The Lord teaches in Luke that we are not supposed to do good for
the purpose of getting a reward:
If you benefit people who benefit you, what grace do you have? Rather,
love and benefit your enemies, and lend [to people] expecting nothing
back. Then your reward will be large, and you will be children of the
Highest, since he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. (Luke 6 : 33 – 36 )
It is also taught in John that we cannot do anything truly good except
from the Lord:
Live in me and I [shall live] in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit on its
own unless it lives in the vine, neither can you unless you live in me,
because without me you cannot do anything. (John 15 : 4 , 5 )
We cannot receive anything unless it is given to us from heaven.
(John 3 : 27 )440 On the other hand, if people think about going to heaven and
decide that they should therefore do what is good, this is not the same as
making rewards their main goal or taking credit for their good deeds.
People who love their neighbor as themselves and love God above all else
have these thoughts because they have faith in the Lord’s words that
their reward will be great in heaven (Matthew 5 : 11 , 12 ; 6 : 1 ; 10 : 41 , 42 ;
Luke 6 : 23 , 35 ; 14 : 12 , 13 , 14 ; John 4 : 36 ); that people who do good things
are going to possess as an inheritance a kingdom prepared since the
founding of the world (Matthew 25 : 34 ); and that all are paid back for
what they have done (Matthew 16 : 27 ; John 5 : 29 ; Revelation 14 : 13 ; 20 : 12 ,
13 ; Jeremiah 25 : 14 ; 32 : 19 ; Hosea 4 : 9 ; Zechariah 1 : 6 ; and elsewhere). What
these people have is not confidence in a reward because they deserve it;
they have faith in the promise of grace.
The pleasure of doing good to their neighbor istheir reward. The
angels in heaven feel this pleasure. It is a spiritual pleasure that is eternal.
It immeasurably surpasses every earthly pleasure. People who have this
pleasure do not want to hear about getting credit—they love doing good
and feel joy in it. It depresses them if someone thinks they are doing it to
get something in return. They are like people who benefit their friends
for friendship’s sake; who benefit their siblings for their siblings’ sake;
who benefit their spouse and children for their spouse’s and children’s
sake; who benefit their country for their country’s sake—people whose
actions are based on friendship and love. People who do these good
things state with conviction that they did not do it for themselves; they
did it for the others.