, stressed out, and looking for a way to escape or find relief. But I want you to hear me clearly today. The problem isn't that we want relief. The question is, where do we run to find it? Where do we run to find it? Because we all need to run somewhere. The Bible doesn't shame us for seeking refuge, for seeking relief. In fact, the Bible teaches us where to find relief from the pressures and the difficulties of this world. See, escapism offers temporary relief by taking me away from my reality. But God offers refuge by meeting me in the middle of my reality. There's a difference here. Okay, so in Psalm 46 one, it says this, God is our refuge and strength and ever present help in trouble. Another version says, I'd ever present help in time of need. Have you ever been in a time where you needed help and you send the text to somebody and they leave you unread and then you call them and they do not disturb us on and you can't get through and you're like, I really needed help. This is saying that God is our ever present help. I love what it says in Psalm 61, 2, and 3. It says, "When my heart is overwhelmed." This is David who wrote this. "Leave me to the rock that is higher than I, for you have been my refuge." When he was facing difficulty, he found that God was his refuge. So when life is hard, we can either choose escapism or we can choose refuge in God. And during our time together this morning, we're going to break down what both of these responses look like. Alright, everybody with me, we're doing okay? Alright, so what does escapism look like in a practical way? Well, escapism can take on many, many forms. Okay, but today I'm just going to touch on four big categories of escapism. The first one is this, numbing. And numbing is a response to, "I don't want to feel this." Okay, maybe you go to work. You have a long day. There's like the Karen who's on your nerves. There's the co-worker that you're trying to find patience for. Things aren't going your way. You're running into troubles and problems, and then you get home. And you're a cub span, and you realize you have to watch the Brewers in the World Series. And you're just like, "I don't want to feel this way anymore. I don't want to feel this." And so what do we do? We look to something to change how we feel. For some people that might be food, you're like, "This was sweet and it will make me feel happy."

Like we look for something to change how we feel. And as we're talking about numbing, I want to talk about substances for just a moment. Okay, growing up, I was raised in church in a very religious, very strict church. We kind of avoided difficult topics. Like I was raised to believe that Jesus' first miracle was turning water into grape juice. Okay, now water into wine. It was like, "Let's not even talk about it." But at City First, we don't want to avoid the realities of what you're encountering here in this life. And at church, at City First Church, we're not about religion. We're all about relationship with Jesus. But how many of you know relationship with Jesus doesn't give us permission to just live however we want. When we come into relationship with Jesus, we find out that he loves us just as we are, but he loves us too much to keep us as we are. And when you're in a relationship with someone, you want to live a life that pleases him. And that's what we're all about here at City First Church. And so we're going to talk out of relationship, and we're going to talk about things that maybe sometimes are hard for people to talk about. So when it comes to alcohol consumption, something interesting is happening in America. What we're seeing now is that alcohol consumption is the lowest it's been in 90 years in America, which is great, right? Yeah, some of you are like, "Praise God." And we do give God praise for that. However, the use of cannabis and THC gummies and edibles and recreational marijuana is rapidly on the rise. So what we have to be honest about is that although the substance may be changing, the desire for people to change how they feel is not changing. And so we have to address it. Now some people might say, "Well, cannabis is common now." Okay, but for Christ followers, can we just be honest and say, "Just because something is normalized, just because something is legalized does not make it wise." It doesn't make it wise. And the tensions of Christians trying to figure out what to consume, what not to consume is nothing new. Okay, we see in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians, which happened like 2000 years ago, Paul, the Paul talking to Christians, and they're trying to figure out what are they permitted to consume. And I love Paul's response in 1 Corinthians 10, 23. He says, "Just because something is permissible does not mean it's beneficial." He's saying, "Let's raise the level of questions that we're asking.

Spiritual maturity doesn't just ask, "Am I allowed to do this?" Spiritual maturity asks, "Is this beneficial to the person that God is calling me to be? Is this beneficial to the person that God is calling me to be?" And guess what? Your life isn't just about you. It's not just about who God's calling you to be, but who God has entrusted to you. Your family, your children, your coworkers, your neighbors, your community. Because what you do doesn't just affect you, it affects those around you. And people may argue, well, God doesn't say anything specifically in the Bible about cannabis, you're looking for the loophole, okay, doesn't say anything about that. But we do know that the Bible repeatedly says, over and over and over again, be of sober mind, be of sober mind, do not get drunk, so many verses about this. In 1 Peter 5.8 it says, be alert and of sober mind, hard to be both, or you have to be both, be alert and of sober mind. Ephesians 5.18 says, do not get drunk on wine, instead be filled with the Spirit. So what these scriptures are saying is that God does not want us to be intoxicated. Because if our mind is intoxicated, how can we make good choices? How can we make choices that honor Him, that honor us, that honor others, right? It's hard to make good choices and have high IQ if you are high. So we want to make good choices that requires us to have a sober mind. And at the end of the day, I think too many of us have had encounters with people, family members, friends, people around us, negative experiences because of substance abuse, more harm comes from it than good ever will. And when we're talking about recreational marijuana, there really is no in moderation. If you're consuming recreational marijuana, it's to alter the state of your mind. But we just saw that the Bible says to be of sober mind, so the two of those can't go together. And listen, that's not God's best for you, okay? The enemy wants you to be numbed out so that you miss out on the one and only life that God has for you.

John 10, 10 says that the enemy comes to steal, to kill, to destroy. That's the enemy's plan for your life, but God comes to give life and life to the full. God wants to give you a life that you don't have to escape from. God wants you to have a life where you can be fully present, not just physically but mentally, not just physically but spiritually, you're engaged in this one and only life that God has for you. So many people are missing out on life even though you're here, you're not really here. Nothing's more humbling than one of my children for altogether being like, "Mom, why are you on your phone?" Because they don't want me just to be physically with them. They want me to be just completely engaged with them, right? We want to be fully present. Why so that we can shine bright for Jesus and make a difference in this life? And hey, maybe you're going, "I'm not reaching to a substance to numb out, but I just think it's a lot of fun." Well, as Christ followers, we don't want to pursue worldly pleasure. We want to pursue a life that honors God. And can I just say that as Christ followers, we don't need a substance to have fun. Christians should be the most joyful, fun people on the planet. Why? Because we have the Holy Spirit, right? And the fruit of the Spirit is love and joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength. And when you're spending time with God, you can't help but to be filled up with joy. Christians should be known for being joyful. Anybody, you think so? Full of joy. God wants you walking in freedom and in joy. You know, my parents are first generation Christians. So they're the first people in their entire family lineage to follow Christ.

And they got married when they were in their upper 20s, and they had been in the party scene drinking, doing drugs. And after they got married, they got tricked into attending a Christian concert. And at that Christian concert, they heard the message of Jesus and they gave their lives to Christ. But they were still wrestling. How do we live as Christ followers? They were still kind of partying, still drinking a lot. My mom said she walked into a bar about a year after she started following Jesus. And she said that she was addicted to alcohol and substances. And she walked in and she got a drink and she said she heard the audible voice of God tell her, "This will be the last drink you ever have. It's been 45 years and my mom has not consumed alcohol in that amount of time." And I tell you this because my mom is like the most fun person that I know. She's way more fun than I've ever been or ever will be. She's 74 and the life of everywhere she goes. And she'll tell you following Jesus is way more fun than following the things of this world because with Jesus we have joy. We'll go, "I don't want to think about this." When there's things that are hard in reality and responsibility that needs to get done, we distract ourselves. I don't want to think about this. And we do this through all different ways. We can do this through shopping, which I don't like to talk about because I love Amazon, right? But we can have like retail therapy. We can distract ourselves that way. Maybe for you, it's planning, like you're always planning the next thing and the next thing, the next thing so that you're never really present because you're always working ahead. Maybe for you, it's video gaming. That's how you distract yourself from reality or responsibility. You're literally living in a virtual reality instead of the reality that God has placed you in. Maybe it's social media or binge watching. Maybe it's living in your imagination, fantasizing about things that are not of God and are not good for you.

If you look up the Billy Graham article from 1954, he talks about how imagination is one of the ways that the enemy tries to distract you from reality. And what happens is you begin to think about things that aren't of God. And then those thoughts turn into actions and those actions are to destruction. So we have to take every thought captive so that we know what we're thinking about that honors God. And we're not living in some fantasy world. Another thing that we use to escape is withdrawing. This is when you would say, "I just don't want to face this." There's something difficult that is happening. Maybe in your marriage, in your finances, whatever it might be. And instead of facing it, you just begin to withdraw because you don't know how to. That can be you begin to isolate yourself. You're not responding to people. You're ignoring people. You're avoiding conflict. You say, "I just don't want to talk about it." You're withdrawing as a form of escaping reality. A current thing that's happening with a lot of young people is self-harm. And that can be a form of withdrawing. I don't know how to deal with it. And so I'm going to tamper with self-harm. And if that's you, I want you to know God loves you. He meets you right where you're at. Your life matters. You are important. You have value. And we're glad that you're here. God is our ever-present help in the time of trouble, always present, always with you. You don't have to escape. The last one is achieving, okay?

This is another form of escapism where you think, "I don't want to slow down enough to deal with whatever needs to be dealt with." So you're just going to keep working. I'm going to keep moving. I'm going to stay busy. I'm going to become self-sufficient. And what's tricky about achieving is a lot of times you can be praised for workaholism. And you're praised for the very thing that you're using as a form to escape the reality that you need to address. And so we want to be mindful that there's lots of different methods, lots of different actions or responses for escapism. But they all have the same goal, "Get me out of my present reality." Now, here's the thing. Sometimes it's not what you're doing. It's what you're asking it to do for you. I don't think shopping on Amazon is bad, but if I'm asking it to give me relief that, "Oh, no, only God can give me," then the mode of there isn't right. Paul talked about not everything is beneficial, even though it's permissible. Also, in 1 Corinthians, Paul talks about, "And I will not be mastered by anything." So some of the things that maybe you're reaching to used to be for fun or used to be here and there, and now it's habitual. And the question is, "No longer can I have this, but it does this have you." You don't know how to sleep without it. You don't know how to function without it. You don't know how to go on without it. And so what I want to encourage you to do is, this week, just begin to pay attention to the things that you do. Don't live on autopilot. Don't just go through the motions, slow down a little bit, and invite God in. Begin to ask yourself questions like, "Am I enjoying this? Or am I using this to avoid something?" Am I just relaxing and watching a show? Or am I really trying to numb out right now and not think? Am I working hard because God loves good work ethic? Am I working hard to provide for my family and be great in my character and my work ethic? Or am I working so hard so that I don't have to deal with what's happening at home or inside me? Just invite God in to the process as you go throughout your day because escape is and promises relief, but will leave you empty. Here's the good news though. Jesus shows us what to do when we feel overwhelmed by our present circumstances. He doesn't leave us hanging. yes, to dying across for us so that our sins can be forgiven so that we can have heaven forever as our home, but also he models for us how to navigate this earthly life

in the way that he wants us to navigate it. And so in March chapter 14, we see that Jesus is preparing to go to the cross. Okay, these are unwanted circumstances. Jesus doesn't wanna do that. Yes, he's the son of God, but he still is in flesh form. And so he has this unthinkable torturous death before him for since he didn't commit and he knows what's before him and he knows that it's heavy and he knows that it's gonna be difficult. And so when he feels overwhelmed, he seeks refuge in God. This is what it says in March chapter 14. They went to a place called Gethsemane and Jesus said to his disciples, sit here while I pray. He took Peter, James and John along with him and it began to be deeply distressed and troubled. Says Jesus' words. He says, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. He said to them, stay here and keep watch. Going a little further, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible, the hour might pass from him. Abba father, he said, everything's possible for you. Take this from me. I don't want my current reality, yet not my will, but your will be done. Then he returns his disciples and he found them sleeping.

Simon, he said to Peter, are you asleep? Couldn't you keep watch for an hour, watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Man, so many times as we're going throughout our day, I think we identify with that. My flesh is weak, I wanna give into what I wanna give into 'cause it feels good 'cause it will offer me temporary relief, but do you know that you have access to the Holy Spirit and the same spirit, the Rose Christ from the dead, lives in you? And we gotta strengthen our spirit so that we can face the difficulties of this world. And when Jesus says here, my soul is overwhelmed. That word overwhelmed in the Greek is the word a taf and it means to cover like with a garment. Okay, does anybody sleep with the way to blinkin' at night? I sleep with the way to blinkin' at night. It helps me calm down, okay? But if you imagine the weight of a way to blink it, like covering you from head to toe all around you, it's heavy. You probably would feel like you're suffocating under it. You can't see clearly because of what's covering you. Jesus is saying, this is the weight that I feel right now. He falls to the ground from the weight that he's carrying. Some of you have been walking through this life, not even realizing how overwhelmed you've been by the bills that are piling up, overwhelmed by the stress in your marriage,

overwhelmed by your dependence on that thing, overwhelmed by your mind that feels like it's going crazy. Do you know that God wants to lift off of you, the heavy things that have been trying to weigh you down? God can do it. He's a miracle working God. And I love that we see Jesus do three things in the time that he's facing this difficult time in his reality. He pauses and he included other people on the journey. He said, come with me, disciples, come with me and pray. This is difficult. I need you to be praying with me. And then he took the time to identify what he was really feeling. So many times we don't slow down enough to identify what's really going on. And God wants you to know that he can handle whatever feeling it is that you're facing, overwhelmed, he can handle it, depressed, he can handle it, anxious, he can handle it, fearful, he can handle it. Bring it to him 'cause he's the one who can do something about it. And that's what else, though we see Jesus does, is he invited God into his circumstances. Instead of running to escape, he found refuge in God. And so as we wrap up, I wanna just give you a side by side, the choice that we have to make between running

to escapism or running to find refuge in God, okay? This is what we see when we break down these two. Escapism says, I don't wanna deal with this. Refuge in Christ says, Jesus, help me deal with this. Escapism numbs you out, but refuge in Christ restores you. Escapism distracts you from what you feel, but refuge makes process, makes space to process what you feel. Escapism avoids responsibility. Refuge in Christ prepares you for responsibility. Escapism seeks relief. Refuge in Christ seeks God. Escapism often leaves you emptier, but refuge replenishes you. Escapism disconnects indefinitely. Refuge retreats intentionally, and then returns. you trapped, refuge in Christ sets you free. And who the sun sets free is free indeed. And there is freedom available for each and every one of us. And I want you to notice that when Jesus retreated to find refuge in God, His circumstances didn't change. He went to the cross, but what changes His spirit was strengthened so He could face the circumstances that were before Him. And maybe today you're here and you're going, I need to include some people in the journey with me. I need to identify how I really feel instead of just living on autopilot. I need to include God and invite Him into my journey. I want you to know that if you've been seeking escapism, there's no shame, there's no condemnation, but there's an invitation to turn to Christ and experience every good thing that He has for you. So I want to invite you, if you are able all across this room, would you go ahead and

stand to your feet? We've built in a little bit of time in this service to be able to respond to what maybe the Holy Spirit is speaking to you during this time. As we're talking about seeking God, it might mean that you have to say, no longer am I going to turn to this vice, no longer am I going to turn to this substance, no longer am I going to try to do this on my own, but instead I'm going to invite God in and I'm going to turn to Jesus. And so the team is going to sing the song and I encourage you as they sing, would you just allow God to speak to you? You might want to pray, you might want to confess, you might want to listen to God, you might want to declare that Jesus is the one thing for you and you're leaving everything else behind. And as we sing, I believe God's going to work in your life and then I'm going to come back up and we're going to have a time of prayer and then dismissal. So let's go ahead and respond in worship. Let me Jesus, give me Jesus, you can't have all this world, you can't have all, always surrender all, sing, give me Jesus, oh give me Jesus, oh you can't have all this, we give it all to you, you can't have all this world, sing I don't want, oh I don't want anyone else and I don't need anything else, you are my one thing, you are always surrender I don't want anyone else and I don't need anything else, you are my, oh yes you are, we don't want anyone but you, sing I don't want anyone else and I don't need anything else, you are, we find refuge in you alone, we run to you God, oh I don't want anyone else, yes I don't need anything else, you are my one thing, so give me Jesus, give me Jesus, oh you can't have it all, you can't have all this world, you can't have all, give me Jesus, oh give me Jesus, oh give me Jesus, oh give me Jesus, oh we find our refuge in you alone, oh you can't have all this world, you can't have all this world. Heavenly Father, we thank you that as we navigate this life we don't navigate it alone, but that you are with us and I pray that today will be a day of freedom in the house, maybe Maybe someone in here has been battling with an addiction, they've been battling with pornography. They've been battling with a substance.

God, I thank you that today is a day of healing and restoration and freedom. God, we thank you that's available to us today. And so, God, I pray that you administer to each and every person right where they're at. I pray, God, that they would leave different than they came in. God, I pray that we would have the faith to believe that you can do what only you can do. God, we invite you to do it. God, we thank you for your freedom. We thank you, God, that you're moving in people's hearts right now. For the one that's felt isolated and alone, you're gonna experience the joy of connection with you and with people of faith. For the one that's felt like there's no way out for me. Today, I thank you that they're seeing that refuge with you will give us everything that we need. God, for the one that's been riddled with anxiety, I thank you, God, that you're bringing peace that no substance could bring. We thank you, God, for your freedom. And with every head bowed and eye closed, if you're in here and you've never made the decision to follow Jesus, but you say, "Today, I want to follow." I want to surrender my life. I'm tired of trying to do this on my own. Would you just go ahead and slip up your hand? If you say, "I want to follow Jesus."

No one's looking just me. See, and hands go up, hands go up all around. If everybody would repeat this prayer so that no one's saying it alone, Heavenly Father, thank you for your Son, Jesus, that He died for me, forgives my sins, and gives me a new start. Today, I choose to follow you. And in your name, everybody said amen. Absolutely incredible. We're so proud of you for making that decision, best decision ever. Make sure you tell somebody about it. I also want to invite our prayer teams forward, okay? The team's going to continue to sing. We're going to keep this an atmosphere of worship and prayer. So our prayer teams will come forward. And if you want prayer for something in your life, you've been battling with something and you just say, "I want someone to pray for me." I want to have the power of the Holy Spirit. I want to have freedom. I want to have joy. Would you include somebody in the journey and don't feel weird about it, nothing to feel awkward about? Just go ahead and make your way up front so our prayer team can pray for you. If you decide to follow Jesus, make sure you get our resource

that will help you with the what's next. And bring somebody back to church with you next week as we continue this hot take series. God bless you, City First. Come receive prayer, be blessed, and we'll see you next Sunday. (congregation clapping)