Chasidut for Pirkei Avot 1:3

Numbers 23,24. “they are a nation that rises like a ‎lion, leaps up like the king of beasts. It rests not till it has ‎feasted on prey and drunk the blood of the slain.”‎
In the matter of how to serve the Lord optimally, it is an ‎accepted rule that the first stage of becoming a true servant of ‎the Lord involves that the person concerned expects a reward as a ‎form of recognition for his effort. It is simply not to be expected ‎that every person will begin his career as a servant of the Lord by ‎eschewing every kind of reward. When the Mishnah in ‎‎Avot 1,3 teaches not to serve the Lord on condition of ‎receiving a reward, it does not address “beginners.” Proof that ‎this is the accepted norm is found in Pessachim 50 where ‎the Talmud teaches that if we perform G’d’s commandments, ‎even while also having ulterior motives, in due course we will do ‎so without having ulterior motives. [This is part of the ‎promise that the reward of performing a commandment brings in ‎its wake performance of another commandment, (Avot 4,1) i.e. ‎the same commandment, but on a higher level. Ed.] ‎When one has attained this level of serving the Lord, one will also ‎become the vehicle through which the “fallen” sparks, i.e. ‎spiritual beings or human beings who have “fallen” from their ‎erstwhile high moral/ethical level may be restored to grace ‎through contact with such servants of the Lord. This has been ‎spelled out in the writings of the Ari z’al.
As long as one serves the Lord expecting to be rewarded for ‎this, the human being doing so is considered as on the level of a ‎female, as by definition all females, i.e. their functions, are viewed ‎primarily as recipients, vessels to be filled. Once having attained ‎the level of serving the Lord without any expectation of reward, ‎one has joined the ranks of the males. Not only does such a ‎person not depend on “receiving,” but he is able to become a ‎dispenser of satisfaction and pleasure even to the Creator. This is ‎the true meaning of a statement in the Zohar III,7 that the ‎Jewish people provide G’d with His sustenance, ‎פרנסה‎.‎
This is also what Bileam had in mind when he said: ‎הן עם כלביא ‏יקום‎, “this is a nation that arises like a lioness,” but develops to ‎the stature of being ‎כארי יתנשא‎, “it elevates itself to become ‎comparable to a mature male lion.” [According to our ‎author Rashi commenting on that verse interprets it as ‎sequential, i.e. beginning to serve the Lord while expecting a ‎reward, progressing to serve Him without such expectations. I ‎have not been able to find this Rashi. Ed.]‎

This also helps us understand a verse in psalms 31,20 ‎מה רב ‏טובך אשר צפנת ליראיך פעלת לחוסים בך נגד בני אדם‎, “how abundant is ‎the good that You have in store for those who fear You; You have ‎done so publicly in full view of men, for those who have taken ‎refuge in You.” Rachel was a perfect example of how one fulfills ‎the exhortation of our sages in Avot 1,3 not to belong to ‎the category of people who observe the Lord’s commandments ‎only for the sake of the reward G’d has promised. She trusted G’d ‎fully, else she would have certainly used the argument that she ‎did not want to become Esau’s wife as justification not to reveal ‎the secret code between Yaakov and her to her sister. Her action ‎even endangered her afterlife, which due to being a dutiful wife of ‎Esau would have daily put her claim to an afterlife at risk.‎
The exhortation of the above quoted Mishnah not to ‎perform the commandments for the sake of the reward promised ‎is very difficult to honour as we know and are constantly aware ‎that G’d keeps His promises to us, and it is almost superhuman ‎not to be influenced by such promises. When David worded his ‎psalm 31,20 as he did, adding the words ‎נגד בני אדם‎, he meant that ‎at the time when we perform the commandments we must not ‎think of the reward in store for us. G’d does not mind that once ‎we have performed the commandment we think about the ‎reward. He knows how difficult it is not to think of it while ‎performing it; this is why David says of G’d ‎צפנת‎, “You hid,” such ‎thoughts from those who truly revere You at the time when they ‎performed the commandments.‎

Genesis 31,18. “he guided all his livestock and all his ‎portable possessions , the ones he had acquired while in ‎Padan Aram, and in order to go back to his father ‎Yitzchok”. The last few words about Yaakov returning to his ‎father appear superfluous; the moral/ethical lesson that the ‎Torah teaches by describing Yaakov’s motivation in returning to ‎the land of Israel as being to become reunited with his father, is ‎that although G’d had promised Yaakov that he would become a ‎founder of a great nation, would expand in all directions of the ‎globe, none of these promises weighed on his decision to return ‎forthwith to the land of Israel. His concern was the opportunity ‎to once more be able to fulfill the commandment of honouring ‎his father (his mother having died during his absence).‎