Tonight, to kick off our tournament, we played several rounds of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe! I have to say I was surprised at this first round of our tournament; our first-day winner, Hannah, absolutely ripped up the track with her Toad racer, thus taking first place. It was a lot of fun. It was so great to hear our students laugh and cheer each other on as we played this game together.

The Lesson

In Mario Kart, you can select various elements, but the first thing you must select is your Character. On the surface, this seems mundane. Who cares what your character looks like while you are racing around a track? But your character selection is essential and dictates the rest of the build of your Kart and how you play the game. The fact is, in Mario Kart 8, there are three different weight classes: Light, Medium, and Heavy. But then, within each weight class, you have five various other classes. Within each class, you have various advantages of speed, acceleration, handling, and traction.

Example: Baby Mario has a lower max speed when compared to Adult Mario or Metal Mario.  Conversely, he has a higher handling stat than the other two. Understanding the depth of the identity of each character will dictate what kind of equipment you give them and how you will play the game moving forward. If you don’t understand the identity of your characters, then you’ll find yourself getting frustrated as you inevitably put them in situations that they simply cannot win.

One of the biggest things that stands between a person having a successful walk with Christ and not is understanding their Identity as a Christian. If we understand the depth of our identity, we can structure our lives and put ourselves in a situation to win rather than fail.

As believers in Jesus, we are called Christians. The first time followers of Jesus were called Christians was in Acts 11:26. “and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year, they met with the church and taught considerable numbers of people; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” This term Christian means “Little Christ” or “Christ-like.” It was originally meant to be an insult, but early believers took it on because it honestly highlighted who they were: they were like Christ.

Ask: What does it mean to be a “Christian?”

The quick and easy question is that we imitate Jesus. The way He saw the world, the way he treated people, and the way he lived his earthly life.  So, how does our identity in Jesus affect how we operate in the world? There are many things we could go into, but today, we will focus on three aspects of the Christian Identity that are Key to how we do life.

We are Children of God

John 1:12 – But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name,

Ask: What does this tell us about our Identity in Jesus?

In Jesus, we are children of God. Like how what we do and how we act tells people what kind of parents our moms and dads are, our actions tell people who God is. So if we want people to know that God is a loving God who cares for people, we have to act that same way when we are dealing with people. Jesus demonstrated this many times in the gospels. In John 5:19, Jesus says, “Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in the same way. “

So, being Christ-Like means that we are children of God, which means we should strive to do what God tells us to do and not to do. This doesn’t mean that the Christian life is a series of rules, but like your relationship with your parents, there are expectations and guardrails put in place to protect you and to help you grow.

But this does bring up the question of how we should act.

We Strive to Live a Sinless Life

2 Corinthians 5:21 – For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

Ask: What does this tell us about how Jesus acted? Did he sin?

If we are to be Christ-like, we must actively avoid sin. This isn’t to say you are expected to be 100% perfect all the time and never make mistakes, but it does mean that we are to avoid sin and work to be Christ-like actively. This is often called the “process of Sanctification.” This is where we actively work to separate ourselves from our sinful lifestyles and live a holy life. Check out what The Apostle Peter teaches in 1 Peter 1:13-16

¹³ So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. ¹⁴ So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. ¹⁵ But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. ¹⁶ For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

Ask: What are some practical ways we can avoid sin? What do we do if there’s a sinful habit that we are struggling to overcome?

We forgive and we Retore

Matthew 9:1-2: Jesus climbed into a boat and went back across the lake to his own town. Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Be encouraged, my child! Your sins are forgiven.”

Ask: What does this teach us about Jesus?

One of the primary reasons Jesus came to earth was to provide a way for all people to be forgiven of their sins.  In order for us to be Christ-like, we must be willing to forgive others too. In fact, this is such a big deal that Jesu says this in Matthew 6:14-15:

“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins”

Another major aspect of Jesus’ forgiveness is that it restores the relationship between us and God. It makes it so that we can be called sons and daughters. In turn, when we forgive others, we are also working to restore the relationship between us and the person who does us wrong, and at the very least, hopefully point them in a direct that they will be restored in their relationship with God. Check out what Jesus says in Matthew 18:15 and what the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:18-19:

• ¹⁵ “If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back.
  Matthew 18:15
  
  
• And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. ¹⁹ For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.
  2 Corinthians 5:18-19