BY STEPHEN CHAVEZ

e had the perfect disguise. Who would suspect that a baby born to a teenage mother and a day laborer could literally change the world?

Ironically, at His birth religious outsiders were more interested in Jesus' first advent than those who professed to speak for God. Having been tipped off by strangers who came to offer the baby their allegiance and praise, the political and religious leaders of the day formed an unholy alliance dedicated to preserving the status quo and squashing speculation about a Messiah born in a stable.

As an adult Jesus hardly fit the profile of someone trying to change the world. He didn't go on book tours, didn't engage the services of pollsters or "spin doctors," didn't seek out power brokers or solicit contributions from His supporters. He spent most of His ministry working among the less fortunate, the castoffs and aliens of His society. He worked outside the major population areas, where He seemed to prefer anonymity to applause.

Jesus' ministry revolved around people, not programs; His mission was to restore God's image in lives brought low by poverty, disease, and guilt. He came to strip away perceptions (maintained by the religious elite) that God the Father is a stern, arbitrary Deity, concerned more with excluding people from His kingdom than making it accessible to as many as possible.

It's no wonder Christ's cover was blown: instead of institutionalism, Jesus preached the privilege of the individual to nurture a relationship with God. Instead of rituals and traditions, He emphasized free will and the power of unconditional love and disinterested service to transform lives. Thousands responded to His message about a loving, proactive God who takes the initiative to reclaim the lost.

After His ascension Jesus' followers began to codify the things they thought would preserve the church until He returned. Inevitably human traditions and superstitions became part of the religious experience of most believers throughout the ages we now describe as "dark." The Protestant Reformation had a measure of success in bringing the church back to the ideal of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, revealed by Scripture alone. Our own movement arose when a small group of believers determined to take the Bible seriously and live by its precepts.

But nowadays one might wonder whether Jesus has gone undercover again.

In most societies success is measured numerically: how much, how many, how far, etc. In a church that numbers its members by the millions, its assets by the billions, and its employees, institutions, and leaders by the thousands, it's tempting to claim a measure of success in preparing the world for the second advent of the one who first infiltrated this planet disguised as a baby.

But now, as then, the success of Jesus' ministry isn't characterized by quantity so much as by quality. Those of us who experience something of God's lavish grace will respond with love and grace to the people in our circles of influence. In caring for the physical, emotional, or spiritual needs of our neighbors and communities-no matter how humble-we will reflect the mandate of the One who began His public ministry with the prophetic words: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Luke 4:18, 19, NIV).

In a climate in which headlines are dominated by politicians and pundits, terrorists and criminals, professional athletes and superstar performers with supersized egos, God's kingdom is being steadily advanced, almost imperceptibly, by Christ's disciples working undercover for His kingdom, without fanfare, reflecting God's love.

Just as the undercover Christ came to set aside human traditions in favor of God's eternal standards, today's disciples will dedicate themselves to actions that fully reflect God's character of love, joy, purity, loyalty, honesty, justice, and mercy.

While it's nice to see distinguished Adventist individuals or institutions featured in prominent settings, we're not fully following in the Lord's footsteps until the people in our communities see Christ living in us.

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Stephen Chavez is an assistant editor of the Adventist Review.