"The Heavenly Accent"
Overview
The Heavenly Accent
Just as a regional accent reveals where someone is from, the way a Christian speaks reveals a different homeland—heaven. Proverbs 15 paints a portrait of this distinctive way of speaking, one that stands apart from the harsh, careless cadence of the world. Three marks define the heavenly accent.
It is soft. "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" Proverbs 15:1. When someone unloads on us in anger, the natural response is to load the cannon and fire back—but that only escalates the fire. A gentle, tender reply diffuses what a sharp one would inflame. Paul echoes this when he writes, "Let your reasonableness be known to everyone" Philippians 4:5. Anger, as Jonah's story illustrates Jonah 4, is often deeply irrational; the soft answer refuses to feed it.
It is thoughtful. "The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly" Proverbs 15:2. A wise tongue makes knowledge good—it considers not only what is said but how it is said. The fool's words simply tumble out, unfiltered and unconcerned with tone. The heavenly accent weighs words before they are spoken.
It gives life. "A gentle tongue is a tree of life" Proverbs 15:4—literally, a healing tongue. Of Jesus it was said, "All spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth" Luke 4:22. Paul urges, "Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt" Colossians 4:6. Life-giving speech remembers that the hearer is a person made in God's image, with feelings and a soul.
Why does this accent fade? Because Scripture traces our words back to the heart. The tongue, James warns, is "a fire… set on fire by hell," capable of both blessing God and cursing those made in His likeness James 3:5-10. And "the eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good" Proverbs 15:3—every word and tone is heard by Him and measured against His perfect standard. None of us escapes this; we have all spoken words we regret. Yet Christ bore even our sinful words to the cross, declaring "It is finished" John 19:30, and His resurrection is God's "Amen" over us.
Pastoral application. An accent forms slowly, through immersion. So God, by His grace, is shaping His heavenly accent in His people day by day. This week, listen for it in your own speech. When provoked, answer softly. Before speaking, consider. Choose words that heal rather than wound. In doing so, you will bless others—and your speech itself will witness to the homeland that is now yours in Christ.
Transcript
Would you open your Bible please with me to Proverbs the 15th chapter? 2s
Proverbs 15 for our study today. 8s
The accent, the accent. 15s
Exams can be so intriguing, can't they? 19s
And so interesting and quite beautiful. 22s
When here in accent, it helps you to place that person, perhaps their homeland. 26s
I've often thought that I would love to have a British accent. 35s
I think there's just something so elegant and so refined about a British accent. 41s
My father, every now and then you can hear New York coming out in his words. 48s
He grew up in the New Jersey and New York area. 56s
And every now and then, out comes a little New Jersey or a little New York. 59s
My first call as a pastor was in the State of Washington. 67s
And when I took a call to the State of Texas, on the very last Sunday, 70s
I was there several of the members of the congregation said, 75s
we can't wait to hear one of your sermons in a few years, 78s
because we're wondering whether or not you're going to speak with a southern accent, 83s
accents, intriguing, interesting, beautiful. 92s
What can people tell about you by your accent? 100s
Specifically, can they tell that your homeland is heaven? 111s
Is your accent expressed through words that are chosen? 120s
What can people tell about you by your accent? 129s
We turn today to the book of Proverbs, 137s
Proverbs such an interesting book. 139s
It's really a collection of wise sayings that speak in, 141s
give insight to life and attitudes. 146s
And in this 15th chapter of Proverbs, what we have is a description of what I'd like to call a heavenly accent, 151s
a heavenly accent. 161s
The heavenly accent is so different than the accent that is so common in the world, 169s
the world's accent. 177s
The heavenly accent is distinctive. 180s
It stands out and it is so, so beautiful. 184s
The first thing about the heavenly accent is that it is soft, soft. 194s
Take a look when we please. 204s
At the 15th chapter, we'll start verse 1, 205s
a soft answer turns away wrath. 210s
Let me paint a scenario for you. 218s
You see a person coming toward you, 221s
and you can just tell by their body language that they're really angry. 223s
You can almost see the steam coming out of their ears. 227s
And when they come close to you, 232s
all of a sudden this verbal bomb goes off, 236s
and you are caught in the sonic boom of it all. 240s
Now, what can be your reaction to that? 247s
Well, what can well up inside is anger, right? 252s
But if anger rises up and you start to fill the canon with a verbal missile to fire back, 260s
well, what accent would be heard? 268s
What would be heard? 273s
See chapter 15 verse 1 says, a soft answer turns away wrath. 276s
Soft means here, it tender, it means gentle. 285s
Because the opposite response, a response back of simply a missile of anger, 292s
hit it right back toward the person. 298s
Well, that's just going to stir things up, isn't it? 301s
Take a look when we please. 304s
Second part of verse 1, but a harsh word stirs up anger. 305s
He possible pull said this in Philippians 4. 311s
He said, let your gentleness be known to everyone. 316s
Anger can be so irrational. 325s
I think for example, of Jonah. 329s
Jonah wanted God to absolutely destroy Nineveh. 333s
But Nineveh repented. 338s
And so in chapter 3 of Jonah, it says, when God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, 342s
God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said, he would bring upon them, 350s
and he did not do it. 355s
Well, what was Jonah's response? 360s
But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. 362s
He prayed to the Lord and said, oh, Lord is not this what I sinned, 369s
while I was still in my own country. 374s
That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning. 376s
For I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and a bounding and steadfast love, 380s
and ready to relent from punishing. 389s
Well, that's really an interesting series of things to be angry at God for, isn't it? 394s
Anger can be so irrational. 401s
That's why the soft answer, the soft answer, is so very, very important. 406s
The soft answer reflects our heavenly accent. 421s
And it's not just in what is said, but it's also in how it is said. 430s
The heavenly accent is soft, soft. 439s
Secondly, the heavenly accent presents knowledge. 449s
Well, it presents knowledge well. 455s
Back to our text in Proverbs chapter 15, verse 2, 458s
the tongue of the wise dispenses knowledge, a plain translation of that, 465s
would just be to say, it makes knowledge good. 472s
You see, the thoughtful response, the considered word and tone, 475s
that makes knowledge good. 486s
The words of the fool, the words of the fool just tumble out. 491s
They just spill forward without consideration. 496s
There's no concern about the tone. 500s
They just tumble out of them mouth and are spilled all over the place. 503s
But the heavenly accent, the heavenly accent is thoughtful and considered. 514s
Back again, please, to verse 2, the tongue of the wise dispenses knowledge. 523s
But the mouths of fools pour out, fully. 530s
The heavenly accent, it's soft. 539s
The heavenly accent is thoughtful and third, the heavenly accent, it gives life. 545s
It gives life. 556s
Take a look when you please, at verse 4 of our text. 559s
A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit. 564s
That phrase is a gentle tongue. 574s
Literally, you can translate that a healing tongue, a healing tongue. 576s
It gives life. 581s
I think of our gospel text before today. 585s
Look the fourth chapter. 588s
All spoke well of him, speaking of Jesus. 590s
All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. 593s
Paul writes in Colossians the fourth chapter. 602s
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, 605s
so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone. 610s
It's words and tone that is gracious and appealing. 617s
It's words and tone that gives life. 624s
Because one is concerned about the relationship with the other. 630s
That one understands that when we speak, we are speaking to another human being who has feelings. 635s
It is that expressing of truth in love. 645s
The heavenly accent. 652s
The heavenly accent is soft. 654s
It's thoughtful. 660s
It gives life. 662s
Why is it that? 672s
Why is it that the heavenly accent can wane? 674s
Can wane? 681s
It's so interesting. 684s
You know the waning of the heavenly accent is linked to a heart condition? 686s
It's true. 694s
The waning of the heavenly accent is linked to a heart condition. 696s
Because you see our words and how we say it. 702s
Why the origin of that doesn't come from our mouths. 706s
It doesn't come from our tongues. 710s
It comes from the heart. 713s
And the Bible reveals that our heart is inclined to evil. 716s
We confess, don't we? 721s
That we are by nature sinful and unclean. 723s
And our sinfulness expresses this heart condition 729s
that is linked with the words and tones that can be expressed. 736s
James puts it this way. 743s
James the third chapter. 747s
How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire. 750s
And the tongue is a fire. 756s
The tongue is placed among our members as a world of an equity. 760s
It stains the whole body, sets on fire, the cycle of nature, 765s
and is itself set on fire by hell. 769s
That's quite a sentence, isn't it? 774s
For every species of beast and bird of reptile and sea creature can be tamed 777s
and has been tamed by the human species. 783s
But no one can tame the tongue a restless evil full of deadly poison. 787s
With it we bless the Lord and Father and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. 795s
And from the same mouth come blessing and cursing. 804s
My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. 810s
These are the fifth chapter. 817s
Paul says this, entirely out of place, 819s
is obscene, silly and vulgar talk. 823s
But instead let there be Thanksgiving. 827s
Why in verse three of our text, we are reminded of this fact 832s
that the eyes of the Lord are in every place keeping watch on the evil and the good. 837s
God is not some disinterested observer when it comes to us. 845s
God is incredibly interested in us and what we say and what we do and how we say it. 852s
And everything that we say, everything that we do, the retone of our words, 866s
it all comes before him. He sees it all and he hears it all and it is judged in accordance with 872s
his perfect standard, not our standard, not the standard of family, not the standard of society, 881s
but his perfect standard because God knows, God knows that every time we open our mouths to speak, 887s
every time we speak, we're making a witness. 899s
We are witnessing as one who professes Christ as Lord. 903s
And so the very words that come out of our mouth, 914s
one hears that and can ask, is that what a Christian sounds like? 923s
That just sounds like the accent of the world to me. 932s
Is there any among us that haven't fallen short? 942s
Is there any among us that haven't regretted words that we have shared or how we have shared them? 947s
We all fall short. 957s
We all fall short in terms of the words that come out of our mouths and the tone in which it is shared. 960s
We are all sinners. 969s
And yet God in His grace sends His Son the Lord Jesus Christ to the cross and on the cross, 973s
Jesus Christ takes all of our sin, all of our sin upon Him, 981s
including all of those words that we never should have said, including all of that tone, 987s
that we should have never expressed. 995s
He bears it all on the cross and the word that comes from the mouth of Jesus on the cross 999s
is to tell to story, paid in full, the debt of sin, paid. 1007s
And the resurrection is God's absolute to us. 1018s
When I was in seminary, it was around Christmas time. I was home back in the state of Washington 1033s
for Christmas break. It was a cold and wet wintery day there. A little bit of ice on the roads. 1040s
It wasn't the best of days. I remember turning to my mother and I said, 1050s
I'm going to go out and about. I'm going to go out and about. 1056s
And she said, you're going to go out and about. 1061s
And it looked at her and I said, no, I'm going to go and then I realized, 1066s
after a few years at seminary, my Minnesota accent was starting to show. 1072s
My, my eyes were becoming more elongated and the phrases out and about were becoming commonplace. 1079s
My Minnesota accent was showing. God comes to us beloved and God continues to form in us. 1091s
His heavenly accent. His heavenly accent making it distinctive. 1109s
Making it clear so that people hear it and it is beautiful. 1120s
Give thanks to God. Give thanks to God that God will bring forth from you this week 1136s
that heavenly accent. Because that heavenly accent is an incredible way to bless 1144s
others. We've been looking in this series at a host of ways in which my God's grace 1153s
we can bless other people that we can be those people that that leave the blessing in other people's 1160s
lives and give thanks because God will express that heavenly accent from you. And in so doing, 1166s
you'll bless the other. Give thanks for from you will be heard that accent that's soft. 1181s
Thoughtful and gives life. And God will be glorified and people, they will love 1198s
your accent. 1219s
You 1235s