Romans 2:5-11
Paul is not letting up. Can you feel Paul shaking you? "Wake up, wake up!" This sense of entitlement is viewed by Paul as a direct enemy to the early church. He is making it crystal clear that it doesn't matter where you are from or where you've gone to school or who your parents are, but that each one of us has a responsibility for our own pursuit of life.
We aren't entitled to anything either. Just because we are part of a church plant, or live in the bible belt or because our parents took us to church. We have a responsibility to seek and find on our own. I was reminded of a bumper sticker that reads, "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven." While the statement may be true, the arrogance that can accompany that statement is what Paul is fighting. "Just forgiven" implies that we can be imperfect and it doesn't matter because Christ's forgiveness entitles us to a free all-you-can-sin buffet. This is not the case.
My favorite line in this passage comes at the very end..."God pays no attention to what others say (or what you think) about you. He makes up his own mind (v11)." That rocks in so many ways.
In a world that wants to say "I'm okay, you're okay," and a church that wants to say, "we're okay and you're not," Paul refuses both and says, "no, none of us is okay." It's a sobering message. Who wants to be reminded of how bad we are? And yet, Paul thinks it's important enough that he won't let it go, and is still on this track into the second chapter. True Christianity forces us to see the ugliness in ourselves and deal with it. It reminds me of Isaiah 6, when Isaiah sees God for the first time, and his response is "woe is me." The news is all good after this, but this is where it starts, where it has to start.
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