What is up with the Gift of Tongues? | Pastor Bryan Davis

Devotional

Day 1: When God’s Gifts Feel Weird: Embracing the Unfamiliar

Some spiritual realities defy easy explanation. Tongues, like other gifts of the Spirit, may unsettle our desire for tidy categories. Yet God’s ways transcend human logic, inviting trust over control. Scripture warns against building boundaries rooted in fear or reaction to extremes. Instead, we anchor in the Bible’s full counsel, even when mysteries remain. The Spirit’s work isn’t meant to fit our boxes but to draw us deeper into dependence. [07:06]

“Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 14:1–2, NIV)

Reflection: What spiritual practices or gifts feel uncomfortable to you? How might surrendering your need for control open you to God’s strengthening?

Day 2: Building on Scripture, Not Fear: Anchoring Doctrine in Truth

Doctrine shaped by fear breeds rigidity, not life. Paul’s instructions on tongues in Corinth weren’t about restriction but restoring purpose: edification. Isolating verses risks distortion, like cults do, but grounding in context reveals God’s heart. The Bible’s unity—book, testament, history—guides us. Truth isn’t a weapon to police others but a foundation to steady our souls. [08:18]

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16–17, NIV)

Reflection: Where have you seen Scripture misused to limit others? How can studying context deepen your trust in God’s wisdom?

Day 3: Reading the Whole Story: Context Over Single Verses

A verse is a thread in a tapestry. To grasp tongues, Paul pulls back the lens: Corinth’s chaos, Pentecost’s legacy, and Christ’s mission. Five questions—content, characters, circumstances, Christ, change—guard against shallow readings. The Bible wasn’t written to us but for us, demanding we listen first to its original audience. Truth flourishes in context, not soundbites. [14:41]

“Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”’” (Matthew 4:4, NIV)

Reflection: When has a verse confused you? How might exploring its “story” shift your understanding?

Day 4: Edification: Strengthening Self to Strengthen Others

Tongues, Paul says, builds the individual; prophecy, the church. Both matter. Personal prayer in the Spirit fuels endurance, while corporate gifts unite the body. Yet imbalance breeds pride or burnout. The test of God’s movement isn’t ecstatic displays but transformed lives bearing fruit. Edification isn’t self-help—it’s equipping for holy purpose. [16:56]

“So it is with you. Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church.” (1 Corinthians 14:12, NIV)

Reflection: How do you prioritize personal spiritual growth? Where could strengthening others renew your own faith?

Day 5: Surrender and Faith: Accessing the Spirit’s Gifts

Tongues, like salvation, requires surrender. It’s a threshold of trust, not mastery. The Spirit intercedes when words fail, bridging our weakness to God’s throne. This gift isn’t a trophy but a tool—for worship, warfare, and intimacy. Resistance often masks fear of losing control. Yet yielding unlocks depths of prayer we’d never reach alone. [44:08]

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” (Romans 8:26–27, NIV)

Reflection: Where do you struggle to surrender to God’s methods? What step of faith could deepen your prayer life today?

Sermon Summary

The gift of tongues steps forward as a strange grace, yet Scripture insists that God’s ways refuse tidy boxes. The call is to build doctrine from the Bible, not from fear or one-off verses. A verse lives inside a chapter, a chapter inside a book, a book inside a testament, and all of it inside a real cultural moment. Five simple lenses help: content, characters, circumstances, Christ, and change. Read that way, 1 Corinthians 12–14 does not chase novelty; it chases oikodomeo. Paul wants the gathered church to leave “built up, strengthened, more able,” not dazzled by status or a replay of Pentecost twenty years later.

Corinth sits in the shadow of Acts 2 and tries to recreate it. Gifts have started to function like badges. Paul answers with love as the motive and order as the frame. He urges the church to “eagerly desire” the gifts, “especially prophecy,” because public ministry should land where people can understand and be strengthened. Tongues, he says, speaks to God, utters Spirit-born mysteries, and edifies the self. Prophecy speaks to people for strengthening, encouragement, and comfort. That is not a downgrade of tongues. It is a distinction between personal edification and corporate edification. Both matter. Privately, the prayer language makes a believer more able; publicly, intelligible words make the church more able.

Paul adds texture. “I would like every one of you to speak in tongues” points to broad availability for prayer and praise. “Do not forbid speaking in tongues,” yet “everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way,” guards the gathering from confusion. The flow he describes is practical: pray with the spirit and with understanding; sing with the spirit and with understanding. In that flow, two uses of tongues emerge. When directed to God as prayer or praise, no interpretation is required. When delivered as a manifest message to the church, interpretation is needed so instruction lands where people can say “amen.” Acts confirms this rhythm: tongues often surfaces as praise without human interpreters, while the Spirit ensures the wonders of God are heard.

Underneath it all stands a deeper test of the Spirit’s movement: changed lives and the fruit of the Spirit, not just heightened moments. Accessing this grace, like every grace in the kingdom, comes by faith and surrender. When words run out, the Spirit helps in weakness and prays through groanings too deep for speech.

Key Takeaways

1. Build doctrine from the whole Bible One-verse theology breeds confusion. A verse sits inside a chapter, a book, a testament, and a culture. Use the five C’s—content, characters, circumstances, Christ, change—to read well. Even the devil quoted Scripture, so discernment demands context. [13:33]
2. Paul’s aim is oikodomeo, not spectacle Corinth tried to relive Pentecost; Paul insists gatherings leave believers “built up, strengthened, more able.” Order serves edification, not control for its own sake. The true measure is transformed lives, not how electric a room feels. [16:34]
3. Tongues edifies personally; prophecy builds corporately Tongues speaks to God and strengthens the inner life; prophecy speaks to people and strengthens the body. Both are gifts of grace, but the mic belongs to what makes the whole church more able. Personal fire should fuel public clarity. [27:04]
4. Two audiences, two uses of tongues Prayer-praise tongues address God and need no interpretation. A manifest message in tongues addresses the church and needs interpretation so instruction lands. Acts shows tongues erupting as praise while the Spirit makes the wonders of God heard. [39:04]
5. Pursue gifts zealously with love and order “Eagerly desire” the gifts, “especially prophecy,” because love wants others strengthened. This is not a salvation issue but a function issue. “Do not forbid speaking in tongues,” and let everything be “fitting and orderly.” Fruit and gifts belong together. [33:20]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[06:30] - What’s up with tongues
[07:06] - God’s ways defy neat boxes
[10:21] - How to read the Bible well
[14:41] - Five C’s for Bible reading
[16:11] - What is happening in Corinth
[16:56] - Oikodomeo: built up, more able
[21:19] - Charismatic liturgy and changed lives
[25:11] - Eagerly desire gifts, especially prophecy
[27:04] - Tongues vs prophecy: who is edified
[34:13] - Pray and sing with the Spirit
[39:04] - Two kinds of tongues explained
[41:38] - Acts scenes without interpretation
[43:47] - Faith and surrender to the Spirit
[46:32] - Ministry time and next steps

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading
1 Corinthians 14:1-19 (ESV)
Acts 2:4-11 (ESV)
Acts 10:44-46 (ESV)

Observation questions

According to 1 Corinthians 14:1-4, what distinction does Paul make between speaking in tongues and prophesying in a church gathering?
In Acts 2:4-11 and Acts 10:44-46, how does the Holy Spirit use tongues in these moments, and is interpretation mentioned?
What does Paul mean by “oikodomeo” (edification) in 1 Corinthians 14, and how does it shape his instructions about spiritual gifts? [16:56]
The sermon mentions “five C’s” for reading Scripture well (content, characters, circumstances, Christ, change). How does this approach help avoid misinterpreting verses about tongues? [14:41]

Interpretation questions

Why does Paul emphasize prophecy over tongues in corporate gatherings (1 Corinthians 14:1-5) while still affirming tongues as a valid gift? How does this balance address the specific problems in Corinth? [19:44]
Acts 2:11 describes people hearing “the wonders of God” in their own languages without human interpreters. How does this contrast with Paul’s instructions about interpretation in 1 Corinthians 14:13-17?
The sermon argues that tongues can function as personal prayer/worship (directed to God) or as a message to the church (requiring interpretation). How do these two uses align with Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 14? [39:04]
Paul says, “Do not forbid speaking in tongues” but insists on order (1 Corinthians 14:39-40). What tensions might arise in applying this today, and how can churches navigate them? [33:20]

Application questions

When have you experienced a church gathering that left you feeling “built up, strengthened, more able” (oikodomeo)? What practices or gifts contributed to that? [16:56]
How could prioritizing “what strengthens the whole church” (1 Corinthians 14:12) shift your approach to using spiritual gifts or participating in corporate worship?
The sermon mentions praying/singing “with the spirit and with understanding” (1 Corinthians 14:15). How might this rhythm deepen your personal prayer life? [34:13]
Have you ever avoided or overly emphasized a spiritual gift (like tongues or prophecy) due to fear, confusion, or past experiences? What step could help you align your practice with Paul’s instructions?
If someone in your group struggles to reconcile personal edification (tongues) with corporate edification (prophecy), how would you encourage them using 1 Corinthians 14?
The sermon warns against valuing “heightened moments” over “changed lives.” What fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) do you want to grow in as you pursue spiritual gifts? [21:51]

Sermon Clips

40s

#PrayWhenWordsFail

“To just be able to, in a moment where I have no words, when I'm overwhelmed for my my children, or my family, or the church, and I don't know how to pray, and I just begin to pray in the spirit. Lord, I don't I don't have words. In Romans, it says, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. We don't know what God wants us to pray, but he helps pray with us for groanings that cannot be expressed in words. It's a groaning. It's an expression. God, I've come to the end of myself, and I need something greater. Something that I can speak directly to you. Have direct access to your throne.”

55s

#StepIntoTheSpirit

“There there's a there's a need for us to just come under the Holy Spirit and lean into something. And can I tell you, I I can't even speak to the experience because everybody's experience is so different? For me, my my experience is I had to lean into it more by faith. But I've known people that have woken up in the middle of the night, couldn't stop speaking in tongues. That wasn't me. I had to step into it by faith and surrender. And I remember I remember thinking, this is the dumbest thing. This is so dumb. This is ridiculous. This is just me. I just this is so dumb. it's been transformative in my life. This gift of just being able to pray and worship in the spirit.”

43s

#FruitOverGifts

“Yes. We need to embrace the gifts of the spirit. Yes. We need to embrace the prophetic. And we yes. We need to go after these things. But can I tell you, what I'm really interested in is I'm really interested in changed lives? I'm really interested in God despite his spirit doing something inside of you that changes you. We we for a long time in the charismatic church, we've emphasized the gifts over the fruit. I think it's produced this imbalance in churches where we have people that can speak in tongues or prophecy, but their marriage is a mess. Their finances are upside down. Nobody wants to be with them, but, man, they can speak in tongues. But nobody nobody wants to be around them.”

46s

#FaithAndSurrender

“I think stuff like this, there's something in our Because it's so odd and different and weird, there's something in our spirit that resists it. There's something because I found with the gift in tongues, the gift of tongues, there has to, like every other area that I access, it has to be by faith, and it has to be a surrender. Everything in the kingdom is by faith and surrender. Salvation, faith, surrender. Water baptism, faith, surrender. Tithing, faith, surrender. Baptism in the Holy Spirit, faith, surrender.”

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What is up with the Gift of Tongues? | Pastor Bryan Davis | 06/07/2026