For the one who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there are no exceptions.

This verse contains some stern words, and these words are directed to Christians. While it is not every day that we talk about the judgment seat of Christ, we may need to take a pause today and do exactly that.

When we hear the word judgment, it might generate angst in people. You might associate that only with negative judgment, but when Paul said we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, it is so that we may be paid back according to what we have done while in the body (2 Corinthians 5:10).

He is telling us that what we do in the body matters.

We know that it is because of the righteousness of Christ that we stand before God now and forever without condemnation.

But without condemnation does not equate to without reward. We have an opportunity to serve Christ in this life in whatever we are doing with the opportunity, gift, privileges, and work we do on the earth, whatever occupies our time, and with that, we accrue rewards.

There are several passages of scripture that speak of this reward. Jesus gave several parables to impress the apostles with the fact that even though he was going, he was coming back. He said in the book of Revelation, Look! I am coming soon, and my reward is with me to pay each one according to what he has done (Revelation 22:12).

This message is particularly poignant to the Slaves (the immediate context of the focus verse) who have no natural incentive to do anything except as eye service, who have an incentive to subvert the master, which would be a conflict.

This is the ultimate incentive: the reward from the Lord, as stated in the last verse.

So Paul flipped the script. Rather than feed the pity party, he said to the slave, Lift up your eyes and expect rewards from Christ himself as the slave serves Christ in the image of the master. And there is a flip side: the God who would reward is the one who will repay the wrong at the judgment seat of Christ.

So the slave cannot say, What can be worse than this, So let me act wrongly, let me do my worst, since I am in such a bad situation and there is no hope.

Paul is saying Wait, there is hope, there is hope of the afterlife. For the unbeliever this makes no sense, but for the believer with the very life of God within, with the spirit groaning in him as he longs for the new heavens and the new earth, as he groans within himself in anticipation of putting on the resurrected body in the order of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:22-26), that is everything.

That is what Paul meant by work out your salvation with awe and reverence.

One verse earlier in the book of Colossians, Paul tells the slave not to be a people pleaser but to serve God with a sincere heart and work with enthusiasm.

So it is not enough to work. Why you work is also important, and enthusiasm is also important. Why you work gives color to the work you do in the presence of God.

Paul is saying to the Slave, Do your work with the reality of the unseen Christ firmly in you.

The coming judge does not need anyone to tell him what happened; everything is naked before whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:13).

Even though the slave is thinking there is a way I get away with doing the wrong thing, the in-Christ person is not thinking that way because he knows that everything is laid bare, as someone who lives in the very presence of God.

The slave condition that people won’t willingly want to be in, in a way, living in a forced existence, becomes the opportunity for Paul to expand on such a beautiful spiritual truth about divine rewards.

Similarly, the cross is something that you don't want to be associated with; it’s a brutal way to die, but that became the choice God made to pay the sacrifice for sin. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength (1 Corinthians 1:25).

That is one of the tenets of spiritual reasoning, in which what man holds in esteem is regarded highly by God, and what God esteems, man disregards (Luke 16:15).

The things of the spirit are foolishness to the natural man. So Jesus warned that one should not throw their pearls before swine. Some spiritual truths are wasted on some people; you can't delve into spiritual truth with someone who is not saved to begin with.

The words of Paul here are for the believers, not unbelievers. The believers will receive it as truth, but for the unbeliever, it would go over their head.