Eager evaluation of lambda method reference

ADDITIONAL SYSTEM INFORMATION :
jdk 1.8.0_202-b08

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
in my functioin, lambda method reference is argument, i think it is only a expression, but lamba method reference is calculating, let us see detail

STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
public static boolean contains(List list, Object o) {
        return execute(list, o, l -> false, list::contains);
   }

 public static <R> R execute(List list, Object o,
                                Function<Object, R> defaultConsumer,
                                Function<Object, R> executeConsumer) {
        if (CollectionUtils.isEmpty(list) || null == o) {
            return defaultConsumer.apply(list);
        }

     return executeConsumer.apply(o);
    
}

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
when list is null , result Expected is false
ACTUAL -
but throw a NPE (list:contains)

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
public static boolean contains(List list, Object o) {
        return execute(list, o, l -> false, list::contains);
   }

 public static <R> R execute(List list, Object o,
                                Function<Object, R> defaultConsumer,
                                Function<Object, R> executeConsumer) {
        if (CollectionUtils.isEmpty(list) || null == o) {
            return defaultConsumer.apply(list);
        }

     return executeConsumer.apply(o);
    
}
---------- END SOURCE ----------

FREQUENCY : always